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CHRISTMAS SERIES
THE
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS
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Let
us look at Luke 1 at the announcement of Gabriel to Mary. Verse 30 Then the
angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His
father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom
there will be no end.”
We
know that this is a virgin birth because Mary said, "How shall it be for I
have known no man." What happened in Mary’s womb was not a creation of
Jesus but rather the coming of Jesus into this planet earth. Jesus chose to
come in that manner. Jesus emptied Himself of the Godhead and came into Mary’s
womb. Before the angel appeared to Mary and she became an instrument for Jesus
to be born, God the Son was in heaven. His name was not called Jesus Christ
yet. The name Jesus was only taken after He manifested on this earth. The angel
told Mary to call His name Jesus, which means, “God is my salvation.” Christ
means anointed One, the Messiah who is to come.
Therefore, the name Jesus Christ was only taken after Jesus was manifested on
this planet earth about 4 B.C. according to historians. Jesus Christ was called
the Word in heaven.
God
is a Trinity. We have God the Father, God the Word and God the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ name before He came down was known as God the Word. The Trinity was
there in heaven and the Bible says in Gal. 4:4, But
when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a
woman, born under the law. In the fullness of time God send an angel to
prepare a way for Jesus to come. However, before that took place, something
else happened in heaven. Jesus emptied Himself of His omniscience, omnipotence,
and omnipresence. Jesus had gone back to God and in Jn. 17: 4-5 He prayed, “I
have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the
work, which You have given Me to do. And now, O
Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory
which I had with You before the world was.
Jesus had that glory with the Father before the world was. That was His
glory. He has omniscience - He knows all things. He is omnipotent, that is, He
is all-powerful. He is omnipresent, that is, He can be everywhere at the same
time. Therefore, Jesus emptied Himself of His omni attributes and He
came down to this planet earth. Jesus Christ emptied Himself of His
omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence in heaven in order to be born on
planet earth.
This
was the arrangement God made in the book of Hebrews 10:5 Therefore, when He
came into the world, He said, Sacrifice and offering You
did not desire, However, a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin, You had no pleasure. Then I
said, Behold, I have come in the volume of the book it is written of Me- to do Your will, O God.
Verse
5 it tells us that a body was prepared for Jesus to come into the world.
Chronologically,
the process of the virgin birth took place in this order.
There
was a creation of a body in Mary’s womb. Then Jesus,
emptied of His omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience, came down in spirit
form into the womb of Mary. This is called the incarnation of the Word. The
Holy Spirit brought Him down into Mary’s body. In fact, I would venture to say
that Jesus Christ has so emptied Himself of His divine attributes that He
literally became hapless. He could not leap down from heaven by Himself into
the womb of Mary, as one Christmas carol puts it. He had to rely on the Holy
Spirit to bring Him to be born in the womb of Mary. A few verses attest to
this: “She was found with child of the Holy Spirit. “(Matthew 1: 18) “For
that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1: 20)
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will
overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called
the Son of God. (Luke 1: 35)
Please
do not try to wrestle and understand it with your natural mind. Remember in the
spirit realm there is no dimension. In the kingdom of darkness, a thousand or a
million demons could dwell in one person. It makes no difference; there is no
such thing as space in the realm of the spirit. Jesus came down in the spirit.
Jesus is the only one whose spirit was not created at all. Jesus was not
created in Mary’s womb. Remember His name in heaven is the Word. Rev. 19 tells
us that His name is still called the Word. Therefore, the Word came down. Jn. 1
calls Him the Word too, and came into that body.
Strictly
speaking, Mary’s womb was an incubator for Jesus to come through. A body was
created in Mary’s womb, then Jesus came in and that is the full process of the
virgin birth. She is a vessel of God where God chose to use her womb in much
the same way as God would choose to use somebody’s mouth to proclaim the gospel
or somebody’s hands to heal the sick. God chose to use her womb as a special
instrument during that time.
Later
on in the book of Acts 1 and 2, you find that Mary needed to go through the
same process as any disciples. She needed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
She needs to pray. She was an instrument. This is the process of the virgin
birth as the Bible shows it.
The
birth and childhood of Jesus is intertwined with the life of humanity. In each
recorded episode of Jesus’ childhood, we see a deeper meaning in reference to
the birth of other servants. Jesus said of Himself, “I
came to serve and not to be served.” His purpose for being born was to serve
and die for the world. Thus, when He was born, not only is the Savior of the
world born, other servants of God would also be birthed through the birth of
Jesus. The birth of Jesus would see the birth of many others who would serve as
He did, and die as He did, for the world. Embedded in each episode of Jesus’
birth and childhood are the secrets to birthing the characteristics of true men
and women of God who would follow Him in service and suffering. On that
Christmas morning, not only was the Savior born but the servants that would
have their turn to be born down the ages were also born in Him.
Four
main incidences of Jesus’ childhood were recorded in the Bible.
Chronologically, they are
1.
When He was a baby laid in a manger and visited by
shepherds (Luke 2: 8-20)
2.
When He was presented at the
3.
When He was at home between one to two years old and
visited by the three wise men (Matthew 2: 1-12)
4.
When He was 12 years old at the
These
four recorded incidences of Jesus’ childhood reveal powerful truths about the
birth of true servants who imitate Jesus closely. Many of us often wondered
about the silent years of Jesus. Except for these four childhood incidences,
nothing else is heard about Jesus until He was about the age of 30. If the life
of Jesus were recorded in detail, it would require great volumes of books.
