When the wise men arrived and fell on their faces and began to worship the baby, Jesus, I'm sure this caused Mary and Joseph to think again about the things that the Angel had said concerning Jesus. The events surrounding the birth of Jesus invited Mary and Joseph to question all the promises that the angel had spoken to them. They might have questioned God when they first arrived in Bethlehem and found no place to stay. Surely God wouldn't allow His son to be born under such conditions. It was not uncommon for babies to be born in caves and stables in those days, but, not the Son of God! It didn't occur to the young couple that the Son of God would enter the world and be so accessible to the common people like shepherds. Because of this we have learned not to allow the circumstances to govern our faith in God's promises.
And now wise men from eastern countries had come to worship the baby and they brought with them strange gifts. When you think of the common gifts for a baby in those days you think of blankets, baby clothes, baby furniture, maybe a milk cow or goat. You are not thinking of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were uncommon gifts to be given, yet at the same time, because of their value, those gifts provided the finances needed for Joseph to move his little family into Egypt for a while. Along with the value that these gifts provided they were prophetic as well.
GOLD - a gift that merchants and citizens gave to the king when granted an audience with him. The wise men knew they were coming to see a king. They were asking, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" They came because they saw His star. A star has been the symbol of regal power among all nations, being often used to herald the rise and future glory of a monarch. When they found Jesus, they fell down to worship him. They knew they were in the presence of a King. Then they presented their gift of gold because they had been privileged an audience with the King.
Could the wise men have possibly realized the Majesty of that little baby. The King of the universe, the creator of all things. Young as the morning and as old as time itself. He was born King of the Jews, but had always reigned King eternal. Mary and Joseph might have struggled with the prophesies about their first-born son, but when they departed this life to the eternal, their struggle of faith quickly changed to a shout of triumph, knowing they had played such an important part in redeeming man back to God. Giving to man, not just a king to rule over their country, but to rule over their hearts.
MYRRH - a valuable gum resin with a strong fragrance used in preparing the body of a martyred prophet for burial. What was Mary's reaction to this gift? Was it possible that they would ever use this spice to bury her son? The Angel said nothing of this. But what did Simeon mean when he said, "A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." Even if Mary had kept the spice to use for her son's burial, she wouldn't have gotten to use it. After the crucifixion, His body was quickly taken down, wrapped in linen, and placed in the tomb. There was no opportunity to anoint it for burial. They went home, prepared the spices, rested in the Sabbath, and returned to the tomb on the first day of the week. But the body of Jesus wasn't in the tomb. He had risen just like He said he would!
FRANKINCENSE - a spice used by a ministering priest in the preparation of incense. There's no doubt that Jesus kept the fire burning. He was always rekindling the flame by spending time in prayer to the father. As our Eternal High Priest Jesus fulfilled the responsibilities of every high priest before him. But this time it had eternal consequence. One of those responsibilities was to prepare and kill the Passover lamb. John witnessed the preparation of Jesus as the sacrifice. He said "Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." Jesus was constantly preparing the sacrifice. Everything about his ministry pointed toward Calvary. The sacrifice was innocent of sin, but bore the sins of many. Jesus was sinless, yet bore the sin of the world. Without opening his mouth for his defense, He was led to the slaughter. The blood of the sacrifice was carefully placed in a laver and carried by the High Priest into the Holy Place to be sprinkled on the mercy seat so that the sins of the people would be passed over. Jesus, like the high priests before him, offered the blood sacrifice as the atonement for sin. But, this time, it was his own blood. There had never before been another moment like it. The Father had seen the Son nailed to the cross, but when sin touched him, He had to turn His back on His Son. The Father must have heard the last words of His son when he cried "it is finished" for heaven itself declared, " The penalty has been paid." I can see Jesus at heaven's gate as He begins to walk down the streets of gold. All of the sainted dead who had been held captive in the center of the earth was following behind. The Angels must have lined the Glory Avenue. The Son of God had come home. Satan has been conquered. The claims of justice had been met. Humanity had been redeemed. God can now, on legal grounds, give eternal life to man. Jesus had become the savior because he had dealt with man's sin problem, and had settled it and saved man from eternal death.
Though strange and uncommon gifts at the time, the wise men made a wise choice in the first Christmas gifts ever given. The wisest choice we can make this Christmas is to chose the gift that gives eternal life, Jesus Christ!
Pastor Johnny Minick
Author: AGM
| Author's Website: http://absolutelygospel.com/
Written: 12/15/2003
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Category: Feature Articles
Comments: 5
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Johnny, thanks for sharing this with us. It is great.
It's so easy to get caught up in the secular side of Christmas. Thank you Pastor Johnny for bringing our minds around to some pure thoughts of Christmas.
Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
My Blog
Some people are like Slinkys… Not really good for anything, but they
still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs - Author Unknown
Johnny,
thank you for your message and songs through the years miss hearing you sing so sorry to hear about mrs goodman will miss her
Good Word! Good News!
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