We went caroling but that didn’t really communicate Him either. Sometimes you’d get into a good discussion with someone, but not as often as I’d hoped. Then came the revelation to me of gold, frankincense and myrrh. For more on how the Project came to be see, Who We Are.
Now the meaning of Gold Frankincense and myrrh is by no means new. It’s old hat to theologians and has been spoken of since the time of the Church Fathers (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3:9:2). But it was new to me and it’s implications as a Christmas Evangelism tool were clear.
Christmas is more than "our holiday." It's part of our culture. People recognize with affection the Wise Men and the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Just as Jesus used common objects of every day life to communicate spiritual truth, we can now use these easily recognizable part of the Christmas story to communicate the true Gift of Christmas. The booklet in the First Christmas Present also uses that familiar Christmas Carol “We Three Kings” which like so many carols tells us the Gospel but we sing without thinking.
GOLD
Rare, beautiful, precious, worthy across all cultures and times, is easily recognized to be a gift fit for royalty. It says to the Christ child, “You will be a king” (Rev 19:16). We all honor the pretty little Baby. But we must remind ourselves and others that as He is King we are meant to have a relationship that puts Him above us. We obey Him.
FRANKINCENSE
is an herb thought to be calming, restorative, gently clarifying, and meditative. To a Jewish family it would have called to mind an image of the High Priest who burned it in sacrifice to God (Exodus 30:34). As a tool of the Priest’s ministry, it points to Jesus’ role as our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14) who acts as a bridge between us and the Father. Further as a gift traditionally given by the High Priest to God to speak of Jesus deity.
MYRRH
is perhaps the most mysterious and for the sake of the Gospel the most important. Also an herb, it known for it’s strong antiseptic (preservative), and anti-inflammatory (pain relieving) properties The Egyptians used it since the 15th century B.C. in incense, perfumes and holy ointments and also medicinally as recorded in the Ebers Papyrus. But it’s most notable use to them was that of an embalming material, used in Egyptian mummies. In fact, Myrrh was one of the burial spices of Jesus (John 19:39).
Now if you're a believer daily living and breathing the story of Jesus, you have a mental peg hole to put the fact that Jesus was given a burial spice. But step outside of that for a moment. Shouldn’t it shock us that the Wise Men gave a symbol of death to celebrate birth?
How would you feel if at your baby’s birth your friends gave him some formaldehyde? Yet this was the gift for God’s Son. Why? The gold showed us His nature as king. The frankincense illustrated His ministry as priest. And the myrrh, while reminding us of His role as healer, foretold His destiny to die for us as a sacrifice.
Myrrh is the connection between Christmas and Easter.
The myrrh at the beginning of His life symbolized His death. It reappears at the end while He’s dying on the cross when "they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it" (Mark 15:23).
Why didn't He take it? As an anti-inflammatory, myrrh was a pain reliever. Perhaps He knew that His Father's justice required Him to suffer the full punishment for your sins and mine.
Jesus died because we have sinned and separated ourselves from God (Rom 3:23). He died because we are not perfect and do not belong in His perfect heaven or to be in relationship with Him. He died to pay a price we couldn’t pay, to give us the greatest gift of all which we could never buy...eternal life.
This is God’s great Christmas gift to us. But like a gift under the tree we don’t really have it until you open it. We have to receive it. Eternal life is God’s gift to you and that life is in Jesus.
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
I John 5:11
To receive that life you must receive the Son. Speaking of Jesus, John tells us,
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to
become children of God.
John 1:12
Gifts are opened at Christmas and Christmas will truly come to you when you take God’s gift, Jesus Christ, into your heart to live with Him now and forever as your King, your Priest and your Sacrifice.
This page based on the text of the pamphlet that accompanies the Frist Christmas Present. To read that pamphlet as is click here.