Therefore, the Bible summarizes incidences in Jesus’ life. It is incorrect for
us to say that the Bible does not say anything about His childhood because the
Bible does. However, the Bible gives us a summary of these four incidences in
the childhood of Jesus as a prophetic overture of what will take place in
Jesus’ ministry.
In
each incidence, there is the place involved and there are the types of people
present. Both the place and the people shed more light to the prophetic
significance of the incidence.
I.
The Baby Jesus in the Manger with the Shepherds
In
the first recorded incidence, Jesus was placed on a manger after He was born. And
she [Mary] brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling
cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn
(Luke 2: 7). And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped
in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger (Luke 2: 12).
The
place here is a manger. A manger is a long open box or trough to contain hay
and grass for animals to feed. Symbolically, the animals represent the
different forms of the devil. When Lucifer and his fallen angels were cast down
from heaven to earth, they lost their celestial beauty and took the form of
hideous beasts. They feed themselves on the evil that they tempt men to do.
Just as Jesus’ food is to do the will of Him who sent Him, and to finish His
work (John 4: 34), so likewise, it is the food of demons to do the will of
their father Satan. The manger represents the devil’s territory where demons
feed themselves on the sins, wickedness, evil, and bondages of humankind. After
Jesus was born, He was placed on a manger. This is a prophetic symbol of His
coming to the devil’s territory and His destroying the devil’s works over the
lives of humanity. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He
might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3: 8). Jesus has come to the
devil’s tuff to overthrow him. He has come into the lion’s den to shut the
mouth of the roaring lions, so that they will not devour whomsoever they will.
Jesus
was also born at night. Night is the symbolic representation of the works of
darkness. When Judas went out of the twelve to betray Jesus, John recorded it
as, “And it was night.” (John 13: 30) Paul also equates night with the powers
of darkness in 1 Thess 5: 5, You are all sons of
light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor or darkness. Jesus’
birth at night is another symbolic representation that the light has come into
the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it. It means that Jesus the
light of the world has come into the devil’s territory and the kingdom of
darkness to shed light and overcome the works of darkness. He was born to
deliver souls from the kingdom of darkness and transfer them into the kingdom
of light.
Thus,
the birth of Jesus at night and the placing of the Babe in the manger have both
the same meaning of the Savior coming into the devil’s kingdom of darkness to
destroy the works of the devil.
The
people here are the shepherds. Luke 2: 8, Now
there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping
watch over their flock by night. Luke 2: 15, So it was, when the angels
had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another,
“Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the
Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and the Babe lying in a manger.
The
angels told the shepherds, who were keeping watch over their flock by night,
that the Savior, who is Christ the Lord, was born in the city of David and that
the sign would be a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger (Luke
2: 11-12). Having seen the significance of the Babe lying in a manger, now we
can see the significance of the angels announcing to the shepherds keeping watch
over their flocks at night about the birth of the Savior. The lowly shepherds
represent all true and humble servants of God who keep watch over their flocks.
While the hirelings and the false shepherds are in their “slumber land” and
know not that the wolves are tearing their flocks apart by every seduction and
deception, the true shepherds are wide-awake when darkness falls to guard the
flocks entrusted to them. They bear the heat by day and the cold by night. They
shed many tears of intercession over their flocks that the wolves and the wild
beasts of the evil one may devour none of them.
The
good news for the shepherds is that the Babe lying in the manger is the Chief
Shepherd and Savior who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, the
roaring lions, and the marauding wolves. The good news for all true servants of
God is that they can rely on Jesus who will empower them with the grace and the
anointing to grab the souls of sinners from the jaws of the enemy.
Luke
2: 20, Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as
it was told them. Herein lies the secret of the
power of shepherds who watch over their flocks effectively. These shepherds saw
the Babe in the manger, and they went into a time of praise and worship. Those
who serve God as pastors and ministers should see Jesus as the Babe in the
manger, not literally but spiritually speaking. Jesus as the Babe in the manger
means the Anointed One who has come into the devil’s territory to bind the
strongman and plunder his goods. He is as Acts 10: 38 says, “How God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and went about
doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with
Him.”
When
servants of God are strong in worshipping Jesus as the Mighty Deliverer and the
Anointed One, they also grow in that anointing to do good
and heal all who are also oppressed by the devil. One of the principles of
worship is that when you worship God for a particular aspect or attribute of
His, God will release the spiritual substance of the same aspect or attribute
into your spirit man. For example, when you worship God constantly as Jehovah
Rapha or the Lord Your Healer, God will release the spiritual substance of
healing into your spirit man until you experience healing for your sicknesses
or you develop a strong ministry of healing.
When you are ineffective in your ministry of healing and deliverance,
one of your serious lacks is a life that worships Jesus as the Deliverer.
The
true worth of a shepherd is seen in how he has effectively dealt with each soul
committed to his care. Man tends to measure the worth of a pastor by the number
of people in his congregation. If he has a huge congregation, he becomes a celebrity
pastor and will be invited to numerous conventions around the world to share
his secrets of how to grow a large church. That is man’s ways. It is not God’s
way.
Recently
a Christian who was sent up on a study tour of heaven came back with this report.
