Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

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 

December 10

1 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

2 "Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up." 

3 For thus says the Lord GOD: "The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel." 

4 For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: "Seek me and live; 

5 but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing." 

6 Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, 

7 O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth! 

8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name; 

9 who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. 

10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. 

11 Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. 

12 For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins- you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. 

13 Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. 

14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. 

15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 

16 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: "In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, 'Alas! Alas!' They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, 

17 and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst," says the LORD. 

18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, 

19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. 

20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? 

21 "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 

22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 

24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 

25 "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god-your images that you made for yourselves,

27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts. - Amos 5

1 "Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes! 

2 Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory, 

3 O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence? 

4 "Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 

5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 

6 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! 

7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away." 

8 The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, declares the LORD, the God of hosts: "I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it." 

9 And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die.

10 And when one's relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, "Is there still anyone with you?" he shall say, "No"; and he shall say, "Silence! We must not mention the name of the LORD."

11 For behold, the LORD commands, and the great house shall be struck down into fragments, and the little house into bits. 

12 Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood- 

13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, "Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves?" 

14 "For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel," declares the LORD, the God of hosts; "and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah."  - Amos 6

1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

2 Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.

3 He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.

4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he.

5 And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.

6 And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: "I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. 

7 I said, 'Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.' 

8 But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. 

9 It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right. 

10 Therefore I say, 'Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.' 

11 "Behold, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say. 

12 I gave you my attention, and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job or who answered his words. 

13 Beware lest you say, 'We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a man.' 

14 He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches. 

15 "They are dismayed; they answer no more; they have not a word to say. 

16 And shall I wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more? 

17 I also will answer with my share; I also will declare my opinion. 

18 For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. 

19 Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst. 

20 I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer. 

21 I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person. 

22 For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.  - Job 32

1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?"

3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it,

4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

5 And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals."

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 

10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." 

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,

12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" 

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" 

14 And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped. - Revelation 5

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,

2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. - John 17:1-5

When You’ve Got to Have Wisdom

BIBLE MEDITATION

“But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” 1 Corinthians 1:24

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Do you need a counselor sometimes? People come to pastors and counselors for wisdom. We can counsel from Scripture, but we can’t solve their problems.

We can try to lead them to the One who can solve their problems, the Lord Jesus Christ. But I don’t want them dependent upon me. I want them to know Jesus. He is the Counselor.

There is wisdom in His name. The Bible says, “But of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

ACTION POINT

Are you going through a problem right now where you don’t know the way out? You don’t know what to do. Every answer seems wrong. I want to recommend my counselor to you. Call upon the true Counselor. His name is Jesus. Not only is there wonder in His name. Friend, there is wisdom in His name.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Two Kinds of Opposition to Jesus

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 

December 9

1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

2 "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. 

3 "Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet? 

4 Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing? 

5 Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? 

6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it? 

7 "For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. 

8 The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?" 

9 Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, "Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst." 

10 "They do not know how to do right," declares the LORD, "those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds." 

11 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered." 

12 Thus says the LORD: "As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.

13 "Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob," declares the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, 

14 "that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground. 

15 I will strike the winter house along with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end," declares the LORD.  - Amos 3

1 "Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, 'Bring, that we may drink!' 

2 The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. 

3 And you shall go out through the breaches, each one straight ahead; and you shall be cast out into Harmon," declares the LORD. 

4 "Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; 

5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!" declares the Lord GOD. 

6 "I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD. 

7 "I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; 

8 so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD. 

9 "I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD. 

10 "I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD. 

11 "I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD. 

12 "Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!" 

13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth- the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!  - Amos 4

24 "If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, 

25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, 

26 if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, 

27 and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, 

28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above. 

29 "If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him 

30 (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse), 

31 if the men of my tent have not said, 'Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?' 

32 (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler), 

33 if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart, 

34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors- 

35 Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! 

36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; 

37 I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him. 

38 "If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together, 

39 if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last, 

40 let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.  - Job 31:24-40

1 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, "Come!"

2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!"

4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.

6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!"

7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"

8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

10 They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,

13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.

14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,

16 calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,

17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" - Revelation 6

25 "I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.

26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf;

27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father."

29 His disciples said, "Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!

30 Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God."

31 Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?

32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." - John 16:25-33

Do You Feel the Wonder?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:21). “…but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).

 

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 said, “I’ve been blind, and I’ve just had surgery, and 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 

Bethlehem’s Supernatural Star

“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