Wednesday after the Second Sunday after Epiphany
Posted on January 18, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. John 1:15-18 (NKJV)
1:15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”
16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
Devotion
God reveals Himself to mankind through means and messengers. Sometimes these means are supernatural theophany such as a burning bush, a pillar of fire, or a whirlwind. Other times he speaks through His angelic messengers, such as Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. But what is most familiar to us is when the Lord reveals Himself through His called and ordained servants, such as the Prophets, the Apostles and Evangelists, and even pastors today. In every case, the Lord reveals something about Himself to His people.
Through Moses, the mediator of the First Covenant, God gave us His holy Law. St. John the Baptist was the messenger of God prophesied by Malachi to prepare His people by the preaching of repentance. But the greatest of all God’s messengers was His only-begotten Son. While the Apostles and Prophets could only proclaim what the Lord had revealed to them, Jesus Christ had no need of revelation. St. Paul teaches us that, as true God, “in [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). And what Christ came to declare concerning the Father is His everlasting grace and mercy toward sinful mankind.
Dr. Luther expresses: “We could never attain to the knowledge of the grace and favor of the Father except through the Lord Christ, who is a mirror of the paternal heart” (Large Catechism, 3rd Article of the Creed). Whoever, then, knows Christ by faith, knows the true mind which the Father has toward him.
Prayer: Almighty and everlasting God, Who dost govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of Thy people and grant us Thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
