“After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him, Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Matthew 2:11

There’s this cartoon I see on Facebook that cracks me up. It’s a picture of two kings talking to a third king. The one king says, “Right, we’ve picked up the gold and the myrrh…what on earth is THAT?!” He points to Frankenstein who is standing behind the third king. We don’t hear the word, frankincense a whole lot in this day and age, so the closest thing to it is Frankenstein. Now that, we know.

When I was a little kid I heard the Christmas story over and over again. I heard about the wise men coming to see Jesus and bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh. I never understood why those gifts. The only time I’ve ever heard of frankincense and myrrh IS through the Christmas story. Gold, I could understand, but what’s with frankincense and myrrh? What in the world is frankincense and myrrh? And why would those be considered gifts?

In our continued discussion of the symbolism in the Christmas season, we should discuss those three gifts given to the baby Jesus Christ. When I finally heard an explanation for those three gifts, it made SO much sense. And if you haven’t heard it before, I’ll tell you.

I always understood the gold. We give gold now as gifts in the form of jewelry. But the gold has a symbolic meaning. It’s not just a valuable gift, which I thought, and the only gift that makes sense. Gold symbolizes Jesus’ kingship. Gold represents power and glory because of it’s high value. When the wise men came to give Jesus’ gold, they were acknowledging His role as King.

Now frankincense, not Frankenstein, but frankincense. What in the world is frankincense? Frankincense was and is an “aromatic resin.” It was used by the priests in the Hebrew temple. They burned it as incense. It represented several things in the temple: “Divine name” and “emblem of prayer.”  So why give a child some frankincense? Because this baby was going to grow up to be our great High Priest. He was going to be the ultimate priest. We would need no other after Jesus Christ. The frankincense represented Jesus Christ as the future great High Priest.

Now we come to myrrh. Myrrh, when you say it out loud it kind of sounds gloomy and serious. It’s even spelled funny. So what’s up with myrrh? When you find out the meaning of myrrh, and you are Mary, you would probably not get too excited about the myrrh. You see myrrh was used as an embalming spice. Eeew. I know right. At your next baby shower, try showing up with some myrrh for the new baby and see how well that goes. But that is what they used it for. You know dead bodies can be really smelly, so you have to wrap them up in something in order to keep the smell down. And in fact that’s what they did with Jesus when He died. They wrapped His body in cloths and myrrh.

“Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds of weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.” John 19:39-40

Myrrh seems like the weirdest of all the gifts, but it might be the most meaningful. Myrrh was used as embalming spice. The wise men brought myrrh to Jesus Christ because He was going to die. He was to be the Savior of the world and the only way to do that was to die for the sins of the world. He was going to take our place upon the cross for our sins.

These wise men really did know who Jesus Christ was. Perhaps that’s why the Bible calls them wise men. Not wise guys, but wise men. They brought the gold, frankincense and myrrh to present to the baby Jesus Christ. They acknowledged that he was to be a king-gold, a priest-frankincense, and to die-myrrh.  The Christmas story is laden with rich symbolism. Again, as we celebrate this beautiful Christmas season remember the gold, frankincense and myrrh. Remember the wise men who knew exactly who Jesus Christ was.

I remember when my first was born. They put her into this sterilized bassinet on top of a white gauze pad. The nurses wore sterilized gloves to touch her and hold her. Everything around my baby was pristine and sterilized. She came out pink and tiny with a little bald head. (I have an affinity for little bald babies). My baby was born in a pristine, sterilized hospital room with extra doctors standing at the wait, because she had pooped in utero.

It’s Christmas time. Time to reflect upon the reason for the season. And that reason, of course, is Jesus Christ. Christmas is our celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth. So significant was His birth that much of the whole world celebrates Him two thousand years later. We celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The birth of the great I Am, come to this earth to be born as a baby. To grow up in this world for the sole purpose of sacrificing Himself for the sins of the whole world.

The Bible is rich with symbolism. The whole Old Testament is full of symbolism of Jesus Christ. It is often said that the Old Testament is Jesus Christ concealed, and the New Testament is Jesus Christ revealed. God loves symbolism to point to His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus’ birth is no exception.

