A Visitation of God
Luke 1:68[1]
12-19-04
[PC1]
Intro
In Luke 1:68 Zacharias praised God concerning the coming of Christ and prophesied saying, “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people...” (NKJV) The word translated “visited” is “epeskepsato” and it’s meaning here is “to make an appearance in order to help”[2]. God has visited His people. We know that God is omnipresent. Jesus has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).
So what is a visitation of God? It is a time when God comes on the scene in a special way with a specific purpose in mind to help His people.
On Christmas we are celebrating an awesome visitation of God—the arrival of baby Jesus. In His goodness God visits His people. He did so in the days of Moses.[3] At the dedication of Solomon’s temple they experience a visitation of God.[4] Think about the extraordinary way God worked on the Day of Pentecost. God is always with His people; but there are also those special times of refreshing, revival, visitation. Review the Old Testament and the New Testament and you will find plenty of examples of special visitations of God. Study the history of the church and you will see God stepping in and reviving His people time and time again. When I use the word revival I am not talking about a two week series of services. Revival means different things to different people and we do not have the time this morning to fully expound on the terminology. But the definition I am using is closely related to what Peter said in his sermon on in Acts 3:19 “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” The word translated “times” in that verse is “kairos”. It means appointed time, an opportune time, a season—not just time chronologically marked off on the clock and calendar—“that the ‘kairos’ of refreshing may come from the Lord”.
Here in Springfield we enjoy four seasons every year. There is the summer with lots of sunshine and warm weather. There is the fall when things look like they are dying and the leaves fall from the trees. There is winter when the weather is cold and uncomfortable. And there is spring when everything seems to come alive and the spring shower water the land. If I were God we would have spring all year around . I love the warm showers and enjoy seeing things blossom. But Someone wiser than I has decided that the four seasons are a good idea. Does anyone here think we could pray and fast and get God to give us twelve months of spring every year? We would be asking amiss[5] and missing out on what God has wisely provided for us.
There are two theological camps on the subject of revival. One camp says it is something God does when He chooses, where He chooses, and how He chooses and our part is to simply respond to what He is doing. Another camp says revival is a function of our receptivity and God will send revival anywhere the conditions are met. Peter’s words in Acts 3:19 seem to indicate that both sides have some truth but the whole truth must consider both. But using the word “kairos” there is an implied dependence upon God for the opportunity or season. It’s not that we can simply push the right buttons and make these things happen by our own volition. When we are relating to God we are deal with a person who has a will and a plan. We are not just dealing with a cosmic force or a gigantic slot machine. As Peter puts it, these times of refreshing “come from the Lord.” If a man can produce it, it’s not the real thing. God must choose to send it.
On the hand, there are preparations in our hearts that can open the way for us to receive such a time of refreshing. In Acts 3:19 Peter is calling upon these people to do certain things “so that your sins may be wiped away, that the times of refreshing may come...” What is the principle thing that must be done? “Repent, then, and turn to God...” God’s part is to send the refreshing when He wants to, how He wants to, and to whom He wants to. Our part is to prepare our hearts to receive from Him.
The visitation of God in our Christmas story comes after a very dry spell. You talk about being spiritually parched—this visitation came after 400 years of silence from God—not one prophecy, no dreams, no visions. The only thing they had to keep them going was the recorded word of God in Scripture. The Scripture was a powerful sustaining element in their walk with God. Without the Torah Israel would have completely lost all touch with God’s revelation of Himself. Four hundred years of dry silence and then comes a visitation from God. We know two things for sure about that 400 years of silence. One, it came as a result of Israel’s unfaithfulness to what they knew to be right. Second, it ended at exactly the time God chose for it to end. Gal 4:4 “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son...”
I find four groups of people impacted by the visitation of God on this first Christmas. There were:
1st the Faithful followers waiting for the consolation of Israel
2nd the Distant and interested gentiles
3rd the Resistant and self-satisfied opposers
4th the Indifferent and pre-occupied masses
These four groups are represented one way or another in every visitation of God.
I. The Faithful remnant of Israel were longing for a visitation of God. They had read of such events in their Bibles. They knew the promises of God and the thing that characterizes everyone in this group is sincere faithfulness. None of them were doing Holy Ghost cartwheels. You do not find a great hero among them who broke through spiritually saying to all the rest, “Now follow me.” They were all waiting on God, seeking God, and faithfully obeying God.
