“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.”
– Luke 1:68
Now there’s a ton we could talk about with this verse. This is prophecy from Zechariah.
Luke 1:68 Is a Prophesy about John the Baptist’s Ministry
He’s filled with the Holy Spirit and he prophesied about how John the Baptist would be a forerunner for Jesus, how God was coming to save his people. Listen to the language, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.” So this is the gospel that we love and hold onto and again, we never tire of. At the same time, I want to camp out on this word visited because it’s the same exact word that the Holy Spirit inspires James to use in James 1:27, “Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless as this to look after or visit orphans and widows in their distress.”
It’s the same word there that’s translated. Visited here in Luke 1:68 that’s translated visit or look after orphans and widows in James 1:27. So when you read James 1:27 about orphans and widows, what does it mean to look after or visit them? Well, let’s hear how the Bible uses this word. This is how the Bible describes God coming to care for, provide for, save, redeem his people. So when it comes to our posture toward orphans and widows in the world, we don’t just pay them a visit every once in a while. We care for them. We go to them and love for them to help provide for their needs.
Luke 1:68 Is an Encouragement to care for the Needy
So yes, this is why we bring orphans into our homes, why it should be, must be a priority in the body of Christ to care for children in need of adoption or foster care. While also I should add to the extent possible, caring for genuinely and helpfully caring for their moms and or dads whenever, however that is possible.
And then why it must be a priority for the body of Christ to, according to instructions in 1 Timothy, look after widows, to go to them, to be with them, to care for them, to provide in a way that reflects the father’s love in Jesus. For us, this is what we do as the church with orphans and widows. So how is this playing out in your church and the body of Christ around you?
I certainly wouldn’t say and can’t point to a verse that would say everyone needs to adopt or foster or start a ministry to widows. But this is our responsibility together as the body of Christ, to look after, to visit, to care for orphans and widows in a way that reflects God’s coming in Jesus to care for us. God, help us to carry out religion that is pure faultless, blameless before you, pleasing to you to visit, look after orphans and widows.
God, I don’t presume to know how this plays out in every single person’s life who’s listening to this right now, but I pray for your spirit to apply this word according to your will. I pray that you would encourage, strengthen, and help those who are caring for orphans and widows in different ways. I know so many stories and so many challenging stories.
Praying for Orphans and Widows
God, we pray for all the unique needs of orphans and widows. May they know that you are their father and their protector and their provider, and may they know that through your people, through your church, God I pray that you would prompt some right now by your spirit to care for orphans and widows in specific ways to look after, to visit, to make this a priority in their lives and for all of us in our churches that you would help us to make this a priority.
We praise you for coming to us, Lord Jesus, for visiting us to redeem us. We say with Zechariah, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for visiting and redeeming your people. And we pray that you would help us to be a reflection of your redemption, of your visiting love and care, and a world full of children and widows in need around us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
