The Epiphany

I am told that Durham is a beautiful city.  Ez and I would not know as when we went to watch England v West Indies cricket match it was so foggy and rainy we could not see further than a yard ahead of us!  We then drove to Edinburgh.  I am told this is another beautiful city.  We would not know though, as it was still so foggy and rainy we could not see a yard in front of us.  We then drove to Skye for a two week holiday.  Apparently the drive is breath-taking!  We would not know though as it was so foggy and rainy we could barely make out the fog lights on the car in front.  But then… The most glorious thing happened.  As we drove past Inverness on our way to the Skye Bridge the wind began to pick up.  Suddenly the fog started to clear, the rain started to stop and the sun started to shine… all of a sudden we could see the irresistible countryside, the beautiful blue lakes, wonderful mountains still snow topped, the miles and miles of breath-taking scenery.  We were surely driving in heaven!  Of course Scotland had always been beautiful but it was then when the sun shone and the fog left that Ez and I knew it for ourselves.  We knew the beauty of Scotland.  We had an epiphany.

The bible is full of people having epiphanies.  Men and woman who in moments of need have found out things about God that have always been true.  Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah have an epiphany when they see the lamb in the thicket.  This leads Abraham to say that ‘God always provides’. God has always provided but right there on the mountain Abraham knew it for himself.  Hagar has been humiliated by Sarah and Abraham and has fled the camp.  She finds herself in the middle of nowhere, heavily pregnant, in 110 degrees of heat, desperate for water utterly alone.  She thinks to herself ‘no one could possible know what I’m going through, nobody notices me in my rock bottom’. But then an epiphany. The divine comes to see her and she realises that God is the ‘God that see’s’.  Of course God has always seen Hagar, but there in her rock bottom she knows it to her very soul.  The Psalmist in Psalm 139 contemplates whether he can escape God’s presence.  And as he contemplates he has an epiphany and he realises that even if he was to run into space or darkness, God will be with him.  Whatever we are going through today or tomorrow we can know that we also have a God that provides, sees us and walks with us.  But perhaps the greatest epiphany happened on Christmas day all those years ago.  Titus 2:11 says ‘the grace of God appeared’.  Of course God has always been gracious but it was only when Jesus was born in the feeding trough of animals having given up paradise, equality with God that the world could see it.  It was as he was born that the fog left, the rain stopped and the sun shone revealing a wonderfully loving and gracious God.  It was Christmas day the grace of God appeared. From then on, God would always be seen through the beautiful lens of Jesus.

The verse in Titus 2:11 goes even further still.  Paul writes ‘the grace of God appeared bringing salvation to all people’.  This is more than grace this is saving grace.  The epiphanies continue throughout the gospels as people realise that Jesus was the messiah.  First it was Zechariah who sang:

“By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our ways into the way of peace”. 

Zechariah’s picture is one of a dark world where its people have lost all direction.  As a result it is a place without joy and peace, heading towards death.   Zechariah has the epiphany that Jesus is going to be the horn of salvation who can save us from this fate.  Simeon and Anna who have been waiting, praying and fasting their whole lives. Finally they get the opportunity to hold that baby bought by Mary and Joseph for the Jewish customary ceremonies.  As they hold him they have the epiphany that this is the one they have been waiting for.  This is the one who is God’s instrument of salvation.  The boy grew up to be a man and the epiphanies continued.  The Samaritan woman and her townspeople, Peter having been rescued from drowning, the man born blind when he recovered his sight, the thief on the cross and the soldier at the foot… ‘This is surely the Son of God?’ This is grace, saving grace; this is glorious and wonderful salvation.  Titus 2:11, ‘grace has appeared bring salvation to all people’.

Paul Beasley Murray tells the story of a minister who was counselling a married couple.  There was much anger and hurt and lots of misunderstanding.  Finally during a session the husband loses it and shouts… ‘I’ve given you everything… I have given you a house to live in, a car to drive, clothes to wear, food for the table… I have given, given, given…’  The list went on for a while.  Finally when he stopped the wife said ‘you are right, you have given me everything… but yourself’.  In contrast God gave us his very self at Christmas, his one and only Son.  Now whoever we are, however we come and whatever we have done we can know forgiveness and new life. Paul wrote to Timothy ‘God our saviour desires everyone to be saved’.  Well Christmas is the moment it became possible when God stooped down to Bethlehem and the feeding trough and went on to embrace Calvary.  ‘The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all people’.  May we give God the greatest gift in return of simply accepting His gift and learning to follow Him.  I hope you have a happy Christmas and have a great new year!