Isaiah 60: The Kingdom of Light: Chapter 23: Gifts for Christ

The prophet describes the wealth of the nations being brought to the sons of God. Isaiah 60:6 says,

⁶ A multitude of camels will cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba will come; they will bring gold and frankincense and will bear good news [basar] of the praises of the Lord.

I see this in metaphorical terms today when applied to the sons and daughters of God, but it also had a more literal fulfillment when the Magi brought gifts to the Son of God. Matt. 2:11 says,

¹¹ After coming into the house, they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Isaiah says that “they will bring gold and frankincense,” but Luke says the Magi also brought myrrh. Gold symbolized His divine nature, frankincense symbolized His transfiguration, and myrrh foreshadowed His mission on earth, that is, His death and burial (John 19:39).

Frankincense

Frankincense was one of the ingredients of the “holy anointing oil” (Exodus 30:25, 34) that was used to consecrate the vessels of the Sanctuary and its priests (Exodus 30:29, 30).

The law commanded that frankincense was to be poured upon the grain offerings made of “fine flour” (Lev. 2:1), that is, wheat. Barley was rough flour; wheat was fine flour. While barley represents those who are “unleavened bread,” wheat represents the leavened Church under its Pentecostal anointing. The Pentecostal first fruits offering was a wheat offering (Exodus 34:22). Hence, this particular offering prophesies the fiery discipline upon the wheat company, who are ultimately rewarded with transfiguration (frankincense).

Frankincense was also put on the twelve loaves on the Table of Showbread as a “memorial” (i.e., to remember God’s promise). Lev. 24:5-7 says,

⁵ Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. ⁶ You shall set them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. ⁷ You shall put pure frankincense on each row that it may be a memorial portion for the bread, even an offering by fire to the Lord.

Fine flour (wheat) was baked in the fire to make it “an offering by fire to the Lord.” This speaks of the baptism of fire, the work of the Holy Spirit, which kills the leavening action (yeast) in the wheat and makes it an acceptable offering to the Lord. It is thus prophesied that those who press into the fire of God, allowing the Holy Spirit to apply the fiery law to their hearts, will qualify for the glory of transfiguration pictured by frankincense.

This is the promise of God which we are to remember in this “memorial.”

The Hebrew word for frankincense is lebonah. The word is derived from the root word, laban, “to make white.” Jacob’s Uncle Laban was called prophetically to provide the fire that Jacob had to undergo in order to receive a new nature called Israel. While we may justly criticize Laban himself for his carnal treatment of Jacob, we also recognize that in the sovereignty of God, Laban was used to discipline Jacob and prepare him to be an overcomer.

When Jacob wrestled with the angel Peniel (“God’s face/presence”), he then named the place after the angel (Gen. 32:30). As I explained in chapter 4 of The Laws of the Second Coming, Jacob’s wilderness experience was a precursor to the feasts of Israel that were established more formally under Moses during Israel’s wilderness experience.

Jacob’s wrestling match with Peniel prophesies of the Day of Atonement and Jubilee, where Jacob the Deceiver, the Supplanter, the Usurper, was purged and made “white” (frankincense).

Jesus’ Transfiguration on Mount Hermon

Mount Hermon was one of the peaks in the White Mountains of Liban, or Lebanon. Lebanon is derived from laban, “white,” as is lebonah, “frankincense.” Hence, Jesus went north to Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:13) and from there ascended Mount Hermon (or Sion) to be transfigured. That was His encounter with spiritual frankincense. There “His garments became as white as light” (Matt. 17:2).

We see, then, that the frankincense on the Table of Showbread prophesied of Christ’s transfiguration on Mount Sion, where His garments became white (laban) as light. It also prophesied of Spirit-filled believers who submit to the spiritual discipline of God’s fiery law, the baptism of fire, in order to qualify as the sons of God.

Mount Hermon thus became the place of sonship, where Jesus, our Forerunner, was declared to be “My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased” (Matt. 17:5). Mount Hermon was also known as “Mount Sion” (Deut. 4:48), the place where the sons of God gather around the Son of God (Heb. 12:22, KJV).

Old Covenant people gather at Mount Zion in Jerusalem, professing their spiritual descent from Hagar, the slave woman. We gather at Mount Sion with the Mediator of the New Covenant to profess our spiritual descent from Sarah, the free woman. Both groups desire to become the sons of God, but only one mount is the Mount of Transfiguration.

The Apostle Paul essentially presents us with the choice of identifying with Hagar or Sarah, the earthly or heavenly city. Zionists identify as the sons of Hagar; Sionists identify as the sons of Sarah.

How Many Camels?

