The Light Shines

A very blessed Epiphany to you. We celebrate today as the day when the magi followed the star in order to find the child who had been born King of the Jews. Read Matthew 2:1-12 for the full story.

Often we find ourselves caught up in the discussion of the magi, the star, King Herod and all the other details of the story. I would like to challenge you to see a deeper meaning of the story. In the coming of the magi, you see the hand of God at work. Without God working in their lives, they never would have come to the the Christ-child. Instead, they would have remained blissfully unaware that the Savior of the world had been born. They would have been content to live in their ignorance and their sin without any hope of knowing the One who has come to save them from their sins and from their eternal damnation.

Instead, God intervened. He placed a star in the sky. He gave them the ability to search the writings of a foreign country (Israel) and find in Numbers 22 that Balaam foretold that a star would announce the coming of the King. He moved their hearts to follow the star. God gave the priests in Jerusalem the knowledge to interpret Micah 5 in order to know that the child would be born in Bethlehem. God had the wicked King Herod send the magi to Bethlehem to search for the child. God placed the star back in the sky in order to guide them to the house where Mary and Jesus were to be found.

God revealed to them the Savior, the Light of the world. Into the darkness of this world, God send His Son. He sends the Savior of the world. He gives the One that is needed by you and me, sinners lost in our darkness, heading for an eternity in hell. God sends the Light.

He reveals that Light to you and me. He doesn't do it with a star. He does it with His Word. That wonderful Word shows us the Savior, the Christ-child. In the Word, we are shown out need of a Savior. We are shown the depth of our depravity. God then reveals to us the wonder of His love. He reveals to us His Son. He leads us along the paths of life to His Son Jesus Christ.

I pray that you will be guided by the Word to your Savior. I pray that your life will be blessed as the Spirit opens the Word up to you and shows you the Light of Christ.

Together, let's walk the road of life, guided by the Word, strengthened by the Spirit. The goal? Life eternal in heaven with our Lord. That is where we shall see the Christ, the Savior, the only true Light.