In heaven, he was ushered into two offices belonging to two pastors who are
still alive and serving the Lord. One pastor is a very famous healing
evangelist who has his own TV programs, miracle crusades and is Senior Pastor
of a large church too. The other pastor
has a congregation of 1000 but was rather unknown by name or work in the world.
In each pastor’s office in heaven were two sets of files of people committed to
their respective care. One set of files belongs to people whose lives were not
dealt with properly and God had to continue dealing with them until they
change. The other set of files belongs to people who were reforming their lives
for the better and God was pleased with their progress. However, in the famous
pastor’s office in heaven, the set of files belonging to people not dealt
properly or not making progress was stacked up very high whereas the number of
files belonging to people making progress in their spiritual life was very few.
In the other obscure pastor’s office in heaven, it was different. The number of
files belonging to people not making progress was very few whereas the set of
files belonging to people making progress in their spiritual lives was stacked
high. In God’s sight, the second pastor was of greater worth because he is
effectively shepherding and dealing his people to walk in righteousness and
God’s ways. The first pastor though famous in men’s sight, was actually
considered the lesser of the two in the kingdom of heaven because he is not
shepherding his people effectively.
So,
do not be proud if your church is growing. Do not look at the numbers but ask
yourself whether you are effectively shepherding your flock and causing them to
walk in the ways of the Lord. On the other hand, do not be dismayed if your
church is not growing. Ask yourself whether you are faithfully dealing with
each member God has already entrusted to your care. If you are not faithfully
and effectively dealing with your members, why should God add to your
congregation? It would only mean greater condemnation for you, as you have to
account for more souls. So, be faithful with whatever you have, and when God
sees that you are faithful, He will add to your congregation. Do not use hype,
gimmicks, and Madison Avenue-type advertising to draw in the crowds. If God has called you into the ministry, God
will know how to bless your ministry through your faithfulness. If you try to
draw in the crowds through fleshly means, you would also probably draw in
people who would prove to be a thorn in your flesh. What is born of flesh is
flesh. Satan will plant his agents in your congregation to bring about your
downfall.
II.
The Baby Jesus at the
On
the 40th day after His birth, the Child Jesus was brought to the
Luke
2: 25-32, And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon,
and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and
the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy
Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he
came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child
Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his
arms and blessed God and said : “Lord, now You are
letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have
seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a
light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people
Israel.”
Simeon
was a man not only of Holy Spirit but of great patience as well. According to
history, he was a highly intelligent scholar and a deeply religious man, who
knew from his interpretation of the Old Testament that the Messiah was to come.
He prayed not only for deliverance, but for the opportunity to remain alive
just long enough to cast his eyes on the Messiah. This was no small request
made of the Lord, for it is quite certain, although estimates vary as to his
actual age, that he was born many years before Christ. Simeon is estimated to
have been at least 150 years old at the time of the Nativity, and only because
God had given him those many years in answer to his earnest prayers that he be
allowed to live to that great day.
Simeon was one of the famous
Seventy, who were chosen to translate the Bible from Hebrew into Greek in the
time of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.). Simeon worked
conscientiously, but when, translating the prophet Isaiah, he came to the
prophecy: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son," he was
puzzled. He took a knife to scratch out the word "virgin" and
substitute "young woman," and translate it thus into Greek. But, at
that moment an angel of God appeared to him and held him back from his
intention, explaining to him that the prophecy was true and rightly expressed.
And to confirm its veracity, the messenger from God said that he, Simeon, by
the will of God, would not die until he had seen the Messiah born of a virgin.
The righteous Simeon rejoiced at these heavenly tidings, left the prophecy
unchanged and thanked God that He had found him worthy to live to see the
Promised One.
Some
members of a particular local church who were sent to heaven on the
instructions of the Holy Spirit came back with some reports for our learning.
Apparently, a departed saint by the name of Sadhu Sundar Singh heard of the
visits of these church members to heaven and yearned to meet with them. When
the permission was granted to him, he met one of the sisters and told her his
story. In the biography of his life, it was written that he went to
It is staggering to note that this
departed saint who is still greatly esteemed could have missed God’s plans and
purposes just because he did not seek the Holy Spirit. Even more staggering is
the fact that today, many ministries do not seek the Holy Spirit at all in
their work. Whatever “ministry” you are doing, if the Holy Spirit is not
guiding you, your “ministry” is no ministry at all. All your work, your
sacrifices, your efforts will be rejected. You have missed God’s plans and
purposes for your life. Rather than be caught up in the hive of activity and
carrying on mindlessly to keep your “ministry” going,
it would be better to stop everything and seek the Holy Spirit for divine light
and wisdom for your work.
Simeon
was different. Verse 25 says, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Verse 26
says, And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit..
Verse 27 says, So he came by the Spirit
into the temple.
Simeon was a layman in
We put before you that every group
of people that encountered the Lord Jesus Christ during His childhood would
both represent who Jesus Christ would be in His ministry later on and what
ministers should be if they want to serve Him.
The group of shepherds that met the
Babe Jesus in the manger represents Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd. John 10:
11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the
sheep.”
The group of wise men from the east
who were kings represents Jesus Christ as the king. John 18: 37, Pilate
therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then? Jesus
answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I
should bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my
voice.”