At the top of the list was Mary, the mother of Jesus,--chosen by God for perhaps the greatest privilege any human would ever experience—the holy privilege of giving birth to the promised Messiah. Pastor Mickley spoke last week about Mary’s surprise at what God would do through her. Her question to Gabriel when told that she would conceive as a virgin was, “How can this be?”[6] A visitation of God will always leave people asking, “How can this be?” As was pointed out last week, Zacharias was taken by surprise when the angel told him what would happen in his life during this visitation. We could talk about Josheph’s questions. We could talk about the shepherds’ amazement.
Two things I want us to realize about this faithful remnant.
1. The way God visited His people surprised all of them from one degree to another. No one sat down and said, “This would be a good thing to happen. Let’s ask God to do this, and this, and this.” No one had the plan figured out except God. And when God began to execute His plan, there were all kinds of surprises in the package. What is the application of that for you and me? A visitation of God will probably not look the way you think it will look. Whatever you have in mind as to how God is going to work is more of a reflection of your past experience with God rather than an insight as to what He will do next. I almost chuckle when I hear people say to me, “If God wants to send hippies with no shirt or shoes to my church, I will receive them.” Well, that would have been an outstanding response about 30 years ago. But the challenge to your receptivity of God’s ways will probably look a lot different in the 21st century than it did in the late ‘60’s. What if God sends you wild-eyed Muslims who are still considering terrorism as a chosen life-style? What if God sends you immigrants who don’t pay taxes but get some of the jobs you wanted? I don’t know what the next move of God will look like. But I do know this—it will have within it enough of the unanticipated to provide a valid test of the true condition of our hearts. As Simeon said to Mary, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”(Luke 2:34-35). The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed—that’s one thing that happens during a true visitation of God. The falling and rising of many—that’s another thing that happens during a true visitation of God.
We are talking about those who were faithfully living for God and longing for His coming. Luke 2:25 describes Simeon as one “who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” He was not in revival but his orientation was one of “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” Paul commended the church at Thessalonica because they turned from idols to serve the true and living God and to wait for His Son from heaven.[7] There is a kind of active waiting on God that should characterize our lives—not only an anticipation of the next move of God but a holy longing for His coming. Simon longed for His first coming the way we should be longing for His second coming.
2. The faithful remnant in our text had kept their hearts prepared for whatever God was about to do. Simon was one “who was righteous and devout.” Anna served God with fasting and prayers night and day (Luke 2:37). Mary was a virgin. Joseph was a “just” man. Zacharias and Elisabeth were praying people faithfully fulfilling their calling. There is a broad range of people in this group of faithful followers. There are priests like Zacharias. There are barren people like Elisabeth. There are full time ministry people like Anna. There are common people like the shepherds who were just watching the sheep—doing their job when the angel of the Lord announced this visitation to them. Different in many ways, but all were being faithful and their hearts were completely open to God.
When a visitation of God comes this is the group we want to be identified with—faithful followers.
II. Second group is the Distant but interested group.
This group is represented by the Magi. Their knowledge of God was limited. But they were operating in what they knew. They were in search of truth. They were hungry for more. These wise men were probably from either Persia or Babylon—either Iran or Iraq.[8] How in the world did they know about the promised King of the Jews? About 600 years earlier God sent his man into Babylon. At that time he was only about 17 or 18 years old. He went taken there as a captive and slave. But God’s favor was on his life and he rose to prominence and great influence. His name was Daniel and Bible tells us that he became the ruler over all the wise men in Babylon. (Dan. 2:47-49) We don’t know much about what Daniel taught the wise men who were under his leadership. But we know that Daniel was a man of the word and of prayer. We know that Daniel had some revelation concerning the coming Messiah and surely he passed some of that on to others—like Balaam’s prophesy in Num. 24:17 “...A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel...”
