Review:
What do we know about the wise men? (little to nothing, just that they were from the east-Matt. 2:1)
What was the first gift? (gold)
What did the gold represent? (purity, marriage and kingship)
What came next? (frankincense)
-as mentioned last week, the Nativity Story movie present Mary with the gifts for Jesus and say, “Gold, for the King of Kings, frankincense for the Priest of Priests, and myrrh, for the sacrifice He will make.”
-and like last week, we have a little gift for everyone.
[HAND OUT FRANKINCENSE]
-so gold was representative of Jesus’ birth, frankincense is representative of Jesus’ life. But how?
1. JESUS AS HEALER
-a huge, huge part of Jesus’ ministry was healing.
-in the Bible, we have recorded 35 miracles of Jesus. Of these 35, 26 are healing, not to mention verses like the end of the book of John where he writes that all of Jesus’ miracles would probably fill all the books in all the world.
-or this one:
**Matt. 8:16-17 -> 16That evening people brought to Jesus many who had demons. Jesus spoke and the demons left them, and He healed all the sick. 17He did these things to bring about what Isaiah the prophet had said: “He took our suffering on Him and carried our diseases.” (NCV)
-did you notice it in there? All the sick. Every single one. In the entire Bible we have no instance of Jesus not healing someone. There was no one that we know of who came to Him and He said no. Often makes me wonder why we don’t have everyone healed.
-so how does this tie in with frankincense? In China, frankincense was used as a medicine to heal leprosy. Where did the wise men come from…? The east?
-leprosy was believed to be uncureable, it was a disease that you just eventually withered away and died from, until Jesus came along.
**Mark 1:40-42 -> 40A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. 41Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” 42Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. (NLT)
-there was no cure for this disease. When you were diagnosed with leprosy in Biblical times, you would have to live outside the town or village until you became clean, which pretty much never happened.
-you were constantly reminded of your disease because you had to live among other people with the same disease. They would have to live in leper colonies alone and by themselves, never seeing their families or friends, only other diseased people, some further along so you knew what you could look forward to. People from town would come and deliver food, meaning drop it in a bucket and run away being nowhere near you never talking to you.
-but if that wasn’t bad enough, if you ever left your colony, you had to make sure that everyone around you knew you had leprosy so they wouldn’t come near you. You had to wear torn garments to signify your uncleanness, then you had to yell “Unclean, Unclean” every time someone came even close to them. Richer people, and this took off in the Middle Ages, they had to carry a bell and ring it wherever they went.
-they were always outcasts, they were never loved, they were never even talked to. They were permanently set apart from society, looked upon as sick walking death.
-then comes Jesus. Lepers broke the law by coming to talk to Jesus. They weren’t supposed to be close to anyone. Think about how much love they felt because someone other than another diseased dying person was talking to them. Was looking them in the eye. Was acknowledging their presence!
-but then He did something more amazing. He healed them. He got rid of this filthy, disgusting, unclean disease that was inside of them and made them new. He made them clean.
-this is why Jesus came, to make us clean!
**Matt. 15:18-20 -> 18But what people say with their mouths comes from the way they think; these are the things that make people unclean. 19Out of the mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and speaking evil of others. 20These things make people unclean; eating with unwashed hands does not make them unclean.” (NCV)
-we as people are unclean spiritually, and Jesus came to heal our spiritual leprosy.
-the reason Jesus did miracles was not just some novelty act, He did it so people would understand that He had the authority to forgive sins, just as He had the authority to heal bodies.
-He explains this one day with a paralyzed man.
**Mark 2:1-12 -> 1After a few days, Jesus returned to Capernaum, and word got around that He was back home. 2A crowd gathered, jamming the entrance so no one could get in or out. He was teaching the Word. 3They brought a paraplegic to Him, carried by four men. 4When they weren’t able to get in because of the crowd, they removed part of the roof and lowered the paraplegic on his stretcher. 5Impressed by their bold belief, Jesus said to the paraplegic, “Son, I forgive your sins.” 6Some religion scholars sitting there started whispering among themselves, 7“He can’t talk that way! That’s blasphemy! God and only God can forgive sins.” 8Jesus knew right away what they were thinking, and said, “Why are you so skeptical? 9Which is simpler: to say to the paraplegic, ‘I forgive your sins,’ or say, ‘Get up, take your stretcher, and start walking’? 10Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both …” (He looked now at the paraplegic), 11“Get up. Pick up your stretcher and go home.” 12And the man did it—got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!” (MSG)
-it’s an honest question Jesus asked, which is simpler, to heal spirits or heal bodies? But He healed bodies to show that He had authority to heal spirits.
