They came bringing gifts—but found the better One. They left the blindness of deepest darkness, coming to the pure Light, finding the source of eternal Gladness. They came to the Jews but found a Gift greater than themselves, meant for all the Gentiles.
So, who are “they”? They are the wise men, sometimes called kings, sometimes called sages. St. Matthew tells us they are Magi, members of the priestly class from ancient Persia. You can’t get any more Gentile than that!
Tradition tells us there were three: Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar. In the Messianic prophecies, Scripture long foretold of these Magi coming to see the Christ-child. In the Old-Testament book of Numbers, Balaam, whom God had gifted with prophecy, spoke of the coming Messiah. He said, “I see him but not now; I see him but from a distance. A star will come out of Jacob” (Num 24:17).
The Psalms saw a future with Gentiles worshiping the Messiah. “May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring gifts, and may the kings of Arabia and Seba bring him tribute. All kings will bow down to him; all nations will serve him” (Ps 72:10-11).
And our reading from Isaiah also prophesied the Magi traveling to see the Christ. “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your radiance…. They will carry gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the Lord” (Is 60:3, 6).
At first glance, we find a mismatch between Isaiah and Matthew. Matthew tells us the Magi brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Isaiah prophesied that they would bring gold, frankincense, and the praises of the Lord. We’ll get to the differences in a bit.
So, what’s with the gold? From ancient times, gold has been linked with royalty (see 1 Kings 10:10). For what’s more fitting to give a king than gold? But is there more to gold than that? Yes! For Jesus is more than a king.
In the Old Covenant, a layer of gold covered the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 25:10-22). The Ark was in the innermost part of God’s Temple, the Holy of Holies. That’s where God came to His people in the Old Covenant, where gold abounded in the Temple.
Gold also covered a table in the Temple, the Table for the Bread of the Presence (Ex 25:23-30). That was a table in front of the Holy of Holies, which had bread and wine on it (Lev 24:5-7; Num 15:5-7, 28:7). And every Sabbath, the priests would eat the bread and drink the wine (Lev 24:9; Num 15:5-7, 28:7). Scripture calls that bread the “Bread of the Presence,” or the “Bread of the Face.”
Whose presence? God’s presence was on that table of gold, just like His presence was at the gold-covered Ark of the Covenant. So, gold testified to Jesus, not only as our King—but even as the presence of God on earth!
So, what’s with the frankincense? Frankincense was a tree resin used for the incense that God’s priests burned in the Temple, which God commanded them to use (Ex 30:34-38). The priests burned the incense on the Altar of Incense, which was also in front of the Holy of Holies (Ex 30:1-10, 40:5), testifying to the presence of God.
And, yes, a layer of gold also covered the Altar of Incense. So, the gold for the Altar of Incense—and the incense itself—all testified to God being present at the Temple for His people. The incense was doing double duty.
Well, back to the table that had the “Bread of the Presence” or the “Bread of [God’s] Face”? There, the priests also burned incense, as a “memorial,” as a way to remind them of what was there (Lev 24:5-9). Now, they could see that bread and wine were on the table. So, why did they need a reminder? It was to remind them of what they could not see, for in the “Bread of the Presence” was the “face” of God.
And then, once a year, the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies, atoning for the sin of the people (Lev 16:29-30, 1 Chron 6:49). Scripture tells us: “He must put the incense on the fire before the Lord, so the cloud of incense covers the mercy seat, above the ark of the testimony, or else he will die” (Lev 16:13). Die? Was God that extreme? Yes, for unforgiven sin is gravely serious; not having real forgiveness results in death.
And then the Psalms have this: “Let my prayer rise before you [O God] as incense” (Ps 141:2). Incense visually pictures the prayers of the people rising to God.
So, incense testified that Jesus (1 came to be our High Priest to make atonement, (2 was the presence of God on earth, and (3 that He intercedes for us before the Father as our High Priest, even interceding for us in our prayers to God.
