EPIPHANY
PROMISE FULFILLED, DYING CONFESSION
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 2:25-34a
DECEMBER 19, 2010
The second coming of Jesus Christ will bring an end to this age of the world. Christ will come again. Every eye will see him, everyone who pierced him, all the nations of the earth will cry out on account of him. He will judge the nations; he will receive his people unto himself. He will usher in the millennial kingdom; he will usher in, ultimately, the new heavens and the new earth. Now in the Bible, three different words are used to describe the second coming of Christ. These words are parousia, apokalupsis and epiphaneia.
Parousia means coming. It was used of a king who had come to present himself before his people. Christ will come as king. The word apokalupsis means to unveil or to reveal. So, when Christ comes again, he will be unveiled for the whole world to see. The epiphany or epiphaneia means manifestation or appearing. Christ will manifest himself to everybody, it will be an “aha” for some people and an “uh-oh” moment for some. Since we are focusing on Christmas and the first coming of Christ, the question is: are these same three words used to describe the first coming of Christ? Parousia, apokalupsis, epiphaneia, are they used to describe Christmas?
The answer is yes, but just barely. The word parousia is used in 2 Peter 1 to describe the first coming of Christ at Christmas. The word apokalupsis is used in Luke 2 to describe the first coming of Christ at Christmas. The word epiphaneia is used in 2 Timothy 1 to describe the first coming of Christ at Christmas, so they are used for both comings. But here is the deal: they are used far more commonly for the second coming. Here is why: when Christ comes a second time, his deity, his majesty, his glory will be evident to all—his power, his omnipotence as Son of God, Almighty God will be clear for everyone to see. The first time Christ came, much of his majesty and deity was veiled. A child born in Bethlehem to a very average family of relative poverty, much of his deity veiled. There were moments, though, when people had an epiphany, moments when people saw him manifested, moments when people thought, “aha!” That is what we are doing this Christmas time; we are looking at those moments.
Today, we look at Simeon, and we look at the penitent thief. We begin with Simeon. The name Simeon was a common name in Israel and it still is a common name in Israel. One of the twelve tribes was the tribe of Simeon, the second son of Jacob through Leah. Not only was Simeon the name of one of the twelve tribes but Simeon was also the name of one of the twelve disciples. You might be thinking, “Which apostle was named Simeon?” It was Peter. Peter’s name is Simon or Simeon, Simon Peter, Simeon.
We come to a third Simeon who is mentioned in Luke 2. This is Simeon the prophet who prophesied in the city of Jerusalem at the time of Christ’s birth. We don’t know much about this guy, but we do know he had an amazing epiphany. Simeon, we are told, was a righteous man and devout. These are words of high praise. The word righteous was dikaios. This word can mean right before men and it can also mean right before God—be in right relationship with God and man. However, since dikaios is combined with eulabes, since it is combined in the Greek with the word devout, most scholars would say that dikaios refers to his relationship with human beings and eulabes to his relationship with God. So, before God and man, Simeon was just.
Yesterday began the bowl season for football. I am sure most of you probably don’t care because there are countless bowls and the early ones aren’t normally the best. There were three bowl games yesterday; I don’t even know what they were. I do know one was the Humanitarian Bowl, which took place in Boise on the blue field. It involved Fresno State and Northern Illinois. I made fun of Fresno last week and I will always be sorry I did that. They did lose yesterday, but I didn’t see the game. I have always thought it kind of ironic that a football game would be named the Humanitarian Bowl, or that a bowl would be called the Humanitarian Bowl. Let’s beat them up with kindness. I am not sure what that is about.
I do know this: the word dikaios, which described Simeon, includes the concept of humanitarian. He would have been a man who was generous, a man who was compassionate, a man who was loving, and a man who was very, very fair. So, these words dikaios and eulabes are words of high praise. Simeon was really, truly a good man. He was waiting, we are told in Luke 2, for the consolation of Israel. We know what this phrase means because we can find it in other ancient literature. The consolation of Israel was the title given for the coming Messiah. He was waiting for the coming Messiah. The phrase “consolation of Israel” is actually a phrase by which the power of the Spirit reveals much, because Jesus is the Messiah, he is the Christ, the Anointed One, but he is also the one who has brought consolation.
