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Matthew writes:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,
during the time of King Herod,
Magi from the east
came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born
king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have
come to worship him."
...they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east
went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house,
they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and
worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with
gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. (Matt 2:1-2, 9-11,
NIV)
In 1857 John Henry
Hopkins, Jr., a music professor at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, wrote
a song about the Magi's journey for the local Christmas pageant:
We three kings of
Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and
fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.
In the song, Hopkins
suggests that the three gifts brought by the wise men testify to Jesus'
identity and work as Messiah.
First, the angel Gabriel had revealed to Mary that her son would be the
promised King descended from David (discussed in Bare Roots
6.1):
You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give
him the name Jesus... The Lord God will give him the throne of his
father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his
kingdom will never end. (Luke 1:31-33)
Accordingly, the first wise man brings baby Jesus a gift fit for a
king:
Born a King on Bethlehem's plain
Gold I bring to
crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to
reign.
Second, the angel predicted that God's Holy Spirit would conceive the
infant in the virgin Mary's womb. The Messiah would be not just human, but
also divine -- God incarnate in human flesh. Matthew explains,
All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the
prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel" -- which means, "God with us." (Matt
1:22-23, quoting Isa 7:14)
The Jewish people associated incense with Deity because the Lord had
commanded Israel to burn incense before the Temple's Most Holy Place,
where God's presence dwelt (discussed in Bare Roots 14.4):
Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense...Put the altar in
front of the curtain that is before the ark of the Testimony -- before
the atonement cover that is over the Testimony -- where I will meet with
you.
[The High Priest] Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every
morning...[and] at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the
LORD for the generations to come. (Exod 30:1, 6-8; cf. Lev
16:13)
Accordingly, the second wise man presents baby Jesus with a gift that
acknowledges his deity:
Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity
nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on
high.
Third, the perfume myrrh reminds Hopkins of Christ's death on the cross
as the sacrifice for our sins. The two disciples who buried Jesus used it
to cover the stench of decay:
[Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus] brought a mixture of myrrh and
aloes, about 75 pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it,
with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish
burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a
garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been
laid...they laid Jesus there. (John 19:39-42)
Accordingly, the third wise man offers a gift that foreshadows Christ's
sacrifice:
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life
of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in
the stone cold tomb.
Gold, frankincense, and myrrh signify King, God, and Sacrifice.
Hopkins knows that the God who came as a baby, and then laid down
His life as our Sacrifice, did not remain dead in the tomb. Instead, He
rose victorious over death to reign as King forever. And so the artist
ends this Christmas carol on a note of triumph and praise:
Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God
and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and
skies.
O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with
royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to
thy perfect Light.
Reflect...
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What is the "perfect Light"
mentioned in the chorus of this Christmas carol? (See John 9:5,
discussed in Bare Roots
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Why did King Herod fear this
"Light"? How did he try to quench it? And how did the Magi thwart
Herod's plans?
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