EPIPHANY
January 9/10, 2011
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Isaiah 60:1-6

“RISE AND SHINE, BELIEVERS!”
1. It may look a little dark.
2. But the Glory of the Lord has appeared.
3. And look at all the gifts they are bringing!

Isaiah 60:1-6 (NIV) “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. 5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.”

Rise and shine! If you are not a morning person those are words you do not want to hear. If you are a morning person those are words you love to hear because you get to go at it again. If you are a “mourning” person and a believer in the one true God they are words you definitely want to hear Him speak. Such was the case for the believers in the Old Testament at the time of the prophet Isaiah. They were in mourning and so how good it was to hear God say, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.” Let’s find out why and what this means to us.
When Isaiah wrote these words the people of Israel were a spiritual mess. They thought that outward mechanical bringing of offerings was good enough and pleasing to God. They honored God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. They were in dire straits as a nation. Someone had a great idea. Let’s hold a fast and that will impress God. But it didn’t. Their hearts were not in it and they were relying on themselves. They became despondent. It’s like they were flopped on the ground in despair. Things looked a little dark.
And they were going to get a little darker. See, God had announced a consequence for the nation. Conquest. Exile for the people. Signs were all around. Things were not going well for the nation. They were in decline. You can understand why the people were a down, despondent, depressed. Things were looking a little dark. God acknowledged it. “See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples.” It was the darkness caused by sin and unbelief.
I think we can relate a little, can’t we? For the people of God living in the United States of America things can look a little dark. While we are still a big boy on the block we are not the dominant player on the world scene that we used to be. Some would call us a nation in decline. There is darkness over our nation too. The darkness of unbelief and sin. If you can believe what the polls say fewer and fewer identify themselves as Christian year after year and of those who do the concept of Christianity has been so watered down by false teaching it’s really hard to know how many truly are believers in Jesus as the Christ. As a nation we are getting more and more immoral. We legally murder millions of babies. Sexual sinning gets more and more blatant and more and more acceptable each year. Hey, even our great city of Milwaukee gets in on the action. Did you see it? We won the award for the drunkest city in America! Yeah! But it’s not just the unbelievers getting in on that action is it? Even the people of God.“See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples.”
But what does God say? Rise and shine, people! Why? Listen again.“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” God told the Old Testament believers that they could rise and shine even though things looked a little dark because they had the glory of the Lord. Now that’s an interesting phrase in the Hebrew language. It even sounds cool. In Hebrew the glory of the LORD is pronounced CAVOD ADONAI. Say it with me, CAVOD ADONAI. But even cooler is what it means. The CAVOD ADONAI, the Glory of the Lord, referred for instance the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night that led the Israelites out of Egypt. It covered Mt. Sinai when the law was being given. It filled the Temple when it was dedicated. It was a bright light picture, a visible presentation of God’s grace. God graciously comes the help of His people. God graciously comes to live with them. And now you know what the CAVOD ADONAI here refers to. It’s Jesus. God’s Old Testament people could rise above their circumstances and shine for their Lord because Messiah, Jesus was coming.
Now remember we live on the other side of this prophecy. We live in fulfillment. We have the glory of the Lord. We have Immanuel, God with us. Jesus has promised to be with us always, so He is. Jesus promised that where two or three come together in His name, He is there with them. Good morning, Jesus! And remember that the Glory of the Lord, the CAVOD ADONAI, is to be gracious. He picks up the fallen and mourning. Rise and Shine! He forgives those who don’t deserve it. Have you got some sins bothering you? Have you been a part of the darkness? Rise and shine! We have the glory of the Lord, Jesus. He forgives you.
Now, look at all the gifts they are bringing to Him! “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. 5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.” That’s quite a picture, isn’t it? All these people coming bringing all these gifts. It may not have looked like it at the time to the Old Testament people of God but the Messiah and His Church is glorious. What a treasure they had in their Savior that would be treasured by so many more people. When the Wise Men came from the east bring their gold, frankincense and myrrh, it was just the start of people bringing gifts to Jesus.
Since that time the wealth of the world has been brought as gifts to Jesus, billions and billions to honor Him and carry out the mission given to the church. We’ve also been a part of that. How many millions have been brought by the people of St. Jacobi in its 137 years? Think about that! But some even more impressive gifts have been brought to Jesus. People have brought to Him that broken and contrite heart that He does not despise. They have brought Him grateful hearts for blessings. They have brought to Him trusting hearts in time of trial. And they have brought to Him willing obedience to His commands. That’s what He loves. Remember what the Lord said? If you love me, obey my commandments.
Now, rise and shine, believers. It does not matter if things look a little dark, if Jesus is not valued in our country or by our fellow Americans. It does not matter if people like living in sinful ways rather than God pleasing ones. It does not matter if our past contains those shameful sins of darkness. It does not matter if the church struggles or isn’t perceived to be glorious. We have the glory of the Lord. We have Jesus so we have forgiveness. We have God with us and God for us! No more living sad, pessimistic down and dreary lives. Rise and shine for Jesus. Let’s bring to Him the gifts of willing obedience. Your shining will attract others to the glory of the Lord. Live with a happy heart. Serve with joy at whatever you do. Milwaukee may be the drunkest city in the nation but that doesn’t mean that we have to be a part of it. We can be different, lights shining in a dark place, shining for Jesus.
Children, think of how you can do that too. If God lets this world continue you will be that next generation. Practice now with careful obedience to God commands. Let the words you choose to use and refuse to use show everyone who hears what it means to have the glory of the Lord and what a privilege and honor it is. Adults, remember what the children taught us. You can’t shine without power. God has put His power in the Word. Use it and you will rise and shine to His glory. Amen.