The Great John the Baptist couldn’t understand it! Mary, Jesus’ mother, couldn’t quite grasp it. The men who walked with Him for three years totally missed it! And the crowds, filled with both followers and enemies, had no idea what it meant. The prophets of the Old Testament wrote about it, but didn’t fully fathom what they were writing. Even a large part of the Church today doesn’t see it. But long ago, three men made complete sense of the unfolding miraculous visit of God to Earth and the gifts they brought to Jesus that first Christmas, explaining the depths of the First and Second comings of Christ perfectly!

2004 BC…

“This is the account of Terah’s family line.
Terah became the father of Abram…” (Gen 11:27).

Somewhere in the land of Ur, a man named Abram is born, and unbeknownst to his family, who worshiped a Moon god, He is destined to be the Father of a new nation called Israel. Not only that, but one of his distant offspring is slated by God in Heaven to be the redeemer of the world who will one day fulfill the role of Israel’s Messiah. Also, this new nation will be given the True Word of God to write down the plan of the Lord and to share it with all humanity. This man Abram (or Abraham as God will rename him) will forever be honored and adored by the children to be born of his new nation, and he will be put higher on a pedestal than anyone else to come from this Jewish line. He will be their Patriarch, and no one will be his equal in their eyes.

Nearly 500 years later…

One of the descendants of Abraham, named Moses, is standing on Mount Sinai in complete reverence and awe at the site just ahead of him. Before him stands a bush completely ablaze yet unconsumed. He was being called by God to go back into Egypt and free Abraham’s family, who had become slaves to the wicked Pharaoh. Out of the bush, Moses listens to God and receives his marching orders. He humbly asks God what His Holy Name was so Moses could tell Pharaoh who it was that demands the release of the Hebrews (Israel). God informs Moses that He is to be called “I AM”!

Moses returns to Egypt, proclaims to Pharaoh that the Jewish God “I AM” has decreed and demanded that the slaves be released, and proceeds to introduce a series of plagues against Egypt that will not cease until Pharaoh complies and lets Israel go. The final of these plagues is the plague of Death, and only those who participate in the first “Passover” can be spared from the consequences of the plague (death of the firstborn in the household). The angel of Death passes over those who have the blood of the lamb painted on the door lintel and posts, which signifies how the death of the Messiah (Lamb of God) will ultimately fulfill this Feast as a blood sacrifice to pay for humanity’s sin and allow God to pass over, condemning us for our sin eternally.

605 BC…

Fast forward another 800+ years. Israel has long since been delivered to their Promised Land and has seen great prosperity and victory from God, as well as a devastating fall from grace because of their disobedience to the laws God gave them through Moses. God is in the process of punishing His chosen people, and a man named Nebuchadnezzar has raided Jerusalem (Israel’s capital) and is carrying away some of the brightest and most gifted young men of the Jewish nation to serve him in Babylon. Among them is a young man who is completely faithful to the God of Abraham! The young man’s name is Daniel!

Young Daniel becomes one of the governors in Babylon and is considered the wisest of the king’s Seers because God blesses Him with the ability to interpret the king’s dreams. Because of this, Daniel imparts His wisdom to many of the wise men of the kingdom, including the written prophecies of the old Jewish prophets Jeremiah, Moses, David, and Isaiah. He teaches them about a Savior who will come upon the world from His Jewish family, and He unfolds the riddles of prophecies God gives Daniel Himself during his long life under Babylonian and Persian rule. One such prophecy is the 70 weeks of years prophesied in Daniel 9, known as “The 70 weeks of Daniel.”

Springtime 444 BC…

The time of Israel’s exile as punishment for their disobedience is about over, and God lays it upon Nehemiah’s heart to visit the Persian King Artaxerxes and let him know of his anguish because His people are still in bondage, and the Holy Land of his Fathers (namely the City of Jerusalem) is still in ruins. Nehemiah petitions King Artaxerxes to allow the people to return and begin rebuilding the Great City and to welcome the return of its people.

Unbeknownst to Nehemiah or Artaxerxes is that the decree the king makes to allow for the Jews to return is the official starting point of the prophetic time clock, setting in motion Daniel’s 70-week (490-year) prophecy. From this decree forward, it will be 483 years (69 weeks of years) until the Jewish Messiah is revealed and then promptly and sacrificially … killed!