The word for consolation is paraklesis, from which we get the word paraclete, which is a title of the Holy Spirit. So, Jesus brings the consolation of Israel by offering the Holy Spirit. If you read John 14 through John 16 and Jesus says again and again that he would send the Spirit, he would send the paraclete, he would send the consolation, he would send the comforter. That is exactly what Jesus did. If you read in the end of John’s gospel how Jesus breathed on the disciples saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” and you also see in Acts 2 how the Holy Spirit descended like a mighty wind upon the company of believers in Christ. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, the consolation.
Now, Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel, the out coming of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit was already upon him. That is what it said in Luke 2, but this is prophetic language. It doesn’t refer to baptizo en pneumati, it doesn’t refer to baptism in the spirit, it doesn’t even refer to regeneration or rebirth. It is not saying that Simeon had become a temple in which the Holy Spirit tabernacled. It is not saying that at all. It is saying that the Holy Spirit had anointed him, had come upon him for prophetic office. This is the kind of language used of all the prophets that the Holy Spirit had come upon them. The Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he at first had seen the Lord’s Christ, the Messiah. So he lived with this expectation.
Now, inspired by the Holy Spirit one day, Simeon goes up into the temple in Jerusalem. This is a God thing, and the timing is perfect because it is the exact time that Mary and Joseph go up to the temple. Simeon goes up to the temple. Mary and Joseph go up to the temple. Mary and Joseph are going to the temple for the ceremony of purification and presentation. When Jesus was born, eight days later, we are told in Luke 2, they performed the right of circumcision and the right of name giving, and they named him Jesus, the name that the angel had given before Jesus was conceived in the womb. That name Jesus, Yeshua, means Savior, so, “Call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Forty days after the birth of Jesus they go up to the temple in Jerusalem for the right of purification and presentation. We know that Mary and Joseph were poor. How do we know this? Leviticus 12 tells us that when you go up to the temple for the right of purification and presentation, you must bring a sacrificial lamb and a turtle dove, or a sacrificial lamb and a young pigeon. However, provision is made for the poor. If you are poor, you do not have to bring a lamb. They could not afford a lamb. So, if you were poor, you could bring either two turtle doves or two pigeons. We are told in Luke 2 that when Mary and Joseph came up to the temple, what did they bring for an offering of sacrifice? They brought a pair of turtle doves, so they were amongst the poor.
I don’t know how you feel about that, but to me there is something beautiful about the fact that the Son of God, who is Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace, who is the Messiah and Christ, would choose to come into the world in the midst of a poor family and born to a mom who is humble and poor. Born in a manger in Bethlehem, reared in a little village called Nazareth, a village of little account, this is the mind of God and the brilliance of God. Mary and Joseph are there for the presentation of Jesus and for the rights of purification, and Simeon is there to meet them. Simeon sees Jesus and has his epiphany. This is what he had waited for. This is what had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit years before. “You shall not die until you see the Lord’s Christ.” Somehow, as he was inspired by the Spirit, he looked at that child and he knew this is the Lord’s Christ, this is the Anointed One, the fulfillment of the prophetic office, the fulfillment of the priestly office, the fulfillment of the kingly office, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He knew. His epiphany.
He takes the child in his arms and lifts him towards heaven and blesses God. Then he sings the song of Simeon called Nunc Dimittis. Nunc Dimittis is simply Latin words that come from the first phrase of the song: Now Lord, let thy servant depart, “Nunc dimittis.” Now, lord, let thy servant depart according to your word, according to your promise, since my own eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the nations. This is an amazing song, this Nunc Dimittis, which is sung in churches all over the world today. It is meant to be a reminder to the church of Jesus Christ that we are called to take Christ as light; we are called to reveal him to the nations. This is the call; this was part of the epiphany of Simeon.
