One comedian joked about the gifts that the wise men brought— that they didn’t have any Christmas wrapping paper, but then men are usually poor gift wrappers anyway!While we may be amused at jokes, this misses the symbolism. We don’t know how many wise men there were and we don’t know the number of gifts they brought. We do know that there were three types of gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were expensive gifts. I believe they were used by Joseph and Mary to support themselves when they fled to escape from King Herod. But let’s look at these gifts.First, consider the gold. This was mainly reserved for the rich and especially kings. It still is a precious commodity. The current rate for one ounce of gold is over $2,000. Ancient kings were buried in gold encased coffins. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had a gold statue erected for all to worship, and of course, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego refused to bow down. So gold was a gift fit for a king. The hidden message was that this child was a king.The next gift—Frankincense. Frankincense was a rare and expensive oil. Both frankincense and myrrh were made from plants which were grown in Ethiopia and the Sudan. They came from the resins of the botanical tree family Burseruceae and were used primarily for incense and perfume. So they were used as offerings of worship. But both were used for medical purposes and pain killers.Now frankincense was used frequently as a gift to God. It was burned in the temple as an offering to God (Lev. 2:2 and Ex. 30:3438). So the hidden message of this gift was the acknowledgement that Jesus was God’s Son. Now these wisemen came to worship this child, and their gift of Frankincense declared He was God’s Son.Now the last of these gifts was myrrh. Myrrh was known not just as a perfume but as a pain killer. It was offered to Jesus on the cross—which He refused at that time as He desired to suffer for us. So myrrh points to Jesus’ role as our Savior. He becomes our myrrh—one who heals our pain—heals our relationship with God. Now also myrrh was used in the anointing oil used to anoint priests to serve God and offer sacrifices (Ex. 30:23–25). This baby would be the One to serve God and to offer Himself as our sacrifice that ...
