Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

Day 10 Advent

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:10–11)

God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything (Acts 17:25). The gifts of the magi are not given by way of assistance or need-meeting. It would dishonor a monarch if foreign visitors came with royal care-packages.

Nor are these gifts meant to be bribes. Deuteronomy 10:17 says that God takes no bribe. Well, what then do they mean? How are they worship?

Gifts given to wealthy, self-sufficient people are echoes and intensifiers of the giver’s desire to show how wonderful the person is. In a sense, giving gifts to Christ are like fasting — going without something to show that Christ is more valuable than what you are going without.

When you give a gift to Christ like this, it’s a way of saying, “The joy that I pursue (notice Matthew 2:10! “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy”) — the joy that I pursue is not the hope of getting rich by bartering with you or negotiating some payment. I have not come to you for your things, but for yourself. And this desire I now intensify and demonstrate by giving up things, in the hope of enjoying you more, not things. By giving to you what you do not need, and what I might enjoy, I am saying more earnestly and more authentically, ‘You are my treasure, not these things.’”

I think that’s what it means to worship God with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Or whatever else we may think of giving to God.

May God awaken in us a desire for Christ himself. May we say from the heart, “Lord Jesus, you are the Messiah, the King of Israel. All nations will come and bow down before you. God wields the world to see that you are worshiped. Therefore, whatever opposition I may find, I joyfully ascribe authority and dignity to you, and bring my gifts to say that you alone can satisfy my heart, not holding on to these gifts.”

John Piper

The Wonder in His Name

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“…and his name shall be called Wonderful…” Isaiah 9:6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What is in the name of the Lord Jesus? There is wonder in His name. Do you stand in awe of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or have you become complacent? Do you not get excited when you think of Jesus? If you don’t, you’ve lost the wonder. You have calluses on your soul.

Oh friend, Jesus is wonderful. Wonderful in His birth. Wonderful in His life. Wonderful in His teaching. Wonderful in His miracles. Wonderful in His death. Wonderful in His resurrection. And yes, wonderful in His second coming. His name is wonderful.

I heard of a man riding on a train one time, looking out the window. He was saying, “Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful”. And the man sitting next to him asked, “Why do you think everything is wonderful?” He answered, “I’ve been blind and just had surgery. I’m seeing things I had long since forgotten how beautiful they are. And they are wonderful to me.”

ACTION POINT:

Friend, if Jesus is not wonderful to you, open your spiritual eyes. See just how wonderful Jesus is. There is wonder in His name.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Two Kinds of Opposition to Jesus

Day 9 Advent

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:3)

Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship him, and he arouses opposition against those who do. This is probably not a main point in the mind of Matthew, but it is an inescapable implication as the story goes on.

In this story, there are two kinds of people who do not want to worship Jesus.

The first kind is the people who simply do nothing about Jesus. He is a nonentity in their lives. This group is represented at the beginning of Jesus’s life by the chief priests and scribes. Matthew 2:4 says, “Assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, [Herod] inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.” So they told him, and that was that: back to business as usual. The sheer silence and inactivity of the leaders is overwhelming in view of the magnitude of what was happening.

And notice, Matthew 2:3 says, “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” In other words, the rumor was going around that someone thought the Messiah was born. The inactivity on the part of the chief priests is staggering: why not go with the magi? They are not interested. They are not passionate about finding the Son of God and worshiping him.

The second kind of people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who are deeply threatened by him. That’s Herod in this story. He is really afraid. So much so that he schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to get rid of Jesus.

So today, these two kinds of opposition will come against Christ and his worshipers: indifference and hostility. I surely hope that you are not in one of those groups?

And if you are a Christian, let this Christmas be the time when you ponder what it means — what it costs — to worship and follow this Messiah.

John Piper

Lord of All? Or Not at All?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power…” Romans 1:3-4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

May I ask you a personal question? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord? You do? Then may I ask you another question? Is He your Lord?

Let’s be more specific.

Is He Lord of your tongue?

Is He Lord of your time?

Is He Lord of your treasure?

Is He Lord of your talents?

Is He Lord of your testimony?

Is He Lord in deed as well as word?

Is He truly Lord? Now, don’t answer too quickly.

