At last a sign that calls everyone to Christ

At last a sign that calls everyone to Christ

A follow-up to the 3 kings of the Epiphany

In show business when a breakthrough is announced as with a success they call it an Epiphany.  An unexpected pronouncement for an awaited answer to arduous waiting.  Some definitions call it a sudden insight or with the Wise Astrologers from the area of Mesopotamia a rising action which led them to the Christ child, the King of Israel. 

As we dwell on the appearance of the wise men from the East, our attention must  focus on the very essence that perpetuated this journey to answer the quest of prophetic teaching that originated centuries before regarding God’s prediction of saving his people from everlasting damnation due to their sin.

When the many attributes of the Savior’s presence became known through a virgin birth, a lifetime of preaching, suffering, sacrifice and death, a more pronounced entity first became present unseen within the womb of his Mother.  This is the Incarnation.  

The birth of Jesus stands as the symbol we worship; yet as pure and holy that is, the Incarnation is more perfect, more endearing, and more pronounced.  

His preaching with healing and forgiveness leaves a feeling of admiration and one to follow with ardent compassion; however the Incarnation is intensely greater, a sense of perfection, and a mode of assurance that leaves no question of doubt.

God’s way to redeem his creatures of sin allowed a path of rejection, ignorance of divine presence, and finally death; but within the womb of Mary His Mother, the Incarnation came first; and without this divine occurrence the birth, preaching, healing, suffering, and death could never happen.  

We don’t take time to blend our worship of Jesus in our daily adherence of the Risen Christ , but be assured without understanding the meaning of the Incarnation our prayers become clouded until that great announcement from The Angel Gabriel  said; “Hail, favored one!  The Lord is with you.”  Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”  

The Incarnation takes place before Jesus is born and here is where the Holy One takes on humanity.  God manifests himself through his works and this manifestation the wise men find at the feet of Jesus becomes the reality of their search.

Ralph B. Hathaway, The Manifestation of Christ in the Epiphany 2022