Oh Come let us Adore Him, Christ the Lord
This Advent, we gather around the familiar story of the Birth of Jesus Christ and cherish Him, just as the shepherds and wise men did. Let us adore Him, as they did. In these four devotionals, we will look in more detail at the gifts Jesus was brought as an infant, and the deeper meanings behind them, as a way to better understand the person we seek to adore: the one whose Word lies in the pages of the Bible, the one who breathed life into each one of us, and the one whose fragile form lay in the arms of His mother Mary all those Christmasses ago.
Devotionals 1-3; a visit from the magi
The familiar story of Jesus’ birth begins in Bethlehem, in Judea. However, some months later, as a young child, Jesus is greeted by perhaps the most noble guests to ever enter the home of Mary and Joseph. Despite their noble background, they bow down before Jesus. These wise men, or magi, who have travelled from Persia (Iran) are guided by God in order to present three traditional gifts to the young child. But why do they come and bow down? And what does this passage teach us about the person of Jesus?
‘On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.’ – Matthew 2:11
Gold is the first gift to be mentioned in Matthew’s Gospel. As precious a metal then as it is today, gold has been a symbol of kings throughout history, and herein lies the meaning behind this lavish gift. This little baby wasn’t born into human wealth, but into the line of David, and this lineage helps us to understand why the magi bow down before Him.
‘To you in David’s town this day, is born of David’s line,
a Saviour who is Christ the Lord, and this shall be the sign’,
As in the familiar carol, Once in Royal David’s City, we are reminded of the importance of Jesus’ heritage through this gift of gold. If you flick back a chapter, Matthew deliberately places the genealogy of Jesus at the beginning of the gospel narrative, so that his readers might understand the bloodline that Jesus is born into, and see that He is the messiah, who is to come from the line of David. Thus, when the wise men come and present a gift of gold to the young Jesus, we understand that they have supernaturally grasped that He is the long-awaited king. It will take some time however before we see that Jesus is not the sort of king to overthrow earthly rulers, but instead to take His throne in heaven.
Gold is oft-used as a material to produce crowns from, but Jesus does not rule wearing a gold crown, though He describes the Kingdom of God as near many times in His ministry (e.g. Mark 1:15). Instead, in passages such Luke 19:28-40, we see Jesus humbled. He first rides into Jerusalem, the city David called the centre of His kingdom, on a donkey, with certainly no crown around His head. Fast forward a few chapters and Jesus is humiliated by taking on a crown, not of gold, but of thorns as He is mocked and insulted at the cross.
So where then is His kingship? Well, written in jest on the cross He is nailed to is ‘Hail, King of the Jews’ (Mark 15:18). Even those who mocked Him could understand that Jesus claimed to fulfil the Old Testament prophecies, of a king and messiah.
Crucially, they lacked the supernatural insight that God granted the wise men those thirty years earlier, and later to the Apostles, that Jesus’ Kingdom would be elsewhere. His kingship was defined by a servant nature, with a humble heart which subverted expectations. There was no gold crown or chariot.
So, as we lift our eyes to heaven, and consider that the gold gifted to Jesus is a picture of the throne that Jesus now sits on, we can take a moment to adore Jesus as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the one who is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Is Jesus king of your life today?
Lord, we pray that you will reveal to us your nature this Advent season. Help us to grasp the glory, power and majesty of Your throne, and help us to bow down before you as the one true ruler, and Lord of our lives. As we hear the familiar story of wise men presenting gifts to you as an incarnate baby, may you grant us eyes to see You for who You are.
Amen.