Been thinking on Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
An idea I’ve not actually done with Teen Team at church was to ask them each to bring a collection of items that represent themselves, their personalities, attributes, interests. The kinds of things they’d want their children and grandchildren to know were important about them.
The Tabernacle/Temple fascinates me so. Purely and only because of the myriad ways it and its elements point to God. It is just one of His collections of items that tell us of His plan, His ways, His heart and His love.
Tonight I watched the Bible on telly for the first time. A mix of wonderful and abbreviation. But it made me think about the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh the Magi brought to Bethlehem.
We’ve tended to only think of them in their uses of the day… value, embalming, worship, but they are each specifically required and used in the Tabernacle/Temple. His ‘collective picture’ of Himself.
Gold – the pavement of heaven. Lines the Holy and the Most Holy places. The Menorah built from one solid piece of it. The tables, arc and furnishings lined with it. Beautiful, Precious, Pure, Holy.
Frankincense and Myrrh – Both core ingredients of incense used in the temple service… and forbidden to be used for any other purpose. Without one, there was no entrance to the Most Holy Place. The other, always present with the unleavened bread on the table of Shewbread. Fragrant, Precious, Pure, Holy.
All
entirely accurate descriptions of Himself.
Fragrant
Precious
Pure
Holy.