EPIPHANY
January
3-5, 2026
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Isaiah 60:1-6 (EHV)
“RISE AND SHINE!”
1.
Rise
above the darkness.
2.
Shine
to dispel the darkness.
Rise and shine! If you are not a morning
person, those are words you do not want to hear. You know how it goes. You are
a teenager. It is Saturday morning. You are looking forward to another 16 hours
of sleep and then Mom sweeps into the room. “Rise and shine!” she says with a
cheery voice. And your teenage body just wants to roll over and sleep. “Rise
and shine!” the parent announces on the Monday after Christmas vacation. “Time
to get ready for school.” Rise and Shine! Even when we are a little more mature
those are not always welcomed words. But there are times when they are. When
you are going on an awesome vacation next day. When you open presents on
Christmas morning and your parents say you can’t get out of bed until it is
light outside. Then you can’t wait to hear the words “Rise and Shine!”
And when your Lord says those words.
Someday, when your earthly life ends your Lord Jesus will wake you from the
sleep of death with His “Rise and shine!” welcome into heaven. And today in His
word we hear the same welcome words. Today we once again celebrate the Church
Festival of Epiphany. Often called the Gentiles’ Christmas, Epiphany celebrates
the many different ways God revealed that the Savior born to the Jews is the
Savior for all people and how that changes their lives. And yet the word of God
we turn to this morning was written about 700 years before Jesus was born. It
served as needed comfort and encouragement to God’s people then. It does the
same now.
If you were a believer that lived in
the time of Isaiah you needed comfort and encouragement. God acknowledged that
when He had Isaiah tell the people, 2 Look,
darkness covers the earth, and deep darkness covers the peoples.” Then and
now darkness was a word that brought to mind bad times. Doom and gloom. You
looked at your fellow citizens. They were a blessed people, a people chosen by
God but so many did not care. If they even bothered to worship God it was lip
service, going through the motions. Morality had slid into the sewer. Under the
cover of darkness, sexual sinning, murders, stealing had become a way of life.
God had tried to help them numerous times with numerous prophets including
Isaiah. They all warned that bad things happen when God’s people turn their
back on Him but the people wouldn’t listen. Now enemies would come and conquer
them and carry the people away, believer and unbeliever alike. Who would blame
these believers if they just wanted to roll over and stay in their spiritual
bed?
“Rise and shine!” came the voice of
God! Rise above the darkness. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and
the glory of the Lord is dawning upon you. 2 Look,
darkness covers the earth, and deep darkness covers the peoples, but
the Lord will dawn upon you, and his glory will be seen over you.”
Were times tough? Yes. Did things look dark? Yes. Did that matter? No! Why not?
They had the glory of the Lord. This was God’s way of saying He was with them.
He would take care of them. They could rise, live above their circumstances
because God was in control and would work things for their good.
So can you! Like it was at the time of
Isaiah I think we have to say darkness covers our land and darkness covers our
people. Shootings, murders, carjackings. Polarization and division among
families and coworkers. The inability most people seem to have to disagree without
getting disagreeable. You are told to follow the science when it comes to
medical advice but ignore when it comes to when a baby is a baby or what sex
people are. That kind of foolishness
happens when spiritual darkness covers the land. But all these issues and many
more are really just symptoms of the bigger problem, the darkness of unbelief.
People of America who have received so many obvious physical blessings have
turned their backs on God. Most don’t even bother to pay lip service to Him. Jesus
is rejected as Savior. Darkness covers the land. Add to that things going on in
our personal lives. We see some of our children and grandchildren blinded by
the Devil, swallowing hook line and sinker, his lies about who they are and
what God made them to be. Things with addictive qualities are so accessible and
bring into our homes the hurt and heartache of a family member who is caught in
one of them. Kind of makes you just want to stay in bed all day. “Rise and
shine!” says your Lord. Rise above the darkness. Get your chin up and put a
smile on that face! You only get to give up if Jesus is dead. He is not! Jesus
lives, Jesus rules. We have the glory of the Lord with us. He will not leave us
or forsake us. He will work all things for the good no matter how dark things
appear. You can rise above the darkness because your Lord is with you. Rise and
shine!
Not only does God’s presence among us
enable us to rise above the darkness of unbelief all around us it also helps us
to dispel that darkness. “Nations will walk to your light, and kings to the
brightness of your dawn. 4 Look up. Look all around and
see! All of them have been gathered. They are coming to you. Your sons will
come from far away, and people will carry your daughters on their side.” Light
dispels darkness. Isaiah told of a time when people from all around the world
would be coming to God’s people. That happened big time when the mystery of
Epiphany that Paul talked about in his letter to the Ephesians was revealed.
Jesus is Savior for all people. The Gentiles, or non Jews, were attracted to
the Jews who believed in Jesus who shared the wonderful news. As they let their
lights shine for Jesus they dispelled the darkness of unbelief in their time.
You and I can do that too! The best
thing you and I can do for our nation and its unbelieving people is to be who
we are. The best thing you can do for your children and grandchildren is to be
who you are. The Lord Jesus said “You are the light of the world. Let your
light shine before people so they can see your good deeds and glorify your
Father in heaven.” This is why striving to deliberately live as Christians is
so important. We all know that our good deeds don’t get us to heaven but they
do show others we are going to heaven and they can attract others to us so we
can tell them why we are different. Our lives become a voiceless testimony to
what it means to have Jesus as Savior. We are His lights. And you know what
light does? It dispels darkness! What a different nation we would be if there
were more and more believers in it. We can’t make people believe. That is not
our lane, our job. But we can talk in such a way, work in such a way, act in
such a way, that people see our light, notice our difference and are attracted
to a life that has the glory of Jesus. Shine to dispel the darkness!
Rise and shine! Welcome words from our
God. They not only tell us what to do but give the power and are filled with
promise. “Then you will look and be radiant. Your
heart will race with excitement and burst with joy. For great riches from the
sea will be delivered to you. The wealth of the nations will come to you. 6 Caravans
of camels will cover your land, young camels from Midian and Ephah. All those
from Sheba will come. They will carry gold and incense ,and they will announce
the good news of the praise of the Lord.” These words found their
first fulfillment in the visit of the Wise Men from the East. They have
continued to be fulfilled as throughout the centuries millions to billions of
people have offered their wealth as a way of honoring Jesus. But the best is
yet to come. The riches of heaven belong to you because you belong to the Lord.
So get up Christians. This is no time for pessimism and doom and gloom! It’s
time to rise and shine! Amen.
