God Has Visited His People

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This sermon is based on words found in the prophecy of Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, and recorded in Luke 1:68, 78. The message explores the meaning and significance of God visiting the human race through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Written Excerpts:

Luke 1:68, 78 ^(NKJV) Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, ⁷⁸ Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 

Introduction:

I remembered reading or hearing a story that I felt would be appropriate to begin with today, so I did a search on the internet (You can find anything on the internet!), and came across this version of the story posted on the website of a church that is located near the eastern coast of England. 

Once upon a time, a prince wanted to find a young lady suitable to be his queen. One day, he had to pass through the poor section in a nearby village, and as he glanced out of the carriage, he saw a young beautiful peasant girl. From then on, he made a point of driving through the village as often as he could and soon he fell in love with the young lady. But he had a problem. How could he get to know her and ask her to marry him?

He could order her to marry him. But even a prince wants his bride to marry him freely and voluntarily and not through coercion. He could put on his most splendid uniform and drive up to her front door in a carriage drawn by six horses. But if he did this he would never be certain that the young lady loved him or was simply overwhelmed with all of the splendor.

No, the prince had to come up with another solution. He would give up his kingly robe. He moved into the village, entering not with a crown but in the lowly clothes of a peasant. He lived among the people, shared their interests and concerns, and talked their language. In time the peasant girl grew to love him for who he was and because he had first loved her.

[The English Pastor continues by saying this:] That simple story was written by … Soren Kierkegaard, the great Danish theologian. It was written to tell us what Christmas is really all about. It is a courtship – God courting us – telling us in the clearest possible way that he loves us – and loves us enough to come and live amongst us. Our response to that love matters to him.

It is easy to be cynical. I wonder, in our story, what the young girl thought of the Prince before he entered her village. Perhaps she thought he was distant, maybe arrogant, way beyond her reach. People have different ideas about what God is like – often shaped by their own life experiences. When things go wrong it is easy to question how a loving God could allow such a thing. Christmas tells us that there is Someone out there who loves us enough to come to where we are, live among us and die for us so that we could know his love in the midst of our struggles and pain. (John Sparkes, December 2017) [http://www.halesworthcommunitychurch.org/pastors-notebook---the-prince-and-the-peasant-girl.html]

In our Scripture text I have chosen for the message today we read this phrase, “He has visited and redeemed His people.” This phrase comes from the passage that was read earlier and is taken from the story about the birth of John the Baptist. The story describes how that Zacharias was unable to speak because he had doubted the words of the angel he saw in the temple announcing that Elizabeth would give birth to a son. When the baby was born and Zacharias confirmed that his name was to be “John,” then his ability to speak returned and he began praising God.

For the next few minutes I want to explore the choice of words used by Zacharias and consider them in the context of the Incarnation of Jesus, the Messiah.

“Has visited” – In the original Greek is it one word instead of two and it literally carries the idea “to look upon,” “to inspect or examine,” with the additional meaning “in order to help, benefit, or care for or provide for.” (Thayer) It is translated 10 times as “visit” and 1 time as “look out.” It gives the idea of God “looking upon, inspecting or examining the plight of His people and then coming to their aid with all His supernatural ability. It also was used at times in the OT in passages that speak of God “visiting His people in judgment or punishment.”

The Bible tells us that Zacharias was “filled with the Holy Spirit” and prophesied by proclaiming the important ministry role that John would have in direct relation to the One whom God was sending to bring salvation to His people.

Zacharias, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, proclaimed that God had “looked upon, examined and acted in behalf of His people.” He visited them.

What is the significance of God “visiting” His people?

1. It means salvation/redemption has come.

Lk. 1:68 “…has visited and redeemed His people.”

v. 69 “raised up a horn of salvation”

v. 71 “that we should be saved from our enemies.”

This message carried both political and spiritual components. The mistake so many made at the time was only thinking of political redemption and completely missing the spiritual aspect of it.

2. It means the New Covenant has been instituted.

Luke 1:72-75 ^(NKJV) To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, ⁷³ The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: ⁷⁴ To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, ⁷⁵ In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. 

The new covenant prophesied by Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel in the OT emphasized a covenant that included a new heart. It would be a covenant that was written on the “tablets” of the heart rather than “tablets of stone.”

When God visits His people, they are transformed from rebels to loyal, loving servants living out His holiness and righteousness on earth. When God visits His people, there is a renewal of their commitment to faithfully abide by the terms of the covenant – that is, to love God only, and to serve Him in holiness and righteousness.

3. It means the kingdom of darkness and death is conquered.

In the earthly ministry of Jesus, He demonstrated over and over His power over the devil and the powers of evil.

One such occasion was the interruption of a funeral procession:

Luke 7:14-17 ^(NKJV) Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." ¹⁵ So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother. ¹⁶ Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen up among us"; and, "God has visited His people." ¹⁷ And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.

When these mourners witnessed the resurrection of this young man, they immediately realized that the God of heaven had visited His people in the life of this Jesus of Nazareth. They knew this because they had just witnessed the power of death completely defeated and overruled.

Jesus said, “If I have cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Every time God overpowers and overrules the forces of evil and darkness, are times that God has once again visited His people.

4. It means His people will imitate His ministry of “visitation.”

This word that Zacharias used to describe God “looking upon, examining the plight of His people and coming to their aid” is also used to describe God’s people doing the same for other people in any kind of distress.

James 1:27 ^(NKJV) Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Matthew 25:36 ^(NKJV) I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'

In these references the word “visit(ed)” is the same word Zacharias used in his prophecy.

Conclusion:

We have been celebrating the coming of our Lord into the world as God in the flesh. God truly visited His people when Christ came into our world so many years ago in the town of Bethlehem.

God has repeatedly visited us with revivals and miraculous works of the Holy Spirit. He has repeatedly conquered and overruled the powers of darkness and set people free from their sins and the bondage of sin.

As we stand on the threshold of another new year, I’d like for us to take these thoughts with us today.

1. Just as God visited this world by coming as a baby in Bethlehem, and He has also visited segments of this world with periods of revival and manifestations of His presence, so we ought to pray and expect God to visit us with spiritual revival in the coming year.

2. God sends us out to “visit” the lost and hurting world with a message and a ministry of help to those who need Him.

Go “visit” the grieving with a message of comfort.

“Visit” the sick with a message of healing.

“Visit” the poor with a message of help and aid.

“Visit” the prisoner with a message of true freedom.

“Visit” the rebel with the offer of forgiveness.

“Visit” the addicted with a message of deliverance.

To close the service this morning I would like for us to sing the challenging missionary hymn:

So Send I You – by Grace Made Strong