Look where He was born. It was not a sterilized hospital like my daughter. It wasn’t a home like most births were back then. It wasn’t even a hotel room. No, Jesus was born in a barn where they kept the animals. Dirty, stinky farm animals surrounded Jesus Christ when He was born. The hospital where my daughter was born would have had a conniption fit if some lady’s little dog would have escaped her purse and dared to strut the hospital’s labor and delivery ward. It would have been pandemonium.

Jesus was surrounded by barn yard animals. Imagine the smell. Imagine the filth. No sterilized pads to place the baby on. No nurses with sterilized gloves. When Jesus is born He is placed in a manger. I often have a romantic view of what a manger is. I think of beautiful Christmas cards or Nativity scenes in which baby Jesus lies in a nice wooden manger.

A manger isn’t a cute little wooden bed to lay babies in. A manger is a feeding trough. A place to put the hay for the cows and donkeys to eat from. A place where the animals stand over and slobber down on the hay they devour. It is a useful tool to keep animals fed and happy. It wasn’t a new manger. It was well used by many an animal to eat from.

People often say the birth place of Jesus was so humble as He was humble. And yes, that’s true, but I think there is a bigger picture here.

Why a feeding trough? After Jesus was born He is placed in a feeding trough? Jesus is placed in a manger that normally feeds barn animals. I believe this is more symbolism God is using. Think of communion. When we take communion the Bible says:

“and when He had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘Take eat, this is My body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me,’ 1 Corinthians 11:24

Jesus was placed in a manger to show that He is born for us to spiritually feast upon. His body was going to be the sacrifice for our sins. Just like the food that was placed in the manger the animals needed to live off of. Jesus body was to be the body sacrificed for us that we may be made to live.

Wow! Right from the get go, we are given a picture of who Jesus Christ was and what His purpose was. He told us,

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Jesus wasn’t laid in a pristine bassinet, he was laid in a feeding trough, “I am the bread of life.” He was laid in that manger, helpless, unable to fight back, unable to defend Himself in any way, because we are the farm animals who need Him to live.

As we go through this beautiful Christmas season, remember Jesus Christ. Remember that He was placed in a feeding trough for you. God had His purpose for Him, He was to be the bread of Life, the Savior of the World. Take eat, this is MY body.

We are coming off the serious terrorists attacks on Paris. As it stands now, I read that 158 people were killed and countless others were wounded at 3 different locations. This was a coordinated effort to wreak havoc on innocent people. One wonders, why? Why all the terror and violence? Why all the death and mayhem?

Two things are at play here. Both reasons come from the Bible. The first is the descendants of Ishmael. If you don’t know, Ishmael was the illegitimate son of Abraham (father of the Jews). Quick overview of the story. Abraham was promised by God that he would have a son. Abraham was old, as well as his wife Sarah. They weren’t getting any younger. As time kept marching on, Sarah took matters into her own hands and told Abraham to go sleep with Hagar. Being a man, Abraham obliged his wife and slept with Hagar. Hagar got pregnant (these things happen). Hagar named her son Ishmael. Both Hagar and Ishmael continued to live with Abraham. A few years later, Sarah get’s pregnant. She gives birth to the promised son, Isaac. Sarah sees Ishmael mocking her own son. So Sarah wants her outta there, yesterday!!! She tells Abraham to kick Hagar to the curb, so to speak. He doesn’t want to, but he asks God what to do. God tells him to listen to his wife. This isn’t the first time Sarah wants Hagar out of there. When Hagar first got pregnant, she ran away because Sarah didn’t treat her right. The angel of the Lord met her and told her something very interesting.

The angel of the Lord said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.” Genesis 16:11-12

 “And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.” Genesis 21:13

So the Bible tells us that Ishmael’s descendants will be against everyone and everyone against him. His descendants will be middle eastern and not Jewish. So now we have these terrorists who wreck havoc on everyone around them “His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him…” The Bible predicted this. The Bible is 100% accurate.

The other issue at play here is WE ARE IN THE LAST DAYS. We are seeing history made right before our very eyes. In the seven year tribulation, it all becomes about Israel again. The church has been raptured out, and now God turns His eyes back on Israel. Everyone’s eyes will be on Israel. Israel is the key player in the 7 year tribulation. Israel’s enemies, the descendants of Ishmael, make an alliance with another country to wipe Israel off the face of the map. God intervenes, and their plans are thwarted.

