By DON ALD GREY BARNHOUSE*
O NE of the scenes that we have before us at Christmas time is that of the visit of the wise men of the Orient to the birthplace of the young Child. This is a scene upon which the imagination easily lays hold. The great artists have put the picture on many canvases and have furnished us with scores of types of Oriental poten tates bringing gifts. We must be careful not to get our Bible knowledge from paintings, hymns, or tradition of any kind. God has given us the Book. From the Bible story of the visit of the men with their gifts from the East, we know but little. We do not know that there were three men. It is doubtful that the Magi were even kings, and it is more than probable that they arrived in Bethlehem long, long after the traditional date. The only ac count of this incident which we possess is in the second chapter of Matthew. Tradition has drawn upon vivid imag inations for the expansion of the idea, but we pass over all that and come to the simple Biblical account. We come for one detail only. We want your at tention fastened on the three gifts these men brought, that you might consider their significance, and particularly the reason for one of them. “ Gold, frankincense and myrrh . . .” Gifts fit for a king, it has been said. And it would take no argument at all to show that gold is a royal gift. The tombs of the Egyptian kings would be evidence enough. This same value at tached to gold seems to have existed at all times and in all places. Almost the earliest records of the human race show the attachment for the precious metal. It is not surprising, therefore, that men of a splendor that attracted the attention of all Jerusalem should have brought gold with them. Nor is it sur prising that the Holy Spirit should speak of the gift of gold in this first Gospel which was written to the Jews to prove that Jesus was the expected Messiah. Gold for a king; what more suitable gift? But it is more than likely that the great providence of God, who was watching over every detail in connec tion with the coming of His Son into this world, was providing Joseph with sufficient funds to take the young Child and His mother for the flight into Egypt which was necessitated by the begin ning of a series of Satanic attacks upon the life of the One who was to be the Saviour. Frankincense was one of the ingredi ents in the oil of anointing for the priests of Israel. It was also mixed with the meal offerings that were the offerings of praise and adoration to God. They are typical of worship. Although D E C E M B E R , 1949
these offerings with frankincense were used in the temple of Israel for the offerings of praise, God particularly said that no frankincense was to be mixed with any of the offerings for sin. We think of this when we turn to the life of Christ and see how that life was lived. He was without sin. His whole life was lived as a fragrance of praise and worship to God. The Word of God tells us that when the enemy, Satan, came to tempt the Lord Jesus, he found nothing within upon which he might lay hold. When Satan comes to tempt us, how different is the story! We have within us an old nature upon which the deceiver may work. There is an enemy in the midst of our lives which is a sworn ally of the devil. But our Lord was the spot less One. It was fitting that frankin cense should be offered to Him. So we see from the symbolism of these gifts that the eternal royalty and holiness of Christ were announced from His earliest years. He had come forth from Heaven to perform the work of redemption, and He was prepared in every way to do the Father’s will so that He might fulfill every demand and obligation of the law. Thus only would He become eligible to die an the cross; and by that cross alone redeem the world. But at this Christmas time we want to call especial attention to the third of these gifts which the wise men bore to the Lord Jesus. It was the gift of myrrh. This special substance was greatly used in ancient times. Large quantities of myrrh were used by the rich of the world of that day in the preparing of the bodies of their dead for burial. Myrrh is the most significant of the gifts that were brought to the Lord Jesus by the wise men of the East. The proof of that fact lies in one of the prophecies of the Old Testament. We must not forget that both the first com ing and the second coming "of the Lord Jesus are foretold in the Old Testament. The purpose of His first coming is suf ficiently indicated by the great outline of the work of His suffering of which we read so much in the Old Testament. Not only was the coming glorious Messiah to be Jehovah’s righteous serv ant, but beyond that, He was to go to the cross. He who, in the twenty-fourth Psalm, is the King of Glory, before whom the gates and the everlasting doors are lifted up, is the One who cried out in the twenty-second Psalm, “ My God, my God, why hast thou for saken me?” We need not take up the great prophe cies of the splendid, resistless Sovereign who is yet to come. The hundreds of Page Seven
*Pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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