The group of teachers surrounding
the Child Jesus in the
Having seen this, what would Simeon
represent Jesus to be? Firstly, in Genesis 29: 33, Then
she [Leah] conceived and bore a son, and she said, “Because the Lord has heard
that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his
name Simeon. In Hebrew, the name Simeon means heard.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit was prominent in the life of Simeon. Thus,
Simeon would characterize Jesus’ ministry as primarily a ministry of hearing
the Holy Spirit. Jesus was completely dependent on the Holy Spirit. Jesus was
anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power. He healed all those oppressed of
the devil. Jesus did not do any of the miracles in the ministry that He did
without the Holy Spirit. But, guess what? Jesus did not even die without the
Holy Spirit. The birth of Jesus was because the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary
and the virgin conceived inside of her, Jesus. What was conceived inside of her
was through the Holy Spirit. The birth of Jesus had the Holy Spirit. The
ministry of Jesus had the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus
suffered in the garden with the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not even die or rise
from the dead without the Holy Spirit.
What about Anna, the daughter of Phanuel?
Her name itself is very instructive. Anna means “Grace” and her father’s name,
Phanuel means “Face of God.” Anna’s name, life, and message were one. She was
with her husband for 7 years before he died and then, she spent the next 77
years of her life before the face of God in the temple. The name, life and
message of “Anna, the daughter of Phanuel” literally means
grace born of spending time before the face of God. Her consecration and dedication to God was
absolute. Her prayer life and consecration reflect the life of Jesus too.
We
want to take note of something else about Simeon and Anna. We see that the Holy
Spirit was prominent in their lives. In the case of Simeon, the Holy Spirit
“was upon him,” “revealed to him” and he “came by the Spirit.” Anna was a
prophetess, which means, she spoke by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit led them
to the
In this particular local church
whose pastor sends up some of his church members to heaven, one of them was
taken by the Holy Spirit to a big city in
Most end time teachers teach that
Christians would suddenly disappear in the rapture. You would not find their
bodies on earth. However, this is not true. They would suddenly die on the spot
when the Holy Spirit snatches their spirit man away. Their unsanctified bodies
would not be able to stand the presence of God’s glory in heaven. Thus, they
would be provided with new and glorified bodies for life in heaven. Simeon and
Anna represents all those Christians who spend much time before the face of God
and are “just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy
Spirit was upon” them. They would be ready for the Rapture and Jesus’ coming in
the clouds just as Simeon was ready to lay his eyes on the Messiah when Jesus’
parents brought Him to the
III. The Child Jesus at Home with the Three
Wise Men
In
the third recorded incidence, Jesus was a young boy between one to two years
old when the three kings came to lay their gifts at His feet. And when they
had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and
fell down and worshipped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they
presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2: 11)
It did not say a young baby. The
wise men have come to pay homage to the child Jesus and the scene was in a
house, not at the manger. Jesus was no more in the manger. Sometimes, the
Christmas pageant narrates the story of the three wise men coming to visit the
baby Jesus in the manger. The Bible says they saw the young child. By the time
the three wise men arrived, the child Jesus was about one to two years old.
That is why Herod killed all children under two. The time the wise men saw the
star to the time they reached
The
wise men fell down, worshiped Him, and opened their treasures. They presented
gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then they were divinely warned to
depart by another way. By the way, the Bible did not say there were three men.
How the number of three wise men is arrived at is the three types of presents
given to the child Jesus.
Gold,
Frankincense and Myrrh
Gold points to the worship of God in the beauty of holiness;
frankincense to the power of the resurrection and myrrh to the fellowship of
His suffering. Gold was used for vessels in the Holy place and in the
Holy of holies. God demanded that only pure gold is used in the making of Moses
tabernacle and Solomon’s temple. Gold is a symbol of the worship of God in the
purity and holiness of heart. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
God.
Gold is able to survive the fire. The
Apostle Paul uses this analogy when he writes to the Corinthian church
concerning Christian works, "For no one can lay any foundation other
than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this
foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will
be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed
with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work." (I
Corinthians 3:11-13)
Job is the man in the Bible who was
perhaps the most sorely tested man of all time. He lost all his worldly
possessions, his children had died, and his health was gone, his friends made
his burden heavier by trying to lay a guilt trip on him, and his wife advised
euthanasia. But in the midst of his suffering, listen to what he says, "He
knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold."
(Job 23:10)
In
a wonderful Messianic passage in Zechariah, there's a prediction and a promise:
"'In the whole land," declares the LORD, 'two-thirds will be
struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will
bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold.
They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, `They are my
people,' and they will say, `The LORD is our God.'" (Zechariah 13:8,
9)
The
Laodicean church’s members had become lukewarm in their relationship with God.
Jesus’ message is, "I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire,
that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the
shame of your nakedness do not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye salve,
that you may see." (Revelation 3:18)
Peter
gives a different slant on this, because he points out that there is something
which, like gold is refined in fire, but unlike gold, this other substance
never perishes. "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little
while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come
so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though
refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and
honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:6,7
6)
Peter
points out that there is something more valuable than gold, or even the testing
of gold - it is the process whereby our faith is tested and strengthened, the
adversities, sorrows, hardships, trials of this life which test and strengthen
our faith which will hold us through eternity. Notice this about faith, it
grows, and bears fruit, unlike gold, which, as enduring as we think it to be,
will nevertheless someday perish.
