Thursday
Evening Bible Study
December
24, 2010
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the
broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a
decision
I want to take
a few minutes and talk about the wise men that came to visit the baby Jesus.
We sometimes
call these guys the “three kings”, but we’re not sure there were three of them,
and we really aren’t sure they were “kings”.
The word used
for them, magoi, or “magi”, is a word
used to describe a sort of pagan priest, someone highly educated, trained in astrology and
interpreting dreams. God used their own misguided
system and brought them to the baby Jesus.
Because these men were able to interpret the signs of God correctly, and
because of how they responded to Jesus, we can surely call them “wise men”.
(Mt 2:1–11
NLT) —1 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod.
About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking,2
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have
come to worship him.” 3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as
was everyone in Jerusalem.4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and
teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be
born?” 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet
wrote: 6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the
ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd
for my people Israel.’ ” 7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the
wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared.8 Then
he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you
find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!” 9 After
this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the
east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place
where the child was.10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house
and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh.
If you paid attention, you might
have noticed that they came to a “house”, not a “manger” or a stable.
We believe that these wise men saw
some sort of heavenly sign at the birth of Jesus while they lived far to the
east. We believe it might have taken
them about two years to actually make it to Bethlehem. By the time they arrive, Joseph, Mary, and
Jesus are living in a house in Bethlehem.
They saw and came
They had seen it in their observations of the sky. They saw “His star” (vs.
2)
They put all their studying together and realized something amazing was
taking place.
Last Sunday we looked at some of the amazing prophecies that Jesus
fulfilled when He came the first time.
Look at how specific some of the prophecies were:
Being
born in Bethelehem
He
would do miracles
He
would be betrayed by a friend
He
would be crucified
He
would rise from the dead
When you realize these things were predicted hundreds of years before
Jesus, you have to come to the conclusion that Jesus was someone incredible. Have you seen? Will you come?
They responded with worship
The Greek word speaks of loving adoration.
We also see it in the fact that these distinguished scholars bowed before
this child.
Wouldn’t that be a strange thing to see?
Distinguished scholars bearing presents, bowing to the ground before a young toddler?
One of the things we do as Christians is to “worship” Jesus.
We do this because He is amazing. He
is incredible.
One of the things we do is to sing to Him.
A friend shared this clip with me yesterday.
Play: Steve Martin: Atheists Don’t Have No Songs
I
don’t know why that song was written.
If it was written to lift up atheists, to me it backfires – it simply
shows the difference between someone who has no inspiration, and someone who
follows God.
To me, when you have an encounter with God, you ought to want to
worship. You ought to want to sing.
Aren’t you glad for the music that Jesus inspires?
They gave gifts
This was a part of their “worship” of this young child.
Gold
For Jesus, think about what gold would mean to him.
After all, His
life didn’t start a year or two earlier.
He had come from the throne of heaven where He existed in eternity with
God the Father.
In heaven, the streets are paved with gold.
I’m not sure the point is to say that heaven is in a much
higher tax bracket than we are.
I think the point is to remind us that what we consider to
be so very, very precious, is simply used to pave the streets of heaven.
What would you think if someone gave you a chunk of asphalt for your
birthday?
For us, we
think of gold as being something precious, something valuable.
Today, with the price of gold going
through the roof, it’s even more valuable than ever.
For the wise men, giving gold is like giving your most precious possessions
to this small child.
I’m sure that Joseph and his family were grateful. The gold would be helpful in providing
support for his family when they ran from Herod.
For us, I think there comes a time as we grow wiser, that
we too learn the value of giving things that are precious.
Frankincense
This is a substance that comes from the sap of a certain tree. The sap hardens, is ground up, and is used in incense.
It was part of the special incense burned in the Temple. (Ex. 30)
Incense in the
Bible is associated with prayer. As
incense burns, the fragrance fills the room, and smoke rises upward toward the
ceiling. This is a picture of our
prayers, that they are a sweet fragrance to God as they rise before His throne.
Perhaps the
wise men’s gift is a picture of giving prayer to God.
I wonder if there isn’t anything that God appreciates more than us learning
to spend time with Him in prayer.
Myrrh
Myrrh was also a substance
that came from the sap of a bush, dried, and used as a fragrance. It was used in the special anointing oil (Ex. 30) that was symbolic of the
Holy Spirit.
But more importantly, myrrh was an ingredient used in embalming. When a person died, the body was wrapped in
cloth with myrrh sprinkled in it.
Myrrh was used in Jesus’ own burial. (John 19:39)
Could it be
possible that the gifts of the wise men pointed to Jesus’ own death?
You might say to me, “Well, everyone dies.
What’s so special about that?”
Death
is the very reason Jesus came.
He left the glory of heaven and took on human flesh in
order to die.
He came to die for our sins. He came to die so that we could have eternal
life.
Listen to Billy Graham explain it in an interview a couple
days ago…
Play
Billy Graham / Greta Van
Susteren clip.
Do you have
your Christmas shopping done yet?
Christmas is an
odd holiday where we celebrate someone’s birth by giving gifts to everyone but
the person whose birthday we celebrate.
What would you
give Jesus for His birthday?
You could give Him what is precious to you.
You could give Him prayer.
The best gift you could give Him would be your heart.