This dynamic of Israel and Ishmael’s descendants against them is a key in the end times. It was predicted in the Bible. Also, this lack of peace everywhere, terrorism reigning around us, the Bible predicts this state of the world as a sign of the times, a sign of the end of the world. The world becomes so chaotic, it will crave a new world leader who will promise peace. This new world leader will be the antichrist. A satanic leader who will dominate the world and give a false peace for a short time. All this, is in the Bible.

So what do you do with this information? It’s not too late, if you haven’t done so, accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. Then, when the world seems to be shredding apart at the seams, you will have peace and a promise of everlasting life. And even if you are a church goer, examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. Going to Bible study doesn’t make you a Christian. God doesn’t have grandchildren. You can’t say, that you are saved because your parents were Christians. Things are getting closer and closer to the end. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. The Bible predicted these terrorist attacks, “His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him…” The Bible is 100% accurate. It’s not too late.

The terrorist attacks will continue. They will happen more frequently. Again, this is a set up for the very last days, when the world will crave for someone to step in and establish order and peace. If you haven’t done so, get the peace that surpasses all understanding. John 3:16.

 

 

I have been a Christian for a long time. I accepted the Lord when I was 9 years old. I don’t have one of those testimonies where I left my life of prostitution, drugs, and living on the mean streets to become a Christian. I got scared into salvation. I was a happy go-lucky 9 year old, who knew the gospel, but didn’t really think it applied to me just yet. I was only 9 years old. I saw a movie at my church called, “A Thief in the Night,” The movie is a cheesy movie about the end times, the rapture specifically. This girl is married to a Christian man and she wakes up one morning to find his electric razor on and bouncing around in the sink of their bathroom. She realizes he’s disappeared and she doesn’t know what to do about it. You see the rapture has taken place and God has taken all His children home. I immediately went home, after seeing that movie, and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, in my bedroom. I didn’t want to be left behind.

I was really scared by that movie. I also didn’t understand God’s daily forgiveness. So, every night, when I went to bed, I prayed to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. I did this EVERY SINGLE NIGHT after I got saved. I needed to make sure. This was a huge burden on me. I knew I sinned throughout the day, so at the end of my day I would just cover my bases and accept Christ all over again.

Well as you know, God knows everything and He knows everything about us. He knew my struggle, of accepting Him every night before I went to bed. God needed to set me straight. He needed to educate me on the Christian basics, so I wouldn’t have this burden of accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior every night before I went to sleep.

Two years later I go to my first Christian Summer camp. It was a week, camping on the glorious Lake Clark in Alaska. A week of dodge ball, canoeing, hiking, singing, laughing, and preaching. I was ecstatic. I had so much fun. I think it was my first night there, my camp counselor of my cabin shared her testimony with us. She said she accepted Jesus Christ as her savior when she was young. We were all laying in our bunk beds listening to her talk. She said she wasn’t sure about her salvation, so every night she prayed to accept Jesus as her Savior, just to be sure. My ears were pricked! Someone did the same thing as me? I listened more intently. She said she was burdened by this, so she made a decision to accept Christ as her Savior once and for all and believe that she was truly saved once and for all. To make it official, she said she took off all her clothes and laid down on her bed to give all of herself to the Lord. I cringed at that part. I was eleven years old at this time and shared a bedroom with my sister and brother. I wasn’t going to be doing any naked conversions. But even though I wasn’t buying into the naked part, I knew the Lord was speaking to me through her. I didn’t have to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior every night. I was already saved.

Along with my camp counselor’s naked testimony, we had a speaker who we listened to morning and night. He talked about exactly what I needed to hear. He explained that when we accept Jesus as our Savior, we still sin afterwards. We didn’t lose our salvation, we just needed to ask the Lord for forgiveness when we sin. If we don’t, it puts a veil between us and God, so our prayers aren’t effective. He taught us to pray and get daily forgiveness from the Lord. Oh, I thought to myself, well that makes sense. Between my counselor’s naked testimony and the preacher’s teaching on daily forgiveness, I had been relieved of my burden.

So I wasn’t unsaved when I sinned. I just needed to confess my sins on a daily basis. And even though I had accepted the Lord hundreds of times, I was going to do a once for all conversion, but without the naked part. I think I waited until I got home from camp. But when I did, I made one final conversion. God knew what I was doing, it was closure for me. So I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior one last time. I now had confidence that I was truly saved. My counselor’s naked testimony had helped me, the preacher at camp had helped me, and God used both of these people to unburden a sincere 11 year old, who He knew, loved Him, and wanted to get to know Him better.

