Has Jesus Visited You? Part 2 – Luke 1:77-80

The last portion of Zacharias’ prophecy is all about Jesus. In God’s mercy, He has sent the “sunrise,” who is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. God provided what man has needed the most- salvation. Zacharias’ prophecy tells us the two purposes of Jesus’ visitation: 1) to shine upon those who sit in darkness, and 2) to guide our feet in the way of peace.

When Jesus visits your heart, there is light. This light is revelatory and sudden. We never expected to be saved, but just like the prodigal son who in a moment realized he could return to his father, we too saw the salvation of God as He shined the light of Jesus into our hearts. Jesus is the light. Nothing can be hidden from Him. He reveals God Himself to us, because He is God. Jesus is the only true light- the very source of light. All things come from Him, and without Him nothing has been made that was made. Wherever Jesus visited during His ministry on earth, there were miracles, salvation, and life that came with Him. Likewise, when Jesus visits the heart of a man, something truly remarkable happens- he is left with the nature of God.

Why does Jesus need to visit us?
Zacharias describes man as those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. To “sit” in this context implies a sad and hopeless state. It is a spiritual tragedy that is aptly illustrated by the lame beggar who needed to be carried. We were sitting in sin with no desire nor power to move from our hopeless state. In other words, we were sitting in total depravity. Total depravity does not mean that we live in the most evil way we possibly could. God by His grace restrains us from falling into acts of the most heinous sins that our hearts are capable of. Nor does it mean that man has no ability of discerning right from wrong, or of doing any good. Total depravity means that the corruption we inherited from Adam has affected every aspect of our nature. It is the internal corruption of our whole being. None is righteous, no, not one. In our total depravity, we can do nothing to please God. Good deeds of unbelievers can never please God because they never proceed from faith. This is the bottom line- men are totally depraved because they don’t do anything out of faith in Jesus Christ.

You must understand your total depravity to be able to see the good of Jesus’ visitation. The moment you believe you have something good you can offer to God, your salvation is powerless. We are saved out of self- self-righteousness, self-dependence, self-aggrandizement. Salvation is not self-generated. We were sitting in darkness since we were born- in ignorance, in sin, and in eternal misery. The darkness is powerful. We were spiritually blind, enslaved by Satan and the world. But when Jesus visits, there is a total transformation. We become children of light. We put truth above everything, and no matter what we lose, we choose Christ because He is the truth.

Our salvation is not abstract or impractical. It must directly affect every part of our lives every day- our marriages, our businesses, our relationships.

Jesus visited us to shine upon us who were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. By God’s mercy, we now live in the light. This is the gospel.