He has Visited and Redeemed - NOW

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people…
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”
Luke 1:68;74-75 ESV

We so easily overlook stunning truths in our zeal to devour more of the word of God.  I love these times when God SLOWS ME DOWN and causes me to look more closely and intimately at what He has promised, and how that relates to what He is doing and has done.

There are number of remarkable things about this passage.  For one, the present tense is breathtaking.  John is just born, Mary is likely still 3 months away from giving birth to Jesus.  And yet, in a very real sense, He HAS visited His people.  Furthermore, Jesus is 33 years from the atoning act that would be the final source of our redemption, but He HAS redeemed His people.  Not just then and there.  Not just when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and caused the Holy Son to be conceived in her.  Not when the prophets announced again and again God’s intention to atone for the transgressions of His people, whether Jew or Gentile.  Not when God promised that the head of the serpent would be crushed and He shed the blood of animals to cover the nakedness of His disobedient children before He drove them out of Eden.  No, God HAS visited and redeemed His people from eternity past, before His word created a single atom that would become the matter of this world.  He CREATED with the intention of visiting and redeeming His people.

This present tense declaration of God’s salvation is everywhere in the scriptures.  One of the most meaningful for me is Psalm 65:3 - “When iniquities prevail against me, You atone for our transgressions.”  Do you see it there?  At the very moment when my sins are getting the better of me, God HIMSELF is right there with His redeeming visitation.  I need this every day, because every day I sin.  I need this every day, because every day I forget the reality and the GOODness of His visitation.

But why?  Why would THE Holy God choose to visit and redeem such a rebellious and useless bunch of ingrates?  Wretches, apostates, murderers and blasphemers, liars and thieves.  The best of us have fallen infinitely and irreversibly short of God’s perfect standard for His people.  Why bother?  Zechariah gives us a hint here in his profound prophetic declaration.  We’ve been delivered from the hand of our enemies to serve God’s purpose “without fear” – not out of duty or necessity, but out of the gratefulness of a heart that has been made holy and righteous by His redeeming sacrifice.  Because serving Him means being before Him, and not away from Him, ALL OUR DAYS – now and throughout all eternity!  What a joyful place to live!