Myrrh

So thankful for this wonderful time the Lord has given to us to be his presence especially those of you worshiping with us for the first time. Welcome you to our church and we’re so grateful for everything the good Lord Has Done. Miracles that have happened in our midst, loved ones who have not been able to worship with us for the last several weeks who are able to be here. So thankful for everything the good Lord has done and all glory and praise to His holy name.

As I mentioned last week, we are taking a little bit of a break from our usual series, going to the book of Acts, “Church On The Rise.” We ended chapter nine of the book of Acts last week and we are taking the next three weeks to focus on the Advent, which is the first coming of our Lord. Our reason for doing this and singing songs such as this and going through sermon series in Advent is to bring the hearts of the God’s people especially back to the real meaning behind everything that is going on all around us. There is so much extra stuff that happens this time of the year and the focus of what is really important is lost in the mind of a lot of people.

No one really knows when our Lord came into this world, the exact timing of it. Most likely it was probably in one of the summer months when our Lord was born. So this date, December 25th, does not really have anything to do with the God of the Bible or anything with the Bible. Whether you celebrate or not, it’s totally up to your family. But my point here is that no matter what month it is, we can always celebrate the first coming of our Lord. And we are doing it this time because especially our youngsters and people who are growing up here are so much focused upon everything that is going on in the world during this time. We want to remind them year after year about the real great story of Christmas and that is the coming of our Lord and the importance of it, understand it from God’s point of view, and also every week when we observe the Lord’s table we are actually proclaiming the coming of our Lord. So we are actually a church who celebrates his first coming every single week. And we are able to go through this series when we have an extra focus upon the story of the coming of our Lord. So the next three weeks we’ll be going through Advent, the coming of our Lord. Let’s turn our Bibles this afternoon to Matthew, let me read for you from chapter 2:1.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem.” We’ll be unpacking different things in this section of scripture in the next few weeks as we go through chapter two, especially verses 1 through 11. So there are different aspects of here that we’ll be highlighting each week but our focus will mainly be upon the gifts, the three gifts that are bought to our Lord by this Mag the Bible is talking about from the East. Matthew, thought to be the disciple of the Lord who was once a tax collector, miraculously saved to be a disciple of the Lord by the grace of God. In fact, probably one of the chief sinners of the people of the disciple group of our Lord, who was miraculously brought and is thought to be the writer of the Gospel of Matthew, known by his other name Levi. The gospel of Matthew was probably the second gospel to be written after the gospel of Mark. The main focus of this gospel is towards a Jewish audience, to bring them to make them understand about the fact that the one they have been following is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament.

Out of all the gospel writers, Matthew quotes from the Old Testament more than any of the other gospel writers because he’s trying to establish a foundation, a framework, a perspective by which the Jewish audience of that day would understand the coming of the Messiah. After giving us the genealogy of our Lord in chapter one, unlike Luke, Matthew does not give us much detail about the birth of our Lord. But what he tells us in chapter 2:1 is different about the context when this is happening. First, very importantly, he tells us that our Lord was born in Bethlehem in Judea and he also tells us the time in which he was born, time of King Herod, which we’ll talk about in the coming weeks.

The Bible says, “Magi from the East came to Jerusalem.” Let me focus on that first place of his birth, Bethlehem in Judea. And in fact, as you read through Matthew 2, we understand that even from the Pharisees and the scribes who were in Herod’s court that this was prophesied in God’s word. In fact, when you turn to Micah 5:2, God spoke through the prophet Micah about the birthplace of our Lord, and here is what he said, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

What a beautiful verse. First, it tells us that Bethlehem Ephrathah, which means Bethlehem belonging to the town of Judah, Ephrathah is the bigger region that is talking about. Bethlehem is a very small place, small village, so to speak. “Even though you are very very small among the clans of Judah, something so beautiful is about to happen from your small village. Out of you will come for me,” this the word Lord speaking, “one who will rule over Israel.” But he is not just any ruler. Look at what Micah is saying, “whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Even before anything that you can imagine, this ruler who is going to rule over Israel existed. He is the Ancient of Days, the God who was always there. He is coming from this small village known as Bethlehem.