Isaiah 60:6 tells of “a multitude of camels” and “young camels” bringing the wealth of nations. This is probably a prophecy of the Magi who first brought gold and frankincense to Bethlehem. Most people miss this, because of the common view that there were just three Magi, one bearing gold, one bearing frankincense, and one bearing myrrh. The fact is, enough Magi had arrived—on camels, no doubt—to cause a great stir in Jerusalem. Matt. 2:3 tells us,

³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

Why would the presence of a few Magi cause “all Jerusalem” to be troubled? Actually, a cavalry of camel riders probably accompanied these Magi. There were two superpowers in those days: Rome and Parthia. Most of our history lessons come from the Roman point of view, so most people forget that the Parthian Empire extended from the Euphrates to India. The Romans lost the majority of battles when fighting the Parthians. Steven Collins tells us,

“Five decades before the birth of Jesus, Rome and Parthia fought several battles with one being fought near Antioch of Syria (very close to Palestine). In about 40 B.C., the Parthians launched a major assault which drove the Romans out of Asia! For three years, 40-37 B.C., Palestine was within the Parthian Empire and was ruled by a Jewish vassal king of the Parthians named Antigonus… While the Parthian-sponsored rule of Antigonus was brief, it was apparently popular with the Jews. When the Parthians withdrew across the Euphrates, Antigonus, with Jewish support, attempted to maintain himself as king of the Jews, but was defeated by Herod… Mark Antony [Roman general] afterward led a massive invasion of Parthia in 37-36 B.C., but his army was utterly defeated by the Parthians.

“Parthia’s victory over Mark Antony led to a prolonged period of peace between Rome and Parthia, with the Euphrates River serving as the border between their two vast empires. This prolonged period of peaceful relations lasted from 36 B.C. until 58 A.D… Rawlinson records that it was an established Roman policy not to provoke a Parthian war during that period of time…” (Steven M. Collins, Parthia, The Forgotten Ancient Superpower And Its Role in Biblical History, pp. 126-127).

When an army arrived outside of Jerusalem as guardians of the Magi (who were of the educated ruling class in Parthia), “all Jerusalem” was troubled. Three men might have passed unnoticed, but an armed guard protecting these Parthian Magi could not be hidden.

The Magi were asking about a prophesied “King of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2), which was understood to be the Messiah Himself (Matt. 2:4). Herod must have wondered if the Parthians were trying to provoke another war. No doubt this is what frightened Herod and “all Jerusalem,” and the sheer number of the “multitude of camels” explains why Herod did not dare to send some of his own soldiers with them to find the Messiah in Bethlehem.

Collins continues,

“Plutarch records that Surenas—a Parthian military commander and, no doubt, a member of the Megistanes—traveled on routine business in a caravan of cavalry, servants, and attendants the size of ‘a baggage train of 1,000 camels… at least ten thousand men.’ If one Parthian leader traveled with so large a caravan on routine business within Parthia, how large was the caravan of the Magi—a whole delegation of Parthian nobles carrying great treasure to worship a ‘new-born king?’ It was large enough to frighten the whole city of Jerusalem!” (Collins, p. 132).

So when Isaiah prophesies of “a multitude of camels” bringing the “wealth of the nations” to the Son of God and later to the glorified sons of God, we may look back to the arrival of the Magi to find the precedent to what is yet to come. In the story of Christ’s birth, literal camels arrived carrying gifts; in our time, we should view this metaphorically and not expect to see literal camels coming in a caravan.

Midian, Ephah, and Sheba

Isaiah prophesies that the camels were to come from Midian, Ephah, and Sheba. Ephah was part of Midian (Gen. 25:4) and was a city located east of the Dead Sea. It was famous for its abundance of camels. Midian itself was located west of the Gulf of Aqaba in what is now the northeast part of Saudi Arabia.

South of Midian, in what is today Yemen, was Sheba. In Roman times it was known as Arabia Felix, or “Fertile Arabia.” It was known for its exports of frankincense. The prophet seems to be suggesting that the gold was from Midian and that the frankincense was from Sheba (Jer. 6:20), all carried by many camels.

Sheba is now called Yemen, which is the southern portion of the Arabian peninsula. These areas were not part of the Parthian Empire, but the Parthians traded with them, receiving their goods.

Isaiah’s mention of Ephah is prophetically interesting. The name of the city is the same as a unit of measure. Ten omers is an ephah, and ten ephahs is a homer (or chomer).

In the law there are many references to grain offerings of one-tenth or two-tenths or three-tenths of an ephah. In other words, they used one, two, or three omers of grain, but these were expressed as a fraction of an ephah. (See Lev. 5:11, “one-tenth”; Lev. 23:13, “two-tenths”; and Num. 15:9, “three-tenths.”)

It is as if the prophet intends for us to make a connection between the offerings in the law and the offerings brought to the sons of God. Likewise, the prophet seems to connect this prophecy to the law of equal weights and measures in Lev. 19:35, 36. In particular, “a just ephah” may suggest that the Midianite city of Ephah was destined to become a righteous city. If so, this may be the underlying prophetic motive for sending offerings to the manifested sons of God.

Hence, Isaiah 60:6 links the gold and frankincense to bearing “good news of the praises of the Lord.” The “good news” (basar) is the gospel whose spiritual message is to eat Christ’s flesh (John 6:53), that is, to believe and consume the truth of the gospel. The “praises of the Lord” are the songs of praise.

In other words, the wealth of the nations being brought to the sons of God is given freely as an offering to the Lord, accompanied by songs of praise. There is no compulsion here. Midian, Ephah, and Sheba are not bringing tribute as if they were slaves. They bring offerings with a heart of praise and gratitude, having received salvation and life (immortality) by eating Christ’s “flesh” (John 6:54).