30th Mar 26 | 13:54
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LUKE 19 41-44 YOU DID NOT KNOW THE TIME OF YOUR VISITATION 03 The message of the under-shepherds
📖 Luke 19:41-44
23Jan2021 - *The message of the under-shepherds* - _Luke 19:41-44_ - YOU DID NOT KNOW THE TIME OF YOUR VISITATION 3 – Bible reading: _Luke 1:77-79_
_Luke 19:41-42 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, (42) saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes._
What does the Lord long for, in His people? _Psalm 81:13 “Oh, that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways!_
_Deuteronomy 5:29 Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!_
The Lord longs for humanity to come into His habitat, where God is the atmosphere in whom we live and move and have our being. In doing so it will be well with us when we live in a surrendered and submitted relationship to Christ.
Man’s response to the desire of God’s heart has been refusal. We want to live by our own will and not God’s. Man has not understood the latter end of our choice to rebel against God and His ways.
Our latter end is eternal torment, which the Lord does not want for anyone.
_Deuteronomy 32:28-29 “For they are a nation void of counsel, Nor is there any understanding in them. (29) Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!_
In being in the habitat of God our peace, our Shalom, would have been like a river. _Isaiah 48:17-18 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go. (18) Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea._
This was the message of John the Baptist, to prepare people to receive the King and come back into the habitat of God. His message was to let people know that the Dayspring from on high is visiting. This is our message too, as the church, to our nations, to our societies, to our people.
_Luke 1:77-79 To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, (78) Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; (79) To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace."_
This was what the angels told the shepherds. _Luke 2:10-14 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy *which will be to all people*. (11) For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (12) And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." (13) And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: (14) “Glory to God in the highest, *And on earth peace, goodwill toward men*!"_
This is our message as the church to the world. The good news for man, that man can come back into the fullness of life in Jesus.
Yet, when we share this message to people, we find rejection and rebuttal. As much as man refuses God, he goes further and further into blindness.
_Isaiah 6:9-10 And He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' (10) "Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed."_
In the midst of this depressing situation, when a person turns to the Lord, the blindness in his heart is taken away. _II Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away._
Let us, therefore, press on, in sharing the love of Jesus to a hard-hearted world around us, with prayer, praying that God would grant them repentance and that they would turn to the Lord. When they turn to the Lord, the veil over their eyes will be taken away.
*Thought to ponder*
```II Corinthians 5:20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.```