Advent | Meet Him At The Manger by Stuart and Jill BriscoeSample

Visiting Made Real

Why has Christ come? What has He come to do on His visit? Consider again the song of Zachariah:

"And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest:

   for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people

   by the remission of their sins,

through the tender mercy of our God;

   whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

To give light to them that sit in darkness

   and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace." (Luke 1:76-79 KVJ)

The Greek word for visit means something like a doctor who is coming to see a sick patient. Somebody decides that this person is so sick the doctor must move in to take care of the person. The doctor is saying, "I need to visit this person, to observe her, to reflect on this illness, to find a cure." The Dayspring on High, Jesus, the Dawn of Heaven, came to our world to stay overnight, to settle in, to look at this sin-sick person called the human race. He came for a long-term visit in order to assess the damage, diagnose the problem, and establish a cure.

We have been visited by the Dawn from Heaven—not just for a brief time, but long enough to make a difference. And Jesus came not that we might be host to Him, but to settle in and take care of us.

Jesus did bring some of His "home" with Him, however, which is heaven in our hearts now and in eternity to come.

Dawn in my darkness, deep in my heart,

Tell all the shadows to swiftly depart.

Send out your love light, dispelling despair,

Dawn in my darkness, tell me you’re there.

Dawn in the drabness of dreary days,

Color my life with perpetual praise.

Paint with your paintbrush a heavenly view.

Dawn in my darkness, tell me it’s you.

Dawn in my darkness, bring me new hope,

Wake up my spirit and help me to cope.

Use me to tell others, just who you are.

My dayspring, my sunrise, my bright morning star.

Dawn in My Darkness, Jill Briscoe © 1996