All I Want for Christmas is...Gold
Matthew 2:1-11
When do you start your Christmas Shopping?
• The Day After Christmas
• The 4th of July
• The Day School starts
• Black Friday
• ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
Matthew 2:1-11
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6 "’But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’"
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
(NIV)
Someone pondered what the first Christmas might have been like if wise women had come from the east instead of wise men. They would have asked for directions, made it to Bethlehem on time, helped with the delivery, cleaned up the stable, made a decent meal, and brought some practical gifts.
Shopping for the First Christmas began many years before.
The people of Israel were overthrown by the Kingdom of Babylon. The King of Babylon told his soldiers to bring to Babylon the most handsome, the strongest, the smartest from the nobles of Israel. These were to be taught the ways of the Babylonians so that they might serve in the king’s palace a journey of over 500 miles. Little did Nebuchadnezzar, the King, know but God was orchestrating Christmas to be celebrated some 600 years in the future. (How’s that for early Christmas shopping!)
One of the young men taken from Jerusalem to Babylon was Daniel. God would use Daniel to dream and be an interpreter of the dreams of Kings, including Nebuchadnezzar. When Nebuchadnezzar had a vision he could not remember or understand, God gave Daniel the interpretation:
Daniel 2:36-39
36 "This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king.
37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory;
38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39 "After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours.
(NIV)
Just 6 years later, Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian kingdom was overtaken by Darius the Mede and what was to be called the Medo-Persian Kingdom. This world kingdom lasted over 200 years before they were overthrown by the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great. The Grecian Empire would be swallowed up by the Romans less than 200 years later. God reveled all this to Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel, who spoke of another Kingdom and a far greater KING!
Daniel 2:44
44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
(NIV)
The Medio-Persian Kingdom included a group of priests, called “Magi”. Historians believe that you didn’t become king in Persia w/o a mastery of the scientific and religious disciplines of the Magi, approved and crowned by them. The prophet Daniel dealt with the Magi in Babylonia. His teaching was carried down through the successive generations of Magi until the time Jesus was born. This is why the Magi were looking for one who has been born king of the Jews.
The first Christmas presents were brought to Baby Jesus by the Magi.
Who were the Magi?
• from “The East”
Matthew 2:1
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
(NIV)
• Wise Religious Scholars
Matthew 2:2
2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?
(NIV)
• Astronomers
Numbers 24:17
17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.
(NIV)
Why “Gold”?
Gold is what you bring to a King!
Historians have said that in ancient days you would never approach a king without a gift and that gift must be made of gold.
The Gold Standard
of giving at Christmas:
Gold never rusts!
It is the only metal that forms no oxide film on it’s surface in air at normal temperatures, meaning that it will never rust or tarnish.
Pure gold is rare!
Gold is mined from even continent of the world except Antartica. Yet because it is found in veins along other metals, it is a rare commodity and therefore costly. A one-ounce gold nugget is more rare than a five-carat diamond. But most cell phones, computers, calculators, televisions, and many other electronic items contain gold.
Pure gold must be combined with another metal to be used for jewelry!
Pure gold is much too soft to be used for jewelry, and must be alloyed with other metals to create a metal strong enough to withstand wear. This is why gold is measured in carets. 24 caret gold has the most gold content. Less than 24 caret means less pure gold.
Giving gold means
that you are giving
your best!
Yet all that glitters is NOT gold!
In 1994, two Christian missionaries answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics in a large orphanage. About 100 boys and girls who had been abandoned, abused, and left in the care of a government-run program were in the orphanage. It was nearing Christmas and they decided to tell them the story of Christmas. It would be the first time these children had heard the story of the birth of Christ. They told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger. Throughout the story, the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they
listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word.
When the story was finished, they gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each child was given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins that they had brought with them since no colored paper was available in the city.
Following instructions, the children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown an American lady was throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the baby’s blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt which the missionaries had also brought with them.
It was all going smoothly until one of the missionaries sat down at a table to help a 6 year old boy named Misha. He had finished his manger. When the missionary looked at the little boy’s manger, she was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, she called for the translator to ask Misha why there were two babies in the manger.
Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at this completed manger scene, Misha began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas story once, he related the happenings accurately until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger.
Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending. He said, "And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don’t have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t, because I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else did.
But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, "If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift" And Jesus told me, "If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me." "So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him-for always."
As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone who would stay with him-FOR ALWAYS.
What gift will you bring King Jesus today? How about yourself?
