I am so sorry that I am sending this out late today! Unfortunately I have not recovered from Wednesday night and still am sick...so please pray that I would get better. Normally I will post each study the night before you guys will do it. That way the study is ready for you to do it first thing in the morning if that's what you desire.
Summary...
I must say I learned some cool stuff today about Christ's life that I never knew before. Matthew tells us that Jesus was born in a town called Bethlehem, which was a very small town south of Jerusalem. The author, Matthew, tells us that right from the start of Christ's life there are people who already don't like Him. Matthew is the only one who tells us about this jealous King named Herod. This story is not listed in any of the other gospels...Mark, Luke or John. Herod is the one who dislikes Jesus, and wants to get rid of Him. Did you catch Herod's sneaky little plan involving the wise men? Herod was afraid that Jesus would turn out to be a King, he was afraid that Jesus would steal his throne...so he tries to use the wise men to find the location of our precious baby Jesus, so he can kill Him! To me what stands out is for His entire life, Jesus always had people looking to kill Him. I mean here He is a baby, and someone is after Him, looking to kill Him. He has not said a word yet, or performed a miracle...but people are already threatened by our Jesus!
The other thing we read that stood out to me was the gifts the wise men brought to baby Jesus. Do you remember what those gifts were? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were the gifts these wise men brought to Jesus. I have to admit I have often looked at these gifts and thought our little Lord, baby Jesus got ripped off by these wise men! I mean where are the little tonka dump trucks, or hot wheels set. What about lego's, or a bike or even clothes...something that baby Jesus could use instead of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
As I dug deeper in my study I found that these gifts had a much deeper meaning. Back in those times gold symbolized royalty, and if you ever wanted to meet with a King you would have to bring them a gift. Of coarse there was only one acceptable gift for a King and that was gold. We now often refer to Jesus as a King or Ruler. Jesus is known as the King of the Jews, and so a very appropriate gift to our baby Jesus or to our King was gold. Frankincense was a proper gift to give to a priest. It was used by the priests and burned in the temple during times of worship. We now know our Jesus as our "High Priest" and we read things like Colossians 1:22 that tells us we have been brought back to God through Christ, our High Priest! Myrrh was a gift to someone that was to die. It was used to embalm or preserve the bodies of the dead. What was Jesus whole purpose to come and to walk on this earth but to die for you and for me!
The gifts that the wise men brought have way more of a symbolic meaning than I ever knew. These gifts really symbolize who we now know our Jesus to be...our King, our High Priest, and our Savior who gave His life up for us!
Questions...
- What town was Jesus born in?
- Who was the King who wanted to kill Jesus and what ever happened to Him?
- What stands out to you most about the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus on the night He was born?
- We read in Matthew 2:10-12, about the time the wise men had with Jesus...the Bible says these men worshipped Jesus and that they were joyful when they found where He was. Take a moment to picture this scene between Mary, Joseph, the 3 wise men and of coarse baby Jesus! Can you feel the joy of the wise men? Can you feel the faith of the wise men? They believed this baby was to become their King, Priest and Savior!!! Is Jesus all 3 of those for you...King over your life? Your High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16) who has enabled you to have a relationship with God Almighty? And the Savior of your life, the One who offered up Himself for you...is this your picture of Jesus?
I pray that it is...I too am praying for all of you! I'll talk to ya tomorrow!!
tom
