When it comes to buying Christmas gifts, do you buy them early, or do you wait until the last minute? Every year, I want to be like my grandma was. When I was a kid, my grandma would have all of her Christmas shopping finished in August. She would wrap presents and hide them in a certain place, and the grandkids all knew they were forbidden to look in that place once August rolled around. We never even dared try to peek. Sadly, most of the time, I am a far more last minute shopper than I would like to be. You won’t find me out shopping on Christmas Eve, but I’m a long way away from having everything purchased and wrapped in August.

Tim King, who owns a construction company in Illinois, had parents who purchased and wrapped the gifts in plenty of time. But, due to unusual circumstances, he didn’t receive one of his gifts for 47 years. Tim was doing a small remodeling project on the bathroom in his parents’ home, when he thought maybe he should look inside the wall before they closed it up all the way. To his surprise, he found a wrapped Christmas present. To his shock, he saw that it was his name on the gift tag. Tim waited until his mother got home, and he showed her the gift and opened it in front of her. Inside the gift was a set of Matchbox Thunderjets. Tim would have been six-years-old when his parents bought the gift for him. He thinks that his parents had hidden the gifts in the attic, and one managed to slip down into the wall of the bathroom.

Even though the gift had been in the home all along, it took 47 years for everyone to realize it. I wonder if it meant even more to Tim when he found it than it would have if everything had followed the original plan. Today, on this last day of the Christmas season, we have the opportunity to discover the light of Christ that has come into the world. Maybe you have been so busy with all the lead up to the holidays that you didn’t have a moment to really savor the good news. Or maybe you felt inspired this season, and you have the chance to be inspired again today. Or, maybe this is all brand new for you. Whatever the case might be, I hope you will allow your curiosity to encourage you to look more closely at the story. Let’s be amazed by what we find there.

Isaiah 60 begins with words of hope– “Arise, shine; for your light has come” –and then quickly points out a problem: “For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.” This darkness might be scary for the people, but the promise remains that God is shining a light into the world. The people of God are called to radiate this same light, so that the world might know about it. Eventually, the day will come when all people will be drawn to the light. The day will come when oppression, suffering, and hardship are no more. But until that day, the light will still shine. We won’t be left without it. And we are called to shine that same light for each other.

Let’s dig deeper into the passage from Isaiah. As we do so, I want us to look at three parts of the story: the cast of characters, the order of the plot, and the surprising twist at the end. 

First, let’s take a look at the cast of characters. Isaiah 60 begins with an imperative–a command, “Arise, shine for your light has come.” And why are the people told to do this? Because God’s glory has risen upon them. Even though the chapter goes on to talk a lot about common people, kings, and animals, God is the main character in Isaiah 60. God shines light on the people who are sorely in need of it. God makes his glory appear over the people. God sees the darkness they are living in, and God shines divine light upon them. The very beginning of the chapter is about the action God is taking, and the very end of our passage for this morning says what it’s all about: “They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.” God shines light on the people, and the whole world sees it and turns to give praise to God.

 God is the main character of this chapter, but there is also a bigger cast of characters. Isaiah is writing to people who have suffered loss after loss. They have been defeated by one army after another. They’ve lost everything, even their homeland. They’ve been in exile. This is a weary people, a people trying desperately to cling to hope. In this passage, these people experience the light of God. They witness their children returning home. They marvel as kings of other nations bring them gifts, rather than continuing to oppress them. Their sorrow is transformed, and Isaiah writes this about them: “Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice.” The people begin in darkness, they receive God’s light, and they become radiant people who shine God’s light to others.

Our cast of characters are God–the main action-taker–the people who are transformed from suffering to radiance, and we’ve got one more part being played: all the people (and animals) who are drawn to the light. In this group, we’ve got kings of other nations, we have exiled people returning home, we’ve even got a multitude of camels making an appearance. The event Isaiah foretells is a worldwide event. Everyone is involved.

So, we’ve got our cast of characters. Now, let’s take a look at the plot. What is the order of events that Isaiah describes? As I studied this text, I found myself more and more bewildered by what happens when. Is the darkness first, and then the light? Does the light come, and then the darkness, and then the light again? The chapter begins with a proclamation to arise and to shine because the light has come, but immediately the joy is followed with this: “For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.” Bear with me for a little grammar study. In verse 1, both verbs occur in the perfect tense: “your light has come,” “the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” These verbs are both past tense, completed actions. These things have already happened. Verse 2 describes the coming of the darkness and switches to imperfect tense–the tense used to describe things that have not yet been completed– “the darkness shall cover the peoples,” and “the Lord will arise upon you.” Has God’s light already come? Has the darkness already covered the people? What’s happening here?

As the prophet wrote these words, I think something remarkable was happening. He knew that God had already shone light on the people. He knew that God spoke light into existence at creation. He knew that God chose Abraham as the father of God’s covenant people, and that God promised Abraham’s descendents would be like the numerous, shining stars in the sky. Isaiah knew that God led Moses and the people out of slavery with a pillar of fire to guide them. God’s light had already shone. At the same time, the people were suffering. Their suffering wasn’t going to get better right away. God knew that the people felt as though the light had been taken away from them. In this beautiful prophecy, Isaiah reminds the people that God’s light has already shined on them, and that God’s light would continue to shine for them in the midst of their suffering. And in the end, God’s light would shine over them in such a way that the whole world would be drawn to it. 

In the Old Testament, prophecy always has two parts: a present, historical meaning, and a far-reaching eschatological meaning–a meaning that is far beyond what was happening in that immediate time. In Isaiah 60, we encounter both of these things: the timely, historical promise to people who are suffering, as well as a promise that applies far into the future–to us, and to anyone who comes after us.

We’ve got the cast of characters. We’ve wondered about the order of events, the plot. And now…for the surprise twist ending. There’s a piece of this passage that we often skip over because it mentions names and places we may not know much about. We also tend to skip it because it’s strange. What does it mean for camels to cover us? It says this in verse 6: “A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.” What does this mean? 

In exploring this verse more deeply, I have come to believe that this verse is a promise about the redemption of broken relationships, the drawing in of people who were once excluded. Why does Isaiah mention Midian, Ephah and Sheba? In his commentary on this passage, Cory Driver writes this:

“These Arab and Afro-Arab tribes were not chosen at random. They were the other 

descendants of Abraham, with Hagar and Keturah (Genesis 25:1-4, 12-13), whom 

Abraham sent away from his son Isaac (Genesis 25:5-6) so that they might not take 

what was his. Abraham gave these other descendants gifts before banishing them. Then 

Abraham gave Isaac everything he had. In the poetic promise of Isaiah, God undoes 

Abraham’s banishment and restriction of inheritance to Isaac. The tribes return, bearing 

gifts, and they are in turn welcomed to share in the greatest inheritance of Abraham: 

community with the God of Israel at its center.” 

Isn’t that incredible? The people who had been kept outside of the promise made to Abraham are brought back in. They see God’s light, and they are drawn to it. They bring gifts as they come, not as a symbol of being lower than God’s chosen people, but as acts of worship to God. 

Tomorrow is Epiphany – the day when we remember the journey of the wisemen to see Jesus. Even though they probably didn’t make it to Jesus until Jesus was 2 years old, I imagine they were surprised when they got there. They had studied the stars. They had consulted the prophecies. They knew who Jesus was – a king. And yet, did they expect to find him in a humble home, born to a builder and a young mother? Did they know he would look like an ordinary child born to ordinary people in an ordinary small town? Yet, when they found him, they bowed down and paid him homage. They gave him gifts fit for royalty, and they listened when God warned them not to return to Herod. They didn’t get there right when he was born, but when they finally found him, they rejoiced. In the Gospel of Matthew, the Greek says that when they saw the star had stopped, they rejoiced an exceedingly great joy.

Friends, the light of Christ is shining upon you. It has shined upon you since the moment you were born. In this New Year, may we receive God’s light with an exceedingly great joy. May we allow our lives to radiate God’s light into the lives of others. And may we watch with amazement as God works a miracle of healing in this weary and wounded world. 

And let’s allow this poem by Howard Thurman be our encouragement and our prayer:
The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among others,

To make music in the heart.