God Was Seen Among His People

When people say ‘seeing is believing’ they are expressing more than just doubt. Something that can be seen is real and tangible. With our human perception and sensory system, we all eventually believe what can be ‘revealed’ to us. Well, God was revealed to His people.

TIMOTHY, my son, those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving; for then it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

1^st Timothy 3:13-16;4:1-5

As we begin the celebration of Epiphany, I am reminded that the Feast is much more than a celebration of a baptism. In fact, Theophany is the proper name for the Feast because it expresses what really took place at the baptism. God was revealed in His Baptism.

The revelation (that’s why we also called it Epiphany) of the Holy Trinity in the Feast should not be trivialized to mere water blessings. It was the first time the Holy Trinity was manifest to humanity. This is why Saint Paul reminded Timothy with today’s passage.

If ‘seeing is believing’ then we can believe in the Holy Trinity because of Epiphany Day. Huge crowds saw and heard God that day. They wrote about it. They talked about it. They believed it. It was, and remains to be, life-changing information. We no longer live without hope.

Christianity remains the only global religion in the history of humanity in which God manifests Himself as one of us ‘mere’ humans. He did not remain a distant God in heaven only ‘calling’ to us from time to time. He was born and lived among us as one of us. No other god did that.

Our God, Father-Son-Holy Spirit, revealed Himself to His people SO THAT we could believe and have hope. If you need hope in your life, stop looking in books and blogs (ironic isn’t it) and go inside an Orthodox Church. God was seen among His people, and you can still find Him.