The Light to the Gentiles
Isaiah 60:1-9
Epiphany, 2005
God uses the stars of the night sky to play important roles in the drama of redemptive history. Astronomical phenomena sometimes send messages. The vanishing of stars are indicators of coming judgment. The stellar lights are symbolic of kings and kingdoms. The people of Israel were represented as stars (Gen 22:17; 26:4; Dt. 1:10). Today the flags of 25 nations display stars on them. Our own flag has 50. A few flags have a single star, and others, the moon and a star. This imagery has a tradition going back to antiquity.
The Old Testament is filled with solar, lunar, and stellar language depicting great political and social upheaval. The rise of kingdoms is likened to the brightness of the sun, moon, and stars. When a nation comes under the judgment of God – it is compared to the sun and moon going dark, and stars falling from the sky. We describe a person on the way up as a “rising star.” When a popular figure has acted foolishly or failed miserably we say, “his star is tarnished” or “his star has fallen.”
Epiphany means “The manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.” On this feast God combines stars, camels and wise men to bring that about. For example, Isaiah declares in Isaiah 61:2, “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising… Camels shall cover your land, they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.” The Church has taken this passage and others to teach that just as the star rose up and shone over Bethlehem leading the Magi to Christ, so the light of Christ rises up and enlightens every darkened corner of the earth. Each nation must see Jesus as their King and Judge.
The light of the epiphany star illuminated the darkness of the ancient world and continues to do so to this day. And let’s not forget how dark a Christ-less world is. Since Rousseau created the myth of the noble savage, the light of Christ is not appreciated as it should be. We hear about persons who glorify pagan cultures while vilifying Christian civilization. Some of them would like our country to go back to pre-Christian, primitive modes of living. It is assumed that Christianity is the source of problems. If Christian influence were erased, then society would flourish. Dinesh D’souza is an author who has investigated the historical record. A long passage from his book, The End of Racism is worth citing. It sheds light on the darkness of pre-Christian, primitive societies. In his chapter called “The Ignoble Savage” D’Souza writes:
“For Europeans who first voyaged abroad, much of the rest of the world came as a shock for which they were poorly prepared. Early modern accounts… convey the stupefaction of the Europeans who encountered distant and unfamiliar peoples. Europeans who were even then making a transition into the modern era found themselves genuinely amazed and horrified at other cultures which appeared virtually static…
Essentially what happened, partly by historical accident, is that between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries, the most advanced civilization in the world crashed into the shores of sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas, two regions which were, by European standards, incomparably primitive. In many of the tribes of southern Africa and Americas, the natives had no numbers that went beyond one or two. The Europeans, increasingly skeptical and rationalistic in their outlook, became disdainful of cultures that insisted upon patterning behavior on the miraculousness of everyday life: one could converse with rocks, daily events were controlled by ancestral spirits, dancing and shouting made it rain, diseases could be cured by wearing masks, women could give birth to animals, and so on.
…In the Americas, the Maya, Inca, and Aztec civilizations were impressive for their sophisticated knowledge of the seasons and stars, an advanced calendar, elaborate techniques of weaving and ornamentation, and architectural brilliance that amazed the Spanish. [On the other hand, these same civilizations never discovered the wheel, the plow, or writing, and human sacrifice was central to their religions.]
According to Robert Hughes in The Fatal Shore, before the Europeans arrived the aborigines of the Australias had not invented the bow and arrow. Some tribes had no conception of agriculture – they neither sowed nor reaped. The Iora people never washed themselves, but spent their lives coated with a mixture of rancid fish oil, animal grease, sand, dust and sweat. The aborigines had no property, no money.. no farming, no houses , clothes, pottery, or metal… They had no idea of stock-raising. They saved nothing, lived entirely in the present. One common form of courtship was for a man to fix on some female of a tribe at enmity with his own… stupefy her with blows on her head, back, neck… then drag her streaming with blood… till he reached his tribe. Anthropologist Robert Edgerton gives an equally riveting account of Tasmania. Men hunted with wooden pears and by hurling rocks at the heads of animals. Women too foraged for food, typically prying shellfish off rocks, digging up roots, or clubbing possums and seals to death. Tasmanians traveled virtually naked except for kangaroo skins slung over their shoulders. In all, the entire Tasmanian inventory of manufactured goods came to no more than two dozen items. Amazingly, Edgerton points out, Tasmanians could not take advantage of the ocean surrounding their island, because although they once learned how to fish, they forgot or gave up the practice. Thus many Tasmanians perished of starvation despite the availability of a plentiful food source all around them. Nor did they know how to build boats or rafts in order to communicate with other islands. Tasmanian medicine consisted mainly of slashing the patient with deep cuts until the victim was covered with blood. Edgerton proclaims much of Tasmanian culture frankly maladaptive.” [Close quote. pp. 51-53.]
