They Were Wise!

Matthew 2:4-12

The Wise Men were truly wise.

The Wise Men have fascinated us for centuries.
We are not sure of their identities.
We are not sure of their homeland.
We do know that they followed the star.
Tradition tells us that they were three in number, and that their names were Casper, Melchior,
and Balthazar.
Tradition also tells us they were baptized by Thomas some years later.

We are also told they were buried first in Constantinople.
And after some years their bodies were moved to the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.
Their tombs can still be viewed in that cathedral.
None of this is in our Bible.

The Bible doesn't tell us how many Wise Men there were.
The Bible doesn't refer to them as kings.
The Bible focuses more upon the gifts they brought than upon them.
They brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
We read of them: "On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary, His mother,
and they knelt down and paid Him homage.
Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."

One gift was gold.
Gold is the symbol for royalty.
This designated Jesus as King of kings.
They were wise enough to see Jesus as King of kings.
They gave to Jesus the best that they could give, and so should we.
Bring your gold to Jesus and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Ruler your life.
Then you will be as wise as those Wise Men.

The second gift was frankincense.
Frankincense is the symbol for divinity.
It was an expensive fragrance.
In Old Testament times it was sprinkled on the offerings at the temple in order to purify them
and make them worthy of God.
This gift acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God.

And, whenever people open their hearts to the Lord Jesus the fragrance of His spirit
transforms their lives.
Matthew says us that when the Wise Men saw the Child, "they knelt down
and paid Him homage."
That can happen now as we worship Christ.
The Wise Men were wise enough to see Jesus as the Son of God.
Like the Wise Men, let us bow down and worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

The third gift was myrrh.
Myrrh is the symbol for suffering.
Myrrh was used for deadening pain and for embalming the dead.
The Wise Men were pointing toward the sacrificial death of Jesus, and they acknowledged Jesus
as the Saviour of the world.

The story of Christmas also includes Calvary.
Those little hands of the baby Jesus would be nailed to a rugged cross.
Those little feet would struggle through the streets of Jerusalem as He carried His cross
and then would be nailed to a cross.
One day His little head would have a crown of thorns forced upon it.
His tender little body wrapped in swaddling clothes would be ripped open by a spear
as He hangs on a cross.
Jesus was born to die.

The Wise Men were wise enough to see Jesus as Savior.
So, like the Wise Men bring your myrrh.
Come to Jesus with your myrrh.
Receive Jesus your Savior.

Look to Jesus and say: "Lord, you took my sin upon You and died in my place,
now I invite you to come into my heart and give me Your great salvation."
Jesus was born to die, but He was also born to save.

On Manger Square in Bethlehem stands the oldest Christian church in the world.
It is the Church of the Nativity.
There is a crypt beneath that church, and that crypt is believed to be the spot where Jesus was born.
All of the other Christian churches in that part of the world were destroyed by Muslim warriors
in the years before the dawn of the second century.
The Church of the Nativity is the only church which was spared.

That church was spared when those warriors from the east entered the Church of the Nativity
and saw a painting on the wall.
The painting is a picture of the Wise Men from the east, and they were dressed in the clothing
like the Muslim warriors were wearing.
The picture was of people who were native to their own lands, and the Muslim warriors did not
destroy that church.

Isn't that interesting?
The Church of the Nativity still stands because it contained a painting of the Wise Men from the east.
There is another interesting thing about that church in Bethlehem.
The doorway to the church is so low so that a person has to bend in order to enter.
You must bow to enter.
You must humble yourself.

When we remember the birth of Jesus, we should bow down before Him.
So, the Wise Men were wise, because "When they saw the Child, they knelt down
and paid Him homage."

"O, come, let us adore Him!"
Jesus is the King of kings.
He is the Son of God.
He is the Saviour of the world.
"O, come let us adore Him!"

Sermon by Dr. Harold L. White