When God chose to visit His people who would have expected a group of gentiles living 500 miles away to be key players in the event? But this is rather typical of the way God works. In every move of God that I know anything about, God involved some of the most unlikely characters. One reason the Pentecostal movement was so resisted in the early 1900’s was because God did it outside the bounds of “respectable religion” and through some of the most unlikely characters—like the one-eyed black leader at Azusa named Seymour. That challenged people’s prejudice. The man had very little education. He was not one of the beautiful people. He was simply one of the available people. Good respectable church folk were quite sure that if God was going to do something He would begin with them. God’s choices seldom line up with men’s choices. No one in Jerusalem would have expected God to involve these Persian gentiles. Think about this for a moment. Babylon was the nations that destroyed Israel and led them away captive. Imagine the attitude toward those people in the average Jewish mind. How do you feel about Osama Bin Ladin and his people? These people were not a part of the commonwealth of Israel. They were not the covenant people. Yet a deep spiritual hunger inside them cried out for God. And God visited those people and used them to help finance the needs of baby Jesus.
There were vast differences between these gentiles and the faithful remnant in Israel that we talked about a few minutes ago. But they had one essential element in common—an openness and a hunger toward God. Outwardly their appearances and life-styles were very different. But God looks upon the heart and He found in both groups receptivity to His presence and to what He wanted to do. When the Jesus movement broke out in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s, some of the people God used were faithful church people who were praying and longing for a move of God. Other people God used were immoral, druggie, hippies. They were as different as daylight and dark. But when God showed up both opened their hearts and received. It is always like that. Some of the church people did not received because their hearts were not right. Some of the hippies continued in their drug use and immorality because they did not want to change. A visitation of God reveals what can not otherwise be seen—the real condition of people’s hearts.
In the Christmas story these two diverse groups (the faithful remnant of Israel and the distant inquirers from the East all had a wonderful part in what God was doing. A third group did not.
III. The Resistant and self-satisfied actually opposed the coming of the Lord.
The Magi went to Herod, the King, expecting to find a worshipper of God in the Jewish palace. Instead they encountered a worker of iniquity. Herod had life the way he wanted it. He had position, wealth, and power. His whole orientation toward the coming of the Lord was one of hostility and defense. He saw this visitation as a possible disturbance of his chosen life-style. The same is true of the religious crowd who catered to him—the scribes and priests who drew near to God with their lips; but their hearts were far from him.
One word was used to describe Herod when he heard about the visitation of God—Matthew 2:3 “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed...” A visitation of God will always disturb people. In the days of Moses it disturbed Pharaoh and all of Egypt. In the days of Elijah a visitation from God disturbed Jezebel. The status quo gets challenged when God shows up. There is always this challenging element in a visitation of God and there are always people who get disturbed. The problem is when they get disturbed they usually take it out on God’s messengers. Jezebel decided to kill Elijah. The elders at Philippi beat and imprisoned Paul and Silas when revival broke out there. God shows up in Bethlehem and Herod has all baby boys 2 years and younger slaughtered.
There is a messy side to revival. There are hardships that accompany a move of God. It is not all fun and games. God doesn’t send revival so we can have more fun. He doesn’t send revival so life will be easier. He sends revival to refresh us and equip us to do the work of the ministry—to fulfill the Great Commission. He sends revival to fire us up so that we willingly lay down our lives for others. We need the fire of God but as Watchman Nee once said, “The same fire that melts wax hardens clay.”[9] There are a great variety of reactions to a visitation from God. And some of them are not very positive at all. Even the prophet Jonah got upset over a move of God in Nineveh. God simply did not work the way he wanted Him to and Jonah got very upset. Revival can be upsetting because God doesn’t always do it the way we think He should. He doesn’t always do it the way we imagined it would be. You prayed and prayed for revival to come. And when it comes God chooses to use a new convert who hardly prayed at all. You thought you would be the key instrument. This guy doesn’t deserve it at all. Exactly--because it’s all by grace anyhow. And God can do it anyway He wants through anybody He wants. When we’re praying for revival we have to be sure that our motives are pure. Otherwise we might wind up being one of the disturbed ones.
Before I leave this group we would all do well to pause and ask ourselves the question. God, do I long for your presence and your will so passionately that if you disturb my comfortable life I will not be disturbed with You. If you use me or don’t use me I will remain loyal to you. God, how selfish is my desire for revival? How unselfishly am I longing for it? Is my prayer about me and my desires or is it about Your glory and the souls You long to bring into Your kingdom? Herod was disturbed and became a resister to what God was doing.
