Pastor chuck’s 2014 christmas countdown blog 12 17

Pastor Chuck’s 2014 Christmas Countdown Blog #8 – I love that the wisemen gave gifts to Jesus – and so can we! It's that time of year again...time for gift buying, gift-wrapping, and gift exchanging. What are the gifts we could bring Jesus this Christmas? One way we can discover that is to look at the gifts the wise men brought Him on the night when God became flesh and dwelt among us. Early theologians suggested that gold is a gift for royalty, frankincense a gift for deity, and myrrh a gift for death. They taught that these were gifts for a King, a King who was God, and a God who would die. The reality is that they were probably the most costly things that they could get from their country. They brought that which cost them something. So they offered the most costly things they could. But the greatest gift they gave was not the gold, frankincense or myrrh. Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him." Herod was deeply disturbed by their question, as was all of Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law. "Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?" he asked them. "In Bethlehem," they said, "for this is what the prophet wrote: 'O Bethlehem of Judah, you are not just a lowly village in Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.' " Then Herod sent a private message to the wise men, asking them to come see him. At this meeting he learned the exact time when they first saw the star. Then he told them, "Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!" After this interview the wise men went their way. Once again the star appeared to them, guiding them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:1-12 – New Living Translation) Gold — His Sovereign Dominion