2/16/10 Luke 7
God has Visited
(Lk 7:16)16Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”
Has anyone of great importance every visited your home or town? You most certainly remember who it was and if you were old enough you probably remember why they came. I remember as a teenager when Pope John Paul II came to Detroit, Michigan. I remember every time you would turn on the news for weeks prior to his visit everything was about his coming. Preparation and plans were being made on where and when things would happen. I remember that He addressed the people, over ninety thousand of them, at the Pontiac Silverdome which was about twenty minutes from where I lived. Are family did not attend nor do I think we had any desire to attend.
Here in Luke 7 Jesus shows up at a city called Nain, which is believed to be about 6 miles southeast of his childhood town of Nazereth and 25 miles southwest of Capernaum where He is coming from. The text does not say, but it does not appear that Jesus let anyone know about His arrival, but he shows up in this town just as they are having a funeral for a young man. Jesus has his disciples and a crowd of followers with Him and He interrupts this sizeable funeral procession and tells his mother “Do not weep.” He speaks to the dead man and tells him to arise. Then this young man sat up and began to speak. To witness this would have been amazing. The people were gripped with fear and began glorifying God. This was the first miracle of raising someone from the dead that Jesus wrought.
As Jesus entered Nain the towns people probably had no idea who Jesus was, but after this they began saying “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!” For those of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we know that He is God, but there are thousands, in fact millions who do not. They are spiritually dead (Eph 2:1). Think if Jesus would see our brokenness over those souls and have compassion on us and visit us bringing with Him eternal life. It is my prayer that the Spirit of God would manifest Himself in Birchwood, a small out of the way town probably like Nain, but God chose to visit them and with His coming he brought life.
Prayer: Father, in heaven You are the one who looks down upon the whole earth knowing every place and town. I humbly ask that You would visit us in Birchwood, if we are unable to receive a visitation from You I pray that it would be somewhere close enough that we would receive the overflow of Your mighty Spirit. I pray that You would make us a people ready to receive the Spirit in those manifest ways that You have done in the past with congregations, towns, regions, and even nations. We are desperately sick and needy, spiritually. Will You come and heal us? Will You come and revive us? I know that we can expect great fear to encounter You in such away, but as a result there will be great worship. I still believe that You desire to come in such a way to Your people. You are invited. I ask this in the life giving name of Jesus, Amen.