16. The Gifts the Wise Men Gave
Throughout this book we have concentrated mainly on giving to others – to those in need – according to biblical teaching. But the Bible also teaches us to give to God, of course, and as Christians this is naturally something we all desire to do. But the two directions of giving are not unrelated.
Many scriptures make it clear that what we give to others, we give to God. The proverb tells us "Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD (Proverbs 19:17 CSB) and we need only think of Jesus' words "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40) to see this. But we can also give to God by supporting his work in this world, and our gifts to churches, Bible translation groups, and missionary organizations certainly fulfill this goal. Yet there are even more direct ways that we can give to God. We can see this by looking, for example, at the biblical story of the Magi or "wise men" who gave gifts to the infant Jesus and noticing what the Bible shows regarding the spiritual aspects of those gifts.
Gifts Fit for a King
The story of the "wise men" and the gifts they gave to Christ is one everyone knows, though Matthew is the only Gospel that records it (Matthew 2:1–12) and we have few details. We really don't know how many wise men brought gifts to the young Jesus (the tradition that there were three of them is based only on there being three types of gifts), where they came from (other than "the East"), or even when they came (the New Testament shows it could have been up to two years after the actual birth of Jesus when they arrived at the house in which he was living).
The one thing we do know for sure is what the gifts were that they gave to the young Jesus. Matthew tells us: "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh" (Matthew 2:11). The three types of gifts were all costly ones, and perhaps the most expensive, by weight, that could be given in that ancient culture. The Bible uses these three substances as symbols of qualities that go beyond the purely physical and economic aspects of the gifts.
Gold – Faith: It's easy to understand that gold was considered a gift fit for kings. This precious metal never tarnishes and was used for the crowns and other royal insignia of kings and queens – and by those who could afford it, for personal jewelry. But gold also functioned as the highest form of currency in ancient times – gold was "big money"! Today we may give of our "gold" in terms of financial offerings, but the Bible looks at the spiritual quality of faith as an even better offering. The apostle Peter speaks of trials we endure and tells us: "These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:7). Even if we have little "gold" that we can give, we can give the better gift of faith. Faith, of course, is partly the gift of God to us – but we can nourish, grow, then "give it back" through the exercise of faith in our lives in a similar way to what is described in Jesus' parables of the pounds (Luke 19:11–27 NLT) and the talents (Matthew 25:14– 30 ESV). We grow God's investment of faith and can give it back to him, as a gift that, as Peter says, is worth more than gold.
Frankincense – Prayer: Frankincense was an expensive fragrance used in the making of incense offered in the temple (Leviticus 2:1– 2) and was thus a fitting gift to be given to a priest (Hebrews 4:1416). Although we may not think of our prayers as gifts, they are – just as much as incense – as several scriptures show. The book of Revelation refers to the prayers of the saints as fragrant incense on the heavenly altar before God: "Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God's people, on the golden altar in front of the throne" (Revelation 8:3–4). That is why David wrote "Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!" (Psalm 141:2 ESV) – and why, in the New Testament Luke records "And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense" (Luke 1:10 ESV). Our prayers can be gifts if they are pleasing to God (Philippians 4:18). Myrrh –Witness: Myrrh was another expensive fragrance and was powerful enough that it was often used in embalming the dead – as it was for Jesus (John 19:39–40). In that sense it was a fitting gift to one destined to die for humankind. As one of the strongest perfumes, myrrh also signifies what the apostle Paul wrote: "Now [God] uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God" (2 Corinthians 2:14–15 NLT). Paul's reference to death in the following verse shows he may well have had myrrh in mind. But the point he makes is that our lives – our actions as well as our words – "spread the knowledge of Christ." In that sense we see the aspect of Christ as prophet, telling and foretelling the truth of God in our lives as he did in his. When we consider these symbolic aspects of the three gifts of the wise men, we see how appropriate they were for the One who was to be the great King, Priest, and Prophet. And while the physical gifts themselves are not ones we can give directly to God in the way the Magi did, if we choose to do so, through God's grace we too can offer things that are associated with the same gifts – our underlying faith, our relationship with God himself, and our witness to others. In this way, even those of us who might feel we have little to give can give better gifts – that may please God even more – than the gifts the wise men gave.
CONCLUSION: Excelling in Giving
Just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love we inspired in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. (2 Corinthians 8:7 BSB) When the apostle Paul wrote those words, he was speaking in the context of the collection that he had organized for the impoverished Christians in Jerusalem during a time of famine. Today, we can apply his words to giving under all kinds of circumstances and in many ways, but we should notice that Paul stresses that even if our lives are producing much spiritual fruit – qualities such as faith, sincerity, and love – we still need to excel in giving if we are to grow as God desires.
But what exactly did Paul mean by "excel in … giving"? We can say for sure that he did not simply mean that we give more. Paul encouraged others to be generous in giving, but he also doubtless hoped that those he taught would excel in all the aspects of generosity that he mentions in his letters and that we have discussed in this book.
As we saw in Part One, there are many good reasons to give, but perhaps most important is the fact that giving is part of God's nature and learning to give helps make us more like him (Ephesians 5:1–2). Paul and other biblical writers show that our giving is a strong demonstration of our love for God and others, and it is also a form of worship when we give to God or enable God to help others through us. But in Part Two we saw that there are ways in which we can short-circuit the process of giving; we should all consider these potential problems so that we can avoid them and give as we should.
In Part Three we focused on what true generosity looks like and found that the Bible's greatest stories of giving teach us multiple aspects of generous living. We can learn much from Hannah in the Old Testament and the Good Samaritan in the New – as well as the recorded giving of Christians both in New Testament times and afterwards. The stories may differ and the lessons may vary, but these stories can all encourage and guide us in learning to give generously.
Finally, Part Four looked at opportunities we all have for effective giving – both to others and to God directly. We can utilize these opportunities in our own lives on a daily basis – especially when we remember that there is so much more to giving than money alone. No matter how poor we may be, we still have opportunities to give, and the Bible repeatedly makes it clear that God honors even the smallest such gift when it is given in love.
That is perhaps the greatest principle we can learn when it comes to giving: if we are really opening our hearts to others, we will also be opening our hands. The more we learn to love, the more we will find we are able to give – more thoughtfully, more systematically, and more sacrificially. That is because, ultimately, Christian giving is not just learning to give, but learning to excel in giving – and learning to be more like the One who has, and who gives, everything.
ABOUT OUR BOOKS
This book is distributed without charge by the publisher. Its material is copyright, but sections may be reproduced in fair-use quotation, and the book may be freely distributed as long as it is given without charge. "Freely you have received; freely give" (Matthew 10:8).
If you do not have access to a Bible to read the additional verses given in each chapter of this book, to continue your study, or for Bible study at any time, we recommend a website such as BibleGateway.com which provides free access to many translations of the Bible in over seventy languages.
You can find more free Christian e-books and Bibles on the publisher's website at FreeChristianEBooks.org, as well as their other websites TacticalChristianity.org and LivingWithFaith.org. New books are added periodically.