I hope that you have had this “aha” moment, that the call, the commission, the charge given to the church of Jesus Christ is to take the light of Christ to all people everywhere. It is right there in the Nunc Dimittis, Luke 2. It is all through the Bible, it is the great commission. It is not politically correct at all. When you send your kids to college, they are not going to learn about doing this. In fact, they are going to be discouraged from doing this. They are going to be told, “If you are a Christian, that is your deal. Respect the Buddhist, respect the Hindu, respect the Muslim, respect the Zoroastrian, respect the Taoists, respect the tribal animists. Just get along, but don’t think your deal is better than anybody else’s deal.” It is pluralism and syncretism, and that is the world we live in today. That is not politically correct, but it never has been. It is the charge, it is the call, it is the commission put upon the people of Christ in every generation.
You understand I am Scottish by background, on my father’s side, and my grandfather lived in Brighton. The family had come down from Edinburgh. Dixon is part of the clan Keith. I don’t know what you think of when you think of Scottish people and their history. You might think of fierce warriors, you might think of colorful plaids, you might think of closely knit clans and tribal groupings. It is really not that way anymore. The clans in Scotland are no longer close. The plaids are only brought out for ceremonial occasions and there hasn’t been a war in Scotland for over 200 years. The people of Scotland come from a diverse heritage. Some of them came from Scandinavia; some of them came from Ireland. Some of them came from the Celtic peoples.
They came with their own religions, they came with their own gods, they came with their own beliefs. Some of them came with Nordic religions, some of them were Druids, some of them came with druidic beliefs related to earth religion. Some of them worshiped plants and trees and believed that spirits inhabited plants and trees. At some point in time, the Gospel, the light of Jesus Christ came to them. As Christians loved them enough to go into their part of the world and reveal the light of this child born in Bethlehem and the light that was meant to be revealed to the nations. I thank God that I wasn’t reared in Druidic belief. I thank God that at some point of time in the past that people loved my ancestors enough to come and tell them about Jesus. That is the charge that is upon the whole church of Jesus Christ today, that we would not crater to the culture but that we would take Jesus to the nations. We need to be loving. We need to respect people. We need to be gentle, but we need to be faithful. The call, the commission, the charge is clear and it is right here, part of the epiphany of Simeon.
Simeon sings the song of Simeon, the Nunc Dimittis, then he blesses Mary and Joseph and then he gives a prophecy. The prophecy is hard to understand. When you look at it in the Greek, scholars are kind of conflicted because the words, even in the Greek, are very hard to translate. On this all scholars agree: there are at least three concepts in the prophecy of Luke 2 that Simeon gives to Mary and Joseph. One is, “This child of yours is going to divide the people of the world.” That is the first thing that Simeon tells Mary and Joseph, “Those who reject him will ultimately fall. Those who receive him will ultimately rise.”
Then he says, “Many will come against him. Many will come against your child and those who believe in him, many will come against.” Then he says, “This child will devastate your soul, shatter your heart.” He uses the word rhomphaia, which is the word for the long sword. “Your heart and soul will be pierced by the most painful rhomphaia because of this child.” This child is the Lord’s Christ, the Messiah, King of kings, Lord of Lords, and will reign and rule forever and ever but he is going to break your heart. He is going to divide the people of the world, and many will come against him and those who believe in him.
I tell you, the prophecy and the song of Simeon, they go together. The charge to take the light of Christ as revelation to the nations goes with dividing the people of the world that many might fall and many might rise. It goes with many in the world coming against Christ and those who believe in him in pain.
Moms and dads often times have pain. That is true of grandparents, too. We have had a crazy week with our grandson, Dixon. You know really, even when he was in Heather’s womb, we knew something wasn’t right. Tests were done as Heather was carrying Dixon. Heather and her husband Chris were told that there is a possibility that Dixon could be a Down syndrome baby. As Heather went more towards full term, the possibilities increased that at the conclusion of the testing that this could be a Down syndrome baby. Dixon was born and was not Down Syndrome. We know that Down syndrome babies are precious to the Lord, and some of you have Down syndrome babies, equally precious to God, but you could understand our relief.
