The Day of Visitation

Introduction

Luke 19:41–44 KJV 1900

41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Pray - Be Seated

Body

Luke 1:68 KJV 1900

68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; For he hath visited and redeemed his people,

Scripture speaks of two types of Divine Visitation mankind might experience.

The day of Christ’s visitation is a blessed, wonderful event for those who are His covenant people.

It is God’s desire and perfect will to visit continually with His people.

To bless them and have fellowship with them.

In Luke 19, we read of the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem.

This is to be His moment, where the people recognize at last that Jesus is their Lord and Christ.

he comes through the cities of Bethany and Bethphage, and here has His disciples secure a donkey for Him to ride into Jerusalem on.

Now riding, He descends the Mount of Olives, passes over the brook Kidron, and rides into Jerusalem.

He enters either through the Golden Gate or the Lion’s Gate (there’s some debate), but in any case, He entered Jerusalem in the Temple area.

Before He entered the city, probably as He was descending the Mount of Olives, the Bible says He beheld the city.

In our scripture text, we read of a very sobering event.

Jesus beheld the city.

Jerusalem was the city God had chosen to place His Name there.

2 Chronicles 6:6 KJV 1900

6 But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

Jesus wept over the city.

Their lack of knowledge of those things that bring true peace.

Because these things were hid on purpose from their eyes. They were willingly ignorant.

Because they rejected their God — again!

Review the sordid history of Israel.

Jeremiah 2:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Jeremiah 2:11–13 KJV 1900

11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. 12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. 13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Jeremiah 3:1 KJV 1900

1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord.

Jesus tells them what will befall them because of these things.

Their enemies will come upon them and besiege them.

Their enemies will triumph over them.

Their enemies will destroy both them, and their city.

Jesus concludes this will be because they failed to understand that God had visited them.

They fail to recognize this again and again.

Matthew 23:29–36 KJV 1900

29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? 34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: 35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

This was THE visitation thought.

Where God came to His people in the flesh as the prophesied Messiah.

Where Israel rejected their God for the last time. The culmination of their failures as a nation.

Where God in judgment revokes the land given to them by promise to Abraham.

God has the authority, and the right, to judge. God is not a fruit inspector. He’s the righteous judge of all the earth.

This is the second type of Divine Visitation. The day God will visit the sins of the people upon their own heads.

Jeremiah 50:27 KJV 1900

27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: Woe unto them! for their day is come, The time of their visitation.

Isaiah 10:3 KJV 1900

3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, And in the desolation which shall come from far? To whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory?

Jeremiah 23:12 KJV 1900

12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: They shall be driven on, and fall therein: For I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

Isaiah 26:14 KJV 1900

14 They are dead, they shall not live; They are deceased, they shall not rise: Therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, And made all their memory to perish.

Conclusion

Luke 1:68 KJV 1900

68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; For he hath visited and redeemed his people,

Job 10:12 KJV 1900

12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, And thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

This morning God has visited His people.

Not in anger or in judgment, but in love and in a desire to bless.

Not to criticize or condemn, but to draw nigh to you. To fellowship with you.

To preserve and to redeem His covenant people.

To save those that need a Savior.

To heal those who need healing.

To comfort those who need comforting.