The Good And Perfect Gift

The Good and Perfect Gift

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Christmas time has always been known as the season for gifts. We know that it all stems from the gifts that God gave to mankind through his own Son, Jesus. We also know that God’s gifts are priceless and always perfect.

The Wise men from the East traveled from afar to find Jesus as they followed the Star of Bethlehem, but when they found Jesus, he was not a newborn anymore. Most teach that Jesus was between 1 ½ to 2 years old.

The narrative of Matthew’s gospel tells us that these Wise Men stopped at the palace of Herod on the way, to seek the location of where the new king was who had been born in Israel. Of course Herod didn’t know, and probably would never have told them if he did, so the wise men continued following the star that had already led them so far.

When the wise men left Herod, darkness had already fallen and as they looked into the night sky the star that was invisible in the light of day, reappeared in the night sky and it led them to the very house where Mary, Joseph and Jesus were staying in Bethlehem because they were in no hurry to go back to Nazareth.

Traveling the long road would be really hard and dangerous for a while because Mary had to recover. They stayed long enough to allow Jesus to grow before they would put a newborn on a donkey on the open road for 2 or 3 weeks. After the crowds in Bethlehem began leaving once they had registered for the census, there were likely a number of places where the couple could stay cheap.

Bethlehem was both Joseph and Mary’s ancestral home, and I have no doubt that they had relatives who would have been glad to take them in for an extended stay

Matthew 2:11, in speaking about the wise men, the Bible says, “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”

Can you imagine how fast the word spread that the Wise Men had come? They traveled in a large entourage. It wasn’t just 3 very wealthy men on a well decorated camel.

It was a whole group of servants and guards that traveled with them, so when they pulled up in front of the house of Joseph and Mary, the whole town probably knew it in no time.

They came bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We already know that they stood for the glory and riches of Jesus’ heavenly origin; of frankincense, one of the ingredients of Holy Anointing Oil used in temple worship, signifying Jesus’ role as our Great High Priest, every making intercession for us; and there was the myrrh; often used as a pain killer, symbolizing Jesus’ humanity, and his destiny to become the savior through sacrifice, and also his death, burial and resurrection.

The wise men themselves may not have known the full meaning of their gifts, but they were open to hearing the voice of the Lord because they were told to warn Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt because of Herod’s decree to kill all male children 2 years and under in Bethlehem and all the region around it.

The most Good and Perfect gift even given to this world that is lost in sin, is the Gift of the very Son of God in the form of a man, sent to us our Father in Heaven.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

I was researching this and I came across a very interesting article concerning just what a “

Good Gift” and a “Perfect Gift” is supposed to do for both the Giver and the Receiver.

Of course we know that the Giver is God himself, so when God gives gifts they are already both good and perfect in every way possible. But what do those good and perfect gifts do for us?

A good gift is a gift that brings positive emotions.

What greater feelings or emotions could any gift give greater than knowing that our Loving, Merciful Heavenly Father loves us enough to give us the most precious and powerful gift that Heaven has to offer! His gift of His own Son brought Joy, happiness, peace, unity, redemption, and every good thing that we could ever hope for. Every good and perfect gift that God could give to mankind was given in Jesus.