The Christmas Gifts

It's Christmas time. It's a time to celebrate. "To us a child was born...", "Peace on earth, good will toward men...", "Santa Claus is coming..." "Deck the halls with bows of holly...." "Fa la la!"

In this first paragraph, I twisted the notion of Christ's Day to Our Day. In effect, the birth of Jesus was God's gift to mankind but as always, it has become our day without Jesus. Christmas, for most people, is a pretense to self-indulge. Some even refer to "My Christmas". That is of the utmost disrespect: Who made you God?

Let's look at the Christmas Story from one of the gospels - the truth about Jesus: 

Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." 9 ...the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

Here we have an unknown number of "wise men" coming from the East to worship Jesus. They came bearing the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They came "to worship Him", and had "great joy". They "fell down and worshipped Him". The child was with Mary, it was not Mary who they worshipped, but the baby Jesus! After that they presented their gifts to Jesus. This one baby got the material gifts; with that the entire human race received their Gift! Jesus was born "King of the Jews". He was theirs for the accepting. Jesus was God's gift to the Jews as promised centuries before with the Abrahamic Covenant. It's worth looking at some of the key verses in that story:

Genesis 17:1 ...I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 18:1 And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground...  7 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ... 22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom...

(And then Abraham begged for the Lord to save Sodom - one of the two wicked cities. Those three "men" went toward Sodom; we find them next in that city:

Genesis 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; ² And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet..."

Somehow three "men" (Gen 18:2) appeared at the tent of Abraham. One of them was "Lord" (Yĕhovah). (Gen 18:1). By the time the "three men" got to Sodom, there were two, and rather than being referred to as men they were identified as angels (Gen 19:1).

It would appear that the Lord did not go to Lot's home in Sodom. It would not be fitting for men to lust after God Himself. 

How do you suppose that the story of Abraham would relate to the birth of Jesus? The answer is that the birth of the Savior fulfilled the Abrahamic Covenant - "all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?" (Gen 2:18).

This verse stands out in importance in that the promise was for "all nations". That was part of what Paul called the "mystery of God". That mystery was that salvation was always through Jesus, was always by grace, and was always for everyone. Christianity was never genetic but was for "whosoever" had the faith of Abraham - the standard of faith.

If you read Genesis 17 in its entirety you will find that the promise was through Isaac, although his grandson Jacob was "Israel". God planned well, and he was gracious to include even us Gentiles in His Plan! Thus, when Jesus was born that His birth was to save mankind:

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Thus, the Abrahamic Covenant was for the circumcised to demonstrate their "faith of Abraham". The Jews had to be circumcised (works), whereas the Gentiles were to have the "circumcision of the heart". Either way, circumcision is a sign of the Covenant.

Where am I going with this? Abraham and Sarah were "pictures" of several things to come. In this case, ancient Abraham was a picture of God who would have a "Seed" who would come to save the world. Later on, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only remaining son, as a picture of the crucifixion of Christ. It was Isaac who was the be sacrificed, not Israel, indicating it was a sacrifice for all mankind.

Notice that "three men" who turned out to be three angels came to Abraham to announce the birth of Jacob, and consequently Jesus Christ Himself! "The Angel" was God himself, the Lord Yĕhovah.

Yehu - Jesus Himself -  is seen in the Lord's name. Abraham gave them gifts. (Re-read those chapters). Now look again at the birth of Jesus.

"Wise men" came from the East bearing gifts. We assume three because there were three gifts. I submit that there were "two wise men" and that those wise men were angels of the Lord. There was a third Wise Man, and He was there as well. The Angel of God was already there in the manger. Just as he stayed not with the angels of Abraham, the Lord, beat them to the punch. He arrived in Bethlehem before the two angels!

According to Isaiah, the wise men - Gentiles - were to come from Sheba (Isaiah 60:6). Sheba is modern-day Ethiopia.

In Sodom, Jesus judged. Yes, the Lord was pre-incarnate Jesus all the time (John 1)! At the virgin birth, Jesus was the Gift of grace. Grace is part of the "mystery of God", and the Mystery was revealed to mankind on that great day! Faith by works was transformed on that day into works by faith. The Abrahamic Covenant was transformed. The Light finally was shown to everyone, and that the Covenant was always by the blood of Jesus, not that of animals which man performed!

You can see, Christmas is not about you, but for you! It is not your Christmas but Jesus's Day! We should quit thinking about pleasure, receiving, and buying. It is Jesus who is the reason for the season. Your part is that your Gift was born that day, but most of you have never taken your Gift out of the box, let alone use Him by having faith in Jesus.

People say because of three wise men bearing three gifts, shows that we are to give. That is a noble thought but not the idea. Using sacred literature, if it is true; golden rods, frankincense, and myrrh were given to Adam and Eve to comfort them. They were stored in the Cave of Treasures somewhere in the East. (1 Adam and Eve). It appears that those treasures already and always belonged to God. Wise men were merely returning them to their rightful owner!

1 Bk of Adam & Eve 31:1 AFTER these things God said unto Adam, "Thou didst ask of Me something from the garden, to be comforted therewith, and I have given thee these three tokens as a consolation to thee; that thou trust in Me and in My covenant with thee. 2 "For I will come and save thee; and kings shall bring me when in the flesh, gold, incense and myrrh; gold as a token of My kingdom; incense as a token of My divinity; and myrrh as a token of My suffering and of My death.

These sacred writings came from guess where: Sheba - modern-day Ethiopia. Who would know better than the people where the gifts were stored, than Ethiopia itself? Those passages don't say "three kings" but merely "kings". One King was already planned to be there. The Abrahamic Covenant was a reminder of the Adamic Covenant. It was sealed with grace. God provided Comfort with the symbols of the Savior. The gifts God loaned to Adam was to be saved for posterity:

1 Bk of Adam and Eve 31:3 "But, O Adam, put these by thee in the cave; the gold that it may shed light over thee by night; the incense, that thou smell its sweet savour; and the myrrh, to comfort thee in thy sorrow."

The three treasures were to be stored until a day 5500 years later when the Adamic Covenant would be fulfilled. That was the time when Adam and Eve would have the One in whom they believed!  By their faith in a future event, our ancestors were saved at Jesus's death just as we are. He looked toward the Promise. We look back at the Promise.  What are the symbols of the three gifts: Light (the Kingdom), Incense (His Divinity), and Myrrh (Christ's suffering and death).

Iphones, toys, and earrings do a disservice to His Kingship, Divinity, and Suffering. Giving to one another is weak at most! Christmas Day is when we return to Jesus what belongs to him: servitude to the King, reverence for His Divinity, and respecting his suffering and death. We take what He gave us - our life, and make it  living sacrifice to Jesus (Rom 12:1).

We who claim to be Christians know what those gifts mean! Now, we know the whole story, if the writer had divine insight. I believe he either was a good prophet, if this was written in 300 BC, or a discerning Christian if written in 400 AD.

We do know one thing: the gifts of the wise men were for Jesus's Day, not ours. Perhaps Christians can be well advised to spend the day in service to the Lord.

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