Recognizing the Time of Our Visitation.

Jesus wept. More than once. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grieve (Isaiah 53:3). What brought Him to tears? Well, certainly He cared about the grief of His loved ones who sorrowed over the death of Lazarus (John 11:35). The shortest verse in the whole Bible allows us to see His tender heart.

But now, we see that it was not only for believers He wept, but for unbelievers as well. Follow Luke’s account of what broke His heart just after the triumphant entry we call “Palm Sunday.”

Luke 19:37-38, 41-44. 37 As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, 38 shouting: "BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.

43 "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because . . .

you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

Jesus came to tears when he saw and heard the “religious” rejoicing of the crowds, who cried, “Hosana! Lord, save now!” But so many of these people were clueless as to what was about to take place that would “make for peace.” Rejection of the Son of God, ridicule, misjudgment, hatred, and the shouts of “Crucify Him!” The Lamb of God was about to take on the sins of the world – even the sins of this hypocritical, blind tumult. What would make for peace is stated by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Sadly, tearfully, Jesus describes the consequences that would befall the city of Jerusalem and its population as a result of their spiritual blindness. They were not spiritually ready for the promised Messiah, even though these people raise their collective voices in the words of Scripture to say, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 188:26).

This heart-breaking issue for Jesus was pointedly revealed: “. . . because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

They were guilty for not being readiness for the God’s promises of the Messiah’s coming to be fulfilled. They were not ready to receive Him, regardless of their hollow religious words and celebration.

The question for us is: Will we recognize the time of our visitation? The King is coming soon. Jesus taught that some will be ready, and some will not be. The Lord used the parable of ten virgins (Matthew 25) to make this clear. And as an application each day, will we be spiritually alert to the knocking, whispering voice of our Master at our heart’s door (Revelation 3:20), His personal, daily “visitation” to us?

The two states of readiness are related. I encourage you to know that if we recognize the daily hour of His sweet visitation, we will remain in readiness for the final hour of His “visitation,” that is, of the soon return of Christ at His second advent. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to prepare us to recognize the times of our visitation. It is time to look up in readiness to recognize that He may return at any time. Maybe today!