Myrrh Series

-I also don’t think it was coincidence that in some early writings about burial, it instructs that when you make this special embalming spice and aloe mixture, you were not supposed to use frankincense.

-but see myrrh was used for one other reason. Yes, it cleans, but also:

3. MYRRH REPRESENTS ETERNITY

-myrrh is special for its ability to last for a long time.

-ever had a car fragrance thing and it die in a few weeks? When placed in an alabaster pot, myrrh can hold its fragrance for several hundred years.

-we have found myrrh in Egyptian tombs that is over 4000 years old! 4000!

-this is part of the reason that myrrh is still used today in making perfumes. It has an extraordinary lasting power.

-Jesus is eternal. He didn’t step out of heaven to live on earth a few years, then abandon earth. He’s still the King of this world!

**Rev. 11:15 -> 15Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: “The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” (NLT)

-now we’re getting into the Christmas story!

-Jesus didn’t just come to save a few people, to help a few that were around Him. He came to save us all for all eternity.

-we get to spend eternity with Jesus Christ as both our King and our best Friend.

-but, that reminds me of one more story with myrrh in the Bible, a famous story with a small step overlooked.

4. ESTHER

-how many know the story of Queen Esther?

-basic sum up:

Israel conquered by Persia.

King Xerxes has a problem with his wife, Queen Vashti and she is kicked off the throne.

He looks for a new wife, many girls try out, Esther chosen.

Esther’s uncle finds out about a plot to kill all the Jews.

Tells Esther, she convinces the king not to do it and saves the Jewish people (more too it, but that’s the quick version)

-the celebration for Israel being saved is still celebrated today each year around March (like Easter, depends on the moon).

-great, wonderful feel-good story of the year.

-but here’s where it gets interesting. Esther is chosen as one of the girls who may be the king’s wife. So she has to prepare to meet him. Makes sense. Do you know how long she prepared for? She had a year of beauty treatments. One year! Just to see the king.

**Esther 2:12 -> 12Before a girl’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics. (NIV)

-she had to spend six months taking time every day to be in a room with myrrh burning, having myrrh rubbed on her.

-you see, myrrh made her ready to see the king.

-likewise for us, we needed myrrh before we could see the King. Jesus had to die on the cross so we could have forever and ever in the presence of the Almighty King God.

-that is the true Christmas gift. It took Jesus 33 years to deliver it to us, but that is it in a nutshell. Christmas was the start of Jesus’ journey just so we could be able to enter into the presence of the King, so we could have that relationship with Him.