But by far the vast majority fell into the fourth and final category.
IV. The Indifferent and Pre-occupied.
We have focused on people who were at least aware that something was going on. Herod and the religious rulers in Jerusalem were aware and resistant. The Magi were aware and curious[10]. The faithful remnant was aware and cooperative. But all of those together were a small minority. Think about it for a moment. Bethlehem was so crowded that there was no room in the inn. Mary had to give birth to Jesus in a barn. Hundreds of people brushed by Mary and Joseph in the streets of Bethlehem and were totally oblivious to anything special going on. The innkeeper obviously didn’t think anything special was happening. Had he grasped the significance of this visitation he would have given them his room.
The way this visitation happened it was possible to be standing right beside it and miss it altogether. We usually assume that if God really showed up we couldn’t help but notice it. But that’s not always the case. God has a way of hiding His glory so that only the pure in heart can see it. He hides it in a 15 year old Jewish girl named Mary, who is not famous and is probably not considered special by most people. He hides it in a barn—the last place people would look for the King of Kings. He later hides it in a carpenter working with his hands. The natural tendency of people is to look on outward appearances and then make a determination. Is it big? Is it exciting? Is it successful? Surely God is there. No, he is there with a young couple who can’t even get a room.
Some people try to find God in a certain mode of worship—in certain manifestations—especially in the places they found Him before. But God is multi-dimensional and is not confined to a particular outward expression. He is not always in the still small voice. Sometimes He’s in the dance and shout of triumph. He is not always in the demonstrative celebration. Sometimes He is in the still quietness of deep meditation. Appreciate the past. Build upon the past. But live in the present and find God there. God, what are you doing now and how can I get in on it?
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”[11] Heart condition is the key to discerning a visitation of God. “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Prov 4:23 (NKJV) The best preparation for a visitation of God is a pure heart. Listen to what Peter told the crowd on the day of Pentecost. Acts 3:19
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” A turning from sin and to God gives us the right visibility to see what God is doing.
The greatest danger most of us face is not gross sin—not carousing and drinking on Saturday night. The greatest danger we face is preoccupation with good things—worthy goals, great opportunities. All those people on the streets of Bethlehem who encountered Mary and Joseph during that first Christmas, where were they going? What were they busy doing—buying and selling, marrying and divorcing, eating and drinking? Whatever had their attention robbed them of something absolutely wonderful! Whatever good thing they were pursuing could not have possibly been as valuable as the visitation of God right under their noses.
The fact that a visitation comes does not guarantee that I will get in on it or even be aware that it’s happening. I don’t want to be a part of the busy, pre-occupied crowd. I don’t want to be indifferent or insensitive to what God is doing. I want to follow the example of Mary and Joseph, Zacharias and Elisabeth, Simeon and Anna. I want to be spiritually awake, spiritually alert, and hungry for more of God. I want to make room for God in my life. I want to see what He is doing and participate in what He is doing. Don’t you?
Invitation
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
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[1] Bible quotes are in the New International Version unless otherwise indicated.
[2] BDAG (Bauer, Danker, Arndt, Gingrich) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd. ed. (The University of Chicago Press, 2000) p.378. This word contains a wealth of exegetical insight. It means to exercise oversight in behalf of and includes the imagery of dawning light that makes inspection possible, the divine inspection being for the benefit of the oppressed—all of which is a part of a visitation of God.
[3] Exoudus 3:16; 4:31
[4] 2Chron. 5:13-14
[5] James 4:3
[6] Luke 1:34
[7] 1Thessalonians 1:9-10
[8] No one knows for certain where they were from but see The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible under Magi and Matt 2:1 reference in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
[9] From sermon entitled “The Contest on Mount Carmel; a Biblical Model for Revival” by Maurice McCarthy available at www.sermoncentral.com
[10] However, mere curiosity would hardly be sufficient to compel such an arduous trip. Surely there was a deep longing for spiritual reality as well.
[11] Matthew 5:8 Although I look forward to seeing the Lord in heaven I think the force of this verse is spiritual perception in this life.
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