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Story of the Gifts of the Magi |
 Why were those
first three gifts so special?
The Gift Of Gold To Jesus
Gold carries obvious significance. It's been precious since the dawn of man, mentioned in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:10-12). It was part of the measure of the wealth of Abraham (Gen 13:12) and of Egypt (Gen 44:8, Ex 12:35). It was such an integral part of worship in the days of Moses that the Exodus-Numbers mentions it 103 times in relation to the tabernacle and its priests.
Gold is a gift fit for a king. Indeed the Wise Men traveling to present Jesus with gold remind us of the Queen of Sheba who presented King Solomon with gold (I Kings 10) to whom Jesus compares Himself. The Wise men knew He was a royal (Matthew 2:2). They brought gold, a gift rarer then than now which spoke to Baby Jesus saying, "You are a king." Thought the world did not see Him as King, He knew Who He was.
You are right in saying I am a king.
In fact, for this reason I was born,
and for this
reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth.
Everyone on the side of truth
listens to me.
John 18:37
And when He comes back the whole world will know (Psalm 2, Rev 19:16)
In the carol the first of the wise men sings to us...
Born a King on Bethlehem's plain,
gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.
In these stressful times which seem only busier in the season of Christmas, gold also speaks to us saying "You are going to make it." Gold is malleable. An ounce can be made into a wire 62 miles long. It's enduring, withstanding harsh chemicals and fire. It takes a lot of heat to melt gold (1947 deg F and 5084 boiling point). In the midst of his great suffering Job declares "When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." Job 23:10.
Our trials are not as great as his, but when we do face them we can make it through if we have faith….. which is compared to gold.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while
you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of
trials.
These trials come so that your faith of greater worth than gold,
which perishes even though refined by
fire
-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory
and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
I Peter 1:6-7
There's no doubt that gold is symbolic of riches. But in the Bible it's is also symbolic for the true riches of faith, the kind of faith that gets us through our trials. How do we get those inner riches? By getting them from the King whose royalty was predicted by gold. To his church in Revelation He said,
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich.
Revelation 3:18
Does this mean we buy our faith with money? Of course not. But we must give up whatever else we're holding onto that would seem to have control over our lives in order to take Him as King
About the author.
Bruce Thomas is the president of First Christmas Project which markets the First Christmas Present, a small wooden treasure chest with gold, frankincense and myrrh and a pamphlet which explains the gospel using the three original Christmas gifts as an object lesson. It is designed to be given by Christians to their friends and family.
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