A Christmas Devotion: Mary's Real Treasure

What do you treasure above all things?

What person, place, or thing holds the position of supremacy in your affections in such a way that nothing rivals its prominence? What do you hold so dearly that nothing, NOTHING rivals its position on the throne of your heart?

In some ways Christmas Eve may be one of the most dangerous times of the year to come to a worship service. Our hearts are distracted: there are travel plans, turkeys in the oven, trinkets to be opened, and family to be received. Materialism and gluttony are just hours away.

If you find your heart being divided today, I would like to commend to you Mary’s treasure. "Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). The old KJV translates that “Mary kept these things,” but all the modern translations have rightly rendered it “treasured.” The Greek word means to safeguard, to defend, to lock tight, to cherish, to protect!

We might ask, WHAT THINGS did Mary treasure? What specifically does Luke 2:19 mean when it says that “all these things” she both treasured and pondered in her heart? 

Ironically, Mary did receive literal treasure in Matthew’s birth narrative. You recall, the Magi brought to Christ three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And what was Mary’s response to these gifts in Matthew 2:11,

"And going into the house [the Magi] saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh."

Mary’s response? Nothing. Silence. I’m sure she said ‘thank you,’ but Scripture does not say she treasured the treasure!! In fact, if there is an emphasis at all on materialism, it’s on poverty not riches. Three times (vs. 7, 12, 16) Luke reminds us that the baby is in a manger, a crude box where donkey drool.

Do not be deceived by ‘treasure’ that looks like treasure, but is not infinitely valuable! What good is mere gold when eternal riches are before you? A block of gold and a lump of coal are both equally ineffective in purchasing joy, forgiveness, peace, or eternal life!

So what did Mary treasure? A good Sunday School answer would be that Mary treasured her son. It would make sense, and I don’t think any of us would complain if verse 19 told us that Mary treasured her baby. Luke could have written, "Mary treasured her child and pondered her family in her heart."

But Luke didn't write that.

There is no doubt that Mary ‘treasured’ Jesus as her natural born son. She was the one family member of Jesus who truly believed and followed Him all the way to the cross, watching the Romans beat and pierce His flesh to the cross (John 19:25).

There is no doubt that Mary loved her baby as a mother should. But that’s not the point of verse 19. Every mother—except for the deranged—treasures their own child in the familial sense.

We know what Mary treasured: she treasured “all these things” (2:19) which refers directly back two verses to verse 17, "[The Shepherds] made known the saying that had been told them concerning the child" (Luke 2:17). And what the shepherds heard goes back to vs. 10-11,

"And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.' 

Aha! Here’s the real treasure! Here is what made Mary’s heart glad!

It's not just that she had a baby, but rather the identity and destiny of the baby: a joy not just for her own heart, but joy to all people! A Savior not just to her personally, but to all who repent and believe. 

A multitude of angels attended the coronation of an infant and to exult in this divine decree. The night sky burst into a full panoply of radiant color as holy warrior-spirits beamed upon the Prince of Peace! Singing in unison “Glory! Glory! Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”(Luke 2:14).

Here is my definition of “treasuring": To treasure something means that you would gladly give the whole world to get it, and to joyfully refuse the whole world to keep it!

I suggest that today you and I treasure what Mary treasured: the announcement of the One who is the glory of God and the peaceful joy of men.

--Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida.

The Dragon of Revelation 12, and the Incessant Attack on Christmas

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ² She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. ³ And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. ⁴ His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it (Revelation 12:1-4).


In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the church became embroiled in a theological war between the modernists (the children of the enlightenment) and the fundamentalists (believers in orthodoxy). And what doctrine do you suppose was contested most vigorously? The Virgin Birth.

The modernists said four things: A virgin birth (a) has never happened before (b) has never happened since (c) could not be observed empirically (d) could not be repeated scientific setting. In other words, they took the tools of empirical observation, applied them to the doctrine of the Virgin Birth, and rejected it.   

But this is exactly the limitation of the naturalistic sciences. Science can only study that which is "inside the box" of the observable world. But the Lordship of our Sovereign God extends to both the natural/material and supernatural realms. Science is limited by definition.

But conversely, God is not limited in any way. As I have so often preached to my congregation, if Genesis 1:1 is true “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth…” then absolutely everything else in the rest of the Scripture is possible. 

When science says it doubts the Virgin Birth because it cannot be repeated in a lab, Christian Philosopher Alvin Plantinga says it’s a lot like a drunk driver insisting on looking for his lost car keys only under the bright streetlight, on the grounds that the light is better there![1]

But now we must ask, Why does the wicked seven-headed dragon attack the Virgin Birth so strenuously and aggressively?

           

The answer is that the Virgin Birth of Christ is the one domino--that if Satan could cause to fall--would destroy the whole of Christianity. If the Virgin Birth is not a fact rooted in the dusty hills of Palestine in the city of Nazareth 2,000 years ago, then our Bibles are not inerrant, because Matthew 1:18 and Luke 1:35 expressly say that it was so. Furthermore,

• If Christ was not born of a Virgin, then the full deity and full humanity of Christ would be impossible. 
• If Christ was not fully divine, then His sinless life would be impossible. 
• If Christ sinned even one time, He could not have laid down His life on the cross for our sins as an atonement of satisfaction and propitiation. 
• If Christ did not lay down His life for us, our forgiveness and renewal would be impossible.

 In other words, tipping over this one domino would ruin the entire Christian faith.

If it could ever be proven somehow that Jesus was not born of the Virgin Mary, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, He would not be worthy of our worship. But if He is—truly man and truly God—as I proclaim to you today that He is, He is worthy of our eternal praise. Amen. 

Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida. 

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[1] Quoted in Tim Keller. The Reason for God. 86.