The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth have beheld the salvation of our God. On this second Sunday after the great Solemnity of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. It is a feast that can be loosely referred to as an “explanatory feast of Christmas” since it serves to “explain” or bring to light the mysteries which we celebrate during these days of Christmas.
Epiphany means revelation. The feast of the Epiphany celebrates the newborn Jesus, who is the fullest revelation of God, as both Lord and Savior of the world. In Jesus Christ, everything which could be said of God finally gets to be said. In Jesus Christ, everything which could be known about God is finally known. In other words, the feast of the Epiphany celebrates the person of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the promise God has consistently made to God’s people through the prophets: the promise of a Savior. It is a promise whose essence is captured in the conversation which Moses had with the Israelites as he neared the end of his life: “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen…he will speak to you the Words of the Lord so that you may not die…” (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15, 16). And although after Moses the Lord God did raise numerous individuals as his messengers and prophets, the promise remained unfulfilled since none of them was able to fill the shoes of Moses: “Since then no prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He had no equal in all the signs and wonders the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh and all his servants and against all his land, and for the might and the terrifying power that Moses exhibited in the sight of all Israel” (cf. Deuteronomy 34:10-12). It was only in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ that this promise was fulfilled. However, Jesus is no mere replacer of Moses. Jesus is more than a prophet. He surpasses Moses and all the other prophets because he is God-incarnate. 
As the fullness of God’s revelation, Jesus Christ is the prophet per se. Whereas the responsibility of a prophet is to reveal the face of God to the people, the prophets of old were only able to partially accomplish this because of the ancient curse that sin had put between God and creation (cf. Exodus 33:20: “No one can see the face of God and live…”). It is only in Jesus Christ that creation has been able to see the face of God without incurring the wrath of the ancient curse (cf. Hebrew 1:1ff: ‘In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these days, he has spoken to us through the Son…who is the refulgence of God’s glory and the very imprint of God’s being.”) In Jesus Christ, we are able to see the face of God and live because, as God, Jesus himself is life. As God, Jesus is both the source and fullness of life. In Jesus Christ, the ancient curse that saw those who came into contact with God die (cf. 1 Chronicles 13:9-10) is revoked and replaced with a blessing. From thence, coming into contact with God becomes a life-giving blessing. It is this God who is revealed and encountered in the birth, life and ministry of Jesus Christ. 
In Jesus Christ, we have come to know about God who is close to us so much so that we are able to touch him (cf. I John 1:3: ‘We proclaim to you that which we have seen and touched so that you can have fellowship with God.’) The God revealed to the world in Jesus Christ is not a deity who dwells apart from his creatures on account of the creatures’ lowliness or unworthiness of God. For the God of Jesus Christ is a deity who is not only delighted in assuming the nature of his creatures, but is also gladdened by the prospect of dwelling with them! The God revealed to the world in Jesus is one who wants to be involved in the lives of his creatures in order to share in their condition. In Jesus Christ is revealed a God who is like us in everything but sin (cf. Hebrews 4:15). In Jesus we encounter a God who has feelings: a God who is moved by the plight of a lowly creature; a God who is moved with the cries of his creatures; a God who can change his mind when a creature pleads with him. For the God revealed in Jesus Christ is a forgiving, gracious, and compassionate God. Indeed, in Jesus Christ, all the ends of the earth have a reason to break into song as they sing the praises of God.