Listening for the Promise
Sola Publishing – Weekly Devotions
Feast of the Epiphany – January 6, 2025
SOWeR Site — Weekly Devotional © Sola Publishing: www.solapublishing.com, 2016, written by Julie A. Smith. Scripture taken from ESV Bible® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
(permission granted to active subscribers to reproduce this sheet for local congregational use)

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”
- Isaiah 60:1-6 -
This is a dark time of the year in Minnesota.  Dark and bitterly cold. This is the time of year when those who are able flee to warmer places, where the sun shines hot, and doesn’t set at 4:30 in the afternoon. And yet, when the sun does shine these days, it is blindingly bright as it reflects off the snow.  At this time of year in Minnesota there is no middle ground between deep, gloomy darkness and blinding light.  
As Isaiah offered his prophetic word, he was speaking to a people living in deep darkness.  They were homeless, nationless, and, as far as they could tell, godless. Darkness had swallowed them up.
And then Isaiah brought this word, “Arise, shine, for your light has come.” The days of darkness would give way to the bright light of God’s presence among his people. The darkness would be swallowed up by the light. The darkness would not last forever. The light of God’s presence, meanwhile, is everlasting. It cannot be extinguished.
When we find ourselves in the midst of dark days, it can be difficult to see the light of God’s presence.  Sometimes that light is barely a flickering flame. Sometimes we can’t even see a trace of that light, but only the shadows it casts. But God’s promise in Jesus Christ is that the day is surely coming when you will arise to the full brightness of Christ’s glorious presence. The day is surely coming when the darkness will be no more.
On this Day of Epiphany, we celebrate the revelation of Christ’s presence in the world. We mark that moment when darkness was first sent on the run, when the light appeared on the scene in a new way, a way that could not be denied, could not be snuffed out. 
Isaiah’s call to his people rings through to us even down to this day. Arise, the light has come. It may not be obvious to you every moment of every day, but the glory of the Lord has risen upon you and will raise you to himself. That is the promise that banishes the darkness in our lives and in this world once and for all.