Well, as the days and weeks passed into months, Dixon is now eight months old, as the days and weeks and months passed, Dixon exhibited some neurological irregularities and some spasms and some small, silent seizures. He would just drop his head and his eyes rolled back, very brief. Otherwise, his development has been normal. Tests have been run. Neurologists and brain specialists have been consulted, and even ophthalmologists, and all the EEGs were normal and all the MRIs were normal and every test is normal. We were told not to worry that these were just his eccentricities and he will outgrow it.
This last week, Wednesday, they ran some tests and they said, “No, this is Infantile Spasms.” There is a 90 percent chance, with Infantile Spasms, he will slide into mental retardation and die in his teenaged years. Heather and Chris and all of us were just kind of devastated. Lots of tears and lots of crying. Heather and Chris have been up at Children’s Hospital for a few days and nights and we have been taking care of Abigail and Nina, the girls, and also taking care of the dogs, a boxer and a pug, Maddie and Willis. It has just been this exhausting, up and down, emotionally draining week.
Many of you prayed, and oh, do we ever thank God. We got the word Friday, with more tests that, “Hey, maybe we were wrong. Maybe this isn’t Infantile Spasms.” Now it is looking like Dixon has what they call Benign Myoclonic Epilepsy. Believe it or not, that is good. If it were Benign Myoclonic Epilepsy, typically it doesn’t cause any retardation and the seizures and spasms cease by age four (that would be typical) and the child will live a normal life. They don’t know for sure. They made it clear they don’t know for sure. Only time will tell. We will have to let the months go by. There are other possibilities, some of them more scary. This is life in the world. It is not a safe world. I think a lot of kids grow up and think, “Wow, I want a safe world. I would like to be able to control my world.” I think a lot of Christian kids grow up and think, “Maybe because I am a Christian God will guarantee nothing bad ever happen.” We all know that is not the case. This world has sorrow and joy. Every day is a gift. Oh my goodness, it is a scary world. All parents go through it.
I can’t imagine what it would be like for Mary. Nobody had her experience. Angelic visitation—an archangel, by the way. This is not normal stuff. And the proclamation that your child is Holy, the Son of God, the heir of David who will reign and rule for ever and ever, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That is not a normal thing to hear, but then to be told that he is going to divide the people of the world and many are going to come against him and those who believe in him. By the way, a rhomphaia is going to shatter your soul. You are going to have pain because of what happens to this child. I hope you understand though, in a sense, it is all part of the deal. Be faithful to the call. Here is the deal: be faithful to the call. Let that be your epiphany, let that be your “aha” thing, that you are called to be faithful to the call. As long as you draw breath, no matter where you live on this earth or what generation, be faithful to Christ. The call is the same in every generation, in every part of the world. That call is to take the light of Christ as revelation to the nations. We have Simeon and the great example of his life.
I want to take a moment and look at the penitent thief. I love the story of the penitent thief. When you think of the last words of Christ on the cross, called the seven last words, what is your favorite? Maybe you can’t think of all of them but what would be your favorite? There is the word of forgiveness. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” That is an amazing statement said to the assembled crowd and to the authorities both Jewish and Roman in the midst of crucifixion. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” It is a beautiful word.
There is the word of reunion, which is beautiful. “Father into thy hands I commit my spirit.” That had meaning for him that was unique to him, as the only begotten Son of God who from eternity past had shared love of the Father and now was dying for the sin of the world. But, “Father into thy hands I commit my spirit.” The word of reunion is a beautiful word.
There’s the word of relationship, where Jesus looked at Mary, his mother, and then John his good friend and committed them to each other. Jesus said to Mary while looking at John, “Behold your son.” Then Jesus said to John while looking at Mary, “Behold your mother.” He entrusted them to each other. The word of relationship and that is beautiful.
l was at a conference back in the 90’s in Washington D.C. called the National Prayer Breakfast and a group of pastors were invited to be a part of a dinner with their wives. Bill Clinton was to come to speak to us (he was then president). He didn’t show up. He was not able to make it, but Hillary came in his place and spoke to us. We also had the Senate chaplain come and speak to us, Lloyd Ogilvie, who is the Senate Chaplain, and he said this was his favorite word from the cross, the word of relationship. He said, for him (and I have to say it is a bit of a reach for me), it wasn’t just Jesus committing mother to his friend and friend to his mother but, in a sense, it is a word spoken to all of us as Jesus brings us into relationships. He saw the beauty of that.
