Matthew 4:12-25 The King begins His transformative ministry

theological

More in Matthew. Yesterday's passage is here, the first in the series is here.

Matthew 4:12-25 wrote:

12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.”

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

The King brings light into a dark world:
We see that Jesus comes back from the wilderness and we see that John is arrested (verse 12). This is the prompt for Jesus to begin His ministry. The Isaiah 9 passage shows us that Jesus is a light in a dark world. Sin has caused John to be arrested, sin causes so much frustration in this life. It ultimately brings death. Jesus is our hope in the face of death (verse 16). That hope comes because later in Isaiah 9 we're told that Jesus is the Wonderful Counsellor, and mighty God. Our hope requires us to submit to Him in repentance (verse 17). Note repentance here is good news, it takes us from a dark world to follow the rightful King of all creation.

The King invites us to serve Him:
We see that Jesus goes to the Sea of Galilee and implores Peter and Andrew to serve Him (verse 18), not by fishing for fish but by fishing for men (verse 19). Immediately they drop everything for Him. He goes to James and John and they do the same. The gospel has a clear message "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (verse 17). We are called to reach others. Jesus' ministry is an evangelistic ministry.

The King shows us the root of our problem:
We see that Jesus goes into synagogues to preach this message but also to heal. These two works are not mutually exclusive. As Jesus preaches He points people to their sin and the sin of the world. This sin brought death, it brings suffering, illness and decay into the world through the Fall. We saw in the last passage that Jesus overcame the temptation that caused Adam to fall into sin meaning that only Jesus can break this pattern. These healings are a picture of what is to come.

Some thoughts for prayer:
Father, please help us to see that Jesus brings light into our dark world.

Please help us to see that we should be willing to give up everything to serve you and to plead with others to come to you for salvation.
Thank you that Jesus succeeded where Adam failed, thank you that this new beginning is the beginning of a work that will put death, suffering and illness to an end. Thank you for the hope of a new relationship with you.


As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. If I've missed anything it'd be great to chat about it.

antiskeptic

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theological wrote: »

More in Matthew. Yesterday's passage is here, the first in the series is here.




The King brings light into a dark world:
We see that Jesus comes back from the wilderness and we see that John is arrested (verse 12). This is the prompt for Jesus to begin His ministry. The Isaiah 9 passage shows us that Jesus is a light in a dark world. Sin has caused John to be arrested, sin causes so much frustration in this life. It ultimately brings death. Jesus is our hope in the face of death (verse 16). That hope comes because later in Isaiah 9 we're told that Jesus is the Wonderful Counsellor, and mighty God. Our hope requires us to submit to Him in repentance (verse 17). Note repentance here is good news, it takes us from a dark world to follow the rightful King of all creation.

The King invites us to serve Him:
We see that Jesus goes to the Sea of Galilee and implores Peter and Andrew to serve Him (verse 18), not by fishing for fish but by fishing for men (verse 19). Immediately they drop everything for Him. He goes to James and John and they do the same. The gospel has a clear message "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (verse 17). We are called to reach others. Jesus' ministry is an evangelistic ministry.

The King shows us the root of our problem:
We see that Jesus goes into synagogues to preach this message but also to heal. These two works are not mutually exclusive. As Jesus preaches He points people to their sin and the sin of the world. This sin brought death, it brings suffering, illness and decay into the world through the Fall. We saw in the last passage that Jesus overcame the temptation that caused Adam to fall into sin meaning that only Jesus can break this pattern. These healings are a picture of what is to come.

Some thoughts for prayer:
Father, please help us to see that Jesus brings light into our dark world.

Please help us to see that we should be willing to give up everything to serve you and to plead with others to come to you for salvation.
Thank you that Jesus succeeded where Adam failed, thank you that this new beginning is the beginning of a work that will put death, suffering and illness to an end. Thank you for the hope of a new relationship with you.


As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. If I've missed anything it'd be great to chat about it.

I know that a sin nature or, post-salvation, a sin flesh is the area on which sin exerts it tempting force. I wonder though what it was in Jesus (and Adam) that sin could exert the attractive force that is temptation.

If you say Jesus was tempted, as in: the Devil put propositions to him then that's one thing.

But if you say Jesus was tempted, as in, he experienced a force, an attraction to the proposition, yet didn't give in to it, then that's another thing.

You couldn't say Jesus was tempted unless he experienced what it is to be temptef. Although you could say the Devil tempted Jesus.

But what was there in Jesus that could be attracted to sin. Given he had no sin nature and no sin flesh?

theological

Jesus was human, and as a result could be tempted is probably what I'd say. I can't really offer much more than what the Bible says on this which is that earlier in chapter 4 Jesus was tempted. Hebrews picks this up also to say that Jesus can empathise with our sufferings because He has also experienced them (Hebrews 2:17-18, Hebrews 4:14-15).

Edit: I think it is entirely possible to say both of the forms of temptation you mention were experienced.

antiskeptic

theological wrote: »

Jesus was human, and as a result could be tempted is probably what I'd say. I can't really offer much more than what the Bible says on this which is that earlier in chapter 4 Jesus was tempted. Hebrews picks this up also to say that Jesus can empathise with our sufferings because He has also experienced them (Hebrews 2:17-18, Hebrews 4:14-15).

Edit: I think it is entirely possible to say both of the forms of temptation you mention were experienced.

But how could he be? He had no sin nature so the route whereby we are tempted wasn't available to him. The Devil's efforts ought have bounced off him like ball bearings off an ocean liner.

Scripture might say he was. But Scripture also says it can't have been the way we are tempted.

So how?

theological

antiskeptic wrote: »

But how could he be? He had no sin nature so the route whereby we are tempted wasn't available to him. The Devil's efforts ought have bounced off him like ball bearings off an ocean liner.

Scripture might say he was. But Scripture also says it can't have been the way we are tempted.

So how?

I tend to avoid terms like "sin nature" as it isn't a concept explained in respect to Jesus in Scripture. What we do know is that Jesus was without sin and Jesus was able to resist temptation. With this understanding it is possible that Jesus could:
1) Have been tempted in so far as the Devil offered him the proposition.
2) Have been tempted in so far as He could have had an attraction to the proposition.
But:
3) Was able to resist the temptation unlike Adam.


In any case, we're not told this level of detail in Scripture, which means I'm pretty happy to leave it to God.