First Christmas Gifts

Nº 334

December 24, 2024

Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life. - Corrie Ten Boom

Sometime after Jesus’ birth, Wisemen arrived from the East. They brought three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Why those three gifts? We can only speculate, but perhaps they exemplified three significant aspects of Jesus’ coming ministry.

Gold was the currency of kings. When the Wisemen arrived in Jerusalem they asked, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? “(Matthew 2:2). The Wisemen’s delivery of gold signified Jesus’ regal nature.

God prescribed frankincense as a major ingredient for the incense that fill the Tabernacle, “where I will meet with you.” (Exodus 30:36) Like the frankincense that permeated the Tabernacle, Christ’s good news would someday fill the world with an opportunity to meet with God.

Myrrh was used to anoint dead bodies. After Jesus’ crucifixion, “Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds” (John 19:39) to prepare Jesus’ body. The myrrh foreshadowed Jesus’ substitutionary death to pay the penalty for our sins and offer eternal life.

This Christmas, remember the gifts of the Wisemen.

Gold – The royal Son of God.

Frankincense – Provided the world with the good news of how we could meet with God.

Myrrh – But that good news would cost him the life we celebrate today.

Merry Christmas!

Dan Bolin

Author & President

Refueling in Flight Ministries