I heard Levi Lusko speak a few weeks ago. I don’t know if you’ve listened to him before, but he’s really great. Part of his message was about women who pray to God to just use them, they need a ministry. These woman pray to God asking him to use them, meanwhile their son Billy is yelling and pleading for his mom’s attention. In the middle of this prayer, the mom turns to her son and tells him to “shut up” she’s praying right now and to leave her alone. Levi said that Billy was her ministry and she was neglecting her ministry. I laughed. It was an exaggeration, but then there was a lot of truth mixed in with that.

A friend of mind from college told me a story about her life that has haunted me ever since. She was a missionary kid. I went to a Christian college, and we had a lot of missionary kids and pastors’ kids (mks and pks). Missionary kids and pastors’ kids had a horrible reputation at our school. If some kid went off the rails at school and got caught drinking, someone would say, “Oh, they’re a “pk,” and everyone would nod and say, “Oh, that makes sense.” Well my friend was a missionary kid. She was from a big family who served as missionaries somewhere in South America. My friend was the youngest and the most stable of her siblings. She told me about their Christmases while their parents served as missionaries. She said, her siblings would stay at home, by themselves, all day on Christmas day. There was no special food, no presents, no celebrations at all. Their parents thought it important to go out on Christmas day and celebrate with other families they were ministering to. They would bring presents, and special food to these families, but leave their children at home with no celebration what’s so ever. It’s no wonder, none of my friend’s siblings walked with the Lord or even claimed to be Christians. They were all grown and wanted nothing to do with God. God took their parents away on special days. Who would want that?

We as women have a tough job. Not that there is no joy in what we do as mothers. There definitely is. And not that we don’t find satisfaction in what we do. Certainly there is. However, the question is often asked,

“What are you doing for Jesus?”

We can answer, “Well…I’m a mother…”

“No, that’s a given, what are you doing for Jesus?”

“Well…I’m a wife…”

“No, that’s a given, what are you doing for Jesus?”

Well I am a wife and mother and I: wash clothes, pray, do dishes, read my Bible, sweep floors, read labels for gluten, grocery shop, chauffeur kids, clean toilets, fix meals, fold clothes, vacuum, organize, teach, read to my kids, coach my children, encourage my husband, pray for my husband, pray, pray, pray…

If we are mothers we HAVE a ministry. Our ministry is to raise our children. Somebody’s got to do it. Somebody has to raise the children. Or somebody has to do the bare minimum of feeding them and making sure they don’t smell bad. God gave us the children, take care of them! They are your ministry Mom!

In her book, “The Shaping of a Christian Family,” Elisabeth Elliot wrote:

“I am reminded of Amy Carmichael’s story of a donor to her work in Dohnavur, South India. He wrote that he wanted his money to go into “spiritual work.” In her experience in India, she said, she found that souls were “more or less firmly attached to bodies.” Bodies require houses and therefore house cleaning: food and therefore cooking; clothes and therefore washing. Amy, who had spent years in itinerant evangelism, was willing to relinquish that for motherwork, and became Amma (Tamil for “Mother”) to many hundreds of Indian children. “I wonder how many thousands of tiny fingernails and toenails I have cut!” she said. pp. 157.

Our souls are “more or less firmly attached to bodies.” The souls of our children ARE “more or less firmly attached to bodies.” And like Amy Carmichael said, those bodies need to be fed, washed, hugged, listened to, fed again, sheltered, clothed… as you know, the list never ends. It takes a lot of work to raise children. Taking care of their physical bodies is just the minimum. We need to care for them spiritually and bring them to the Living Water, as well.

That is what Levi Lusko was saying. We may have lofty ideas of heading to faraway places to minister to the poor, but as long as you have little people in your home, they are your ministry. And God is good with that, Levi Lusko’s good with that, and you should be good with that. So if you ever get discouraged or are challenged that you aren’t doing enough for Jesus, just remember Amy Carmichael’s quote, “Souls are more or less firmly attached to bodies.” And those bodies require much care. Especially if they are teenage boys. Teenage boys require the sleep and food of a bear. (But I digress). Be encouraged, sister, somebody has to take care of those soul attached bodies. AND that IS your ministry.