Frankincense is a very costly and fragrant
gum distilled from a tree that is found in
Frankincense
is highly fragrant when burned, and was, therefore, used in worship, where it
was burned as a pleasant offering to God. "Aaron must burn fragrant
incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn
incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn
regularly before the LORD for the generations to come. (Exodus 30:7,8) "He is to take a censer full of burning coals
from the altar before the LORD and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant
incense and take them behind the curtain." (Leviticus 16:12).
Frankincense
and myrrh are two of the ingredients used to prepare the anointing oil of Moses
in the book of Exodus. Frankincense is also used in its pure form to be placed
upon the twelve loaves of bread on the table of showbread in the Holy place in
Moses tabernacle and Solomon’s temple and they were changed once a week.
Frankincense has some qualities to preserve that bread. It symbolizes the
redeeming resurrecting power of the Lord Jesus Christ. It also symbolizes in that
sense the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. See in redemption and in
resurrection, it can only take place when a higher realm of authority takes
dominion over the lower law of sin and death. It is when the law of the Spirit
of life, Zoe, supercedes the law of sin and death. In gold, we see cleansing
and purity. In frankincense, we see life and righteousness. Gold speaks about
the purifying and cleansing process. After we are have
been put into the fire and the dross comes up to the surface and removed, we
become clean vessels. Now God takes His life, takes His resurrection power, and
takes His righteousness and now He puts it into us. That is frankincense.
Therefore, gold represents the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus to purify
us from sin. Frankincense represents the power of Jesus to pour Himself, His
life and His righteousness into us so that we be like
Him.
The
primary lesson from frankincense is that our worship is to be pleasing to God.
Remember, this sweet smelling resin comes as the result of the tree's wound and
pain. When we can worship God in the midst of our sorrow, our brokenness, then
it is a sweet smelling offering. That's why David said, "The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise." (Psalms 51:17)
Much
emphasis in worship today is on "celebration." No time for agonizing
and tears, only for shouts of joy and victory. While joyful
praise is acceptable to God, tears, like frankincense resin, oozing out of our
hurts, broken hearts, and tears of repentance are especially pleasing - a sweet
smelling sacrifice to the Lord. Anyone can dance and shout when their
team is winning, and everything is going their way. But true worship happens
when it must overcome feelings of self-pity, fear, and doubt.
I
have always been a bit mystified by this idea in the Old Testament that God
wants a "sweet smelling sacrifice." In the book of Leviticus, at
least 16 times reference is made to the offerings being a "sweet
savor". And when God pronounces His judgment on unfaithful
Do
you really think God cares about the smell of the smoke? We might care - it
would not be very pleasant to attend a worship service where there is the
horrible smell of burning flesh filling the air. So maybe it was for the
benefit of the people that the burning of frankincense was instituted. On the
other hand, God is interested in the condition of our hearts when we pray and
worship Him. Is it with sweetness, or without of a sense of duty, or even
bitterness because we do not feel that God is dealing with us fairly.
Myrrh
speaks about suffering. In the Jewish custom, the bodies of the dead were
anointed with myrrh and aloes. (That the body of the Lord was anointed with
such things, and was encompassed with them, together with a linen cloth, and
that this was the custom of the Jews, may be seen in John 19:39, 40; Luke
23:53, 56.)
Myrrh
is an aromatic gum produced from a thorn-bush that grew in Arabia and
However,
if frankincense represents sweetness, myrrh represents bitterness, at least to
the taste. In fact, the name itself was given to it on account of its great
bitterness. The Hebrew word is similar to the name given the waters that were
bitter when Moses and the people were coming out of
It
was used chiefly in embalming the dead, because it had the property of
preserving them from putrefaction (John 19:39). It was much used in
It's
also interesting to note that the Greek word for myrrh, "smurna", is
the same as the name of the city and church which received a letter from the
Apostle.
Myrrh
then is brought as a gift to acknowledge the human suffering that Jesus partook
of when He came into our world. Why did He refuse the drink? Because
He had already drunk it. He had prayed at first that He could be spared
the cup, but then He submitted to His father's will and drank it - the bitter
cup of His suffering.
We
too drink from the cup of suffering, and it is bitter. Knowing that He drank it
too, and in a fuller amount than we can ever comprehend, helps give us courage
to go on. But may we, like the Magi of old, also bring this as a gift to Jesus.
We
bring gold to honor Him as King, and to yield to the purification process of
the fiery trials. We bring frankincense to worship Him even in the midst of our
brokenness.
And
we bring myrrh to recognize that He has identified with us in our pain and
sorrow.
The Three Wise
Men
The
picture of the shepherds praising the Baby Jesus lying in the manger reveals
the secret of workers becoming true shepherds that will flow with the anointing
to do good, and heal all that are oppressed by the
devil. Likewise, the picture of the three wise men or kings from the East
offering gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Child Jesus reveals the
secret of men attaining to kingship and sitting down with the King of kings on
the many thrones in heaven. Not everyone is given to sit on the thrones with
Jesus. It is given to those who have overcome. To be worthy to sit with the
King of kings, one has to constantly offer gifts of gold, frankincense, and
myrrh to Him, not literally but spiritually speaking. These gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh means the purity, the righteousness and the suffering
respectively that one must work out in one’s life with the help of the Holy
Spirit as an offering to the King of kings. There must be the gold of purity,
the frankincense of righteousness, and the myrrh of suffering and dying in
one’s life to be worthy to be made a king and to sit with the King of kings on
the thrones in heaven. The Bible calls them “wise men from the East” (Matthew 2:
1). To produce a life of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, we need wisdom. We need
to seek Wisdom, walk with Wisdom and speak with Wisdom. Wisdom is a person.
