Review:
Who were the wise men? [not known, but likely Chinese astronomers or Iranian scholars]
How many wise men were there? [unknown, no names given]
When did they show up? [also unknown, could be later than Bethlehem, most say two years later]
What did they bring? [gold, frankincense and myrrh plus possibly other gifts]
-in the new Nativity Story movie, the wise men present Jesus with the gifts and say, “Gold, for the King of Kings, frankincense, for the Priest of Priests, and myrrh, for the sacrifice He will make.”
-so for the next three weeks, we’re going to look at the three gifts and what they mean. God does nothing by accident and there are many truths hidden here.
-to start out though, we’re going to give everyone some gold. [HAND OUT COINS]
-so why gold? Why was this gift given first?
1. GOLD REPRESENTS PURITY
-many times when the Bible or other ancient texts denote purity, they use two things, snow and gold.
**Mal. 3:3b -> 3bHe will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver… (NLT)
-it’s a prophecy of Jesus coming, that He will refine His people.
-what about the Jr. High’s theme verse?
**Zech 13:9a -> 9I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. (NLT)
-Jesus came to be that fire, to purify us.
-it’s one of the amazing qualities of gold. When it’s not pure, it is so easy to spot imperfections or dirt. It’s very easy to degrade the quality of gold.
-so how do they purify it? It’s pretty cool. They put the gold over a fire until it’s this shining yellow liquid. Then, gold is automatically heavier than any dirt or grime that is in it, so all the impurities just float to the top. The goldsmith skims all the crud and garbage off. They repeat this until all the dirt is gone.
-that’s one of the reasons people used gold and love it so much. It’s so easy to purify and it looks so good when it’s pure, but just like the gold, we have to let Jesus take our lives, get that stuff to the top, then let Him skim it off.
-but that’s why He came! The reason Jesus stepped out of heaven an onto earth was this.
**II Cor. 5:21 -> 21Christ had no sin, but God made Him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God. (NCV)
-Jesus was pure, pure as gold, but came so we could also be made pure.
-but that’s not the only reason He came.
2. GOLD REPRESENTS MARRIAGE
-I know, I broke with tradition, but originally wedding rings were primarily gold. This isn’t a new thing.
-in the Old Testament, there’s a story of Abraham trying to find a wife for his son, so he sends his servant to find him a wife. The servant meets a woman after praying at a well where his camels were drinking.
** Gen. 24:22 -> 22After the camels had finished drinking, he gave Rebekah a gold ring weighing one-fifth of an ounce and two gold arm bracelets weighing about four ounces each. (NCV)
-bam! She’s engaged. Mind you, the difference is that in those days the ring was put in your nose, not on your finger. Ladies, you know you want that tradition back. But that’s the first instance of someone getting engaged in the Bible. Everyone else we meet is either already married or somebody’s rib.
-just as they did back then, gold rings were used to represent engagement and marriage.
-guess what? Christ came to be married to us, to have a relationship with us that is much like a married relationship, where you are committed to each other, you love each other, you are honest with each other, where you build each other up.
-the church is the Bride of Christ.
**Luke 5:33-35 -> 33Some people said to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast frequently and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but your disciples eat and drink.” 34Jesus answered, “Do you think you can make the guests at a wedding party go without food as long as the bridegroom is with them? Of course not! 35But the day will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” (GNT)
** Eph. 5:27 -> 27He died so that he could give the church to Himself like a bride in all her beauty. He died so that the church could be pure and without fault, with no evil or sin or any other wrong thing in it. (NCV)
-God wants to love us as His bride, He wants us to love Him the same way.
3. GOLD REPRESENTS KINGSHIP
-gold has forever been a sign of royalty. Just south of here in Mexico and South America the people that lived there had rooms made of gold, storehouses full of it.
-gold has always been used to give tribute to a king. In the Bible it’s no different.
**I Kings 10:14 -> 14Each year Solomon received about 25 tons of gold. NLT)
-can you imagine that?! 50 000 pounds of gold a year! Why? Because he was the king.
-even now, around the world where there are kings and queens, they are given huge amounts of money each year, simply because they are the ruler.
-the use of gold is the way we portray kingship.
**II Sam. 12:29-30a -> 29So David gathered all the army and went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it. 30aDavid took the crown off their king’s head and had it placed on his own head. That gold crown weighed about seventy-five pounds, and it had valuable gems in it. (NCV)
-what’s the first thing you think of when you picture a king? You see someone in a crown! Someone wearing all these nice robes, but they always have some sort of crown on their head.
**Ps. 21:2-3 -> 2You gave the king what he wanted and did not refuse what he asked for. 3You put good things before him and placed a gold crown on his head. (NCV)
-how do people recognize their king, they place a crown on his head.
[SHOW “KINGDOM OF HEAVEN” CLIP]
-the way we have forever and ever shown that someone is king is through gold.
-and it’s no different with God. God showed His position as King of the Israelites with gold.
-the Tabernacle, way back with Moses, everything in the Holy of Holies was overlaid or made out of pure gold. The Ark of the Covenant, the lampstand, the table for the bread of the Presence, the incense altar, all made out of gold.
-but then, hundreds of years later, Solomon builds the Temple of God.
**I Kings 6:19-22 -> 19The Inner Sanctuary within The Temple was for housing the Chest of the Covenant of God. 20This Inner Sanctuary was a cube, thirty feet each way, all plated with gold. The Altar of cedar was also gold-plated. 21Everywhere you looked there was pure gold: gold chains strung in front of the gold-plated Inner Sanctuary 22—gold everywhere—walls, ceiling, floor, and Altar. Dazzling! (MSG)
-look up, look around, imagine this whole room back to the curtain as solid gold. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, gold hanging down, everywhere gold. That was the Holy of Holies in the Temple of God!
-God told the wise men to give this gift to make a point. It’s hard for us to understand it because here in America you have to earn your way. If you want to be boss, you earn it. If you want to be President, you get votes, you work hard, you earn it.
-that’s not how a monarchy works. Right now Queen Elizabeth is on the throne in England. When she passes on, Prince William will be king. Why? Because he was born Prince William, his family is the ruling House of Windsor and he is next in line simply because of who he was born.
-this is the reason why gold was a vital gift to Jesus. It was proof to everyone that Jesus was King. He wasn’t born into the “kingly” family like everyone thought He would be. He wasn’t born in a palace like people predicted, but He was still God’s Son and the Prince of Peace because of who His Father is.
-Jesus is King because of who He is. He didn’t have earn being the Son of God. He didn’t work hard to get to be the Messiah.
**Rev. 19:16 -> 16On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (NIV)
-simply because of who He is and who His Daddy is.
-the same way, you are who you are not because of what you’ve done, not because of how good or bad you are, but because of who He is and who your Daddy is! You are sons and daughters of the Most High God because you have been adopted into His family… if you choose to be.
-Jesus came to be King of this world and He desperately wants you to be in His family, to be the bride that we mentioned before, but just like in any marriage, you have the right to say “Yes, I’ll marry you”, or “No, I won’t marry you”.
-but Jesus came to give you the choice, the choice to be in His family, and be a part of Spiritual Royalty, if you would like it.