The name Bethlehem means House of Bread. Isn’t it wonderful that the one who is known as the bread of life came from a place known as the House of Bread? our Lord who came to satisfy the deepest hunger of the human soul, not just physical hunger but the deepest spiritual hunger of the human soul, came from a place known as the House of Bread.

But not only that, this was the hometown of David. our Lord was a descendant of David. Born in Bethlehem, the hometown of Joseph and Mary was a further town, in Nazareth, much farther away. But you know what God did? God would change the course of Roman history, would move in the heart of a Roman Emperor, at the exact time when Mary was pregnant, to declare a census. Because Joseph was from Bethlehem, they all had to come to their hometown and register in their hometown, and that’s how they ended up in Bethlehem. Isn’t it wonderful that every ruler, every rule that they make, is all doing the work of our God and biblical prophecies coming together so miraculously here as they had to come and register in Bethlehem?

We also know that this is the hometown or the place where Ruth and Boaz would make their home in Bethlehem. Ruth being the great-great-grandmother of our Lord herself, or the grandmother of David. David was born here; he was anointed by Samuel to be king in Bethlehem. This town came to be known as the city of David. Now, coming from this town is the one who’s going to sit on David’s Throne forever. “Even though you are the smallest of all, here comes the one who will rule over Israel.”

What I want you to focus on this afternoon is the way Matthew quotes Micah 5:2. He made a little bit of difference in the language as he quotes Micah 5:2. Skeptics will look at this passage and go, “Wait a minute, there is an error in God’s word.” No, I believe it’s the Holy Spirit who made Matthew write what he wrote. When you study Micah 5:2 and Matthew 2:6, which is exactly verbatim he is trying to quote from Micah, but it’s also the scribes and the Pharisees in the court of Herod reading what is written in the scripture about the birthplace of our Lord.

Look at Matthew 2:6, “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,” instead of saying Ephrathah, Matthew writes, “in the land of Judah,” then it says, “are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.” Oh, what a beautiful turn of events here. Micah told you that Bethlehem was small among the clans of Judah. Matthew, writing at a time when the Lord has already come, says, “Bethlehem, you are no longer small among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will not only rule over Israel, he will shepherd over Israel.” I love the change here. First of all, Bethlehem that was once very small and insignificant has now become very significant, because of the one who was born there. By the time Matthew is writing, Bethlehem is important because the Lord, the king of all the days, is born in that town.

And not only that, he did not only come to rule over Israel, Matthew tells us he came to be a Shepherd over Israel. Why? It is the Good Shepherd that lays down his life for the sheep. He is not just a tyrannical ruler, he is the Great Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, who had come and laid down his life for his people. And so Matthew writes and says he has come not only to be a ruler but he has come to be a Shepherd over Israel.

See, everything is changing because of the coming of our Lord. The address of even cities and the significance of them is changing. But isn’t that what happened to our life as well? We were a nobody before we knew the Lord. We were so far away from grace, no one knew us, we were foreigners, we were strangers. But when the King of Kings and the Lord of lords was born into our hearts, there is significance to us, there is importance to us, there are titles that are given to us, that we are known by Him now. And by that, I thank the grace of God. We who were no one have now become important in the universe because Christ the Lord has been born into our hearts, just like He was born in Bethlehem. What makes us significant today? What gives us importance today is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, by his Spirit, lives inside of us. “See, though you are small, by no means are you least,” Matthew would say, because of who came to be born in you, Bethlehem in Judah.

Then he tells us Magi came from the East. The stories of these men are so comical; you should go home and read it all. The stories are out there. First of all, we have that famous song, “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” That first line, only one word is true in the first line of that song. First of all, the Bible doesn’t say they were three kings, and secondly, it doesn’t even say it was kings. So that’s completely wrong. Orient is correct because the Bible says they came as Magi from the East.

You see all of these pictures of the manger with the baby and Mary and the shepherds are right there, and there are three kings standing with three gifts right there. That’s also wrong completely, because as you study God’s word, that’s not how it happened. As you study God’s word, we don’t know how many there were. The only thing we know is that there was more than one because Magi is plural in nature. And the only other thing we know is that they came from the East. In fact, this caravan of people that came could be hundreds. It could be 10, 12. Many people think it’s 12. Whatever the case might be, and surely there were many many people that came from them.

