King: Week 3 Myrrh
Notes
Transcript
This morning as we are one day before the day we celebrate the coming of our Savior into the world, we take a last look at the visit of the Wise men.
Matthew Chapter 2 verses 1-12 shows the journey to find the king. and when they arrived we see what they did:
11 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.
Three gifts, brought to a baby. Not exactly a gift that I would have given. Mom is the one who thinks about gifts the most. When people that we know have a baby, Mom will get them a gift, for the baby. Maybe set of baby clothes, I
,
, or something simple like that. But look at the gifts that these wise men brought a baby…gold, frankincense, and myyrth.…what is a baby going to do with that?
But as we look at these three gifts, they were not FOR the child, they were ABOUT the child. They would symbolize the life of the child. A few weeks ago we talked about Gold was a symbol of the was a King. There were have been many kings. But for all of time he would be the highest.
In the last days, John wrote in the Book of Revelation about Him:
14 They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Of all of the kings, for all of time…he would be above them all.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
He would become the King, and he will be the King for all time.
The gift of gold pointed towards him being the KING.
The second gift was frankincense Frankincense was a gum that was taken from a plant. In was dried, then ground up, and it was used in sacrifices in the Temple. Some of it was even used in the Showbread that was placed on the alter as a sacrifice to the Lord.
So frankincense pointed to Jesus being the great High Priest. What does this mean, he will be our High Priest. The office of High Priest was very important. In the time before Jesus, the High Priest was the mediator between God and man. There was no way that man could get to God except through the High Priest in the temple. The High Priest was in the temple, making sure the people followed the Law, he was there to watch over the offering of sacrifices, and once a year he would go into the Holy of Holies, were the presense of God was, and he would make a sacrifice, an atonement, of the sins of nation. This was called the Day of Atonement. But his forgiveness was only temporary. The next year, they had to do it again.
But when this baby was born, through the work he would do on the cross, he would become the great high priest and his sacrifice would be the last.
Look how the writer of Hebrews say it……
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
This simple gift of frankincense would point to the last, great high priest.
But there was a third gift, and that was the gift of myrrh. Why would these wise men bring this gift to a baby? That is what we will talk about today.
++++++++++++++++CORNERSTONE CREED
Open you Bibles to Matthew 2:11 It is there we see the gifts listed: gold, frankincense and Myrrh. Raise you hand if you would like a gift of myrrh tomorrow?
11 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.
What is myrrh?
Myrrh comes from a tree. They would scrap the trunk or limbs of the tree then dry it out, crush it, and mix it with oil to become a perfume. It smelled very well. Were the wise men bringing perfume to the baby so he could smell fine? No. There were other uses of myrrh, but one of them was in preparing a dead body for the grave. When someone died, as they prepared the body they would use this perfume to hide the smell of the body for a few days.
But what does this have to do with this baby? If you from move here from the second chapter of Matthew to the 19th chapter of John, I want you to see something. In John 19, Jesus had been crucified, he had died on the cross. Nicodemus came to prepare his body for the grave and looked what he used…
John 19:39 (ESV)
39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.
This gift of myrrh pointed to his death.
A few weeks ago I said that these three gifts can be looked at as a sort of prophesy. Not the wise men, but the gifts. We can look back and see how the different prophets through the Old Testament spoke the words of the Lord about a coming Messiah. A king who would reign, a high priest, and even prophesies about his death. With these three gifts … they were pointing to what this baby would be and what he would do.
How did they know? The Bible doesn’t tell us. Maybe one day when we get to heaven we can ask one of them, how did you know to bring those three gifts?
But what is important for you and me today to understand is that the same God that would lead them to worship this King is the same God that calls for you to bow down and worship him.
But we don’t worship a baby, we worship a King, a High Priest, the God of heaven who would give up his position in heaven to come down where you are and point you back to a relationship with God.
The other night, Mom mentioned that the reason God created man and woman was because of love. Even though he knew that Adam and Eve would turn from him, he still loved them and he knew the only way be could be in a relationship with them was through a sacrifice. Not of an animal, but his only son.
Jesus was born to die. Its that simple. He was born to die.
Did he do great miracles? Yes. Did he train up those who would go out and tell about him? Yes. Is he the eternal great King? Yes. Is he our High Priest that we connect with the Father through. Yes. But all of those things pointed to a sacrifice of death.
A sacrifice he was willing to make.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Why death? If God is God, whey did he have to die? He could have just pardoned our sin and said don’t worry its ok.
But he couldn’t do that. Why? Because he is holy, and his holiness would not allow him to let that happen. He could not allow sin into his presence. If he did he would not be holy anymore. It would go against the nature of who he is. That is why he removed Adam and Eve from the garden, because sin was in them and the garden and even the presence of God was perfect.
But God still loved Adam and Eve. He stilled wanted a relationship with them. That is why told the serpent (the devil)in Genesis 3:15
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This was the answer to the sin that separated and and God. The answer was spoken by the prophets for 4000 years until the angel Gabriel came to a young man and a young girl and revealed that the time had come.
The baby was the promised Messiah, born into a lowly manger…to die.
He was born to die. He was born that one day myrrh would be placed on his body at the age of 33.
But his death would not be the end. It was only the beginning.
When God pointed to the coming of one that would bruise the head of Satan, he was showing us that there would be redemption. Redemption is when something is released because a payment has been made. Mom and I get a new green card every year that allows us to be here in Nigeria. But that green card comes with a payment. We pay the immigration service and they release the card to us. Without it, we could not be in Nigeria.
Death. Eternal death. Death without God. Death without hope. Separated from God for eternity. Living our best life on our own is not good enough. Getting the best education, the best job, the best money is worthless without the redemption of our sins through Jesus Christ.if you are not redeemed, you will be separated from God forever.
The Bible says that
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
23 For the wages of sin is death,
Death. Eternal death. Death without God. Death without hope. Separated from God for eternity. Living our best life on our own is not good enough. Getting the best education, the best job, the best money is worthless without the redemption of our sins through Jesus Christ.
The payment we make for our sin of not following God is death….not in a grave, but in hell.
But there is good news. That is not the end of the verse.
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is hope for the lost. There is hope for the one without Christ. That hope came into this world as a baby, but he was more that than that…he was the answer to man’s problem of seperation from God. He was the Redeemer.
It will not be long, the Christmas season will pass. If you receive gifts, at some point they will all spoil. The food you enjoy will, you know, pass away. But the one thing that will always remain is that something happened 2000 years ago that every person has to face.
God, loved this world so much that he sent a baby. A baby that would become a King. A baby that would become a High Priest. And a baby that would sacrifice his life for yours.
You want to know what I call him? Savior.
Why? Because he saved me.
I call him Redeemer.
Why? Because he redeemed me.
I call him Lord.
Why? Because He is the Lord of my life.
Is he your Savior? Is he your redeemer? Is he your Lord?
He loves you. Remember, that is why he created you. That is why you have breath in your lungs right now because he wants a relationship with you.
Have you made him your Savior? Have you allowed him to redeem your soul? Is he the Lord of your life?
I can’t think of a better day for you to come and give you life to Jesus, and say, Lord I am a sinful person. I have done my own thing, I have turned from you….please God, forgive my disobedience, and make me yours. Come into my life and save me……