God Has Visited His People Today

Meditations in the Season of Epiphany

February 11, 2022

God Has Visited His People Today

When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said.

Luke 7:13

Read: Luke 7:11-17

It has been my experience that Christians are influenced more by the vision captured in the sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (Jonathan Edwards, 1741), than with our reading for today. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the “only begotten Son” of God (John 3:16 KJV). Colossians 2:9 tells us that, “in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.” In describing his ministry, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does” (John 5:19. See also John 5:30, 8:28). So Jesus is God in human form. In Jesus, you see the very heart, the compassion, the love of God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

When Jesus was celebrating with friends at a wedding, God was showing him how to turn the water into wine. When Jesus was chatting with the culturally despised Samaritan woman at the well, God was giving him the words to say. When Jesus hung out with women and children, ate with sinners, and healed the Centurion’s servant, he was following the lead of his compassionate Father, whose mercy never ends, and whose compassion encompasses all that He has created. Some people see Jesus standing between humans and an angry God. Yet the Bible teaches us that all the compassion that flowed from Jesus first flowed from the heart of God.

My Takeaway: On February 2, I wrote that I always want to offer God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe, and that I want every experience of worship to grip me with wonder and awe. Today’s passage ends with the people who witnessed Jesus raising the widow’s son from the dead proclaiming, “God has visited his people today.” (v.16) Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our congregations stood after the benediction and in one voice proclaimed: “God has visited his people today.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.