"Where will our world find light?"

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you." But "darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples."

So, which is it? Epiphany is the season of light. The wise men follow a star until it casts its beams directly upon the house where the young Christ lives. The lights of the Christmas tree still brighten the sanctuary. The brightest and best of the stars of the morning dawns on our darkness and lends us its aid.

The light of Christ is here – in his Church. Tragically, there’s also a whole world out there that’s still covered by thick darkness. Even in this season of light, there is still darkness, but Epiphany is Christ’s appearing to bring the world to that place of light.

The Lord gives light to the Church, and, through the light, calls the whole world into His Church.

Those in darkness need light. The whole world needs light. The world is in the darkness of sin, under the shroud of death. Fear reigns. Isaiah’s words give a contrast to light and darkness. In the pagan cults, the netherworld is a place of darkness, demanding a daily renewal of the struggle between light and darkness.

Isaiah shows this darkness as sin, and that this victory over darkness is not one pagan god overcoming another, but it is the glory of the Lord, which is the removal of sin and shame. Darkness belongs to the nations. They are covered in it, but the light belongs to Zion, the Church.

Israel needed the light of God, because she had plunged herself into darkness by seeking safety through alliances with the world, rather than by remaining in the sureness and certainty of the covenant of blood given her by the Lord. That was Israel’s foundational sin. This was more than just a political sin; it was a denial that the Lord was their light. Their failure to trust in him completely was a rejection of the promises God had made to her.

We also need light. Each of us as, members of Christ’s Body, the Church, are in the darkness of our own sinful flesh. We are deluded by the devil, by the world around us, with which we make our own alliances, and our own sinful flesh.

The Lord gives light to the Church and empowers it to overcome all darkness. But just what is this light? The light is the enlightening of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads us first into his holy congregation and places us in the loving arms of the Church. Throughout the Church He preaches to us and brings us to Christ.

The light is the Gospel; the fact that through faith in the death of Christ Jesus for our sins, we are justified. Our sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ. It is His holy blood that redeems us, purchasing us from the kingdom of darkness. Luther says in his Small Catechism "where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation."

Now that we know what the light is, we need to know who it’s for. The light is for us. Paul wrote that "Neither you nor I could ever know anything about Christ, or believe in Him, and have Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the

So that this treasure might not stay buried, so that it may be received and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed. In the Word, God the Father has the Holy Spirit bring this treasure home and make it our own.

The light is also for our world. The Gospel goes out to all. Because outside of this Christian Church, out where the Gospel is not found, there is no forgiveness and so there can be no holiness. The world will only find life and light at the Church, in the community of the Lord’s people, where sins are being forgiven through the Word and Sacraments of the Gospel.

The promise of light to Israel that is found in verse three of our text is also a promise that she will be a light to the world. The world will find true light nowhere else but Zion.

So, the question for us this morning, the question for the Church this morning is; do you se yourself in that light? You are those who are called into the light. The Holy Spirit has called each of us by the Gospel, enlightened us with His gifts, sanctified and kept us in the true faith.

In response to what God has done for us through the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to be a light to the world. Based on the words of Galatians 4:26, the Lutheran Confessions, say that the Church is "the mother that conceives and bears every Christian through God’s Word."

Through the Word, the Holy Spirit reveals and preaches, He illuminates and kindles our hearts, so that they understand, accept, cling to, and persevere in the Word.

So arise and shine! You are a light to the world, As you are given birth in Baptism, as you are kept in the light of the Gospel by the preaching of the Word, as you are sustained by the body and blood of him who is the light of salvation, you are also most honored. You are honored that the Lord stands before the dark, fearing world, as a light.

There is an art genre called the dance of death, where the artist depicts the macabre scene of death personified, leading a train of skeletons down into the grave. Hans Holbein has a famous painting by the same title, but the scene also shows up in cemeteries and churches dating back to the 1400’s.

Why do some have such a ghastly fascination? The clear message that one thing unites all people is the dance of death – the return of dust to dust. Prince or pauper, soldier or maiden, all appear the same when viewed as skeletons being led, dancing, to the grave by death personified.

Long before the 1400’s, Isaiah described this universal despair as the darkness covering all people. The wretched dance is universal. Then Isaiah describes what could be called the dance of life and light. It too, is universal, as all are called to the salvation, forgiveness, and life given at Zion. "The Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together as they come to you… Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult…. [the nations] shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord. Amen.