HAD AN EPIPHANY LATELY?

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
8 January 2005

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 2

1. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
2. and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
3. When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
4. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
5. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6. "`But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.' "
7. Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
8. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9. After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
10. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
11. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
12. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

-- earlier this week, a friend of mine at work was updating her calendar in her daytimer -- as Lori was looking at this week, she saw that on Friday, January 6th, it was already labeled "epiphany" -- she called out to the girl who sits next to her and asked, "Do you know what an epiphany is?" -- Becki said, "Sure, an epiphany is when an idea hits you all of a sudden or when you finally understand something that you have puzzled over" -- Lori was quiet for a minute and then she said, "Well, evidently I'm supposed to have an epiphany this Friday."
-- Lori was not aware that Epiphany is a Christian holiday that has been celebrated all the way back to the fourth century -- this day is the day that the church recognizes the coming of the magi to visit the Christ Child based on the passage that we just read from Matthew
-- epiphany is actually the climax of the Christmas season -- historically, Christmas was not celebrated on just a single day, but was a festival that lasted for a period of almost two weeks -- worship services were held on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and then the day after Christmas marked the first day of the celebration of the coming of the Messiah -- the song, "The 12 Days of Christmas," refers to this celebration, with the first day of Christmas occuring on December 26th and the last day -- the 12th Day -- being Epiphany -- on this day carolers would go out and sing and people would exchange gifts with one another
-- while we ordinarily exchange gifts on December 25th, a lot of other cultures continue to celebrate Christmas over this two week period -- some even giving gifts each of the 12 days just like the song relates -- others wait until Epiphany, and that is the day they exchange their gifts -- for example, everyone is aware that we have a growing Hispanic community here in south Georgia -- Hispanic Christians in the Americas call Epiphany "el Dia de los Tres Reyes" or "Three Kings Day" -- and they traditionally celebrate Three Kings Day by exchanging gifts and by sharing a King's Cake -- this is also the day that Mexican children would traditionally set out shoes filled with hay for the camels of the magi, expecting the magi to replace the hay with gifts -- very similar to our Christmas tradition involving Santa Claus

-- so, when Lori saw the calendar marked "Epiphany" for last Friday, this is what it was referring to -- but, the word "Epiphany" does have another meaning -- the same one that Becki orginally shared with her -- according to the dictionary, the term epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or even "to reveal."
-- maybe a better way to explain it is to say an epiphany is one of those "AHA" moments -- it is one of those moments when you have this flash of inspiration or understanding or insight -- when an idea just jumps out at you -- when all of a sudden you have some great revelation of truth or some great idea that has never occurred to you before
-- a great example of this is in the cartoons -- think about the Roadrunner -- Wile E Coyote is always trying to come up with some way to catch that roadrunner -- and so you're watching as he's trying to come up with some new way to finally catch the roadrunner -- and then that light bulb goes off above his head and he has this great new idea that he's never thought of before -- that's a perfect of an epiphany
-- so, why do we use the word epiphany to recognize the day the Magi came to visit Jesus?

II. Thoughts on Story of Magi
-- well, as we said, an epiphany occurs when something is made known or revealed -- in this case, we see how good news of the coming of Christ was revealed to the Gentile world
-- the story of the Old Testament is largely the story of the nation of Israel -- it tells us how God chose Abraham as the patriarch of a great nation from which the Messiah would come -- the One who would redeem the world of the curse and save us from our sins -- and so the entire Old Testament concerns the revelation of the coming of the Messiah to the nation of Israel
-- for thousands of years, the Jews had been looking for the Christ to come -- that is why the chief priests and the teachers of the law could answer Herod's question about the site of the birth of Christ so quickly in verses 5-6 -- God had revealed to His prophets where and when and how and why the Messiah would come through over 60 individual and specific prophecies given to the nation of Israel -- but, God did not reveal the message of the coming of the Christ to the Gentile world at that time
-- so, when Jesus was born, God sent out a divine notice about the birth of His Son -- to the Jewish people He sent angels -- divine messengers -- because the Jewish people were the people of the covenant -- the fact that the Messiah would come had been revealed to them in the past, so when the time came for Jesus to be born, God pronounced the birth through angels -- in exactly the way the Jews would be expecting
-- the Gentiles, however, did not know God in this special way -- they were aware of Him, because of the great things that He had done among the Israelites and the Egyptians and the Assyrians and the Babylonians -- but, they were still a pagan people by and large -- they did not worship the One God of Israel
-- if God had sent angels to them, they might have mistaken the angels for gods and tried to worship them -- so God reached down and spoke to them in the only way they could understand -- He created a new star in the sky to announce the birth of Christ, and when the magi saw this star in the western sky, they knew it had to be a sign from God
-- Matthew tells us that when the magi saw the strange star in their western sky, they immediately began looking for the one it heralded -- they left their far off land and journeyed all the way to Israel -- making their way across the Jordan River and crossing over to Jerusalem -- to the area where the star was located -- and they began asking all those they saw, "Where is the king of the Jews? We have come to worship Him."
-- they still did not fully understand the truth of Christ -- they recognized the birth of a new King, but they did not recognize why this King was born -- but through the star, God led the Magi to the place where they would have the truth of the gospel made known -- the truth of the gospel revealed to them -- the place where they would have an epiphany that would change the Gentile world forever
-- look back at verse 9

9. After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
10. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
11. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
12. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

-- during the process of searching for the newborn King of the Jews, something happened to the Magi -- God revealed to them who Jesus really was -- and when they finally found the child, Matthew tells us that they bowed down and worshiped Him and gave Him their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrhh
-- in Luke 2:32, when Mary and Joseph went to the temple to dedicate Jesus, the prophet Simeon took Jesus in his arms and said that Jesus would be a light for revelation to the Gentiles -- that is exactly what happened when the Magi worshiped Jesus in His house in Bethlehem -- they had a revelation -- an ephiphany -- and they were the first to show and reveal Jesus to the Gentile world as the incarnate Christ -- the worship of the Magi was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all people and for all nations and all races and not just for the nation of Israel
-- look back at verse 12

12. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

-- in the New Revised Standard Version, it says that they left for their own country by another "road"
-- obviously, Matthey is talking about the physical route that the Magi took back to their land -- but this statement is also true in a spiritual sense as well -- when the Magi came seeking the newborn King of the Jews, they came as pagans -- as Gentiles -- unaware of the One God of Israel -- unaware of the role of the Messiah in redeeming the whole world -- unaware of the promise of a King who would save the world from its sins
-- they came searching for the King of the Jews by one road -- but when they left, they left by another road -- the road of faith in the Christ who had been sent to save them -- in John 14:6, Jesus told the disciples that He was the Way and the Truth and the Life -- He described Himself as the narrow way and the only gate -- this was the path that the Magis took when they returned to their country -- this was the epiphany of God that showed them and the entire Gentile world the way of salvation through Christ

III. Thoughts on Ongoing Revelation of God
-- so, on this first Sunday after the Epiphany, let me ask you a question -- "Have you had an epiphany lately?" -- Has God been revealing Himself to you as you have studied His Word and worshiped Him and ministered to others in His name over the past year?
-- contrary to what Lori's calendar might say, epiphanies shouldn't only occur on January 6th -- they should occur on a regular basis in your life as you grow with Christ and as you become more and more like Him
-- Have you learned anything new about Jesus lately? -- Have you experienced Jesus in a new way lately?
-- in the Experiencing God Bible Study by Henry Blackaby, Blackaby points out several truths about God that we should always keep in mind -- let me share a couple of these with you
-- first, Blackaby says that God is always at work around us -- God's work did not end when the Bible was written -- it did not end when the apostles all passed away -- God continues to work in the world today through the presence of His Holy Spirit in the church
-- I've had people ask me, "Where was God during 9-11? Where was God during the tsunami? Where was God during Hurricane Katrina?" -- God was there -- God was working in the midst of those events -- touching lives and healing hearts and forgiving sins -- God was there, ministering to people and revealing His love for them in new and wonderful ways
-- one of the signs of a maturing Christian is when we can look at the world and see the fingerprints of God all around us -- the signs of His passage and the signs of His work in the land -- these epiphanies -- these revelations of God working around us -- are invitations by God to join Him in His work
-- just this week I received a brochure from a ministry called "Walton Cares" -- this ministry got started when a Methodist Church in Walton County, FL, had an epiphany and recognized God's hand in the middle of Hurricane Katrina relief and joined Him in His work there
-- when is the last time you had an epiphany and realized a call from God to join Him in His work?

-- another truth that Blackaby points out in his study is that God still speaks to us today -- He still reveals Himself and His ways and His purposes through the Bible, through prayer, through circumstances and through the church
-- 2 Tim 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." -- God continues to reveal Himself and His ways through the Scriptures -- when was the last time you had an "AHA" moment while reading the Bible?
-- I am trying to read through the whole Bible again this year -- and even though I have read the Bible many times, it never fails that God will speak to me and reveal to me new truths as I spend time seeking His presence through the Scriptures -- even when I read familiar passages such as Psalm 23 or John 3:16, God speaks to me and I'll find myself saying, "AHA! I never knew that before -- I never saw that before" -- and I want to rush out and share that experience with others
-- that is why God speaks to us through epiphanies -- that is why He reveals Himself to us in His Word and through prayer and through circumstances and through the church -- that is why He revealed Himself to the Magi -- so that we will go forth and make God known to the world around us

IV. Closing
-- if you get nothing else out of this message this morning, I want you to get this -- God is still in the business of epiphanies -- He is still in the business of revealing Himself and His ways and His purposes to the world
-- as a Christian, you should be having epiphanies on a regular basis -- as you grow in Christ you should be learning new truths about Him and you should be filled with a desire to go forth and share these revelations of God with those around you
-- you can be a source of revelation to people who don't know the gospel -- who have never heard the good news of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection -- through the Magi, Christ was revealed to the Gentile world -- and now God is calling us to reveal His message of love and grace and forgiveness to our world today
-- if you have not been having epiphanies -- if God has not been speaking to your heart lately -- if you have not been growing in Christ lately -- then this may be indicative of a spiritual problem
-- maybe you've been on the wrong road lately and He's calling you to leave by another road -- maybe He is calling you today to recommit your life to Him -- to make a change in your life in this new year
-- to commit to reading His Word on a daily basis -- to commit to seeking His face daily in prayer -- to commit to becoming more active in church and in serving others in His name
-- if you do this -- if you seek His face and His presence in these ways -- then God promises to respond to you -- to reveal Himself to you and to make Himself known to you in new and exciting ways
-- let us pray