A Week of Christmas, Day 2: Christ Came to Visit

Luke 1:68 (emphasis added).. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people."

Many of you who are reading this devotional may have a puzzled look on your face at the moment. Christ came to visit, what the heck does that mean? Was the only point of Christ coming down to earth so that he could have Christmas dinner with us, and then ascend back up to heaven? If that's the case, then what's the different between Christ and my grandma? I assure you, Christ's visitation is a lot more important that you grandma visiting you to have Chirstmas dinner (though, please note: your grandma is very important as well). But let us pause for a moment this morning to find out what Chirst's visitation is all about.

When the angel visited Mary, the angel told her to call him Immanuel, which means "God with us" (Matt. 1:23). Though we often breeze by this name of Jesus, we surely ought to take it to heart. In the Christmas season, we celebrate that Christ came down to be with his people. In the incarnation of Christ, God was no longer inaccessable. In the Old Testament, the only way to be in the presence of God was if you were the high priest (and even that only happened one day each year!). However, God coming down in human form changed all that. The God who once resided in the Holy of Holies in the temple was now in a manger outside of an inn.

However, a visitation implies that someone both comes for a short time and leaves, does it not? And Jesus certainly did leave us and ascend to heaven. Why did Jesus not stay with us? Note his words in John 16:7: "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you." Jesus came to pay the ransom for sin, which we looked at yesterday. His work on earth was to live a sinless life, die, and rise again in order that he might be the propitiation for our sins. Once this work was done, he need not be on the earth any longer. Rather, he had to leave in order that we could have the Holy Spirit.

So, have you considered this divine visitation? For it is truly the most important visit of anyone anywhere! Christ surely did in fact come to visit and redeem his people. What have you done with that fact? Have you responded to his great visitation by calling upon his name and having him save you from your sin? If so, have you continued to glorify him with all of the life that he has given you?

I encourage you this season to glorify God for his visitation.