The word Epiphany means to show forth or make known.
The Epiphany season of the church year affords us an opportunity to see Jesus as He truly is: “our great God and Savior” (Titus 2:13), the One “in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).
We see Jesus’ glory as the only begotten Son of God. We see it in His miracles and His teaching. We see it even in His wondrous grace
in willingly coming into the world for the likes of us. Jesus came to make the complete payment for the sins of all who had lived or ever would live.
In Spirit-created faith we see our Savior as He is: “the eternally blessed God” (Romans 9:5). During Epiphany it is important to be reminded that our Savior is almighty God who came with all power “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we now see and believe in Jesus as “…the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Throughout Holy Scripture we are repeatedly assured that Jesus is indeed God and Savior. In the epistle to the Hebrews it is said (to Jesus!): “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8).
A few short weeks ago we witnessed our Savior as the lowly Christ Child born in a stable and laid in a feed trough, seemingly helpless, yet He who lay there was and is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:15-17).
Sad to say, most people consider Jesus as someone less than God. It is simply unscriptural to deny that Jesus is God, and blasphemy to say so.
It is vital to know and confess the true divinity of our Lord before the coming Lenten season when we once again will bear witness to His death. During Jesus’ passion the world sees Him as a mere man—weak, beaten, and dying. The unbelieving cannot see His death as the greatest act of love and sacrifice ever known. They fail to understand that the only way forgiveness of sins and life eternal could be won was through Jesus’ death as the sinners’ substitute.
Jesus didn’t die as a broken and beaten man, but rather as our Redeemer with a shout of victory! “When Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last” (Luke 23:46). What humility on the part of the Savior, for He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:7-8).
Rejoice, fellow redeemed, as with the eyes of Spirit-given faith we see the majestic glory of our God and Savior! “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy; to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever, Amen” (Jude 1:24-25).