Some people think of the word of abandonment. Maybe that is your favorite phrase. “My God. My God.” “Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabachthani?” “Why hast thou forsaken me?” And you realize, when you look at that word, the depth of what he experienced for us, the sacrifice he made, the pain he went through, the love that he has for us. That as in a moment in time the sin of the world is vested on him and he felt the separation from the father that sin brings. “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It is a beautiful word.
Some people think of the word of triumph. “It is finished!” Tetelestai, a word that was used to indicate “paid in full.” That is exactly what Jesus did on the cross: he paid in full for the sin of the world. Maybe you think of the word of distress, “I thirst.” Jesus was human—not just Son of God, but human.
For me, my favorite word on the cross is the word of the penitent thief. “Today you will be with me in paradise.” I think the reason I love that word so much is just the whole context of the deal. Jesus is being crucified between two thieves and this word is out of nowhere and it is amazing. We don’t know who the penitent thief, we don’t know what his name is. Yes, there is apocryphal, pseudepigraphical gospel, which is spurious and late-dated, called the Gospel of Nicodemus that tells us that the penitent thief s name is Dismas. Don’t believe it. There are other documents that would say that his name is Domichus. Don’t believe that either. They are all spurious documents. We don’t know his name; we don’t need to know his name. When we get to heaven, we can meet him then and get to know his name then.
We don’t know his name; we don’t even know what he did. This word kakourgia, in the Greek could mean all kinds of things. He was a criminal. In Matthew 27 it says he was a robber, but we don’t really know that because the word had scope. He did something really bad; he was not a good guy by any standard of Roman law. There was the Roman law, the 12 tables, established 450 years before Christ. They added to that in the Jus Gentium, the Law of the Gentiles, the Law of the Nations. Then there was the Roman law Ordo, centered in Rome, but then in the provinces there was Cognitio, and Cognitio was the law administered by provincial governors such as Pontius Pilate. We know something about that law and we know that you didn’t get sent to the cross, you didn’t receive the death penalty unless you had done some really bad stuff.
So here you have these two guys on either side of Jesus, and they were not good guys. I will tell you something else. We have Luke 23, and we know that this thief had an “aha” moment. He had an epiphany on the cross. If you read Matthew and you read Mark, you can read about both thieves, both criminals on the cross. We are told that both criminals mocked Christ. That is what it says. In both Matthew and Mark both criminals mocked Christ and railed against Christ. But then something happened to one of them. I don’t understand it, surely you don’t understand it. Some kind of “aha” moment, some kind of an epiphany right on the cross and this guy, whose name we do not know, suddenly realized this is the Christ. He suddenly, while on the cross, had his epiphany, suddenly realized that while he deserved his death, the one who is called Jesus did not. He called Jesus righteous. This man has not done anything wrong. He said the words you say to the Messiah, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Confessing Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, right on the cross, something happened, he had his epiphany. How amazing!
We don’t know what he did, but we know that Jesus forgave him right there in those incredible words, “This day, you will be with me in paradise.” Paradise comes from a Persian word paradisio, which was borrowed by the Greeks and by the Romans and by the Hebrews. It means park, it means garden, it means beautiful place of trees and flowers. That is one of the images of heaven. In the time of Christ this word had become synonymous with heaven. In earlier times it was used for a department or compartment in Hades where the righteous were kept, but by the time of Christ, this word was synonymous with heaven. So, Jesus was simply saying, “This day, you will be with me in heaven.” What an amazing thing, what a beautiful word from the cross. What a beautiful epiphany.
I guess I want to say, you might think, “Well, therefore I can wait.” You might think, “I will just live life on my terms, doing what I want to do. I will eat, drink and be merry and just before I die, I will make my confession.” Be careful. I would like to just, as a pastor, say, “be careful.” I have seen people who could not make that confession as they drew towards the end. I have seen people whose hearts have become hardened. Because every time you hear the gospel and you reject it, every time you hear about Jesus and you reject him, you harden your heart and you grieve the spirit. So be careful. I will say, though, as long as there is breathe there is hope. God has incomprehensible mercy. We have seen that mercy on the cross. We have seen deathbed confessions before.