Remember, they came from the East. No one knows where the East is. Some say Persia, some say India, some say Babylon. Probably Persia or Babylon makes perfect sense. They traveled for many months to be here because by the time we come to Matthew 2, Herod tries to kill all children under the age of two. How did he know that? He asked them when you saw the star to begin with, to estimate the age of the child who was born to be the king of the Jews. So, by the time they come to the house and they see Jesus and Mary, they had already traveled for more than a year, maybe as much as two years before they saw Jesus. Jesus was an infant, maybe even a toddler by the time these men came to see him.

By the way, we also know that they are men. Once a Christian comedian said, “We know that they are men also by the fact that they never stopped and asked for directions. If these were women who were coming, they would not wait for the star, they would ask for directions, and not only that, once in Bethlehem, the women would have gotten there actually before the baby was born. They would help deliver the baby, they would clean up the stable, they would make a casserole for the new parents and bought cute little outfits for baby Jesus to wear on his trip home.” But because these were men who did not ask for directions, it took them two years to get there. The baby was already born, the baby was already out of the diapers, baby already had cute clothes, and all they could do was bring the gifts that they did. But I’m thankful that they brought the gifts that they did.

So who are these Magi, by the way? This Magi is derived from a word that literally means Magus or Magus, meaning the great. In fact, if you are listening very carefully, we saw this in the book of Acts. Simon was known by the same name. So this could mean that these people were magicians, but the better understanding of it is this: Magi, the way it is used in the gospel of Matthew, were wise men who usually served in the courts of the king. How do we know this? We find them actually in Daniel 2, when Nebuchadnezzar was ruling over Babylon, and he saw a dream and he wanted to understand the dream and the interpretation of the dream. He kind of remembered the dream but he wanted to make sure that they were interpreting correctly. Among the group of men that he called was the same word that is used in Daniel chapter 2, where these astrologers, wise men, who were serving the king. Ancient stories tell us the Persians would not even allow a person to be king over Persia if it was not approved by the Magi. When the council would meet and decide as to who would be the next king, they first had to consult with the Magi. They would look at the stars, they would study when this person was born and his destiny and all these things, and they would be the ones to give the final approval before one could even become a king in Persia. They were very very important people. They were usually very rich, they had great influence over the affairs of humanity, and also the kingdoms in which they reigned.

The point that I’m trying to make is that these are not insignificant men. Isn’t it interesting that the ones who came to greet our Lord were king makers themselves, who determine who can become a king and who cannot become a king? That becomes very important. They were probably very wealthy. These men came from the East. It is thought that advanced knowledge of the movement of stars, they knew mathematics really well, they were the learned men of the day. If you want to put it in modern terms, the Magi of the East, or men who served in courts, were the scientists of that day who were learned men who understood courts of history. They knew exactly what was going on in the world, and they also studied many many things to understand more about the course of human history and the affairs of men and relationship with God.

One thing we don’t know is whether they were believers to begin with, whether they were waiting for the Messiah to begin with or not. If you study the writings of ancient writers, there are a couple of Roman writers who wrote about the time of the birth of our Lord. There was really a great deal of interest in the Far East that something great was about to happen in Judea. There’s a reason why they were looking to the stars constantly to find out what was happening in Judea. This was a known rumor in the East. So it makes sense that while they were gazing into the sky to find out what was about to happen in Judea, they saw the star that the Bible is talking about.

But the stories behind these men are so many. In fact, when you read some of them, it even tells us the names of the three men, even though the Bible does not say anything of that sort. It actually says that these three men went back to their country and they were buried. And there was a bishop in the 13th century who found their skeletal remains, and you can still see them. He found the skull and the story goes like this: when he found the skull, their eyes were so well preserved within the skull that they were still pointing towards Bethlehem. You cannot make this stuff up. It says their eyes were still pointing towards Bethlehem. In fact, one writer says you can still go and see the skulls of these purported three men who came to visit Jesus. This completely misses the story. All that we know is that they were probably wise men, well-educated, wealthy, who came with a purpose because they knew very well they had been waiting for this, and the one they’ve been waiting for was born in Judea, and they came following the star.

