10 Facts About Epiphany
10 Facts about the Epiphany
The word Epiphany means an important revelation. It’s a time or event when we experience something significant. It’s a time when the light comes on and we can see. The Epiphany for Christians is about the manifestation or the realisation of God becoming man through Jesus. Jesus has been called the light of the world.
The Church of England celebrate Epiphany during January
Epiphany for Christians involves the Magi or Wisemen as they have been called visiting Jesus
We don’t know how many Magi there were only that there were three gifts
We are not sure when the Magi visited Jesus though it could have been up to two years after his birth as we are told that after they visited Herod he sent an order out that all male Babies of two and under were to be killed. Herod had also killed is favourite wife and three of his sons
Herod obviously felt threatened by a new royal birth. The are only two occasions in the Gospels when Jesus was referred to as ‘the King of the Jews'. One was when he was born and the other is when he died. On both occasions the leaders of the day felt threatened and tried to kill him and, on both occasions, they failed. God ensured that the Magi would not return to Herod to reveal the exact place where Jesus was, by speaking to them in a dream.
It is not unusual for ‘foreign diplomats’ to give gifts such as gold, frankincense and myrrh at royal births. It happens today. Gold represents royalty, frankincense is a perfume and represents divinity and myrrh was used to symbolize humanity and death. The gifts reveal that the Magi understood who Jesus was.
The Magi must have been astronomers because they were guided to Bethlehem by a star. The star has been called the star of Bethlehem and has been seen a number of times since the birth of Jesus and was last seen in 2020 and will not be seen again until around 2080
Matthew is the only gospel writer to record the visit of the Magi. The Magi are significant because they came from the East and would have been Gentiles.
Some countries in Europe see the Epiphany as more important than Christmas. The Epiphany is a week after Christmas and is sometimes called the festival of 'The Three Kings'.
