SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/18/2019
11:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Adoration of the Magi”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 2:9-12
Message of the verses: “9 After hearing
the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east,
went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the
Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
11 After coming into the
house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the
ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him
gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been
warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their
own country by another way.”
I
stated in our last SD that we would talk a little bit about the three gifts
that were given to Jesus by the magi.
One
does not have to be alive too long to know that throughout history gold has
been considered the most precious of metals and also it is the universal symbol
of material value and wealth. As we
studied through the OT we saw that there were actually tons of gold used in the
making of the Temple in Jerusalem.
MacArthur writes “Matthew continually presents Christ as the King, and
here we see the King of the Jews, the King of kings, appropriately being
presented with royal gifts of gold.”
He
goes on to write something that is very important: “The Savior of the world is also the true
King of the world, and He will not be Savior of those who will not accept Him
as sovereign Lord. As wonderful as Jesus’
saviorhood was to them, the early Christians’ first known creed was ‘Jesus is
Lord,’ acknowledging His rule.” Now we
have been over this subject when we were looking at the book of Ephesians and I
noted there that when I first became a believer I did not realize exactly who
Jesus was, but because of God’s grace and longsuffering, and also because He
gave me a desire to study the Word of God I quickly learned that not only was
Jesus was my Savior, but indeed is my Lord.
Let
us next look at “Frankincense” which is a costly, beautiful-smelling incense
that was used only for the most special of occasions. Frankincense was used in
the grain offerings at the Tabernacle and also the Temple. Solomon writes the
following in Song of Solomon 3:6-7 “6 "What is this coming up from the
wilderness Like columns of smoke, Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With
all scented powders of the merchant? 7 “Behold,
it is the traveling couch of Solomon; Sixty mighty men around it, Of the
mighty men of Israel.” This shows that
Frankincense was used in certain royal processions and it was also used at
weddings if it could be afforded.
Myrrh
was also a perfume, but not quite so expensive as frankincense, however it was
also very valuable. MacArthur adds “Some
interpreters suggest that myrrh represents the gift for a mortal, emphasizing
Jesus’ humanity. The perfume is
mentioned often in Scripture, beginning in Genesis (37:25; 43:11). Mixed with wine it was also used as an
anesthetic (Mark 15:23), and mixed with other spices it was used in preparation
of bodies for burial, even Jesus’ body (John 19:39).”
These
three gifts given by the magi, gold, for His royalty, frankincense for His
deity, and myrrh for His humanity. As far as what happened to these gifts we do
not really know, but my thoughts are that they could have financed there trip
to Egypt because right after they were given to Jesus we see that Joseph had a
dream telling him to go to Egypt because it was no longer safe for them to be
in Bethlehem.
After
their mission was complete we read that they “having been warned by God
in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by
another way” (v. 12). I suppose the
question should be asked “What happened to the magi after they went back home?” Well I think that after the Church began in
Acts chapter two that some things happened as the gospel was spread around the
known world, and perhaps believers will see these magi one day in heaven.
We
begin another chapter in MacArthur’s commentary on Matthew, and by the way he
wrote around 1800 pages in his four commentaries going through the book of
Matthew so if the Lord tarries, and still gives me breath we may be in this
wonderful book for a very long time. The
4th chapter is entitled “The King Fulfills Prophecy” and the
prophecy that he fulfills is not a pleasant one, but a totally awful one as we
will see.
Today’s quotation from “Love in Action” is
the commentary that David Jeremiah makes on Luke 24:30-31.
“Jesus opened up the Scriptures to them
and He opened up their eyes so they could see.
But it wasn’t the opening of the Scriptures or the opening of their eyes
that caused them to recognize Jesus.
Verse 35 tells us, ‘He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.’ They discovered it was Jesus when He broke
bread for the evening meal. Cleopas and
the other man looked down, took the bread out of Jesus’ hand—and what did they
see? A Nail Print!”
I have to say that it is my belief that
Luke was the other disciple who was with Cleopas.
12/18/2019 11:41 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment