Expectation of Light and Hope for the World by Doug Stringer for Charisma News
The Light of the World has come! His coming is what we celebrate at Christmas. From the very start, His light drew people who hungered for truth from far and wide.
Consider the magi, or wisemen. They travelled for potentially up to 2 years following a light in the sky that led them to Jesus. And they brought gifts fit for a king.
Many of us know, or even have sung the song, “We Three Kings”. It may even be one of your favorite Christmas carols.
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It was also known as “We Three Kings of Orient Are” or “The Quest of the Magi”. It was written by John Henry Hopkins Jr in 1857 for a Christmas pageant. It is said to be one of the first Christmas carol’s written in America that became widely popular.
Scripture does not specifically refer to kings but rather “magi” or “wise men,” and we are not given a headcount as to how many of them there actually were. Yet, we do know that they did bear gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
I like how the Nativity movie depicts the presentation of the gifts. The first magi presents his gift, announcing it as “gold, for the King of all Kings; The second presents the frankincense and says, “for the Priest of all Priests”; and after a moment of hesitation and stumbling, the third says, “and myrrh, for the Sacrifice of all Sacrifices”. Nestled in the middle of the Christmas story was the mystery of Jesus’ life; even though He was a king, He had been born to die.
“And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”(Matthew 2:11)
