When They Had Opened Their Treasures…

When They Had Opened Their Treasures…

Gold, myrrh and frankincense may be the three most important gifts the world has ever known. Who doesn’t like receiving gifts, blessings and having promises fulfilled in their life? We all do. It makes us feel special, wanted and loved – three feelings we could use a lot more of in our day.

Gold, a material like no other, represents a host of other things in our life. Some cultures see gold as “tears of the sun”. Most cultures, including the Christian culture, see gold as something to adorn their sanctuary. If a culture adorns their sanctuary, a place to meet and speak with God, with a material it must be held in high regard where their faith is concerned.

Gold also represents wealth on a scale that most people struggle to comprehend. Gold is seen as something only the very wealthy hold. Holding gold, and silver, means you are holding wealth. It means one can acquire anything they need or want – they want for nothing. Adorning a sanctuary, or a tabernacle, means the church wants for nothing materially.

When the Lord, our God, instructed Moses on the building of the Tabernacle, gold was an intricate part of the material list. It was used to cover all the furnishings within the Tabernacle and behind the vail.

And you shall overlay its top, its sides all around, and its horns with pure gold; and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around. Two gold rings you shall make for it, under the molding on both its sides. You shall place them on its two sides, and they will be holders for the poles with which to bear it. ~ Exodus 30:3-4 KJB

Myrrh was, and is to this day, used for healing, but in the days of Moses it was used for anointing. It was used to make holy all that it touched. Myrrh was the first ingredient in the making of the anointing oil for the Tabernacle. Likewise, frankincense, was used as incense to sweeten the air. Frankincense, like myrrh, is still used today in the same capacity as it was in the time of Moses. Myrrh and frankincense are two of the most powerful healing essential oils known to mankind.

The Anointing Oil
Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. ~ Exodus 30:23-25 KJB

The Incense
And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: and thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: ~ Exodus 30:34-35 KJB

We see these same gifts used in same way when the Messiah is born. When Christ Jesus, Emmanuel, is come to save the world, the Magi, the Wise Men, bring to the Christ child these three gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are given to the Christ child for the same reason as God first instructed Moses. To adorn Him as the King of kings, to anoint Him as the Holy One and to purify His every step as He ministers to a broken a world.

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. ~ Matthew 2:11 KJB

What a beautiful image this paints. What a Savior we have and who has us. Let us always remember the gifts of freedom, the gifts of glory and the gifts of healing. All praise, honor and glory to our Father, God, the Most High.

Either the Scripture is the divine Word of God teaching us how to live and how to be a reflection of God, or it’s nothing more than a historical account of events.