Humorist Dave Barry wrote about the gifts that were brought by the Wise Men. He suggested that if you examined that story carefully, you’d find that there is an overlooked theological fact in the story. There is no mention of wrapping paper. Why? First, these guys were wise. And second… they were men. When it comes to wrapping gifts, it seems men lack the necessary skills in this area. You can always tell which gifts under the tree were wrapped by men.
Fifty percent of all the paper consumed in the U.S is used for gift wrapping and decoration. And with regard to gift wrapping - each year people buy an estimated 8,000 tons of wrapping paper. And Christmas wrap sales exceed $2.6 billion every year. (Ken Trivette) Now that’s a lot of money to spend on wrapping paper - paper whose only purpose is to hide the gifts within.
In Matthew 2:11 we’re told “And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” There’s a strong possibility that these THREE gifts were what helped Mary and Joseph to support themselves when they fled to Egypt to escape from King Herod (PAUSE) but, while these gifts were very expensive and were very helpful, I suspect that each of those gifts was more like wrapping paper. Beautiful on the outside, but inside – there was something valuable hidden!
First – consider the GOLD. Gold has always seemed to be an expensive gift. On today’s market, the cost of gold is little over $2000 an ounce. That would add up to $32,000 per pound. That’s a lot of money. In the Middle East, gold was principally reserved for Royalty because they were pretty much only ones who could afford the stuff. The pharaohs of Egypt insisted on being buried in gold. King Tut - was enshrined in three gold coffins - the third and final coffin was made of 243 pounds of solid gold [source: Bonewitz].
In Persia there was a mausoleum built for Cyrus the Great (a King mentioned in Old Testament). And inside the tomb there was a golden couch and a golden coffin – the coffin that held the body of Cyrus.
And then there was King Nebuchadnezzar (King of the Babylonian Empire) who ordered that a huge gold-plated statue be erected to commemorate HIS personal greatness and glory. Everyone was ordered to bow down and worship his golden image… and of course, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego refused to bow down (but that’s another story).
Gold has always been very expensive - the currency of Kings! And so it was a gift fit for a king. In the Christmas song “We Three Kings Of Orient Are” … the 2nd verse says: "Born a King on Bethlehem plain. Gold I bring to crown Him again. King forever, ceasing never - over us all to reign."
So hidden within that gift of Gold, was a proclamation: Jesus is King And that’s what the prophecy in Isaiah 9 declared: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.” Isaiah 9:6-7
Jesus was born to be a KING!!!!
So what kind of gift could you possibly give a King? Someone has asked: “What do you give a person who has everything?” The wisemen brought gold… but I don’t have much of that. So what can you bring to Jesus that’s as valuable as Gold? Well, we’ll talk about that in a bit.
The next gift – Frankincense. Frankincense was a very rare and expensive oil. Frankincense and myrrh were both made from plants which were difficult to grow outside of their native environment; and that’s what makes the oil of these plants rare and expensive. (https://www.auracacia.com/blog/why-are-some-essential-oils-more-expensive#:~:text=Several%20plants%2C%20such%20as%20frankincense,more%20rare%20and%20therefore%20intensive.) Frankincense is a gum-like material (resin) that comes from the trunk of the Boswellia tree. Even today, people use its oil. They use it on their skin and in aromatherapy. It is commonly used as a fragrance in soaps, lotions, and perfumes.
But, back in the Old Testament, frankincense was a GIFT offered to God. It was burned in the temple as an offering to God (Leviticus 2:2). And (when mixed with other items) it became a special perfume for God.
In the book of Exodus… God told Moses, "Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred. Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the LORD. Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from his people." Exodus 30:34-38
So Frankincense was an offering (or a gift) TO God. And hidden within that gift (to Jesus) … was this message: Jesus was God in the flesh. That’s what the 3rd verse of “We Three Kings” declared: “Frankincense to offer have I. Incense owns a Deity Nigh; Prayer and praising, all men raising. Worship Him, GOD ON HIGH." And so the Wisemen came to WORSHIP Jesus, and their gift of Frankincense declared Jesus was God.