Look at verse 11: “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary.” I’m imagining the child Jesus; he was a toddler by this time, probably running around in the courtyard, and Mary had to go and get him and bring him home. And here comes the Magi, and look what they did. They bowed down and worshiped him. Aren’t you glad that God’s word doesn’t say they bowed down and worshiped them? They bowed down and worshiped him. I want you to imagine this for a second: there’s an adult in the room, Mary, Joseph is not mentioned, a little child maybe six months old, one year old, one and a half year old. They can barely speak, running around, a toddler, and these many men, maybe numbering in the tens and hundreds, maybe definitely more than one. They do not bow to anyone other than the kings that they serve, are bowing down and worshiping in front of a child, while Mary is standing there gazing at everything that is happening.

The Bible says to us they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. What unusual gifts to bring to a child! No toys, no clothes, they didn’t have diapers, no cleaning materials, nothing. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. You have to think about this: their journey lasted many months, maybe years. They had to collect these things before they started the journey. The God who had shown the star also shone in their hearts to show them what gifts to bring to this child. By the way, this was a common practice of that time; whenever a king was born, usually dignitaries were sent from the neighboring kingdom with gifts in their hands to bring to the newborn prince that would one day sit on the throne of the kingdom. This was done to build alliances. And here is exactly what is happening: they are from a faraway kingdom, they hear about a king who is born, they come bearing gifts. But the gifts that they bring are by no means an accident; it is all the plan and purpose of God to show to us the nature of the child that they’re worshiping on that day.

And today, we’ll focus on the first one. I’m going in backwards order: myrrh. What is myrrh? And you see the picture here, the next one shows what myrrh looks like. It is actually made from the sap of a tree that is found in only a couple of countries in the world, in the Near East. And this sap, the bark of the tree is cut, and the sap comes out of the tree. When the sap comes out, it is yellowish in color, and you let it harden there for a while. After a while, that yellowish color changes to a red color, or a dark color, and then the sap is removed. This is thought to be the weight of myrrh at that time. It is thought to be the same as the weight in gold in its value in the ancient times. Why? A lot of times, from these trees, what you get is very little myrrh, and not only that, it is also these trees are hard to find, they have thorn bushes, and they only produce sap once a year, so this was a very very precious ointment, perfume, oil that was found at that time.

Even today, you can actually buy bottles of myrrh on the internet. Don’t do it because a lot of it is fake, and a lot of it is not really coming from the original place where it’s coming from, but you can buy it on Amazon and stuff, things of that sort. But these myrrh had a lot of medicinal properties; they were used for skin infections, many inflammatory conditions were cured by this myrrh. By the way, this myrrh has a very very strong bitter taste but a beautiful smell it has to it. But you can actually eat it, and it’s good for stomach infections, that’s what it says. I don’t really know it’s true or not. And it’s said that they used to use it for pain control before morphine came about. Myrrh was one of the most common pain medications that was used in the ancient times.

So, one with medicinal properties, one with a lot of anti-inflammatory, analgesic properties that was used by the ancients. But one of the most important reasons why myrrh was used by the ancients was to embalm the bodies. While the mummies in Egypt were preserved in their places, they would use myrrh in great deal. Also, when the Jewish people would bury the bodies of the dead, they would usually put myrrh between the folding of the clothing to make sure the clothing stays in place, and this also had a preservative function, by which the body would not decay, or most importantly, would not cause smell to the surrounding regions. Perfume, oil, medicinal properties were brought to him. And we find in God’s word, almost 17 times, myrrh is mentioned in the Old Testament. In Exodus, when God told them to prepare oil to anoint the Temple of the Lord, one of the main ingredients used in it was myrrh. In fact, you can read about it in Exodus 30. God told them, “Make the oil with myrrh,” and not only that, “I want you to put that oil at the tent of meeting, the Ark of the Covenant, the table and all its articles, the lampstand, the accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burned offering, all the utensils, all the basin with the stand, all was supposed to be anointed with the oil that was made from myrrh.”

