The Hour of God's Visitation

UV 4122/10000 The Hour of God’s Visitation They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you. Luke 19 v 44 Jesus wept at the sight of Jerusalem as He in His foreknowledge knew what was to befall Jerusalem and its inhabitants within a century. Jerusalem would be attacked, hemmed in from all sides, besieged, pillaged, torn down, destroyed. These terrible things would happen as the Jews did not recognize the Messiah. Centuries later, Hitler would also destroy six million Jews also for the same reason. It was revealed only to the Jews that the Messiah would be visiting, that God Himself would be dwelling among them and yet, they were blinded by tradition and lack of sensitivity to the truths of scripture. In fulfilment of the prophecy of Jesus, the temple, every building was torn down within seventy years leaving only the wall that is now recognized as the Wailing Wall to which Jews to this day turn in mourning and prayer every day. Like the Jews, we must not miss recognizing the voice of God, the hand of God, the visit of God in our lives. We must not miss recognizing the move of God, of Jesus, of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We need to weep, repent at our times of betrayal of God, of being blinded to His presence and His move in our lives. We need to hide in the wings of the Lord- word and prayer. He longs to take us under His wings to protect us from the contagion, the pestilence, the assaults, the attempts of the enemy to hem us in from all sides. We need to introspect and examine if the present pandemic and the pandemonium, the death toll, the destruction of increasing numbers of people, the economic stress and distress it has unleashed are part of the judgement of God as we did not recognize His visitation. When a king visits without prior intimation His subjects and they are not ready to receive him, he does not mind but when he has given advance notice and repeatedly, he expects the subjects to be fully prepared to welcome him, to honour him, to recognize his visit. We should be like the five maids whose lamps are polished and filled with oil, ready to receive the Master, the Bridegroom, the Landlord's Son, the Returning King. We must be ready for His inspection, His assessment.