Quoting a prophecy from Isaiah 7:14, Matthew wrote: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"— which means, "God with us." Matthew 1:23
Or as Colossians 2:9-10 says: For in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily, and you share in this fullness in him, who is the head of every principality and power. That’s what the gift of frankincense was declaring – JESUS WAS GOD IN FLESH!
And that brings us to the last Of 3 Gifts: Myrrh. Of all the gifts, this is the one that most intrigues me. Because, you see the message of the Gold spoke of Jesus as my KING; and the MESSAGE of Frankincense spoke of Him as my GOD; but myrrh spoke of Him as having come to be … MY SAVIOR! The main reason Jesus came to earth was to be our sacrifice for sins. It’s HIS BLOOD that brought us the covering/forgiveness of my sins!
Hebrews 7:24-27 tells us that “Jesus lives forever (and) has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens… He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.”
So – where does myrrh fit into this picture? Well 1st – Jesus came to offer His blood as our HIGH PRIEST, and Myrrh was used in the Old Testament as an ingredient in the oil used to anoint priests to serve God. (Ex. 30:23–25). When a man was ANOINTED to be a priest– the oil set him apart to be the priest. So the gift Myrrh the Wisemen brought declared Jesus had come to be our Priest. He had come to offer the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.
But WHERE did Jesus offer that sacrifice? (on the cross). And why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Because Jesus was NOT ONLY our High Priest… He was our SACRIFICE. It was in HIS death on the cross that paid the price for our sins.
For 1000s of years, Myrrh had been a vital part of embalming and preserving bodies. And after Jesus died on the cross, “Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth.” John 19:38-40 NLT
So, AFTER Jesus was born He was given a gift of myrrh, and AFTER He died His body was wrapped in myrrh.The 4th verse of “We Three Kings” says: "Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume, breathes a life of gathering gloom, Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb." Myrrh speaks of Jesus’ death and burial. What’s interesting is that Frankincense had to be burnt to give up its odor, but Myrrh had to be beaten and crushed before it would give off any fragrance. And BEFORE Jesus died on the cross His body was beaten and crushed by Roman soldiers.
CLOSE: GOLD declared Jesus was our King. FRANKINCENSE declared He was our God. But MYRRH declared He was our Savior. Those were the gifts that the Wisemen brought when they came to worship Him.
The question this morning is this: What can I bring to Jesus? What kind of gifts can I bring to a God - a King – a Savior… who has everything? He doesn’t really need YOUR gold or any other expensive gifts. I mean we should bring Him our TITHES; WE should give Him your TIME; and WE should give Him our TALENTS; but what does Jesus… REALLY want?
Well, the gifts of the Wisemen say it all - Jesus wants to be YOUR GOD; YOUR KING; and YOUR SAVIOR. Jesus wants YOU! HE WANTS ALL OF YOU! Nothing less
ILLUS: There was once a man who came to talk to me. He said he wanted to become a Christian and wanted to know what he had to do. I asked him if he believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Song of the Living God, and he said “Yes.” Then I asked if acknowledged that he’d sinned and that he wanted to repent (or change his life), and he said “Yes”. But then I explained that Romans 10:9 said that we should “Confess Jesus as LORD” and explained that that meant he would be owned by Jesus. In fact, he would be giving Jesus ownership everything he possessed. He paused and said “No, I can’t do that.” This man didn’t want to give Jesus EVERYTHING… so, he walked away.
But that’s the deal. Belonging to Jesus involves Faith in Jesus, Repentance of our sins, and Confession that Jesus would now be our Lord and Master. But now… there is one more thing.
We started out this sermon talking about gift-wrapping… and I’ve bought a couple of Christmas gifts for my grandkids… and of course I’m going to wrap them in attractive Christmas paper. I COULD just put the box (without the gift-wrapping) underneath the tree and leave it at that, but that would take the fun out of it. The wrapping says – “This is a special gift for someone I love.”
Did you know that Jesus wants you so badly, He has even arranged to have you gift-wrapped? That’s what Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have PUT ON Christ. When you’re baptized into Christ, you gift wrap yourself for Him in the most beautiful wrapping possible – Jesus!
