Frankincense

𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗖𝗧

𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆: 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴-𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴

Select a few Christmas carols and spend time as a family singing together. You can do this a few times this week and sing different songs each time. End with a worship song like Joy to the World, O Come All Ye faithful, O Holy Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and others. 

Amid the busyness of the season, it is always good to slow down and remember the reason we are celebrating Christmas - the birth of our Lord, Jesus! 

This week, we look at the second gift Jesus received from wise men - frankincense.

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗

Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11 NIV

1 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘑𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘢, 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘥, 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘮 2 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥, “𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘦𝘸𝘴? 𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘩𝘪𝘮.”

9 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴. 10 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥. 11 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.

The second gift Jesus received was frankincense. Frankincense is a substance from a tree that has a fragrant smell. It is often fragrant in oils, soaps, and perfumes. Back in Jesus’ day, it was burnt by the priests in the worship of God.  

By giving this to the child Jesus, it was pointing towards the divinity of Jesus, that Jesus is God! You see, even when Jesus was born here on earth, He is still God and worthy of our worship.  

And at the same time, Jesus is also our high priest. Back in the day, a high priest would perform sacrifices on behalf of the people to cleanse them of their sins. The high priest did it regularly because the people would always sin. Being our high priest, He did not just perform the sacrifice. He became the sacrifice when He gave Himself on the cross for us. And because He is sinless, He did not need to do it repeatedly. Jesus’ sacrifice covers all our past, present, and future sins! And because He is alive, He will continue interceding on our behalf. As our high priest, Jesus is always on our side.  

𝗛𝗨𝗗𝗗𝗟𝗘

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗞𝗶𝗱/𝘀:

𝟮-𝟲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗹𝗱

What is one gift you received that you will never forget? 

𝟳-𝟭𝟮 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 

What are some ways you can show your worship unto God? How do you feel knowing you can run to Jesus anytime? 

𝗞𝗶𝗱/𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁:

In what ways do you rely on Jesus as your intercessor? Share a story if you have one. 

What an encouragement and blessing to have Jesus as our intercessor, to know that we can run to Him and that He is on our side. 

𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗬

Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to come and save us and be our high priest, so we have Someone who intercedes for us. Help us remember this always, more so when going through tough times. In Jesus’ name, amen.

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥

Is frankincense still used today? 

Frankincense comes from trees in the Boswellia family, found in Oman, Yemen, and Somalia.  

During ancient times, it was widely used during religious ceremonies, as perfume, and as medicine, including antidote to poisoning. 

Today, though not in mainstream medicine, frankincense is used as an alternative treatment for inflammatory conditions. Its uses may increase as more research and studies are conducted. 

𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦: 𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘸𝘦𝘣𝘮𝘥.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘵/𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩-𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴-𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦-𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭-𝘰𝘪𝘭#3