“Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!… May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!” Psalm 72:1, 10-11
Have you ever gotten to an event and found out that everybody brought a present but you? Today we come to a little known prophecy of Christmas, found in Psalm 72, – the giving of gifts to the
new born king.
We don’t know a lot about the wise men from the east who visited Jesus well after His birth. We know there is more than one from the plural use of men in Luke. We know that they gave three gifts to the Lord and that those gifts had tremendous meaning to who the Lord is and to the life He would lead.
One gift was Gold. Gold in the Bible is symbolic of God. It is the most precious of metals and is extremely rare in its purest form. Kings used gold to show their glory. For example King Solomon had at throne made of ivory and overlaid with the gold (1 Kings 10:18) and King Nebuchadnezzar constructed an image of himself covered with gold. The wise men brought a gift showing who the Lord is – gold. He is worthy to be King.
Second they brought the gift of frankincense. Frankincense is a clear resin from trees in northern India and Arabia. It is used in making incense and was treasured for its aroma .Frankincense was used as a sweet savor (incense) in the temple. The wise men’s gift of frankincense is a picture of Jesus’ office as the Priest of God.
Third they give the gift of myrrh. Myrrh was used in the preparing the dead for burial. Thus this gift looked ahead to the Lord’s death and burial. But myrrh had a second purpose. It was mixed into the oil that was used to anoint prophets for the divinely appointed work of revealing God and communicating His will and words to His people. Thus this gift looked forward to the Lord’s role as the priest of God.
In most situations the three positions of prophet, priest, and king were distinct from each other. No one person served in all three roles simultaneously. When they tried to assume one or both of the other roles there were always problems – (Saul rushing ahead of Samuel to offer a sacrifice to God). Only the Lord could fulfill the three offices flawlessly.
What can we learn? When we select gifts we try to pick things that will be meaningful to the one who receives the gift. The wise
men did that as they offered gifts indicative of the Lord’s ministry. It make me think of the next time the Lord will receive gifts – from His bride, the church, at the Bema Seat. In the Old Testament Israel sacrificed animals – without spot or blemish – to God. When they were pure, they pleased God. At the Bema Seat, the church will give its gifts, hopefully wise ones. We will give the results of when we sacrificed – our time, out talents and our treasures for the Lord. It
will include sacrifice of our gold – our wealth. We will offer our sacrifice of frankincense – our praise to the Lord and our public declaration that He is the King of Kings. It will include the sacrifice of myrrh – the times we became living sacrifices to serve Him. But there is one other thought – what if one shows up without a gift to offer the King of King, Wise men would never do that.