Christmas Gifts

There are many songs that play across radio stations and shops at this time of the year, all with a focus on Joy and Celebration, and a lot of them speak about gifts:

'All I want for Christmas is You....'

'Logs on the fire and gifts on the tree...'

'I'll be home for Christmas, you can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe and presents under the tree....'

'On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...'

(Sorry if you now get any of these stuck in your head!)

But the gifts I want to focus on today, are the ones that we find in the true Christmas story. The gifts that are presented to Jesus by the Magi, which all speak a deeper meaning into who they believed Jesus to be.

Across the last month, in some of our lunchtime groups we have been looking at these gifts, and so here is a whistle stop tour of what we have been looking at. - If you want to see discover these in more detail, head over to our social media to see some exciting posts about them too.

Gold
The first gift mentioned is Gold. A valuable gift, even to us today. Money is mentioned a lot in the Bible, but usually we hear about silver. Gold is most commonly linked in the Bible with royalty. As the Magi presented Jesus with gold, they were saying that He is a child of great importance, that He is a King.

Frankincence 
The second gift is a fragrant and precious perfume. A perfume that was used within the temple as part of sacrifices to God. In the Old Testament, presenting sacrifices to God was an important part of Worship. As the Magi gifted Jesus with Frankincense, they were marking Him as someone who is worthy of our worship and praise.

Myrrh
Finally, we see the Magi gifting Jesus with Myrrh, a spice which is most commonly found in the Bible as being used as part of the burial ritual. This seems like the strangest of gifts at first, why would they give a new baby a gift that is most commonly used at death? This gift marks the true meaning of why Jesus came down to earth. He came to one day sacrifice His life for us, so that we can have a relationship with God. As the Magi presented Jesus with Myrrh, they were, maybe even unknowingly, recognising the significance of both His birth and His death.

And as Christians we know that the story doesn't finish at His death:
'Go quickly, and tell His disciples that He has been brought back to life.' - Matthew 28 v 7

Jesus came back to life again, to proclaim this truth and commission us to go and tell others of the Wonderful Counsellor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. A God who came to earth, as a child so that we could know Him and have a personal relationship with Him.

The gifts of Christmas teach us that:
Jesus is King
Jesus is worthy of all our Worship and Praise
and Jesus was born with a purpose, to one day die for us, so that we might have a relationship with Him for eternity.

Merry Christmas!!

Mary