That becomes very very important. As you come to the New Testament, and you come to the suffering of our Lord, you come to Mark 15:23. On the cross, our Lord is dying, and this is something they did very commonly at that time. They offered him wine that was mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. Remember, I told you about the pain properties, the pain numbing properties of myrrh. That’s the reason why they mix it with wine. The reason why our Lord refused it, I believe, is because he wanted to suffer the full extent of the pain and suffering for our sins on the cross, and he did not want anything artificial to take away from his pain and suffering for us on the cross. So our Lord, so that his senses are fully there, he did not drink wine so that his body is completely able to suffer the pain for which he was dying for us on the cross. He did not take the wine mixed with myrrh. our Lord is dead on the cross.

Look at John 19:39, as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea come to bury our Lord, look what they do. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds, to embalm the body of our Lord for burial. How beautiful is this that when the wise men from the Far East decided to bring a gift for a baby, they would bring myrrh that could be used to embalm the body of our Lord. There is something so beautiful here in this word myrrh. It comes from a Hebrew word “mor.” When you study the tradition of the rabbis, the moment you say myrrh, what comes to their mind is death and suffering. Why is that? Because myrrh is the word from which Mor came about. Myrrh has a root Hebrew word “mor”, from “mor” comes “Moriah”, the mountain of Moriah.

What happened on Moriah? Moriah was a place where a sacrifice was once supposed to be offered. Moriah was a place where Abraham was willing to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, according to the commandment of the Lord. Moriah was a place where the father spoke from the heaven and told another father not to lay his hand upon his son. On that very mountain, our Lord was going to lay down his life for us, foretelling that. Here come the wise men from the East bringing myrrh, foretelling the fact that on that same mountain, the Father would be silent this time, allowing his son to die for the birth, for our sins, and to bring us salvation and the forgiveness of our sins. Oh, how beautiful that is, that myrrh would be brought, that Moriah would be signified, and the father laying down his son as a sacrifice would be signified by the bringing of the myrrh.

When a child is born into this world, no one thinks about his death. Everyone of us thinks about what kind of life my child is going to have. What is he going to become? What is he going to look like when he grows up? What school is he going to go to? What kind of profession is he going to have? Who is he going to marry? What kind of children is he going to have? But our Lord, from the time he was born, was a baby that was marked for death. our Lord, from the time he was born, was a baby who was marked for death. Can you imagine the mind of Mary when myrrh was presented as a gift to her? She’s not thinking about the value of that precious oil. What she is thinking and looking at is probably, “What does this mean?”

Luke 2:34, Simeon the prophet, had told her the very thing. Simeon, as the Lord was brought to the Temple of the Lord, said to her, “Blessed both Joseph and Mary, and said to his mother Mary, ‘Behold this child is appointed for the fall and the rise of many in Israel, and he will be a sign to be opposed.’” His whole life is a sign to be opposed. And not, look at the next words, “And a sword will pierce your own soul.” Imagine bringing your child for a dedication ceremony to the church, and the pastor takes your child and says, “This child will cause your soul to be pierced.” It is very easy for us to neglect the pain of that mother. And I believe, in spite of what he accomplished on the cross, the pain of the death of her child never left the heart of Mary. After all, she is a mother who gave birth to a child, who saw that innocent child being crucified on a cross like a criminal.

And the amazing thing about all of this is that if anyone should deserve death, it’s all the rest of the people. If anyone should live forever on the face of the Earth, it is that baby that is born in Bethlehem. But he is the one that is marked for death, to bring us eternal life. Max Lucado beautifully has written Mary’s Prayer in relation to the agony of Mary as she’s holding the child in her hands. He says, imagine her seeing the gift of myrrh. She probably said this, “Rest well, tiny hands,” holding her child in hand, “though you belong to a King, you will touch no satin, you will own no gold, you will grab no pen, you will guide no brush. No, your hands are reserved for works that are more precious than that. What are they? To touch a leper’s open wound, to wipe a widow’s very tear, to claw the ground of Gethsemane. Your hands, so tiny, so tender, so white, clutched tonight in an infant’s fist.” Then she says “they are destined not to hold a scepter, nor wave from a palace balcony. They are reserved instead for a Roman spike that will staple them to a Roman cross.”

