Matthew 25:35–40: “For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I was naked and you gave Me clothing, I was sick and you took care of Me, I was in prison and you visited Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ And the King will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did this for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’”
You are looking at the word “visited.” We have been visited. God visited us. Remember, this is part of our series, going through this passage and showing that the things Jesus says, “You did to Me,” are things He Himself has done for us. We were sick and in prison, and He visited us.
Divine visitation. What is more of a divine visitation than this? The light from heaven dawned on us. That is why the disciples could say, “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). That is why the business is to proclaim Him. He has visited us. He visited us two thousand years ago on the cross. He rose again from the dead. He visited us. Divinity visited us. God became Man.
Look at the angels rejoicing at His birth (Luke 2:10–14). Joy to the world, because Christ has come. The shepherds felt the joy coming from the angels. They could not calm down. They could not take it easy. They had to go and see Him—the Savior of the world, the light of the world, salvation Himself.
Look at Simeon. He said, “Now, according to Your word, Sovereign Lord, permit Your servant to depart in peace. For my eyes have seen Your salvation” (Luke 2:29–30), while holding baby Jesus. Amazing. This is God in the flesh. God in the flesh. Do you believe in Him?
So when you see “I was in prison and you visited Me,” we can say: we were in prison, we were sick, and He visited us.
We were locked up in prison. That is why in Luke 4 Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19). In a way, all those phrases are repetitions of the same thing—saying the same reality in different ways: to proclaim jubilee, to proclaim freedom for those who are in prison.
We were in prison to sin, in prison under Satan’s power. When Jesus spoke about Himself, He said, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are safe. But when a stronger man attacks and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s armor in which he trusted and divides up his plunder” (Luke 11:21–22). Jesus Christ is the “stronger than he.” And He came. He came once to take away sin (Hebrews 9:26). He is coming again to signal the end of this age and the beginning of His eternal reign.
What we do now is proclaim Christ. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:18–19). Proclaim Christ. Tell about Jesus. He has visited us, and He has poured out His Spirit on us (Acts 2:33).
The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit’s work is to reveal Christ, to unveil Christ, to make Him real to you now—not just a figure from two thousand years ago. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16). He brought you out of that prison of sin and destruction and damnation.
God bless you. See you later.