Camels made from broomsticks, little boys tripping over striped bathrobes, shoeboxes decorated with tin foil and overflowing with pop-it pearls -- images of Christmas pageants past and the processions of the three (average age 7 1/2 years) "kings" to the manger scene. The mystery of those kings is enhanced with the music that accompanies, an Eastern, oriental tune and a dotted note rhythmic bass line. And oh my! what that tune, rhythm and subject matter has had done it over the years, not always holy, not always Scripturally correct and not always getting the message across, but definitly memorable.
We don't know how many Magi (wise men, sages, royalty, not really kings) followed the Star of Wonder, Star of Night, Star of Royal beauty bright. The Star did lead them to the Christ, but not at the time of His birth, so the church for many years sang this hymn-carol on Jan. 6 as the last day of the 12 day celebration of Christmas. We sing about Three Wise Men or kings because we know that 3 gifts were offered to Christ from the account in Matthew 2:11: "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 and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route." There was lots of religious/political intrigue in the Holy Land then, too.
Interesting gifts to bring to a young child, don't you think? The author of the carol clearly tells us the significance of each of those gifts:
1 - Gold is for the King forever, ceasing never, over us all to reign.
2 - Incense owns a Deity nigh, prayer and praising all men raising, Worship Him, God on High
3 - Myrrh, bitter perfume, sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb.
The last verse points to the Resurrection:
"Glorious now behold Him arise,
King (gold), and God (incense) and sacrifice (myrrh),
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Sounds through the earth and skies."
Sometimes we see the phrase "Wise men still seek Him". I like that because He is, was, and always will be King, God, Savior - and it is the wise man who knows he needs Jesus Christ, Messiah.
My cousin sent a card in which he stated that we can know we are of infinite value to God by the birth of the Savior and the sacrifice He made for us. We are worth more than gold because we are His. That's wisdom.
John H. Hopkins, Jr. (1820-1891) wrote the words and music for We Three Kings of Orient Are for a Christmas pageant being performed at the General Theological Seminary, New York, around 1860. He was an Episcopal priest and gave the eulogy at the funeral service for President Ulysses S. Grant in 1885.
Sing along here: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/w/e/t/we3kings.htm
To learn more about those Wise Men, John MacArthur is one of the best teachers:
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/2183
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