Matthew 2:11
“And when they were 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 unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”
For many years the wise men had waited for the star to appear. They knew that in their lifetime that the Messiah would be born. They also knew that a star would appear in the East that would announce His birth. I can only imagine the anticipation every night as they studied the skies awaiting the announcement of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine the excitement that happened the night they looked in the sky and saw the star appear which announced the birth of Jesus Christ? There is no doubt in my mind that their hearts were filled with joy as they loaded their camels to go and see the child. The journey must have been long, but they knew they were going to see the Saviour.
Something happened to these wise men when they came into the presence of Jesus. These men who were probably leaders in their own respect came to pay homage to Jesus; however, three things happened to them when they came into His presence. The same three things that happened to them will happen to anyone who lives in the presence of Jesus Christ.
First, they saw their worthlessness and His righteousness. You will notice that when they came into His presence they fell down before Him. Anyone who ever comes into the presence of Jesus Christ will never talk about their own righteousness. It is quite interesting when people come into God’s presence that they talk more of the righteousness of Christ than their own. The reason this happens is because when you see the righteousness of Jesus Christ you truly have no personal righteousness about which to talk. Your righteousness is nothing compared to God’s righteousness.
Second, the presence of Jesus caused them to worship Him and not man. Not only did they fall down because of His righteousness, but it was easy for them to keep their eyes upon Jesus. Friend, when you are in the presence of Jesus, you will talk more of Him and less of man. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but we don’t worship any preacher, we should only worship God. When you talk more about your preacher than you do Jesus Christ, then you’re in the wrong presence. Any man of God worth his salt will only push you towards Christ.
Third, the presence of Jesus caused them to open their treasures. This is very interesting to me because they were not afraid to give of what they had when they were in His presence. You show me someone who lives in the presence of Christ and I will show you someone who is not afraid to open their treasures to Him. Money will not be an issue with them because they will realize it truly belongs to God.
One thing worth noting is that when a person begins to close their treasures to God, then they will start placing their eyes on man and will begin to brag on their goodness. These three things cannot be separated. The answer is to live in the presence of Jesus Christ. This sinful world needs to see less of man and more of Christ, and the only way they will see this is if you start living in His presence. When you live in His presence, then these three things will naturally happen in your life. These three things are a wonderful result of being in His presence.