The Weekly Perspective
by TJ Draper, Deacon
The holidays have come to an end, the decorations are coming down, the diets are… well, maybe not back on track, but many of us feel the urgent need to get back to some, let’s say, simpler foods. Perhaps new resolutions have been made for the year, and it may be that you’re feeling a little down, what with all the fun and excitement in the rear-view mirror.
But be encouraged! Christmastide culminated in Epiphany on January 6th, which we celebrate today. But what is Epiphany? It is the celebration of Christ revealed to the Gentiles in the visit of the Magi. Isaiah makes reference to this in chapter 60:2–3:
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.
This is the glory of the coming of Christ. For, from the Jews comes the salvation of all people, Jew and Gentile alike. And, as Paul later expounds in Romans 11 where he uses a tree to illustrate His people, we Gentiles were then grafted into that tree so that there is now neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), for we are now one in Christ, and Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3). This is what we celebrate today. Praise be to the incarnate Lord Jesus Christ!