The First Christmas 4BC…..

A strange glowing star has been radiating its luminous light directly over Israel for weeks, just as a ray of sunlight sometimes beams through a small crevice in the clouds on an otherwise overcast day. This shining star has caught the eye of the wise men of the East, and they have followed that light for over 1,000 miles to see what amazing fulfillments this star is bringing into the world. Many prophets and seers believed that the birth of a new star would signify the birth of a new king in the world, and this special star that has begun to gleam over Israel so brightly of late has to be the sign of Israel’s Messiah.

These men arrive in Israel and are quickly directed to Herod so he may interrogate them as to the purpose of their visit.

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also” (Matt 2:1-8).

After being released from Herod’s presence, the wise men proceed to Bethlehem to find the new King and present Him with gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. These gifts seem a bit odd for a baby or mother, but gifts that make perfect prophetic sense when we understand the degree of knowledge these men had gleaned from the Jewish prophets’ incredible writings.

“When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

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. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way” (Matt 2:9-12).

JESUS CONFRONTS THE PHARISEES

Thirty-plus years after the visit from the Wise men, Jesus is in the midst of His 3-year Ministry when He is involved in a confrontation with the Pharisees and scribes. They begin to question Him. They have been trying to find accusations against Him to arrest Him or disqualify Him as an authority in the eyes of the people, but He is spotless from sin and speaks with an authority and command of God’s Truth that no one can match. When they accuse Him of having a demon, He tells them they themselves are of their Father, the Devil. When they then start to brag about Abraham being their father, Jesus turns the tables on them.

“Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56).

They counter that Jesus is crazy because Abraham has been dead for nearly two millennia, and He could not possibly know Abraham.

“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” (John 8:57).

Jesus responds by revealing His eternality to them and His position as the second person of the Godhead, using the very name for Himself that God told Moses on Sinai:

“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58).

Their response was not surprising. They felt He was blasphemous for calling Himself God, and the penalty for blasphemy was death, so they picked up stones but could no longer find Him:

“At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds” (John 8:59).

This exchange clarifies that “I Am” is God’s name and Jesus intentionally is making an eternal statement that He is God, along with His Father and the Holy Spirit, and that any view of Him as merely an earthly vessel being used by God for God’s purposes is an errant view of who He really is. It confirms the Trinity and Jesus’ place in that Trinity of God!

THE PROPHETS SPEAK

The prophets of old had seen the multiple roles of their Messiah and had foretold of those roles in their writings.

Isaiah:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

From this prophetic passage, we can see that the Messiah will be born as a baby, yet He will be God Himself. He will fulfill the kingly role of Messiah on David’s throne, and his kingdom will last forever.

“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

From this, we see He will fulfill the Passover with His sacrificial death as the lamb of God (John 1:29). His necessary death was the vital clue to the Wise men that it was likely there would be two earthly appearances of the Messiah and not just one.

Daniel:

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Dan 7:13-14).

From this, we see the eternal nature of Christ’s kingdom and His Divine nature. His complete authority and sovereign power as King of Kings is evident here.

David:

“The LORD says to my lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, ‘Rule in the midst of your enemies!’ Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb.

The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’ The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.

He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth” (Ps 110:1-6).

From this, we see the Priestly role of Messiah as well as His sovereign power to finish history at His second coming and His position at His Father’s right hand in Heaven between His first and Second Advents. It also shows Messiah’s Divinity as both David’s descendant and his Lord.

THE MULTIPLE ROLES OF MESSIAH

The plan of God called for His Son, Jesus Christ, to come to Earth first as a sacrificial lamb who would take away the sin of the world. God laid out the plan with the sacrificial system He required from the Jews. His rules were so rigid that they kept the sin of the people ever before them, so they would daily see their uncleanliness and their need for a sacrifice. God did this to constantly show them their need for a coming Savior, but they eventually misconstrued God’s plan to convince themselves that the animal sacrifices were in and of themselves the redemption instead of warning signs that they needed a permanent solution. In actuality, no animal sacrifice ever took away sin.

Only the perfect blood of the Messiah was worthy to redeem humanity, and when Jesus died on the Cross, God laid upon Him all the sins of everyone who would ever put their faith in Christ’s finished work! He took God’s wrath against sin in our place. He died our death. He paid our penalty. And by paying for our sin, Christ became our High Priest, being our intercessor with God and covering us in His righteous blood. A Divine Blood that the blood of bulls and rams could never match.