-the funny part is when Jesus said the man was forgiven, they didn’t get it. They didn’t see the need for his spirit to be healed. They were focused on the physical sickness.
-we have to do our best not to get focused on the physical healings that Jesus did because they were just the byproduct to show us that He wants to heal our souls. Which is the other reason for frankincense.
2. JESUS AS PREIST
-the primary use of frankincense in Biblical times was for worship.
-we were just talking about purity, purifying ourselves, frankincense was often used in Biblical times to purify. You would bathe in it and make yourself smell pretty.
-likewise, it was used to purify our souls. It was burned when talking to God to make us holy.
**Ex. 30:34-38 -> 34The Lord said to Moses, “Take an equal part of each of the following sweet spices—stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense. 35Use them to make incense, mixed like perfume. Add salt to keep it pure and holy. 36Beat part of it into a fine powder, take it into the Tent of My Presence, and sprinkle it in front of the Covenant Box. Treat this incense as completely holy. 37Do not use the same formula to make any incense like it for yourselves. Treat it as a holy thing dedicated to Me. 38If anyone makes any like it for use as perfume, he will no longer be considered one of My people.” (GNT)
-this combination was so holy you weren’t allowed to use it anywhere else. Only here. In the Temple or Tabernacle.
-it had to be used when talking to God. The Ark of the Covenant, God on earth, that is where the high priest spoke to God, and to do so, he has to burn this special, holy incense.
-frankincense was even necessary for some of the offerings.
**Lev. 6:14-15 -> 14“These are the instructions regarding the grain offering. Aaron’s sons must present this offering to the LORD in front of the altar. 15The priest on duty will take from the grain offering a handful of the choice flour moistened with olive oil, together with all the frankincense. He will burn this representative portion on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the LORD. (NLT)
-this smell is pleasing to the Lord. Why? Is there something special in it? Not really, it’s just because it was dedicated to the Lord. It was what He decided would be His, so they used it only for Him.
-frankincense was given to Jesus because He is our priest now. He is the one through whom forgiveness came. We no longer go to some priest to ask forgiveness of our sins, we go straight to Him because He is our priest.
** Heb. 4:14-16 -> 14Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God—Jesus, the Son of God. 15Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. 16Let us have confidence, then, and approach God’s throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it. (GNT)
-Jesus is now our High Priest, and to do His job as High Priest, He would have used frankincense. It was given as a symbol, like gold was a symbol to show everyone He is King, frankincense was given as a symbol that He is our priest. He is the one we learn from, through whom we learn more about God and grow closer in our relationship with Him, but as we talked about before, He also broke that barrier of sin that separated us from God.
-before, to talk to God only the High Priest could do it behind a huge curtain inside the Holy of Holies, but on the day Christ died on the cross that curtain ripped opening up the ability for all of us to talk to our High Priest without sin, if we ask Him to forgive us.
-it goes back to it being our choice to talk to Jesus. And thanks to Jesus, we don’t need to offer frankincense to talk to our Father, He is interceding for us so we can go straight to God with our requests, but also just with ourselves.
**Heb. 7:23-27 -> 23Earlier there were a lot of priests, for they died and had to be replaced. 24But Jesus’ priesthood is permanent. He’s there from now to eternity 25to save everyone who comes to God through Him, always on the job to speak up for them. 26So now we have a high priest who perfectly fits our needs: completely holy, uncompromised by sin, with authority extending as high as God’s presence in heaven itself. 27Unlike the other high priests, He doesn’t have to offer sacrifices for His own sins every day before He can get around to us and our sins. He’s done it, once and for all: offered up Himself as the sacrifice. (MSG)
-you see, we don’t need this anymore [HOLD UP FRANKINCENSE] because we have this [POINT TO CROSS]. Jesus was and is the ultimate High Priest because of the life He lived for us, blameless and holy, so we could be forgiven and be blameless and holy before Him, no long spiritually unclean. But even the lepers had to ask for healing.
