“The Mystery Made Known by Revelation”
Isaiah 60:1-6 [O.T. Lesson]
Ephesians 3:1-12[Preaching Text]
Our Old Testament lesson from the Prophet Isaiah is much more than, “Arise, shine for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.” This vision is much higher.
In reading the promises from the 60th chapter of Isaiah we long for the fulfillment of its promises. But we must wait patiently for God’s timing. He controls history, and He weaves together all our lives into His plan.
Throughout this book, Isaiah’s vision of salvation has repeatedly pointed to a culminating scene of all nations gathered in Jerusalem to worship.
The places mentioned, Midian, Ephah, and Sheba belonged to obscure tribes in the Arabian desert hundreds of miles from Israel. All people would come to Jerusalem because God would be living there and they would be attracted to His light. We are encouraged that even though we look around and see so few people turning to God; one day people throughout the earth will recognize Him as the one true God.
Ephesians 3:1-12
Today, we celebrate the Epiphany. It’s twelve days after Christmas [where the song comes from]. Everybody is in this great big hurry to get to Christmas and then when it’s over, they’re in the same hurry to put Christmas behind them, but the Season of Christmas is actually twelve days. The actual day of Epiphany isn’t until this Tuesday, but we celebrate it today.
For Epiphany we normally celebrate the Wise Men who followed a star they had seen in the east until it stopped over a house. The overjoyed Wise Men came to the house, and they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and of myrrh.
We don’t really know how many were in this caravan from the east, but we recognize three because of the three gifts. We know that these Magi weren’t kings as we have sung this morning but more than likely astrologers. Gold was for the gift of royalty; frankincense was a gift of deity; and myrrh was a spice used to anoint a body. These gifts may have provided the financial resources for the holy family’s trip to Egypt and back. “When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him’” [Matthew 2:13].
The Bible doesn’t give the wise men names, but traditions assign them names: Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar. These names emerged from legends centuries later, with Melchior often seen as an old king from Persia [gold], Caspar from India [frankincense], and Balthazar from Arabia or Ethiopia [myrrh].
Try to imagine the two-year trip made by the Wise Men—strangers really from the east. How many times do you think they questioned their trek? How many times do you think they considered turning back? How many times did they think God was leading them astray?
Friends—we must be in the Word—of the Word—and persist in the Word to be a part of God’s story. Call me crazy, but that sounds an awful lot like Epiphany to me. [An epiphany is a sudden, profound realization or manifestation of something important].
Just like the Wise Men—God sometimes calls us to unchartered territory—but He calls us—He directs us—He equips and prepares us—and He goes with us, Epiphany.
Like Epiphany, our Ephesians text celebrates the coming of Christ to the Gentiles. The mystery and message of God’s love is available to everyone. The inclusion of the Gentiles is of cosmic significance—the subject of talk among the angels.
Paul begins by writing, “For this reason.” Which forces us to read backwards to discover the “reason.” “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit” [Ephesians 2:19-22].
My Brothers and Sisters, you [WE] are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. Amen!
You see, we are all God’s children. If salvation was a matter of intelligence, or merit, or skin color, or even righteousness—some of us would be left out. But by the grace of Jesus Christ, all of us are accepted by God.
The Apostle Paul believed in the saving grace of Jesus Christ and spent a large portion of his ministry in chains because of it. He was a prisoner when he penned this letter to the church at Ephesus. Why, because he had been preaching and teaching that the salvation of Christ was for all men, not just the Jews.
It is remarkable that a Jew would be willing to suffer so much on behalf of non-Jews! But Paul no longer saw the Gentiles as outsiders—they are brothers and sisters in Christ, and so he will give his very life to make sure the whole family of God knows they are welcome in his household.
Paul’s mission, and the Church’s, is to make all people see what the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God is. The mystery, the secret that is now out in the open, is God’s plan for the unity of all, for dividing walls to be broken down, for all hostility to cease. The Church witnesses, not by chatting about such things, but by living out the mystery of a people unified in Christ.
We have all the resources of the Word—the Spirit—the Church—and the kingdom. By these we are sanctified, equipped, preserved, held, kept, strengthened, empowered, healed, restored, emboldened, and, yes, protected.
As the church and the family of God—many nations—different people—we must band together—it may be the most significant sowing for a great awakening we can do.
In 1994 Northwest Airlines offered some unusual round-trip passages aboard one of their planes. Fifty-nine dollars bought a “Mystery Fare” ticket that provided a one-day trip to an unknown American city. Buyers didn’t find out where they were heading until they arrived at the airport the day of the flight. Still, the airline had plenty of takers. In Indianapolis fifteen hundred people crowded the airline counter to buy the “Mystery Fare” tickets that were sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
Some of the mystery fliers were pleased with the results; some were not. Most of us are fine with a mystery as long as we know that, in the end, everything works out all right.
That’s what Paul is assuring of us today—everything is going to work out just fine. Everything will work out because the promises of God are for ALL people! You don’t have to be a certain race or a certain nationality or a certain class or a certain gender. The promises of God for all God’s children.
Eastman First Methodist Church 