I have mentioned some famous death bed confessions: Rock Hudson, who lived kind of a wild life, but accepted Christ through Pat Boone before he died; John Wayne, who accepted Christ before he died as he was meeting with Robert Schuler; and Steve McQueen, who accepted Christ in the backseat of his limousine as Billy Graham had come to visit him and Billy led him to Christ. All of these men accepted Christ at the very end. There is that power, there is that grace, there is that incomprehensible mercy, and it is the mercy of Jesus. I hope that your epiphany doesn’t wait until the end. I hope your “aha” moment doesn’t wait till the end. I hope you don’t risk hardness of heart but that you would come to Christ now. I also hope that you would understand what the penitent thief came to understand and that is that Jesus Christ is King. “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” I hope you realize nothing is as (I know this is hard to believe) important as the kingdom of Christ. Nothing.
Throughout history, if you look at world history, there have been lots of kings, lots of kingdoms. A lot of them are pretty insignificant, just so many insignificant kings and kingdoms. I read some time ago about a guy named David O’Keefe. David O’Keefe in the year 1871 left Savannah Georgia on board a ship for China. He said goodbye to his wife, said goodbye to his little girl. He said, “I will be back in six months.” He got on board that ship at Savannah and something horrible happened in the South Pacific as they were near the Yap Islands. The Yap Islands are, I believe, about 800 miles from the Philippines. There are 15 Yap Islands—4 that are fairly large, 11 smaller islands. The ship went down and somehow David O’Keefe survived; he made it to land.
An amazing thing happened. Historians don’t even fully understand it, but somehow, he became king of the Islands of Yap, over 5,200 people. In 1871, 5,200 people on those islands and they were Micronesians and he was an Anglo. His skin was different, his education different, his learning and knowledge different and somehow they were impressed and they made him king. He was the king of Yap for 30 years. The amazing thing is this, Yap was controlled for those 30 years by the Spanish. They owned it. They did not govern it; they gave independence in the sense of self governance.
The Spanish rarely went there, only two ships a year, and those for purposes of trade. Two ships a year, but David O’Keefe was able to communicate with his family. He actually sent letters to his wife in Savannah saying, “I love you.” To his daughter, “I love you. I am staying here because I am king, but I love you. I am faithful to you. Though we are separated, I am faithful to you.” We know that he had seven kids through seven different Yapese women.
In the year 1901, he had been there 30 years. He decides, “I have had enough of this king deal. I am heading home to see my wife while she is still alive and my daughter who is now in her thirties.” He heads home, the ship goes down, he drowns at sea. Probably a good thing. Everything he had said to his wife was yap. He was the king of Yap.
You can look at history of the world and all the kings, I am telling you, you cannot believe the number of debauched lives lived by kings. In virtually every generation and part of the world, a lot of verbiage, a lot of pronouncements, a lot of declarations, a lot of yap. I will tell you, though, there is one kingdom that does matter, just one kingdom and it is the kingdom of Christ. Nothing counts like this.
You say, “You know, the Gospel is all about the cross and faith and forgiveness.” Yes! That is how you enter the kingdom, that is how we enter the kingdom. You say, “Well, yeah, but you know the gospel is about love and compassion.” Yes! Love and compassion are how we serve the kingdom. You say, “Well, I am just looking forward to the second coming of Christ, the consummation. I love eschatology and that is when the kingdom reaches fruition.” But it is all about the kingdom. That is why Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom and its righteousness.” I hope your “aha” might be that from this day forth you realize you need to wake up every day and think about the kingdom, wake up every morning and think, “Am I taking the light of Jesus as revelation to the nations? Am I a part of that in some way? In my neighborhood, at work, through short-term missions am I doing it?” Wake up every day and just ask yourself if you are serving the cause of the kingdom of heaven on earth and whether or not you are being faithful to the kingdom.
As we come to the table, we thank Christ for dying for us. We thank him for saving us and we thank him that death could not hold him but that he rose in power and glory. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.