Wise Man's Gift
Wise Man's Gift - The wise men gave three kinds of gifts to the child Jesus: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were not just gifts, each was important at the time and has important meanings for us today. In our American, consumer culture, it's easy to see a church service as just another place to "get" something.
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Wise Man's Gift
This line of thinking isn't too surprising, since church facilities and worship services are certainly known as places and events that provide us with refreshments, free childcare, good music, good messages, and much more that are climate-controlled, safe, and aesthetically pleasing. environment While there is nothing wrong with good coffee, children's ministry, and music, if we are not careful, we can think of ourselves as consumers in our spiritual lives instead of offering worship, "praise," and approach to God.
” (Hebrews 13:15). So the story of the Magi who brought their gifts to the Christ Child in Matthew 2 at Christmas time can be a helpful reminder of the kind of "gifts" God wants from us. Not long after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, some wise men followed a certain star or light in the sky and traveled to see him.
These Magi (also known as "Wise Men") were a special priesthood in the Persian Empire that existed for a long time, even since Daniel was appointed as their leader by King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 5). They were professors of religion, philosophers, and highly educated scholars in many fields, including religion, astronomy, and astrology (so their first focus was on the stars).
What Was The Significance Of Each Of The Magi’s Gifts?
When Daniel supervised these Magi, he probably taught them prophecies about the coming Messiah (as in Numbers 24:17 and Micah 5:2). Apparently, they had been waiting for the birth of Jesus for a long time. Because of their knowledge and influence, they acted as political advisors and became "kingmakers" - a very interesting connection that only the book of Matthew (presenting Jesus as the rightful king of the tribe of Judah) is.
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The Gospel account to which this story refers. But these journeys (especially given their association with the wicked King Herod) did not involve these men risking their lives to make a political move, teach a seminary, or advise the king—they came from the Far East to ask, "Who do they worship?"
born King of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2). When the Magi finally found the house where the Christ Child lived, they "rejoiced with exceeding joy" and fell on their faces before Jesus and Mary and worshiped Him (a fitting response to being in the presence of the King of Kings).
Then they opened their treasures and gave the baby Jesus three kinds of gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were not just gifts, each was important at the time and has important meanings for us today. 1. Gold is a precious metal used throughout human history for jewelry, ornaments, money, and idols because of its color and luster.
What Was The Significance Of Each Of The Magi’s Gifts?
2. Frankincense is an expensive fragrance or perfume made from trees native to India and Arabia. 3. Myrrh is a special kind of expensive perfume made from rare thorns of Arabia and Ethiopia, used as antiseptic anointing oil and embalming fluid. Although these gifts were rare and too expensive for the Magi to give to Jesus' family, they were not unheard of in first-century Palestine.
However, while gold and perfume can make great "Christmas gifts," Moore is an odd (or inappropriate) gift for a family with a newborn. As one writer put it, "embalming liquid is never at the top of baby shower gift lists in today's society." But as this author points out, these gifts were diplomatic representations of each Magi culture.
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Based on where they came from, they "honored the king ... in a manner befitting their nationality." Likewise, because these gifts were expensive, they showed a level of sacrificial love and adoration for this newborn king. This is not altruism, it is worship. Magicians buy nothing with their gifts, they boast.
John Piper expressed it well like this: almsgiving intensifies the desire for Christ, as does fasting. When you make a gift like this to Christ, "The joy I seek...is not the hope of getting riches from you. I have not come to you for your things, but for you. This desire I now intensify and show by giving up things, in the hope that you will be more satisfied, not things. What you do not want, I have
What Is The Deeper Spiritual Meaning Behind These Gifts?
And giving you what you can enjoy, I say more earnestly and truly, 'You are my treasure, not this. We need nothing that can be offered. As the apostles preached in the book of Acts: God, who made the world and all things in it, Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by men, nor served by human hands, as if something were needed.
. , for he himself gives life and breath to all mankind. He created from one man all the nations of mankind to inhabit the whole earth, setting the fixed times and boundaries of their dwelling, so that they might seek God and perhaps feel the way to him and find him.
But He is not really far from each of us, for "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:24-28, ESV). The early church understood that the three kinds of gifts clearly symbolized three essential aspects of Christ's personality. Gold points to Jesus' kingship, frankincense to his divinity, and myrrh to his humanity.
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In fact, you could argue that through their gifts, the Magi "preached" the gospel in a visible way. Whether they were fully aware of it or not, their gifts told the story of him coming down from heaven as our king (gold) and dying for our sins (myrrh) to fulfill his priestly duties (frankincense).
What Is The Deeper Spiritual Meaning Behind These Gifts?
Because Moore's gift is a unique gift, it points specifically to the day Jesus dies for the sins of the world. This element was given here at the beginning of Jesus' life and at the end of his life as he hung on the cross (Mark 15:23) and then was buried in the tomb (John 19:39).
Fortunately for mankind, that burial was only temporary—he was resurrected three days later. Because of His resurrection we have eternal life. Now, as we read this "first Christmas" event, we should learn at least two important lessons. First, the main message behind the story of the Magi, the gift-giving, and the Christmas (or Advent) holiday is that Jesus Christ came to earth to die to offer salvation for those sinners – meaning.
You and I (1 Timothy 1:15; Luke 19:10). Pray never to forget it. Second, just as the wise men responded to the heavenly light above them by going and worshiping Jesus, the Christmas season calls us all to respond to Jesus in different ways. We see this fact not only in the story of the Magi, but also in the stories of the angels, the shepherds, the saints of old in the temple (and Herod, who responded by trying to hear the news of a king).
kill him). Because Christmas gives us the gospel, and the gospel demands a response. For Christians, Christmas calls us to worship. However, we must choose what we worship. The holidays aren't just about avoiding materialism (although that's important to do), it's about choosing to worship Jesus above all else.
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