Only the heart of a mother can understand the pain as she holds that child. “Your hand is not reserved for a scepter; your hand will never wave from the palace of a balcony, but your hand has always been reserved for the spike of a Roman soldier nailing you to a Roman cross.” That’s why the Bible says to us in Revelation 13:8, “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the Beast, all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” But who is the Lamb? “The lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” Even before he was born in a manger, his destiny was to be slain for my sins and your sins.

Peter goes even further. Look at 1 Peter 1:18-20, “Oh, you know it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors. But with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” And then Peter goes further, look at the next words, “He was chosen before the creation of the world.” John would tell us that he is a lamb who was slain from the beginning of the world. Peter would tell you he was a lamb who was slain even before the creation of the world. “But he was revealed in these last times for your sake and my sake.” Oh, the wonder of the child in Bethlehem. There is not a single person ever to be born in this world who was marked for death as he was. And so, the Magi from the East came bearing myrrh, and they worshiped him. You know what the worship of the myrrh is telling them? It’s saying, “You are here to die for us. You are here to one day be our penalty for sins on a cross.” I don’t think they fully understood what they were bringing, but to us looking back, everything makes perfect sense as to why the Lord asked them to bring myrrh.

I’ll end with this. our Lord came as a sacrifice for our sins, and now as we come to worship Him, you know what God asks us to do? Offer our lives as a sacrifice to Him. That is the call of Christianity. It is not passive in nature. It is a place where you come and you die. It is a place where you come and say, “God, you died for me. Now here I come, laying aside my will, my desires, and here I come. I want to die here myself. I want to be your disciple. I want to take up my cross. I want to follow after you.” That’s where we come to do whatever He wants to do because of what He did for us.

What comes to my mind is a man like James Fraser. I want to tell you, church, every single one of you, born in the family of God, God has brought into this world to be used for the glory of God. And not only that, God has given you certain things in your life, talents, gifts, that He wants you to offer as a sacrifice to Him. James Fraser was a concert pianist. He had an engineering degree, and he was considered at the time to be the best in the music industry. But he got the call of God in his life to go to a region of the world that nobody knew about, a very faraway land, a border between Burma and China. When he went there, the people spoke a language known as the Lisu language. This particular language was very difficult to learn and understand. You know why? It had 20 different tones to the language. Only somebody who was well-versed in the music industry could learn and understand the Lisu language. So, you know what he did? For the next 30 years of his life, he lived among these people, learned the language, translated God’s word into their language. But when I think about the sovereignty of God, the Providence of God, only a concert pianist could go to these people and learn their language. God knew that.

My point here is that every single one of you sitting here is unique. You have gifts, you have things in your life that nobody else has. Find out what it is. Find out what it is and use it. Offer it as a sacrifice unto the Lord. If He gave everything for you on the cross, you should not spare anything that is precious to you in giving back to Him. He is calling each one of us to come and use and be used by Him. God is calling us to do that.

These men traveled many miles, spent a lot of money to find and worship him, and go back to their home. You know what the amazing thing is that the ones who read Micah 5:2 in the court of Herod never went looking for the King. This is what happens in the world today also. A lot of people know scriptures inside out, but they don’t know Jesus, and they don’t go looking for him. They can quote scriptures. What is Psalm 19? They’ll quote it. What is Psalm 119? They’ll say the whole thing, but they don’t know Jesus. They’re not looking for him. I love what Herod says. The only good thing that Herod said: “Go and carefully search for the child.” He said that’s exactly what God wants us to do as well. Go and carefully search for the child. Find him, find him, and you will see that he is worth searching after, and he is worth finding. And because he had come to make you to be a child of God. I pray that we will, every time we think about this, our hearts will think what great sacrifice our Lord did for us, and our love for him will only grow when we think about the eternal sacrifice of our Lord. Let’s look to the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you that you came, that you were a child who was marked for death, that from the time you came to this world, long before that, oh, as the scripture said, even before the creation of the world, you were the lamb slain for our sins, to bring us near to you. Oh God, help us to live our life in sacrifice and dedication to you, oh God, just as you became a sacrifice for us. May we become living offerings that are pleasing unto you. To that end, help us. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray.