# Frankincense

Key Passage: Matthew 2:1-2
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Matthew chapter number two tonight. Last week we started on the gifts the wise men gave Jesus. We will continue with that tonight. Gold we talked about last Wednesday night—the gift they gave to Jesus. And tonight we will talk about frankincense. I am hoping that this will help us in having our hearts and our minds on the true meaning of Christmas, on Christ of Christmas.

It is very interesting; I read that in 1644—amazing things—the English Parliament counseled Christmas. They said all Christmas celebrations were over because it had become so much about partying and drinking and so little about Christ. Can you imagine that? Just a brief time. There are some things going on, and I fear a little bit that America sometimes is just becoming all about gifts and trees and Santa Claus.

I mentioned in teachers’ meeting a couple of weeks ago. I was shocked several years ago. I was driving one of our vans. I had a load of kids, and I was just trying to keep them occupied, you know. I was the only adult in there. So I was just playing a game, and if they got a question right, I’d give them a piece of candy or something like that. I would not push them out of the van; I’d stop all the way when I dropped them off, something like that, you know. But I asked them, “Who knows the true meaning of Easter?” And I was shocked. I asked the true meaning of Christmas. Only one or two, but that’s it.

And I was just shocked. And praise the Lord, we have good teachers that are going to teach them the true meaning of Easter and Christmas and all those things—Sunday school and children’s church—but we are losing it in America. I want to just try our best to keep our hearts and our minds on the true meaning of Christmas. I hope these Wednesday night little Bible studies will help with that.

We are in Matthew 2, and we will read the first two verses. We will pray, and then we will kind of go down through the verses to get to the gifts again tonight. Would you please stand out of respect to the Word of God? Matthew chapter 2, and we will begin with verse number 1. The Bible says, “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.”

Now let us go to the Lord for a word of prayer, and we will get started tonight. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated there.

Verse number one, verse number two there. Would you look at that? He says right there, “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the older,” came wise men. That is a little bit of a term about the wise men from the east, or someone called the Magi. But I truly think they were wise, not just the title. I truly believe they were wise men. By “full of wisdom,” I am saying they used the word, “There were wise men.” Yes, maybe a title, but more, I believe, for these men here.

Now let me just say something else. I do not know some things as we go down through this. These wise men from the east were probably over in the area where Babylon was years before. We know as a crow flies, how many miles is that? Help me out. 500. Good, good. Brother Franks back there is usually answering that one, and I am joking with him. But if you go up the Euphrates River, and then down the Jordan River there, how many miles is that? 900. So they are coming all this way.

They were coming to—they thought they were coming to the King. They were coming to the King of Israel. So they came to the capital city of Jerusalem, all these miles. And they are saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen a star in the east and are come to worship him.” They were coming a long way to worship.

This term of worship is so misused in our day and time, so very much. These men traveled 900 miles, maybe, all this way to worship. By the way, they brought treasure. Did you see that? They brought treasure. We have seen this star in the east, come to worship, verse number 11 down in there, and they opened their treasures. When they worshipped, it was not just this light thing and a little music, a little feeling, and a little sway, if you will, raising hands. It was more than that. They were traveling miles and miles and bringing treasures to worship. Be careful of that phrase; it is so misused often in our day and time: worship.

Often when you find worship in the Bible, they are sacrificing things to the Lord. They are giving their treasure there. So when they came to worship, let us just have a couple of thoughts as we are just kind of going down through this thing to begin the heart of the message. Notice what they said in verse number two: “For we have seen his star in the east.”

We mentioned just briefly a little bit about it last week, but they were probably of that same class of people that Daniel was years earlier. Some will say, “How did they know about the Messiah, the King of Israel coming?” Probably from Daniel? Most think the star—most think they got that from Numbers 24:17. Brother Patterson mentioned that last week, and most tend to think that. I think that. So the new star to look for, but even the timing—it is amazing how Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies. How many have ever heard that they basically knew the time when Christ was to come? How many have ever heard that? You heard that? Good.