ACTION POINT:

Think about it: It’s one thing to sing “Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all.” It’s another thing to mean it. Crown Him “Lord of all” in your life today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Bethlehem’s Supernatural Star

Day 8 Advent

Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2)

Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just how certain things happened. How did this “star” get the magi from the east to Jerusalem?

It does not say that it led them or went before them on the way to Jerusalem. It only says they saw a star in the east (Matthew 2:2) and came to Jerusalem. And how did that star go before them in the little five-mile walk from Jerusalem to Bethlehem as Matthew 2:9 says it did? And how did a star “rest over the place where the child was”?

The answer is: We do not know. There are numerous efforts to explain it in terms of conjunctions of planets or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights. We just don’t know. And I want to exhort you not to become preoccupied — not to become fixated — on theories that are only tentative in the end and have very little spiritual significance.

I risk a generalization to warn you: People who are exercised and preoccupied with such things, as how the star worked and how the Red Sea split and how the manna fell and how Jonah survived the fish and how the moon turns to blood, are generally people who have what I call a mentality for the marginal.

You do not see in them a deep cherishing of the great central things of the gospel: the holiness of God, the ugliness of sin, the helplessness of man, the death of Christ, justification by faith alone, the sanctifying work of the Spirit, the glory of Christ’s return, and the final judgment. They always seem to be taking you down a sidetrack with some new article or book that they’re all excited about dealing with something marginal. There is little rejoicing over the great, central realities.

But what is plain concerning this matter of the star is that it is doing something that it cannot do on its own: It is guiding magi to the Son of God to worship him.

There is only one Person in biblical thinking that can be behind that intentionality in the stars: God himself.

So, the lesson is plain: God is guiding foreigners to Christ to worship him. And he is doing it by exerting global — probably even universal — influence and power to get it done.

Luke shows God influencing the entire Roman Empire so that the census comes at the exact time to get an insignificant virgin to Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy with her delivery. Matthew shows God influencing the stars in the sky to get a little handful of foreigners to Bethlehem so that they can worship the Son.

This is God’s design. He did it then. He is still doing it now. His aim is that the nations — all the nations (Matthew 24:14) — worship his Son.

This is God’s will for everybody in your office at work, and in your classroom, and in your neighborhood, and in your home. As John 4:23 says, “The Father is seeking such people to worship him.”

At the beginning of Matthew we still have a “come-see” pattern. But at the end the pattern is “go-tell.” The magi came and saw. We are to go and tell.

But what is not different is the purpose and power of God in the ingathering of the nations to worship his Son. The magnifying of Christ in the white-hot worship of all nations is the reason the world exists.

John Piper

His Unquestioned Lordship

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11 “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ.” Acts 2:36

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Can you imagine what it meant to Mary to hear the angel say to her, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus”? Or for those Jewish shepherds the night of his birth to hear the angels say, “…born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”?

What does that word “Lord” mean? What did it mean to these shepherds? It meant “Jehovah” to them. Jehovah, God Almighty. When the angel said, “a Savior which is Christ the Lord,” the angel was saying He is co-equal, co-eternal with the Almighty.

Jesus Christ is called “Lord” far more than He is called “Savior.” He’s called “Lord” 747 times in the New Testament. He is Lord. Every so often someone says, “Well, I decided to make Him Lord.” Too late for that. He is Lord.

ACTION POINT:

You cannot “make” Him Lord; He already is. Can you receive Him as Lord? Yes. You can bow your knee to Him and say, “O Lord, You are the King. Therefore, I yield my heart to You.” Receive Him today as your Lord. Will you submit to His Lordship?”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

His Sovereign Nobility

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“…And the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6b

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Jesus was born a king. Scripture says “…the government shall be upon His shoulder.” In verse 7 of this chapter, this is fleshed out. “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.” 

How is this going to happen? “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” This little baby was born a king and He is a King. We didn’t elect Him and, friend, we’ll not impeach Him. He is King. He is Lord.

ACTION POINT:

Some people say, “Have you made Him the Lord of your life?” Too late for that. God has already declared Him Lord. This is His sovereign nobility. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. If you miss that, you miss the meaning of Christmas. You have to take the cradle, the cross, and the crown together, or you don’t have the true story of Christmas.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers