The Gospel of Matthew 4:12-17
12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: 16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.” 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Commentary
Having
overcome every temptation by the devil, Jesus while still in Judea hears of the
imprisonment of John the Baptist, Jesus’ forerunner. Now John’s imprisonment occurred
when Herod, the Roman appointed ruler over the Jews would first imprison and later
by the scheming of his illegitimate wife behead John the Baptist for his
rebuking Herod for his taking his own brother’s wife as his own wife, as well
as for all the evils that Herod had been rebuked by John for doing (see Matt.
14:1-12). Therefore with John the
Baptists’ arrest his ministry ends, and Jesus’ ministry in Galilee begins.
Now Jesus’ ministry there will begin with His returning to the very region He
grew up in, Nazareth. Now in Luke’s Gospel we read how the people of Nazareth will
reject our Lord and Savior and then try to kill Him when He declares to them their
own unbelief, inferring to them that there will be believing Gentiles (like in
times past) that will be saved before they (see Luke 4:14-30). And so with
Jesus rejection at Nazareth He moves on from Nazareth to the city of Capernaum
(Herod’s capital city on the Northern shore of the Sea of Galilee) in the land
of Zebulon and Naphtali (vs. 13), that it might be fulfilled which the prophet
Isaiah spoke, saying: “The people who sat
in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of
death
Light has dawned.” vs. 16
Thus
the Lord Jesus Christ call and command is for everyone, everywhere to repent,
for the Kingdom of God is at hand! For in this spiritual war there is only one
side to be on, and that is the side of God’s everlasting love and life found
only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore I urge you to repent and
believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ for yourself that you too might become
a child of God (John 1:12) and be delivered out of the realm of darkness and
conveyed into the kingdom of God’s Son’s love (Col. 1:13).
Therefore
don’t delay be reconciled to God today!
Scripture Citation
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
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