So what’s with the myrrh, as Matthew wrote? Or is it the praises of the Lord, as Isaiah said? Are they different, or are they different ways of expressing the same truth? Myrrh came from trees that grew in southern Arabia and was an embalming agent for someone who had died. Myrrh foretold of Jesus’ suffering and death, for Myrrh was used to anoint His body after He died (John 19:39).
Gold tells us that Jesus is both King and God. Frankincense testifies to Him, not only being our High Priest, but also the presence of God, who intercedes for us before God the Father. And myrrh points to Jesus suffering and dying for the sins of the word.
And that brings us to Isaiah using “praises of the Lord,” instead of myrrh. That was no mistake. For the praises of Jesus is that He will die for the sins of the world. Myrrh testifies that Jesus will die for us—and that makes Him worthy of eternal praise. For it’s only in His death that we have eternal life.
Listen again to Isaiah’s statement. “Look! Darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the people” (Is 60:2). That’s the darkness of sin. That’s the suffocating gloom of death, which isn’t just something that happens to you. No, death is a reality that invades your entire existence with mortality, corruption, and destruction.
This black night of death goes back to our fall into sin. That’s when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of which they were not to eat. At that moment of rebellion, the entire human race said “No” to God. At that moment, death entered the world. And we have been dying since then: some at a ripe old age, others at the height of their strength, still others before they emerge from the womb.
But God wouldn’t allow His creation to spiral downward into everlasting death. So, on this darkened world, on a people enveloped in thick darkness, came a Light. The Light is God, who enters the world. The One who made man becomes a man.
Jesus comes, not to live a victorious life of success and glory, but to grow up as a child, as a stranger in hiding, to know the pangs of hunger, and to weep at the grave of His friend, Lazarus. He grew up to let the powerful deride Him, a friend to betray Him, for soldiers to whip Him, and to die a criminal’s death, falsely accused.
He enters the darkness to let it oppress Him, to let it crush Him. And yet, He is the Light, whom the Magi seek bringing their gifts. They came with gifts—but leave with the real Gift. They found the God-man, who brings our human nature under the brunt of God’s judgment, who then rises from the dead. The Magi came with gifts for the Christ—but head home with a Gift for the nations!
“They will carry gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the Lord.” They come with gold and frankincense, but then they go home with good news, proclaiming the praises of the Lord. And so do you.
But how does it all fit together? Jesus died to give you eternal life. That’s the myrrh. Before Jesus died on the cross, the gold and frankincense pointed to the myrrh, to Jesus as High Priest, King, and God dying for your sins.
After the cross of Christ, after the Resurrection, the myrrh first directs us to the frankincense. For Jesus, as High Priest and God, brings to you His cross-won forgiveness, life, and salvation in His Supper, in His body and blood. But the myrrh also testifies to the gold, when Christ will return as King and Lord on the Last Day.
Frankincense testified to God’s real presence in the Old Covenant. But God also does that for us in the New Covenant. “Take, eat; this is my body. Take, drink; This is my blood.” That’s Jesus, that’s God, making His presence known to His people, delivering life and salvation, in what He even calls His “New Covenant” (Luke 22:20).
Prophet Malachi even prophesied of the New-Covenant worship to come.
“My name will be great among the Gentiles, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, for my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty. [Mal 1:11]
In the New Covenant, in His Supper, God’s real presence is here for His people, bringing us Christ and salvation in Him. And the burning incense, prophesied in the Old Testament, testifies to that truth. Even the book of Revelation reveals incense burning in heaven before the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Jesus, representing the prayers of the saints (Rev 5:8), whom we join in our worship of God.
What is the Gospel? Jesus, whom the Magi visited, died your eternal death, giving you His eternal life. And He comes here, now, to give you that salvation. You need not travel to the crib or the cross, for Jesus comes to you here, in this place.
That’s why, like the Magi, we can “proclaim the praises of the Lord” until, and even past, the Day He returns as our King on the Last Day. Amen.
