In Celebration of Epiphany

On January 6 we celebrated Epiphany, remembering the magi, or wise men who came to worship the Christ child. Holy Scriptures state that they followed a star which led them to the house where Mary, Joseph, and the Christ child were residing, and they presented him with gifts, gifts worthy of a king, the Savior who came to save the world from sin.

Through many ages astrologers and scientists have attempted to identify what this “star” was, and have suggested many explanations. A recent article on YouTube made six suggestions, which included a meteor, a comet, or a supernova. But these explanations, and all the explanations made over the years have ignored the simplest and most satisfactory explanation: it was a miracle by God created for the express purpose of leading these magi to worship the Savior of the world.

Today we celebrate Epiphany, remembering the Christ Child, not just that he was born a little child, but celebrating the reason why he came to this world. Jesus Christ was true God who became a true man in order to save mankind from the terrible consequences of sin. The penalty for sin is death, declares the one true God, since only a perfect person may enter into his eternal kingdom.

Because Jesus was true God as well as true man he was born without sin. And he lived a completely sinless life, but then he died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin. But not for his sins, since he was sinless, but he died for the sins of all mankind, paying the penalty you and I deserve. He died for sin, and for his sake God the father forgives the sins committed by all mankind. We receive this forgiveness when we believe this and trust in Jesus Christ as our lord and savior.

The Magi were well versed in the Old Testament and knew that the birth of the Savior would be announced by a star, and therefore with joy they came a great distance to worship their Savior. We cannot see the star today because it was a miracle by God which lasted only for the purposes of the Magi, but we have the Holy Scriptures describing that event, and we also worship that our Lord and Savior came and rescued us from sin and eternal death and has offered us eternal life with him when we believe this and trust in him and him alone for our salvation.

Happy Epiphany to you today and for all eternity.