Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

P ART II: T HEOLOGICAL AND M ISSIOLOGICAL P RINCIPLES AND I NSIGHTS • 135

4. The Season of the Church Year : Christmas, the Birth of Christ. Christmas celebrates the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God, the Word made flesh. He enters the world to reveal the Father’s love to humankind, to destroy the devil’s work, and to redeem his people from their sins. 5. As to Spiritual Formation : O, Word made flesh, revealer of God come to us, help us to prepare our hearts for you to dwell within them.

C. Epiphany: the Son of Man

1. Biblical framework : As the promised King and divine Son of Man, Jesus reveals the Father’s glory and salvation to the world.

2. Exemplar Scripture references

a. A Star out of Jacob, Num. 24.17 – I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. b. The King of the Jews, Matt. 2.2-6 – saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” c. The Sunrise shall visit us, Luke 1.78-79 – because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

3. Its meaning in Jesus’ history : as the Word that declares the Father’s glory to the world, the divine Son of Man, Jesus, appears to the magi, and to the world