Wise Men? Maybe, But They Clearly Didn't Check The Gift Registry


What do you get the baby? It's not like they're going to remember it, but the baby still gets gifts. We loved gifts like diapers. Clothes were usually a safe bet, and of course they would receive toys. The best gift either of my sons ever received while still a baby was a slot car race track. Nathaniel wasn't even two years old yet. The recommended age on it was something like 8 years old and up. I was so excited, and can't begin to tell you how much fun my wife and I had racing each other while he played with the box.
When Jesus was still a little fellow a few more unexpected guests arrived. (If you glance back over the past few day's blogs you'll see there were several). These wealthy stargazers had been following a star they believed would lead them to the one born, "King of the Jews." 

It did.

“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” Matthew 2:10-11 NIV

I'm sure Jesus would have rather had a toy chariot, or one of those drums like that little drummer boy kid had, but this is what they brought. Why? Why bring such unusual gifts? They weren't ordinary gifts because this was no ordinary baby. The gifts were prophetic.

Gold: A gift for a king which is exactly who he was. He may have been born to a poor humble couple, but his visitors were already bowing down to him. He was, "the King of kings," I Timothy 6:15.

Frankincense: A gift for a priest which is exactly who he was. "We have a great high priest," Hebrews 4:14. Priests offered sacrifice for sin, "when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God," Hebrews 10:12. They also served as mediators, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus," I Timothy 2:5.

Myrrh: This would be the strangest gift of all. It was a spice used to prepare bodies for burial. Can you imagine having a baby and someone put a down payment on a burial plot for you? Gave it to you with a note; "You'll need somewhere to bury your new little one someday." No one gives a tombstone to a baby. Unless the baby came to die.
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." John 15:13

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. They weren't ordinary gifts.

Look at him in the manger. He was no ordinary baby.

Following the Son,
James A Williams


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