God’s plan also called for the Messiah to come a second time in order to judge the world, set up His kingdom in Israel, and fulfill all God’s promises to the Jewish Patriarchs that would bring peace to the world as a mighty King on David’s Throne in Jerusalem. That King would not be just a human King but would be God Himself (2nd Person of the Godhead) and would fix the world and rule righteously for one thousand years before transforming His Kingdom into an eternal one once all humanity becomes glorified.

While this plan was laid out by the prophets of the Old Testament, the expectation of almost all the Jews of antiquity was that the Messiah would fulfill the Kingdom at a single arrival. They failed to understand the “Suffering Servant” role the Messiah would play and dismissed all passages about the Messiah’s death as simply descriptive verses about Israel’s suffering. Therefore, with expectations of a grand Kingdom on the horizon, they waited for their coming King with skewed assumptions.

When Jesus came, even John the Baptist, His Herald, expected an earthly kingdom to come with Him. The Disciples expected it. The crowds demanded it! The Pharisees even critiqued Him for not proclaiming that He was truly the Messiah. Nearly everyone got it wrong! But …not the Magi from the east!

THE MEANING OF THE WISE MEN’S GIFTS

The Wise men were studious. They no doubt understood these passages and ascertained that the Messiah would be a Jewish King, Almighty God Himself, and also the Lamb of God that would take away human sin. They knew of the eternal nature of Christ’s kingdom as well, and that His death would be at His first coming so that His victory and kingdom eternally would come at His second coming. By Daniel’s 70-week timeline, they knew the approximate time of his death, and so the star appearing as it did revealed to them his coming had to be imminent.

They heeded the Guidance of God and mounted their camels, riding for weeks to observe the amazing spectacle about to take place that first Christmas in Bethlehem. And because they understood the different roles that the Messiah would play, they brought the perfect and appropriate gifts to celebrate those roles at His miraculous birth.

• Gold -Gold was the gift for Kings. They understood He was going to be Israel’s king, but not just any earthly king. This Jewish King would be the King of Kings. There were many kings born around the world, but this King would be unlike any other, and their in-depth study led them to the conclusion that something this miraculous had to be witnessed in person.
• Frankincense – Frankincense was a gift for God. We read throughout the Bible of the priests filling the temple with incense, which represents the sweet-smelling prayers of the saints going up into the presence of God. In addition, as High Priest along the order of Melchizedek, this Messiah would carry the dual role of both God and the intercessor to God from man. The gift of Frankincense was a gift that showed they understood the Messiah would be a High Priest, sending the prayers up to the Father on our behalf, as well as God Himself, and worthy of such a fragrant gift.
• Myrrh – Myrrh was the burial balm for a dead man, used to anoint Him for the grave. This gift showed the condemned human role of Jesus as a man born to die on behalf of the world, and in contrast to the kingly and Godly gifts of Gold and Frankincense, this gift was purely a gift for Jesus’ humanness and ultimate death!

We can see by the gifts that the Wise Men understood fully who this new kind would be. Years of diligent study had prepared them to recognize the times, the signs, and the purpose for everything that was happening in the first-century Middle East. They had an understanding of the need for the Messiah to come twice. They understood the need for the Messiah to die as a man condemned before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). They understood the kingdom He would rule at His second coming and the eternal nature of His kingship. And … they understood He would be God!

THE IMPORTANCE OF SIGNS

“He replied, ‘When evening comes, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,” and in the morning, “Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:2-3).

The Wise men were appropriately labeled “wise” because they showed us the importance of diligent study of God’s Word and the literal nature of everything God says, which we should take to heart and dissect appropriately so we don’t miss anything our Lord has revealed. At His first coming, there were very few who were expecting Christ and even fewer who understood the full gravity of His coming. But the wise men not only accurately saw his incarnation; they also saw his second coming and the eternal nature of His Being.

The signs are all around us right now that Jesus is about to return. Study and pray. Seek God’s wisdom and share it with those you know. Be modern-day Wise men and women and be prepared and watch diligently when the last Trump sounds. The gifts at His first coming were gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The gift at His second coming will be His redeemed bride. Jesus is coming! And like an airport runway, this time the light illuminating His arrival needs to come from us!

Merry Christmas!