The Long Awaited Visitation
Devotion
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.”
Notice two remarkable things from these words of Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband, in Luke 1.
First, nine months earlier, Zechariah could not believe his wife would have a child. Now, filled with the Holy Spirit, he is so confident of God’s redeeming work in the coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense: “he has visited and redeemed his people.” For the mind of faith, a promised act of God is as good as done. Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has a remarkable assurance: God “has visited and redeemed!” (Luke 1:68).
Second, the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a visitation of God to our world: The God of Israel has visited and redeemed. For centuries, the Jewish people had languished under the conviction that God had withdrawn: the spirit of prophecy had ceased; Israel had fallen into the hands of Rome. And all the godly in Israel were awaiting the visitation of God. Luke tells us that another old man, the devout Simeon, was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). Likewise, the prayerful Anna was “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).
These were days of great expectation. Now the long-awaited visitation of God was about to happen — indeed, he was about to come in a way no one expected.
©Desiring God. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-long-awaited-visitation
Prayer
“At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her! ”
Dear Lord Jesus, I’ve raced through this chapter in your nativity story too easily, but it brings tons of encouragement to me this morning. The image of John the Baptist leaping for joy in Elizabeth’s womb, just because he was in close proximity to you while you were in Mary’s womb, reminds me of another part of your story, thirty-three years later. On the night of your betrayal and arrest, just before going to the cross, you asked the Father to grant us the fullness of your joy (John 17:13). Astonishing… what a Savior you are. Let it be in my life, according to your prayer.
I am so thankful to know that nothing has to change in my world, and nobody has to be any different, for this prayer to be answered. I don’t need a different story, less suffering, or more guarantees; I don’t need a different family of origin, better health, or another job; I don’t need to live in a different era or even in a different neighborhood, to receive your joy. The joy you givetranscends (and transforms) tears, circumstances, and heartaches.
Jesus, throughout Advent, I want to give you more worship than whining, and more gratitude than grumbling. Just knowing you, or rather, being known and loved by you, makes us incalculably rich. For “I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Who do I have in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:23-26) So very Amen I pray, in your near and joy-igniting name.
©Scotty Smith. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scotty-smith/a-prayer-for-receiving-the-transcendent-joy-of-jesus-presence/