Wisdom is not just wise sayings. Wisdom is Jesus Christ. Wisdom is the Holy
Spirit. Walking in wisdom means walking with Jesus and the
Holy Spirit.
Furthermore,
the place was the home. The Bible mentions that the wise men visited the Child
Jesus at home. It was at Jesus’ house that the kings offered gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. The home represents one’s private life. It is in one’s
private life that one cultivates a life of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
By
the way, who are these three wise men? Where are they from? Interestingly, a
local Chinese pastor recently sent up some of his church members in the Spirit
to heaven at the direction of the Holy Spirit. This was another learning
experience for the church. These church members were brought to see Mary in
heaven and they were prompted to ask Mary what race these wise men were. Mary
told them that they were three Chinese kings, one from the north of
On
hindsight, we could understand why God was pleased with these three Chinese
kings. They came from a faraway land. They looked to the promise of the Messiah
based on ancient writings. They were kings themselves but they would
acknowledge the King of kings. They undertook an arduous and difficult journey.
They brought gifts to the King of kings. They had very little light from the
ancient prophecies yet by great faith and tenacity, they made the journey. They
saw the boy Jesus, who by all outward appearances, looked like another common
Jewish boy. However, their faith made them acknowledge that He was the Messiah.
Contrast the attitude of these Chinese kings with the attitude of the Jews. The
Jews had all the light from the prophets and the Old Testament regarding the
coming of the Messiah. They lived in the vicinity and proximity of the
birthplace of the Messiah. They saw the great star shining in their land. They
were expecting the Messiah around that time. They even knew that
These
church members were also made to understand that
Even
in these times of impending economic recession in the new millennium, where
many countries are reporting lower or negative economic growth rates,
IV. The Boy Jesus in the
The
fourth recorded incident was when Jesus was 12 years old. Luke 2: 40 And the
Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God
was upon Him. Luke 2: 46, Now so it was that after three days they found
Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them
and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His
understanding and answers.
You
would notice that in the life of the Child Jesus, there is a progression from being
“strong in spirit,” followed by being “filled with wisdom,” and then being
filled with the “grace of God.” With these three characteristics, He was able
to engage in a dialogue with the teachers that simply astounded them. This
episode reveals the secret of strong biblical teachers who flow with wisdom and
revelation.
Remember,
every childhood episode of Jesus reveals the secret or birth of different
aspects of servants of God. The Babe in the manger being worshipped by the
shepherds reveals the secret of becoming true shepherds. The visit of Simeon
and Anna at the temple reveals the secret of hearing the Holy Spirit and
standing before the face of God. The visit of the three wise men reveals the
secret of becoming overcomers and kings. Now this dialogue of Jesus in the
First,
the Child Jesus grew and became “strong in spirit.” Herein lies
the secret. Before you can be filled with wisdom, your spirit man must grow
strong to be able to absorb wisdom. Wisdom is Spirit and your spirit man must
be strong to be able to retain Wisdom in your spirit man. When your spirit man
has a clear conscience and is sensitive and been constantly exercised by
praying in the Spirit, your spirit man receives spiritual substances to grow
strong. The three functions of the spirit man are conscience, communion, and
intuition. These three functions can only grow strong when you are in constant
fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
If
you sideline the Holy Spirit, and you think you can grow strong spiritually by
yourself, you are sadly mistaken. You can never get anywhere spiritually
without the Holy Spirit. You may read the Word, confess the biblical promises,
claim your rights by faith, pray, fast twice a week, intercede but if all these
are done without inquiring of the Holy Spirit and seeking His counsel, you are
merely wasting your time. You will not achieve much spiritual breakthrough
despite your doing much of these spiritual exercises. The Holy Spirit is merely
watching you from the sidelines but is unable to help you because you did not
inquire of Him. You did not invite Him. You thought you could do it yourself.
In fact, you are afraid to ask the Holy Spirit because you fear that He would
suggest something to you that you may not like, your flesh finds it hard to die
and yield to, or you simply want your own way. The Holy Spirit will step aside
and will let you have your own way but you will not make much progress
spiritually. After years of doing spiritual exercises your own way, you find
you have very little progress and breakthrough.
In
fact, I would say that if you had been doing spiritual exercises your own way
without consulting the Holy Spirit, at the end of the day, you would be proud,
puffed up and Pharisaic in attitude. You would look down and despise others who
are not of your class. You would think you know more than others. Actually,
what has happened is that you were doing your spiritual exercises in a fleshly
way. Your spiritual pursuits were inspired by carnal and fleshly desires for
recognition and worldly fame. This is an abomination to the Lord. The devil has
deceived you. He has planted seeds of deception in you. You thought you were
super-spiritual. Normally, such people go around creating a lot of strife and
confusion because they give prophecies, revelations, and visions from the
flesh. What is born of the flesh is flesh. In the Charismatic world, you will
find many of these kinds of people because they seek the Charismatic gifts
without seeking the Holy Spirit.
