GCM-52
141224PM
Short Clip
Christmas is our time like those who first witnessed His birth: to also bow in utter unworthiness at His feet, and pour out our treasures before Him. Listen to the scene from:
MATTHEW’S STORY OF THE WISEMEN
Shortly after the birth of the Messiah, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem and inquired of king Herod where the real king of the Jews was to be born. The theologians of Herod’s court knew the Scriptures well—In ‘Bethlehem’ they recited.
Ironically, though they knew the Scriptures, they did not believe them! They did not even bother to travel the five or six miles to Bethlehem to see their Messiah.
Herod believed the Scriptures! That is why he sent a corps of butchers to Bethlehem to slaughter innocent children. But he was too late. The magi had come and gone and Jesus was by now safe in Egypt.
The magi believed the Scriptures. They had traveled several hundred miles to worship this Babe. When they saw the child, they fell down and worshiped him.
And they gave him gifts–gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This was an unusual present—by any standards. The gold, of course, we all can understand—but the frankincense and myrrh were odd.
Now myrrh, like frankincense, was a perfume. But unlike frankincense, myrrh smelled of death. In the ancient world, it was used to embalm a corpse. Jesus himself would be embalmed with this very perfume (John 19:39).
Even at the birth of our Savior, the shadow of the cross is already falling over his face.
 
THEIR FIRST RESPONSE WAS WORSHIP
 
And what does Matthew record as the first mention of reaction to Christ? Worship.