They glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” (Luke 7:16 RSV)

    We are the “visited planet!” God has been here. While newer translations choose to translate the word differently, “visited” is the most literal, and maybe the most helpful. Luke 7 is about Jesus care for all sorts of people. Look at the list at the range defined in the first few verse: Jesus ministers to a powerful and respected Centurion and also to a grieving widow who has lost her son. A little later, we see Jesus enjoying a meal among religious leaders and affirming the faith of “sinful woman of the city.” The people recognize that God is present. That the Holy One has not forgotten them and that the One they worship cares for them wherever they are in society’s pecking order and whomever they are at this moment in their lives. “God has visited his people!” That’s the story of Jesus. It’s the power behind all the sentiment that seems to cover up the season. Listen to how the New Testament proclaims this:

The Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us. ... No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is truly God and is closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like. (John 1:14, 18 CEV)

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and he will be called Immanuel (meaning, God is with us).” (Matthew 1:23 NLT)

    This “visitation” is good news, something promised long ago to give God’s people hope in their darkest nights.

Here begins the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1 NLT)

This Good News was promised long ago by God through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. It is the Good News about his Son, Jesus, who came as a man, born into King David’s royal family line. And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 1:2-4 NLT)

This “visitation” is good news!

    But more than just hope, this “visit” by God brought with it freedom: freedom from sin and death, freedom to be God’s children, and freedom to be holy!

“Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21 NLT)

We were slaves to the spiritual powers of this world. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. (Galatians 4:3-5 NLT)

Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he made the universe and everything in it. The Son reflects God’s own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly. He sustains the universe by the mighty power of his command. After he died to cleanse us from the stain of sin, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God of heaven. (Hebrews 1:1-3 NLT)

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see-kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.

    Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. (Colossians 1:15-23 NLT)

    As we move through this period of the year when many turn their thoughts to a tiny baby lying in a feed box, let’s renew our commitment to know Jesus better and appreciate his gifts to us more fully. We’ve been visited by God himself! He wants us to know him. The best way for us to know him, is to know Jesus. So let’s look for Jesus in our Bibles by reading the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and let’s look for him in our daily lives as he makes himself known to us. (Next week, we’ll look at meeting Immanuel in our daily lives!)

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Title: "Our Visited Planet"
Author: Phil Ware
Publication Date: December 15, 2001

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