Powerful
ministers of God who flow in the real anointing and the genuine gifts of the
Holy Spirit may have inspired them. Seeing such anointed ministers of God, some
people entertain ideas of fame, and recognition and therefore, they seek the
gifts without seeking the Holy Spirit. When such people sideline the Holy
Spirit by not fellowshipping with Him, the Holy Spirit can only stand aside and
watch them. Such people are on dangerous grounds. In many cases, their ancestors
may have dabbled with the occult and developed powerful witchcraft abilities.
These abilities are carried down to the descendants through their bloodline and
will remain dormant in them in “chips” form. When these people start seeking
and exercising the so-called gifts of the Holy Spirit without a relationship
with the Holy Spirit, the devil activates the “chips” in them and suddenly they
flow in these inherited witchcraft abilities. They have become the devil’s
agents planted in churches to destroy the churches from within. They have all
the outward appearances of being good ministers but in the long run, by their
fruits you will know them.
They
can tell the future, and the undiscerning thinks they
are prophesying. They reveal knowledge about you and you think they have the
word of knowledge. Actually, they have a spirit guide masquerading as the Holy
Spirit. Their spirit guide will communicate with the demon accompanying you,
and your demon will reveal your secrets to that spirit guide, who will in turn inform
them. To the undiscerning eye, they appear like the gifts of the Holy
Spirit. Normally such an activated
devil’s agent will have a network of demons at his disposal without his
knowledge. They will cooperate with one another to bring about false signs and
wonders to promote that person’s so-called “ministry.”
Scripture
is clear on the matter of obeying and disobeying the Holy Spirit. When you obey
the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will work in and through you. Acts 5: 32, And we are His witnesses to these things, and so
also is the Holy
Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. If you disobey the Holy Spirit, the devil will work in and through you. Ephesians 2: 2, in which you once walked according to the course
of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of
disobedience.
You
can distinguish the true ministers from the false ministers by this acid test.
Observe their lives and ministries carefully. See whether they are under
control of the Holy Spirit; they are constantly walking in the Spirit; they
won’t do anything without consulting the Holy Spirit; they bring any idea and
program and decision to the Holy Spirit; they won’t say or do anything unless
they know the Holy Spirit has given or permitted them; there is uprightness in their walk;
there are tangible results after they said the Holy Spirit has told them to do
this and that and they do accordingly. If the answers are positive, they are
the true ministers of God. If the answers are negative, then you know they are
false ministers.
Growing
spiritually is a matter of fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit and yielding to
Him constantly. The Holy Spirit is your
trainer and your coach. He knows your weaknesses and strengths. He has a
personal development plan for you. He has goals for you to achieve. He knows
the Father’s will for you. He will draw up your personal prayer life. He will
tell you when to go into worship or when to put your petition before the Lord
of Heaven. He will lead you to specific passages in the Word in line with your
personal spiritual development. You grow strong in spirit by constantly sowing
to the spirit realm. What is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Many
students preparing for the ministry make a fatal mistake of putting the cart
before the horse. They seek for teachers before seeking the Teacher, who is the
Holy Spirit. Notice that before the Child Jesus was in the temple, sitting in
the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions
(Luke 2: 47), He grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the
grace of God was upon Him (Luke 2: 40). Jesus grew strong in spirit by
constantly fellowshipping and yielding to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was
His Teacher. Remember, in heaven, Jesus has already divested Himself of His
divine attributes of omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence before He
entered the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was as helpless as
any newborn baby. He still has to grow in knowledge as any other child. However, He knew how to listen and yield to
the Holy Spirit and thereby, grow strong in the spirit. He progressed by
becoming strong in spirit, then filled with wisdom, then filled with the grace
of God before finally going to the temple to seek the teachers. Probably many
of these teachers were men of great repute, famous teachers, famous authors,
teachers that any ordinary Jew would stand in awe. They are the equivalents of
famous teachers and authors today that people are running after. However, these
Jewish teachers stood in awe of the Child Jesus because Jesus was taught by the
Holy Spirit, and not by mere men. Luke 2: 47, And
all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.
This
is where many Bible students and seminarians preparing for the ministry make
this common mistake. They buy up many books to read, hear many tapes, go for
one seminar after another, run after famous men and women of God, subscribe to
their magazines, read their Bibles and even memorize whole passages but failed
the one most important thing – seeking the Holy Spirit as Teacher. In the end,
they wonder why they have no power in their preaching and in their ministry.
Actually, most of them would be very smug and satisfied with their own
preaching but they know not what they lack. They have all the theological
degrees and doctorates but they have no wisdom from the Holy Spirit. Then they
come across a poor uneducated Christian who is always on his knees, seeking for
God’s wisdom and truths. They are astounded to find this poorly educated
Christian speaking one truth after another – truths they never heard of, truths
they themselves took so long to find out, truths they finally found after so
many hard knocks and mistakes and failures – and this guy is just pouring these
truths out like living water. This guy depended on the Holy Spirit whereas the
others depended on men’s teachings.
I
once read in church history about a very famous professor of theology in
Paul
also had a similar experience. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel, the most
outstanding teacher at that time. He was above his peers in terms of
intelligence, brilliance of mind, learning, zeal for the law and was carved out
for a very illustrious career as a rabbi. He may have been seen as the most
likely successor to Gamaliel. All this ended when he met the Lord Jesus Christ
on the road to
Bible
graduates should take an example from Paul. They should go away and sit at the
feet of the Holy Spirit for a few years.
