Christmas is a time to visit. No one wants to be alone at Christmas.
During the Christmas season, you’ll probably have visitors at your house and you’ll probably visit the homes of others. Some of those visits will involve a trip across town; some may require a long trip. Some visits will be based on friendship; some will be journeys out of duty. You’ll be sad when some of your visitors leave, others may overstay their welcome!
How did the custom of visiting at Christmas start? We know the custom of candles at Christmas stems from Jesus coming as the Light into a dark world. The practice of giving gifts comes from the wise men giving gifts. The custom of visiting is also rooted in the Christmas story. Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, the shepherds visited Jesus and so did the wise men.
But the thought of visiting goes deeper than that. It’s rooted in what happened when Jesus came to earth.
1. ENCOUNTER THE HEAVENLY VISITOR
The greatest visit that anyone ever made took place when Jesus came to earth. No one ever travelled so far to make a visit. No one ever made such meticulous arrangements for a visit. No one ever went through such a change in order to make a visit. When Jesus was born, God paid a visit to earth.
For years, people looked for the day when God would visit his people. King David asked, What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? David knew the day would come when God would visit his people. He prayed, O visit me with thy salvation. (Psalm 106:4).
Where did the Visitor start his visit?
When Jesus came, there was no fanfare. There was no PR department to announce his arrival, no grand ballroom for a reception, no advance men to prepare the media and there was no security guard to protect him.
His visit wasn’t to the home of a rich person or a religious leader. The angels had to rustle up some shepherds to take notice. God had to rearrange the constellations to get the wise men to come to see the Visitor.
His earthly visit started in obscurity. His visit wasn’t to Rome or Jerusalem but rather to insignificant Bethlehem. Today we glamorize Bethlehem but there’s nothing pretty or attractive about the town. It’s just a small town on a rocky hillside. It is interesting to us only because Jesus was born there. It’s the birth of this Visitor that’s given Bethlehem its significance, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, the Jewish people looked down on Bethlehem and they ridiculed the town.
But the prophet said the visit would be to Bethlehem. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times. (Micah 5:2).
Micah said, Bethlehem, you are small. Bethlehem, you’re insignificant in the minds of many people. Bethlehem, people don’t pay much attention to you, but Bethlehem, the Son of God will start his earthly visit will start in your town.
So the Visitor was born Bethlehem, placed in a manger, in a grotto, one of the caves in the side of the Judean hills.
That tells me there’s no person or place that’s insignificant in God’s eyes. God has a different value system than the world. God doesn’t look at people the way the world does. The Visitor came for everyone. Each of us can encounter him. No one is insignificant.
Where did this Visitor come from?
Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was at home in heaven with his Father. There was never a time when Jesus did not exist; he was there when the world was created. His life did not begin at Bethlehem.
But he never before had a body. He was like the Holy Spirit. He was a real person, but he had no physical body. How could he visit earth? How could he interact with humans?
God, the Father, solved that problem. Jesus said, A body hast thou prepared for me. (Hebrews 10:5). The heavenly Father made the arrangements for Jesus to have a body to use while he was on earth. Jesus visited earth in a body his Father had prepared for him.
Jesus was not conceived in the natural way. The angel said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born of you will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35).
Who was this Visitor?
Perhaps you have visited some important people in their homes. Possibly, some important people have visited in your home. What marks this Christmas Visitor as different? What makes him significant?
John said, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning… The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. (John1:1-2, 14).
The angel said, Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. (Luke 1:30-31).
The angel said, He will be great. He declared he would be great in his character, great in his mission, great in his teaching, great in his example, great in his death and resurrection and great in the salvation he provides.
Christmas means that God has visited us. Jesus, the Great One, paid a visit to our homes. He is Immanuel, God with us. The eternal God came down, limiting himself to time and space and visited us.
2. EMBRACE THE HEAVENLY VISITOR
People make visits for a variety of reasons. Some visits are for pleasure, some visits are out of duty and some visits are made out of habit. What should our response be to this Visitor? We need to embrace him.
This Christmas we will make visits for one of three main reasons.
Experience friendship. We enjoy being with friends at Christmas. It’s a time to get together to laugh, reminisce, eat and play games with our friends and families.
Exchange gifts. We enjoy exchanging gifts with those we love. As a young boy, I remember my grandparents coming to the house with boxes of gifts.
Express love and kindness. At Christmas we visit the needy, the elderly and the bereaved. It’s a time to show love to others who may be forgotten.
These are the same reasons God visited us in the person of Jesus Christ.
i. Jesus came to be our Friend.
Yes, Jesus is holy and majestic. Yes, God is awesome and powerful. But God also wants to be our friend. Jesus said to his followers, You are my friends. (John 15:14).
Jesus came to be our friend. He’s a friend who is closer than a brother, a friend in our times of need and a friend who will share life with us. He came to be our friend when we are alone. Therefore, we receive him. We embrace him.
ii. Jesus came to give us a gift.
We exchange gifts with friends at Christmas, but the gift the heavenly Visitor gives is not a material gift. His gifts aren’t wrapped with ribbons and bows. His gifts cannot be measured in monetary terms. He himself is the gift.
People didn’t recognize him as a gift. Jesus said to the woman at the well, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. (John 4:10).
The writer to the Hebrews calls him the heavenly gift. In Romans, he’s the gift of eternal life, and in Corinthians, God’s indescribable gift.
iii. Jesus came to express his love and show his kindness.
The Greek word in the Bible for visit is episkeptomai. It means much more than to drop by someone’s house for coffee. This word has the idea of caring so much that you deliberately go to a friend’s home in order to help. When you take a meal to a friend who is sick, you episkeptomai.
This is what David meant and this is the way it is translated in modern translations. For example, the King James Version says, What is … the son of man that thou visitest him? The New International Version says, What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 106:4).
Why did Jesus visit earth? He came because he saw our need and cares for us. He deliberately came to earth to do something about our moral predicament. He saw us without strength and that we are incapable of helping ourselves. He saw our sin and our need of a Savior. And in response to our needs, he visited us.
3. EXPECT JESUS TO MAKE ANOTHER VISIT TO EARTH
When Jesus came to planet earth 2000 years ago, it was only a visit; he didn’t come to stay. He was here just 33 years. He grew up in the home of Mary and Joseph and then there were three years of ministry. He was a teacher, a miracle worker and a discipler of men and women. Then he was crucified. He died to be our Savior.
But that wasn’t the end. Following his resurrection, he returned to heaven, ending his earthly visit. But that’s still not the end of the story. This Visitor is coming again. The angel said, This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11).
Peter described it this way. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12).
Peter said the Visitor is going to make another visit. He’s coming back to take his children to heaven, to establish his kingdom and to judge those who have rejected him.
We make preparations when we know people are coming to visit us. It’s even more important to make preparations for the next visit of King Jesus. We prepare by making our peace with God, accepting his lordship and choosing to follow him.
When visitors come to our house, they knock at the door. They wait for us to open the door and let them in. The heavenly Visitor is just like that. He doesn’t barge into our lives. He knocks, he waits for us to open the door and he waits for us to let him in.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him and he with me. (Revelation 3:20).
A complete directory of articles can be found at http://calsinsights.com/
You can receive this material regularly by email – just fill in your email address at the bottom left side of the home page under subscription options and you will receive a copy of each new article as it is posted.
To forward the material to someone else, press the “share this” button and fill in an email address.
I appreciate all your comments and suggestions.