Epiphany Reveals the End of the Story!

Epiphany Sunday, 1/5/20
Psalm 22:27, 28, 31


Epiphany Reveals the End of the Story!
I. Jesus rules over all.
II. All nations bow before him.


Have you ever read the end of a story first? Some people would never do that because they feel it would ruin reading the entire book. But I know others that do it with every book that they read. And their reason? They say they enjoy finding out first how things end and then reading the entire book against that background of information. I guess I can see merit in both methods.

Since we just celebrated the birth of Jesus, in a way you could say we just started reading the “book” of his life. If this were the story of any other baby, you would say there’s no way we could tell how his life would turn out. For every other baby, their life is a daily work in progress. There are twists and turns along the way. Only when their life here is over can you take a look back and see why their life turned out the way it did.

But not with the Christchild. This “Jesus as the Savior thing” did not just happen. It wasn’t a daily work in progress. His life wasn’t the product of decisions that he made, things that simply happened to him or blind luck. His life here on earth was all worked out by his heavenly Father. Who he was and what he would do were divinely determined. In fact, the book of his life was already written even before he was born.

Much of what would happen to Jesus was written in Psalm 22. This morning’s sermon text is from some of the final verses of that Psalm. Listen to those words. (Read text.)

Today we’re celebrating the Epiphany of our Lord. In the season of Christmas we celebrate the truth that Jesus was born to be our Savior. In the season of Epiphany we celebrate the truth that Jesus reveals himself as the Savior of the world. Already as a child we see that happening. That’s what the worship of the magi was all about. That worship of him was just the beginning. Today in Psalm 22 we see where that worship ends. Epiphany reveals the end of the story! Join me in taking a look at it this morning.

Part I.

What do you know about Psalm 22? You might reply, “I know quite a bit about Psalm 23. In fact, it’s my favorite Psalm. But I don’t know much about Psalm 22.” If you’re saying something similar to that to yourself, then you might be surprised to know that Psalm 22 is the most quoted chapter of the Old Testament in the New Testament. Psalm 22 was written by King David, which means that it was written about 1000 BC. If you’ve worshipped here on Good Friday, then you’ve at least heard of Psalm 22. The first 21 verses of Psalm 22 are a graphic description of the crucifixion of Jesus including some of the very words he would speak while nailed to the cross. The last third of the psalm speaks about the results of his work which ended on the cross.

One of those results is that Jesus is Lord over all things. But his lordship didn’t begin after his resurrection on Easter. He’s been Lord over all things from eternity. That wasn’t apparent to many people when that Lord lay in a manger or nestled in his mother’s arms. Even though Jesus the King had been born, only Herod seemed to be impressed by it, and only in a paranoid way.

And in that regard, not much has changed since. Our world doesn’t recognize his lordship over all things. Instead, Jesus is the subject of blasphemous comedy. The teachings of Jesus are declared to be closed-minded, judgmental and extremely outdated. Relatively few acknowledge the lordship of Jesus.

But the magi did. Their worship of Jesus was one fulfillment of these words of the psalm, “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.” The magi are some of the most mysterious characters in the Bible. We don’t even know how many magi there were, only that they presented Jesus with three gifts. When the Bible says that they came from the east, we assume that means the area of Babylon. Perhaps they came into contact with the true God’s promise of a Savior through the influence of Daniel 500 years earlier. By God’s grace these magi believed that promise and came to worship Jesus as their Savior and the Lord of all things.

And just as they recognized him, so do we. It’s all by God’s grace—the God who has worked saving faith in our hearts. While countless others refuse to believe that there was anything special about this child named Jesus, we join the magi and bow before him as our Savior and our King. In doing so, we, too, are one fulfillment of these words of the psalm. We’re part of another nation that is bowing down before him recognizing that Jesus rules over all. And that’s exactly what Jesus is doing right now. That’s exactly what he’ll be doing for all eternity. That’s the end of the story. Epiphany reveals the end of the story. Jesus rules over all.

The magi appear in Matthew’s gospel and then disappear. We never hear about them again. But how do you think life changed for them after they had worshipped Jesus as their Savior and King? Well, outwardly I don’t think it changed much at all. They went home and likely faced opposition for their faith in Jesus, perhaps even ridicule. They went home to face the very same problems they left. Their days were filled with stress. They got sick. Eventually they died. And yet they still knew the end of the story, that Jesus rules over all.

And that’s exactly the same for us. Outwardly our lives haven’t changed since we bowed before Jesus in faith. We still face stress. We’re bombarded by problems at home and work. Health issues nag us. We worry about the unrest in our country and world. Outwardly nothing has changed. But inwardly there’s been a drastic change. By faith in Jesus our sins are forgiven. We’re members of his eternal kingdom. He died to make us his own forever. And now he rules over all things for us. The end of the story has been revealed to us. He brings us into his eternal kingdom to live with him forever. And until then, we deal with life’s daily problems knowing that, in the end, it all works out. Epiphany reveals the end of the story.

Part II.

When something wonderful has occurred, it’s easy to exaggerate the details, to make the story more wonderful than it actually was. That was especially true in ancient times. Victorious kings were known for padding the numbers of prisoners they took or the value of the gold they seized.

King David writes here in Psalm 22, “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him.” Was he guilty of exaggerating the details? Was the story of his Savior so wonderful for him that he padded the numbers?

Not at all. When David uses the word “all” he uses it in a common ancient way. He’s referring to representatives from every family of the nations. He was countering the Jewish misconception that salvation was going to come from the Jews and was only for the Jews. David saw the end of the story that people from every nation of the world would come to faith in Jesus.

The magi were part of that. As Gentiles they represented another family of the nations which bowed before the Savior. And the magi were just the beginning of it. During Jesus’ ministry on this earth he encountered numerous Gentiles who believed that he was their Savior from sin. And Jesus commended them for their faith.

But these Gentiles not only possessed saving faith, they also shared it. David speaks about that with these words, “They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn.” The righteousness of God is the holiness which he gives to sinners through faith in Jesus. David is here speaking about Gentiles sharing the saving gospel of Jesus with others. He’s talking about what we’re doing right now. We are a fulfillment of these words. That’s how the story ends.

Epiphany reveals the end of the story. All nations bow before him.

If you’ve ever traveled in a third world country, no doubt you have seen the depths of poverty living right outside the gated property of the very wealthy. If I were one of those wealthy people, I don’t know if I could live like that. I’m living in the lap of luxury while just over the fence an entire family lives in a shack with no plumbing or electricity. As I drive out of my compound in a luxury car, I don’t think I could bear to see the pain on the faces of my impoverished neighbors.

David describes us as being the rich. We’re the ones who have the riches of God grace. He’s given us something that not all the money in the world could buy—our forgiveness and eternal life. It was free for us but it cost him the life and death of his Son. We have perfect bliss with him in heaven waiting for us. That’s the end of the story. And we’re the ones David was talking about when he said, “They will proclaim his righteousness.” There’s a world on the outside looking in. But here’s where my little analogy limps. They don’t know how rich we are with Christ and they don’t know how impoverished they are without him. But that’s the work—the privileged work—that our Epiphany Lord has given us to do. One of the reasons he brought us to faith is to share it with others. As we embark on a new year, let’s consider how we can do that together. Let’s plan together and work together to reach more people with the saving good news of Jesus. That’s what David sees us doing. That’s the end of the story. Now that you know how it all turns out, let’s get busy figuring out how we’re going to get there. Amen.