Let’s look at that real quickly. Sometimes I think we hear that, but we do not know how they knew that. So look, if you will, over in Daniel. These men knew to look for a star, and they knew about the time that Christ would come. Well, how did they know that? If you look over in Daniel chapter number nine, let’s just briefly get a couple of things tonight, and maybe just a touch—we will go a little bit deeper. Sometimes you go down so deep, deep, deep, you come up dry, dry, dry. We do not want to do that. But we do want to look just a little bit deeper. I never forget years ago; I tried to go over Daniel 9 in the first little daycare, and I had a lot of glazed looks at me. I thought, “Paul, I don’t know if I learned anything,” you know, just to learn and get something and not go too far out, if you will. But Daniel 9.

And verse number 24—Daniel 9, I am sorry, verse number 25, Daniel 9, verse number 25, Daniel 9:25. Don’t you find it? Would you say amen? Amen. Good deal. Here we go, verse number 25. He says—no, this is Daniel. He received a vision from the Lord, instruction from the Lord here: “Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.”

Now let’s just stop for a second and talk about that right there. We just finished about a year-long study of the book of Ezra. You remember right at the end of the 70 years, God took this king over Persia and brought him over Babylon also. He was very favorable to the Jewish people. Remember that? He said, “Hey, y’all go back and rebuild the temple and repair Jerusalem.” That is where the temple was. Can anybody tell me who that king was? Cyrus, right? Remember, Isaiah, 150 years plus before, had said it would be Cyrus. In fact, it had prophesied about that. So this is what Daniel is talking about.

From that time—some will get very specific on this, I am not—but from that time when that commandment went forth, “All right, y’all go back and rebuild,” from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince. Now, they did not know the name Jesus back here, but they knew a Messiah, the Prince, the leader. They knew who to look for. He was going to be the leader, the King of Israel. They knew that. They knew he was going to be king from Isaiah 9:6, see verse number 7.

And so here is the thing: from the command unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks. Now, a week is seven days, or “week” just simply means seven. Earlier in Daniel chapter 9, we understand it is talking about years here. So from the time the commandment was given, now we have seven sevens, or 49 years, commandment given to build the temple, whatnot. Then he gives a little bit more time: three score. How much is a score? 20. So we have three times 20, we have 60, and two weeks. So we have 62 times seven, that is 434 years. Believe me, I did not count it up on my fingers; I would get it all mixed up. But if you get 49 plus the 434, you have 483 years.

So here is the thing: from the time that command was given to restore, and you go 483 years later, you have Matthew 2, pretty much the time of Christ. So they knew. They knew. Christ fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies. These wise men had been a part of Daniel’s crowd; they had been called and believed, influenced greatly by Daniel, the Bible that Daniel used at Numbers 24:17, and understood Daniel very much so, Daniel 9:25, there, and so on. So they knew pretty much the time. They knew to look for stars over in the east. They saw the star. It is about time, and the Messiah is here. He is to be the King of Israel. So they came, saw the star in the east, and they came all those miles over to the capital city. See what is going on.

So that is where we are at back over here in Matthew chapter number two. I just kind of wanted you to understand. How many would say, “Well, they knew about when Christ was to come”? They did, but I want you to understand how they knew that. Okay. That is how they knew that from Daniel 9:25. Now let’s keep going back over here, Matthew chapter number two. “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” Remember last week we said probably a whole lot more than three wise men? If it stirred up the whole city of Jerusalem, probably an entourage of people. The Bible never says how many, but they traveled usually in much larger groups than that.

Verse number four: “And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.” So he went to the people. They knew the Old Testament. They knew the Torah, the law. They knew all those sayings. They knew—Micah 5 is what they would mention. They knew. And this is what they said. They said, “In him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet,”—told him that the prophet Micah—“And now Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel.”

So they learned from the Bible. He is going to be born over in Bethlehem, all right? Let me just say a word about Bethlehem. I remember doing just a little study as we are getting along here. Remember Bethlehem is the place where Samuel came. Remember God said, “Hey, I have taken the kingdom from Saul, and I am going to anoint another. I want you to anoint another. Do not weep anymore, mourn no more. It is over. Let us move on. I am going to anoint a new king. Go over there to Jesse of Bethlehemite. Go to Bethlehem.” Remember, that is where finally they said, “Hey, do not look at the height of their stature. Get that shepherd boy out there.” And David came out, and David was anointed king in Bethlehem. You see.

And so years and years later, the King, the Messiah of the seed of David, is to be born in that same place, Bethlehem. Bethlehem was not a huge city, just a small little city. The humility of the Christmas story is amazing. He was not born in the capital city. He was born in a little town, a shepherd town. And Bethlehem was where the shepherd boy was. Of course, Jesus is the good Shepherd, the great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, and is born there in Bethlehem. That is all the significance to all that. So that is what it is talking about, and he must be born in Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecies, and he did.

And then verse number seven: “Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.” By the way, Satan usually works in corners, in little alleys, and high—you know, he is always in dark places—and that is what is going on here, and that is the way Satan works. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child”—remember, he is not a baby anymore, he is a young child—“and when you have found him, bring it me word again, that I may come and worship him also.” Notice how loosely worship is used there.

“And when they had heard the king, they departed. And lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” Now, let me just kind of explain a little bit about the star. I might not have explained it well last Wednesday. We sometimes think they followed the star all the way from the east, all those 900 miles over here. I do not think so. They saw the star in the east. If it led them the whole way, why did they go to the wrong city? No, no.

They saw the star in the east. They know about the time. That is the star of the Messiah. We are going to go to the capital. He is going to be the ruler, the governor. We are going to go to the capital city." And they came. They came to Herod, and through the chief priests and the high priests and the scribes, they found out he was always going to be in Bethlehem. They started heading to Bethlehem, and then the star reappears. And boy, when they saw it again, they rejoiced, showing they had not seen it for a while. See?

I mentioned it briefly last Wednesday, but such a great lesson. It has been so encouraging to me oftentimes. Friend, God often gives leadership, and in the middle of it, it gets real fuzzy. It is so common; you just keep finding it. Here is the rule you learn from this: When God is ready, He gives you more light. So in the meantime, you just keep following the light He gave you. A whole lot of people quit and change course and everything else during the fuzzy time. Listen, you just do what God called you to do until God gives you other orders. They kept following what they saw—the star they saw in the east. They came all the way over here, trying to find where He is. You know, He is out in the capital city. They started heading to Bethlehem. They got some light from the Word of God, and they started heading down to Bethlehem. Boy, they saw the star again! Man, woo-hoo! There is the star again! And then it led them right to the house, see, where the young child was. So the lesson in all that: just keep following what God has called you to do until He calls you to do something else. It is so easy to change course when we do not have it all figured out, and God works off of faith. That is the way it works.

Let’s keep going. Verse number 11—we are getting to where we want to be, and we are going to just try to emphasize the gifts just to when we hear verse number 11. “And when they were come into the house, he is not in a manger anymore. He is not a baby. He is a child here. And they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshipped him.” We mentioned it last Wednesday. They did not worship Mary. No, you will not find that in the Bible. They worshipped Jesus. They worshipped him.

“And when they had opened their treasures,” let’s just stop and think about that: the treasures. It is amazing when they had opened their treasures. I want to make sure I got that whole thing. “And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts.” Now, these treasures—they opened them. That leads me to think: they have been traveling all these miles. Imagine all the mountain passes they had to go through, in places where ambushes could be, in valleys. I imagine they had these treasures hid somewhere. And while they came into this house, and they saw—imagine Jesus standing there. I do not know if it was one, one and a half, maybe somewhere around Elijah’s age, maybe, not baby Elijah, but Elijah’s age, you know. And imagine Jesus standing there, and the wise men come in, and they see Jesus. The Bible says they fell down.

And they see Jesus standing there, the Messiah, the Prince, they read about over there in Daniel 9:25, the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, over there in Isaiah 9:6. And they see Him, and they know that is Him. They were wise men. They knew who He was, and they knew He was a King. They said, “Hey, let us go get our treasure.” They may have had somebody help them carry a trunk in, I do not know, and maybe some of their servants or someone, to bring these trunks in, whatever may be. And they began to open up, and then open that trunk the whole trip and get some clothes out here, there. I do not know. Maybe it was—they said, “Well, let me take all that out, and there is a little secret compartment out.” The servants never do it was there, and hid down in there somewhere. They opened their treasure. They said, “He is the King of the Jews. He is the Messiah. He is the Savior of the world. He is the Creator of the world. He is worthy of our treasure.” And they reached down and they got their gold, the first gift they gave.

They said, “Hey,” they fell down. They are worshipping Him. They fell down before. Can you imagine them worshipping? And they said, “Man, let us get our treasure.” And they had to open it up, and they reached down and they brought gold to Jesus. Let us keep reading here; we are going to get this second gift in tonight if we can. “Oh, the child with Mary, his mother, and fell down”—there it is—“and worshipped him.” Oh, friend, by the way, worship is used a lot in our day and time, but I do not know if it really happens a whole lot.

I have already mentioned it, but it is more than just bringing a band in and swaying a little bit and raising hands. By the way, a lot of times that is worldly music anyway. When you bring the world in there, that is enmity with Christ, according to James 4:4. No, they fell down and they worshipped Him, and part of the worship was they got their treasure out, and they reached deep down in there. By the way, it was not some pocket change and some little thing here. Man, they reached down, they got their treasure out, and they got their gold. We mentioned it last Wednesday; it stands for the wealth of men, the wealth of the world, the treasure. And they brought the treasure to Jesus. Let us keep reading. “And when they had opened their treasures, they presented”—well, that reminds me of Romans 12: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.” They presented these unto Him gifts. Now here they are: gold. We have already mentioned that. And what is the second gift? Would you say it out loud? Frankincense.

Let us just take a little while tonight and talk about this thing of frankincense. The word frankincense is used in the Bible 17 times. The first time it is used in the Bible—I am very big on learning so much from the first time a word is used in the Bible. The first time frankincense is used in the Bible is in Exodus chapter number 30. We will not look it up tonight. The last about—excuse me—five verses of that chapter talk about the first time frankincense is used. It is there. What it is talking about is the tabernacle, and there is the altar of incense in the tabernacle, the Holy Place. And that altar of incense, the incense that they would place on it was made of four things, equally divided up, and one of those is frankincense. The first time it is used in all the Bible is in Exodus 30. We are talking about this incense they would make. It was to be burned; it was to be continually burning and offering up a sweet smell of smoke and incense to the Lord right before the veil. That is the first time it is mentioned.

All right. And these four different spices—this was one of them. All right. Let me just explain them. I think we will do it again. The tabernacle—that is where God said, “I want you to build it because I want to dwell amongst you,” all right? So the tabernacle was God dwelling amongst them. Next is 25; it talks about that. And actually, His presence would come out of the Most Holy Place. That is what is called in the Bible the Most Holy Place. Inside there was the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat on top of that, and then His glory would come out of there. Very interesting, very interesting. They say in the desert it gets very hot during the daytime—it can be 120 degrees in the daytime—but at nighttime in the desert it gets very cold. I do not know that I could prove this from the Bible, but imagine in the daytime there would come this cloud out of there and come out over the camp of the children. Can you imagine what a shade that would give them in the desert, 120 degrees? Yet at nighttime it gets very cold. At nighttime it would be a pillar of fire, and that was coming out of there. Can you imagine this fire coming out? I am not sure how broad it became; we do not know. But can you imagine that offers some heat? Is it not wonderful how God always takes care of His people? And the tribes were centered around the tabernacle there.

Now here is what: As you enter the outer curtain, you enter in there. There is a brazen altar, and then there is a laver, and then you come to the Holy Place, and you enter into there. It is the first compartment there. Over here on the right is the table—the Table of Showbread. We will do that. On the Table of Showbread over here, 12 pieces of bread, two stacks, six in each stack. Actually, there is a little frankincense on the top one on each side. That is a little bit later on the Bible tells about frankincense. And then over here, on the left, is the table of—excuse me—the candlesticks, the menorah, sometimes they call it. Very significant. All that would give the light represents the Holy Spirit. And then the veil, and you go past the veil is the Most Holy Place, but right before the veil, right there, is the altar of incense. And this frankincense, this mixture, is what they would put on there, and it would continue to come up. Right. So they are saying of frankincense, they offered unto Him frankincense, but you are trying to get a little bit about frankincense.

This is what I think. And I differ a little bit than from good people smarter than I. I think it deals directly with praise. Some will talk about prayer. Typically, when Jesus died out on the cross, remember, and when He died, they rent the veil from top to bottom. Remember there in Hebrews chapter 4, He said, “Because He is your High Priest, let us come boldly to the throne of grace.” Hey, you do not have that veil, and you can come right on in. Here is what I am getting at: Typically, you do your praying in the Most Holy Place. See? And He said, “Come on into the throne of grace. Come on into the throne room. There is no more veil anymore.” So I think it is a little before prayer. I think frankincense really directly has to do with praise.

If you look over in Psalms chapter number 100 real quickly tonight—Psalms chapter number 100—we are just going to get this thing of frankincense tonight. They say that the Jewish people would often chant or quote Psalms chapter number 100 as they were entering into the temple. Solomon’s temple was built a little bit later on, and they say that they often chanted this, Psalms 100. I have read several different people today. Nobody really knows who the author—excuse me, the penman. We know who the author is: Jesus, the Holy Spirit. But the penman, we do not know who the penman is. But I want you to know Psalms 100. Look at verse number four. I want you to imagine as they were entering into the temple and entering into the Most Holy Place in the temple there. And look at this, Psalms 100, verse number four.

He says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving.” Now, let me just say something about thanksgiving. It is just simply giving Him thanks, whether your heart and mind is into it or not, you give thanks. By the way, we are supposed to give it in everything: “Give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” We are to give thanks. Amen? That is what He says. In everything, give thanks. So you begin to get into the temple, and you just get past the gates with what? Thanksgiving. But you are going in; you begin to get closer to the presence of God. And notice what it says: “And into His courts with,” what is saying? Praise. Now they are about to enter into the Most Holy Place. So what is the thing before you get really close in there? Praise. I think frankincense has so much to do with praise.

Then he goes on, “Be thankful.” Now it is not just a matter of giving thanks; now you are truly thankful. Now it has begun to get into your heart. By the way, what does James 3 say? Your tongue is the guide; it is the rudder that guides your ship. You started off with your tongue giving thanks even though your heart might not be there, but pretty soon you become thankful. It becomes praise more like. You are about to enter in, you see, into God’s presence. What is the last part? “Be thankful unto Him and bless His name.” The reason why many will say that the altar of incense and the frankincense has to do a lot with prayer is because of some verses over in Revelation. If you want to look over in Revelation chapter number eight, let us just try to dissect it real quickly here. We are trying to get to praise and the frankincense, and then praise. We are going to talk about what in just a moment here. Really, they use these verses to say, “Well, it is the prayers,” and I think it is connected to prayer. But I am trying to get into the Most Holy Place and praying there, but on my way there is the altar of incense where the frankincense is, that I believe has to represent praise.

Look in Revelation chapter number eight, Revelation chapter number eight, and look in verse number three. These are the verses they will talk about: “Well, it is the prayers,” and I believe it is connected. But let us look at this saying. Revelation 8, verse number three—if you are there, would you say amen? Good. Look at verse number three: “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne.” Look at verse number four: “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God.” Here is what I am getting at: I am saying that look, praise goes along with prayer. And if I am going to get into the Most Holy Place and really get in the presence of God, there needs to be some praise as a part of that.

You may use this pattern, and we will try to use it. It is helpful for me. I do not always do it, but it is so helpful for me. Imagine those people. They want to get over there in the Most Holy Place where God is in there, all right? And they enter in the outer curtain there. And there is the brazen altar. That represents your salvation, Jesus Christ. All of them can represent Christ, but stick with me here. That is your salvation. That is the sacrifice that you are saved. And you go there. That represents, by the way, in your prayer time—a good thing to do if you would like to use a pattern: Thank Him and remember the day you got saved. By the way, you never get past the day you got saved, rejoiced because your name is written in heaven. And so, man, thank you, Lord. As a boy, you were working in my heart, and that sees Him alive, and I got saved. Thank you for saving me.

And then you go past that; there is the laver, the water. To me, often it just represents cleansing, a daily cleansing. He told the apostles, “I need you wash your feet.” He said, “No, no, no, no, you do not.” He said, “Yeah, I need to wash your feet, Peter; you do not have any part.” And Peter said, “Well, everything.” He said, “No, they do not need everything, just your feet.” Why? It represents because you are working in a sinful world, and you need daily cleansing—what that represents. That is the laver. And you come over and you get clean. “Thank you for all these years You have cleansed me, and I need some cleansing here.” And then you go past that, and you come to the Holy Place, and you are able because of Christ; He has to enter into the Holy Place, and you enter in there. Over here are those two stacks of bread, six in each, and the Table of Showbread, and that represents the Word of God: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). All right. And you go over there, and by this is the way I do it, and you probably do it different than me, but I say, “Lord, I read over here, and I read here in the Bible this morning: What am I supposed to take with me today? Can I digest something out of that today? And Lord, would You speak to me in this part of the Bible?” And imagine how the Holy Spirit says this, this, this, so often. And I will try to speak a little time there. And then I will go over here for myself. I typically will go over here to where the seven golden candlesticks are, the menorah, they often call it. And the oil gives it light. And so, “Oh, Holy Spirit, I need You. I need Your direction, I need Your light. You are my guide. I need that fire You bring.” He is a fire; you can quench Him; He is a fire, see. And Holy Spirit, is there something I am not living right? I am not doing right somewhere along the line, maybe between yesterday and now, or maybe something I just forgot about, where I have quenched You. I need Your light and Your oil and Your warmth and Your fire. By the way, if you just cannot get going, you need to get the Holy Spirit in it. And you ask, “Now, Holy Spirit, what is it?” And all He will bring is light.

And then you go over here. You want to get past the veil, if you will, over there in the Most Holy Place where His presence is, and there is the altar—His altar of incense, praise. Revelation 8: they offered up the incense, the incense, the incense with the prayers. If I can get here and I can truly praise Him—God inhabits the praises of His people. Remember that? I told about you entering into the presence of God. I had to talk about Israel over there. And so I want to have some sincere praise. Why, I have that; that helps me enter into God’s presence. Boy, getting in His presence, you get along with God, and man, He will clean your heart up; He will change your thoughts. It will be no longer about you getting your way in your prayer closet. It will be about you getting close to God, Him changing your heart, and then you seek what He wants you to see. Boy, you get inside there and you meet with the God of the universe, and that is where the great transactions in the kingdom of God transpire right there. They are not transpired out in the open when everybody is saying. They transpire when someone gets in the presence of God, and they get along with God and enter in His presence, and that is where the God of the universe moves things for man right there in that room right there. But I have got to get in there. It is all through Christ. Part of this is the altar of incense—praise.

It is just very brief. Let us try to find out what biblically—what does the Bible have to say about praise? I would not say wrong; they may add a little bit to it. I remember an old preacher, a good, godly man, a spirit-filled man, but he would often say praise is you thanking God for what He has done, and worship is you worshipping God for who and what He is. I do not know that I would argue with that. Some will say, if you study the words out a little bit, worship is more about bowing down to God, and praise is more about lifting hands up. But let us do this: Let us go back to the first time praise is used in the Bible, and let us let the Bible define it, all right? So if we look over in Genesis, let us just do a real quick study of what praise really is. If you go over to Genesis, we are going to find the first time praise is used in the Bible: Genesis chapter number 29. You will find these two ladies: Rachel and Leah, that are married to Jacob. You understand the beginning was rough. Leah is the one that was tender-eyed; she did not look so good. Rachel is good to look on. And old Jacob, he liked Rachel. And Leah, she was heartbroken. That is kind of where we pick up the story at, all right? And I want you to see this. We are going to study out the first time this word praise is used in the Bible. You are in Genesis 29. Let us start over here in verse number 31. If you are there, would you say amen? Let us try to find out what God says praise is. This illustration He gives us: Genesis 29:31, “When the Lord saw that Leah was hated.”

That is amazing. That is the Bible word: Leah was hated. That is a pretty sad deal. I think this lady really was treated wrong, was wronged. I imagine it hurts. Anybody that has been hated out there, it kind of hurts. That is what is going on. “And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, ‘Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.’” By the way, Reuben, that word means looked or saw, seen. And she is saying, “Hey, the Lord, the Lord saw how people have been treating me, and now my husband is going to love me,” because she has given the Lord credit here. The Lord saw this. He saw what was going on, and He did something for me in my relationships. He saw how people have been treating me, and He has taken care of it. Now my husband is going to love me. That is what is going on, and her name is Reuben. Let us keep going. Verse number 33: “And she conceived again and bare a son, and said, ‘Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, He hath therefore given me this son also.’” And she called his name Simeon. Simeon means hearing. She said, look, this time she says, “The Lord has heard that I was hated.” So before, she said, “The Lord saw that I was afflicted; the Lord saw what they are doing to me.” This time the Lord has heard how people feel about me.

You said, “Lord, You saw that they have been afflicting me, what they have been doing to me. Now You have heard how people feel about me.” He has heard, Simeon. Let us keep going. That is her second son. Verse number 34: “And she conceived again and bare a son, and said, ‘Now will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons.’” Therefore was his name called Levi. Levi has to do with joining; it means join. She said, first of all, the Lord saw how people were treating me, and He did something; my husband is going to be good to me. The second time, now He has heard how people feel about me; they hate me, and now the Lord is giving me another child, and so I am—I am going to—He is going to bless my relationships with people I am very close to, my husband; we are going to be joined together. His name is Levi. Now follow me. Look at the next thing here: the fourth son she has. Verse number 35. Here it is. We are about to get to the first time in all the Bible praise is mentioned—here it is coming up. Here it is: “And she conceived again and bare a son, and she said, ‘Now will I praise the Lord.’” That is Jehovah. Therefore, she called his name Judah. Judah means praise, and Leah left bearing. I get it, get it. Here is the thought that the Holy Spirit spoke to me about today as I studied this: Hey, the Lord saw how people are treating me; He is going to help out my relationship. Hey, I got another son. Hey, the Lord has heard how everybody feels about me, and she has another one. And now the Lord is going to bless my relationships; I am going to be joined to my husband. But she has a fourth, and it says nothing about all these things down here. It is all about this right here. She got the fourth when she did not mention how everybody else is treating her. She did not mention about her relationship. She just said, “Hey, now I am going to praise the Lord.” It is no longer about what all the Lord will or does for me. Now it is just all about the Lord, if you will, a little bit what I can do for Him.

No longer, “Hey Lord, people are talking about me, people are afflicting me. Hey, Lord, I want You to bless me.” It was not all that now; it was, “Lord, I just want to praise You.” The first time praise is mentioned in all the Bible is right there. By the way, help me out: which tribe did Jesus come from? Yeah, the tribe that means praise. By the way, she left bearing it; it almost smacks that, if you will, “Hey, I do not have to have anymore; I am all right with that. I am just content with You, Lord.” It reminds me of Hebrews 13. Let me just read it for you very quickly here. When it says—you will know the statement a little bit in this verse—Hebrews 13:5: “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’” In other words, hey, let us just be content. We have God; everything else will be all right. We just have the Lord. When I come closer to having sincere praise, it is less about what all He can do for me and what I need and what I want. If You take care of these people that are treating me like this and all that, you just put all that aside. “Lord, I just want to come and focus on You, praise You and rejoice in You and love on You and give You something that You need. I am here for You for a little while, God.” That probably comes closer to sincere praise than anything. And that is when you have the right to move on into the Most Holy Place. And God says, “I like to do transactions with people like that right there. Let us talk about this world that I love and that I like to help make a difference in.” That is part of the entering into the Most Holy Place.

These were some wise men. They went; they got their treasures out. They had probably been hiding them, been saving them, and they opened them up, probably reached way down to the secret compartment. They pulled out gold, and then they got the frankincense, and they offered it up to the King. Wouldn’t it be good tonight if we just came and offered up the best we can, by the way, through the leadership of the Spirit of God, and offered up some praise, some frankincense? Wouldn’t it be good this whole Christmas season? I passed by a manger scene on the way to church tonight, and it had a little thing representing Jesus. If we had some frankincense—some true, sincere praise—oh, I am the same; I get caught up with who is saying what and doing this and how they treat me and what I want. No, what is the blessing of the Lord? The Spirit of God, He works and gets me into just sincere praise. It is all about God. He says, “Let us talk now. I can move the world at my fingertips. Let us talk now.” The Most Holy Place.

Would you bow your heads? I am not going to have you raise your hands or anything like that tonight. I would like us just for a little while tonight to offer the best we can—just some sincere praise. Let us just focus on the Lord; let us just brag on Him. Let us just—let us just have some sincere praise. Boy, we just would just like to praise You for a while, not about what all You can do for me and what I want, how everybody treats me. I just want to love Him. I want to praise You for a while. Would you do so? Would you stand, please? We will have a word of prayer, and let us just spend some time praising Him and thanking Him and loving Him and worshipping and adoring Him and giving Him. He deserves it all. Let us come to the King tonight and just spend some time praising Him. Father, thank You. Thank You for these wise men. Yes, Lord, it is amazing. They are so wise. And under Your leadership, I believe, Lord, they gave the gold, then the frankincense. Lord, make that frankincense real to us tonight. Lord, would You move in our invitation and help us to have sincere praise to You? Lord, we thank You for what You do. In Jesus, we pray. Amen. Would you just come? Just spend some time and praise Him tonight. Let the instruments play. It would be a good thing tonight if we just kind of dig down deep, if you would, the treasure of our heart, and we get some frankincense out, we offer it up to Him. It does not have to be in your time alone, your prayer closet. It can be anywhere, any time, any place. That is a great place to do it, be at any time, but you offer up the frankincense of praise. Well, if you will, less about us, more about Him. Amen. These were some wise men and great men to learn from: the gold and the frankincense. And is it not awesome? We can offer up frankincense. By the way, the altar was to continue and be having the incense coming up, and we just have that heart of praise to God, and you live that out. Prayer closed, and without the day. Amen. We got to be—pray and go home.

Original File: Frankincense - Pastor Paul Chisgar Wednesday 121119