Every once in a while we need to be reminded how short, brutal and primitive life on earth becomes without Christ, not to mention eternity in Hell in the afterlife. By and large, cruelty and ignorance eventually become the norm for people cut off from Christianity. In general, justice and progress eventually become the norm when cultures are introduced to Christianity. On this feast of Christ’s manifestation to the Gentiles, on this evening that we celebrate the shining star that guided the Wise Men, let us acknowledge how dark the world was without Christ, and how desperately the Gentile nations needed and continue to need Christ to manifest Himself to them. Our nation will become very dark indeed if we turn our backs on the Lord. The world needs Jesus, all ethnic groups need Jesus; and you and I need Jesus. We need His light to sustain us and save us from destruction. We applaud the light of Christ, and the blessing of Christian civilization.
On that first Epiphany, the star belonging to baby Jesus ascended, and its glow intensified. How did it happen? Perhaps the same brilliant light that accompanied the angelic host’s appearance to the shepherds tending their sheep in the country then rose higher into the heavens becoming a star, a star to guide the Wise Men from the East to the manger of Bethlehem.
The visit of the Magi is one of the most beautiful incidents in the Gospel. It has a flavor of its own, combining earthly romance with heavenly mystery. Who are these exotic strangers from the East, and what does this unexpected homage mean? Why did a star guide them to the lowly dwelling of the infant Savior? Two Roman historians of the time record the fact that at this very period there prevailed throughout the East a belief that some important figure was going to appear on the scene out of Judea, a figure who would have universal dominion. It was the fullness of time, and the world crackled with messianic expectation.
What produced this heightened sense of anticipation? The Old Testament prophesies were crucial. Daniel for instance provided a time indication that the ancients could have calculated. Then Balaam had foretold the appearance of a star out of Israel. Remember Balaam whose donkey spoke? King Balak of Moab had asked him to come and curse Israel. Instead Balaam gave a different proclamation: “A star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult” (Numbers 24:17). It is an intriguing fact that both Balaam and the Magi came from the East. Could they not be part of the same school of Eastern scholars who looked for a coming global ruler?
Let’s return to Daniel. He spoke about the future appearance of Christ. In Daniel 9:24-27 the prophet revealed that from the moment the command went forward to rebuild the Temple, from that moment would pass 70 weeks of days, which is 490 years. In 490 years after the command to rebuild the temple the Messiah would appear to make redemption. In accord with Daniel’s inspired words, a century after Daniel uttered this prophecy, the Persian king, Artaxerxes I gave Nehemiah the order to go back to Jerusalem and restore the City and the Temple. This proclamation happened at about 458 B.C. Add 32 years onto 458 and we get 490. Around the year Jesus died on the cross. Some of the Bible scholars of Christ’ day had done their math and come to the conclusion that the Messiah was about to be born at any moment. A Messiah would appear to establish His worldwide kingdom. These prophetic clues fueled the speculation that swirled at the time of Herod, the Wise Men and the birth of Jesus.
The Wise Men finally arrived at the manger in Bethlehem and worshipped the newborn king. There He was! The Babe of Bethlehem wrapped in swaddling clothes surrounded by His mother Mary, father Joseph, and the other animals that may have been there. When the sages from the East had opened their treasures, they presented their gifts. The Church afterwards recalled how each gift symbolized different facets of the Person of Christ. It was fitting that to a king they should offer gold. The Lord and royalty had long been associated in the Psalms. Jesus is King. To Him who was very God they gave frankincense. Frankincense was the fragrant substance that was daily burned on the altar of incense in the Temple. Those precious odors set forth in visible and aromatic fashion the prayers of the saints rising up to Heaven before God’s throne. The incense would signify that Jesus Christ was fully God, receiving prayer and adoration. How about the myrrh? Myrrh was properly His because that spice was used to embalm and preserve dead bodies. Consequently, there is the indication that Jesus was a man invested with a mortal body. Hence, the Magi’s gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh signaled the royalty, the divinity, and the humanity of Jesus.
At the same time that the star illuminated the Wise Men it was confounding the murderous King Herod. The desperate act of Herod to kill the baby king was stopped. And this is an example of God’s providential care. We see how the Lord God protected the Babe of Bethlehem. He sent another angel to the Wise Men to warn them of Herod’s true intentions, and the Magi were able to return home without divulging their secret. Herod’s plan was foiled. His star would soon fall. The plans of the wicked will not prevail against God’s Anointed.
Epiphany is also called the “Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.” That Rising Star is a sign to us of the King of Kings and His universal Kingdom whose center and focus is in the Church. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and His light will someday shine in and through all nations. We have biblical confidence that God will enlighten the darkness of this world. Epiphany is a statement of faith, of confident and triumphant faith in the Triune God who governs all history. He is your light in a dark world. That rising star is indeed bright and will lead you to all truth, and your eternal home. During this season of Epiphany, sing the victory of Christ the King. As the Wise Men of old, come to the King and Savior of the world. Bow down and worship Him.
Let us pray.
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