When
I was in school, I was an average student. Later, I went to the seminary. If
you had heard me preach when I was in the seminary, you would have gone to
sleep. After seminary, I started preaching. I did not preach like I do now.
Back then, I was following the crowd and preaching like the rest of them. I
thought you must shout, holler, and preach fire and brimstone. There is a lot
of hot air, hype and clichés but little substance in such preaching. Later,
when I preach the truth extracted from the Word, I found it had a greater
impact on the congregation.
After
I was expelled from the Baptist seminary in
Something
happened when I started doing both of these. When I fellowshipped with and
prayed in the Spirit for long hours and meditated on the Word for long hours,
in the ninth month or so, suddenly there was a burst of light and understanding
that came to my mind on the Word that I never saw before. The light began to
work in my soul and spirit that I did not fully understand then. However, one
thing I do know: the Holy Spirit and the Word imparts wisdom. The Bible
declares in Ps. 119:99-100, I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand
more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts.
During
those 30 years, Jesus had to learn the Word of God like we learn. Jesus was not born with the knowledge of the
Word. He even had to learn the Hebrew or Aramaic language in those days. Jesus
had to learn to speak and then He had to learn all the scriptures. That is one
point in His life where He is very similar to us. He had to learn like we
learn. By growing strong in spirit and by meditating on the Word, the Child
Jesus was filled with wisdom.
In
addition, you see that the grace of God was upon Him. How did the grace
of God come? Grace comes through walking in the Spirit and walking according to
the Word. If we keep a child away from the pollution of T.V. and wrong videos
and feed that child the Word, that child will grow wiser than any other
children because the Word will feed his spirit and give him a supernatural
wisdom. The Word gives wisdom. The Word produces wisdom. Let me encourage you
that the understanding that the Word is sharpened through meditating on the
Word of God constantly.
Man
uses only about 5 to 10 percent of their brain. The rest is actually wasted. We
know one key that can tap on all your full potential of your soul – the Word of
God. The Bible tells us in Eph. 4 that in reference to the gentiles who were in
sin that they were in darkness. Their souls were darkened because they were
alienated from the life of God. That happened in Adam’s time. When Adam fell a
light was shut up from his understanding and we all inherited that darkened
mind. Jesus restored that light.
Summary
These four episodes of the childhood of Jesus
Christ can be summarized by Isaiah 11:2, “ The
Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the
Lord. The prophet Isaiah was speaking of the coming of the Messiah who
would have this seven-fold Spirit of God. This seven-fold Spirit of God is
categorized into four classifications:
- The Spirit of the Lord
- The Spirit of wisdom and understanding
- The Spirit of counsel and might
- The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear
of the Lord.
Since
the child in the womb of the Virgin Mary was conceived by the power of the Holy
Spirit, we would expect the seven-fold Spirit of God to be with the Child Jesus
as well. In each of the childhood episodes of Jesus, there is a manifestation
of each classification of the seven-fold Spirit of God.
Firstly, there is the Spirit of the
Lord. This is seen in the visit of Simeon and Anna at the presentation of Jesus
at the temple. Simeon and Anna are full of the Spirit. Simeon is a lay believer
whereas Anna represents the five-fold ministry. The Holy Spirit was upon
Simeon, who revealed to him the baby Jesus who would be the salvation of
Secondly, there is the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding. This is seen in the visit of the three wise men from
the east who had the wisdom to seek the Messiah and
the understanding to follow the bright light in the sky. They had the wisdom to
offer gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Child Jesus, as this was a
prophetic overture to Jesus’ life and ministry. They also had the understanding
that the only gifts that are acceptable to the King of kings are the fruit of
gold, frankincense, and myrrh in their lives. The Spirit of wisdom and
understanding caused Jesus to produce a life filled with the gold of purity of
worship, the frankincense of sweet fragrance of pleasing the Lord and the myrrh
of drinking the cup of the Father’s will. This same Spirit of wisdom and
understanding will lead us also to produce a life of gold, frankincense and
myrrh, which would also qualify us to become overcomers and kings.
Thirdly, there is the Spirit of
counsel and might. This is seen in the counsel given by the angels to the
shepherds keeping watch over their flocks at night that the sign would be a
Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. We have seen that the light
that appeared at night and the Babe lying in a manger were the same sign that
the Messiah had come into the devil’s territory to destroy the works of the
devil. With this counsel comes the might. The shepherds rejoiced and worshipped
the Babe. The Spirit of counsel and might upon Jesus led Him to preach, heal
and deliver under the power of the Holy Spirit. Shepherds would need this
Spirit of counsel and might if they are to preach, heal, and deliver as Jesus
did.
Finally, there is the Spirit of
knowledge and the fear of the Lord. This is seen in the 12-year-old Child Jesus
in the temple, engaging in a question and answer sessions with the teachers of
the Law that simply astounded them. Jesus said that He was about His Father’s
business. From an early age, Jesus was already filled with the fear of the Lord
that made His consecration to His Father’s business absolute and unwavering. He
grew, became strong in the Spirit, and was filled with wisdom and grace. This
made Him filled with right knowledge that corrected the faulty knowledge of the
teachers of the Law in the temple. When there is right knowledge of God, there
will also be the fear of the Lord. The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
Lord in one’s life will cause one to be filled with knowledge and the fear of
the Lord.
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