Perspectives: The Visitation

Almost everyone loves a good visit. Living as remotely as we do here in Alaska, we regularly miss our loved ones that live far away. Especially here in the southeast, we understand the extra effort our friends and family must exert to come to the islands. How much more does our heavenly father reveal his great love for us by sending his only son to earth. But Jesus wasn’t a visitor, he became flesh and blood as a human to live among us. He was counted in the census and paid taxes just like the rest of us. He loved his home, his country, his job, his friends and his family just like we do.

Visitation: The appearance of a divine or supernatural being.

We find plenty of incidents recorded in God’s book when he arranged special and divine visitations. Angels typically delivered messages of blessing or judgement. God was always giving fresh information that related to the circumstances or issues of the day. (Extra-ordinarily, he also provided volumes of information on what is yet to come!) But right now, let’s consider the supreme message God has for us, here and now. What is God’s message for the war-ravaged age in which we now exist?  Jesus brought the message when he came, and it remains as fresh and final now as it was back then. And he also told us why he came in John chapter three. He came because the father sent him. God sent him because he loved us. He did not want us to perish, but to have eternal life. Jesus reiterated, he was sent to save us, not to condemn us.

However, the reception given to God when he became Emanuel (God with us) was not always the warmest of welcomes. But he already knew this could happen because God’s heavenly plan was to allow us to choose the way we would take. And for the multitudes who hunger and thirst to know him, he can be found when they agree with his plan and welcome his son. And so, Jesus was and remains a gentleman, knocking at the door of entry into our hearts. This is the visitation of God, and the golden opportunity of our lives, to choose Jesus and thus choose eternal life.  He is the hope of healing for our nation and the whole world.