9  The Light Dawns (4:12-17)

Now when He heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The Land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned.”

From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (4:12-17)

One of the most beautiful metaphors used to describe Jesus’ nature and character is that of light. It conveys the idea of the illuminating, truth-revealing, and sin-exposing ministry of the Son of God. After first presenting Jesus Christ as the creative Word of God, John tells us, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5). He then tells us that John the Baptist “came that he might bear witness of the light… the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man” (vv. 8-9). He continues to say that “this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (John 3:19-21).

Speaking of Himself, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Jesus spoke those words “in the treasury, as He taught in the temple” (v. 20). The Temple treasury was the outer court, the court of the women, and Jesus was there at the conclusion of the feast of Tabernacles. At that feast the Jews celebrated what they called the illumination of the Temple. A massive series of candelabra was placed in the middle of the court of the women, and for a week a great stream of light shinned out continuously—to commemorate the pillar of fire that led Israel during the wilderness wanderings under Moses. As Jesus entered the court of the women, the light had just been extinguished. The candelabra were still in place, but they now gave no light. Jesus’ declaration that He Himself was the light of the world that would never go out must have struck His hearers with great force.

In the Old Testament, walking in the light was often used as a figure of righteousness and obedience to God, and walking in darkness as a figure of wickedness and disobedience (see Prov. 2:13; 4:18-19; etc.). Now Jesus presents Himself as the embodiment of righteousness and godliness, the very “light of the world.” “While I am in the world,” He said, “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5), and again, “For a little while longer the light is among you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you” (12:35; cf. v. 46). Paul proclaimed, “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). Peter speaks of Christians as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

After the Fall, mankind had two “candles,” as it were, that continued to give light about God and His will—the candle of creation and the candle of conscience. But man paid little attention to either, preferring to walk in the darkness of his own corrupted will (see Rom. 1:18-21). In his sinfulness man continually extinguished the only two lights he had that revealed God’s nature and His will for His creatures.

Modern research has shown that, contrary to what had always been assumed, leprosy, now often called Hansen’s disease, does not itself cause the decay and deformity so often found in the extremities of its victims. The ulceration and decay are caused by abrasion, infection, external heat, and other secondary causes. The disease itself causes certain parts of the body to become insensitive to pain, and the person therefore has no warning of danger or harm. People with leprosy will therefore often reach into a fire to retrieve something, or will tear their feet to shreds walking on sharp stones they cannot feel.

The disease of sin has a similar effect. It desensitizes man’s spiritual and moral nature, destroying even the limited natural protection he has against evil, snuffing out the residual light that remains after the Fall. And Satan endeavors to shut out the light of the saving good news (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

Jesus Christ came not only to make man sensitive again to sin, but to restore the life and health that sin has destroyed. He came not only to reveal the darkness that sin causes, but also to bring the light that overcomes the darkness. That is how Matthew introduces the active ministry of Jesus: He is Himself the great light that has dawned upon mankind. As the aged Simeon said of Jesus as He held the infant Lord in his arms in the Temple, “My eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke 2:30-32; cf. Isa. 42:6; 49:6; 52:10).

We learn from the apostle John (1:19—4:42) that about a year elapsed between Jesus’ wilderness temptations and the events recorded in Matthew 4:12-17. Probably because it does not relate directly to Jesus’ kingship, that period is not mentioned by Matthew.

What Jesus did during that time was nevertheless significant. For some three days Jesus had remained near the Jordan where John was baptizing. During that time John gave progressively greater testimony to Jesus’ messiahship. The first day he spoke of Jesus as “He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:27). The second day he proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (v. 29) and “This is the Son of God” (v. 34). The third day, when John again declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” the two disciples of John who were with him left to follow Jesus (v. 35-37). In effect, John said, “The Messiah has come,” then, “Behold, the Messiah,” and finally, “Follow the Messiah.” Those two disciples of John, one of whom was Andrew, now became the disciples of Jesus (vv. 37-40).

John was a bridge between the Old Testament and the New, and that bridge had now almost completed its service. He himself would soon say of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). During that first year of Jesus’ ministry, John continued to preach, and their two ministries overlapped. As John’s work began to phase out, Jesus’ work began to build.

Among the other highlights of that year were Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), His cleansing of the Temple (2:12-25), His testimony to Nicodemus (3:1-21), the final public testimony of John the Baptist (3:22-36), and Jesus’ ministry in Samaria at Sychar (4:1-42).

In 4:12-17, Matthew picks up the story of that first year where the apostle John leaves off, giving three features of Jesus’ early ministry that show God’s perfect work through His Son. It was at the right time; it was in the right place; and it was the right proclamation.

THE RIGHT TIME

Now when He heard that John had been taken into custody, (4:12a)

In Matthew’s presentation, Jesus’ official ministry began when the herald of the King went to jail. The Son of God always worked on His Father’s divine timetable. He had, as it were, a divine clock ticking in His mind and heart that regulated everything He said and did. Paul affirms that “when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son” (Gal. 4:4). Jesus spoke of His hour as not having yet come (John 7:30; 8:20) and then of its having arrived (Matt. 26:45; John 12:23; 17:1).

Jesus chose not to use His supernatural powers to accomplish things that could be accomplished by ordinary human means. He submitted Himself to human limitations. Although He knew what was in every man’s heart (John 2:24-25), He learned of John’s imprisonment by common report, just as did everyone else. It was only when He heard of John’s arrest that He went back to Galilee.

John had been taken into custody by Herod Antipas and thrown into the dungeon at the palace at Machaerus, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. John’s reproof of Herod for his great wickedness, including the taking of his half-brother Philip’s wife, Herodias, for himself (14:3-4; Luke 3:19-20), cost the prophet his freedom and eventually his life. This non-Jewish Idumean was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea and, like his father before him, held office by Rome’s appointment. He was one of several sons (by several wives) of Herod the Great who were appointed over parts of the region ruled by their father before his death. Herodias was the woman—vile even by Roman standards—who would induce her daughter, Salome, to trick Herod into serving the head of John the Baptist on a platter before his guests at a royal dinner (14:6-11). The act was so unusually barbaric that even the hardened Herod himself “was distressed” (v. 9, NIV).

It is always dangerous to confront evil, and John’s fearless condemnation of moral wickedness in high places led to his being beheaded. With similar bravery John Knox of Scotland stood ground against a corrupt monarchy. Standing before the repressive and corrupt Queen Mary, who had just rebuked him for resisting her authority, he said, “If princes exceed their bounds, madam, they may be resisted and even deposed.”

John the Baptist’s imprisonment and death, just as his heralding the King of kings, were in God’s divine plan and timetable. The end of the herald’s work signaled the beginning of the King’s. Herod and Herodias believed they freely controlled their province, and certainly the destiny of the insignificant Jewish preacher who dared condemn them. It is amazing how the proud and arrogant think they act in perfect freedom to accomplish their selfish ends, when in truth their decisions and actions only trigger events that God scheduled before the foundation of the world.

THE RIGHT PLACE

He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The Land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned.” (4:12b-16)

Nothing is accidental or circumstantial in the Lord’s work. Jesus did not go from Judea, through Samaria, and into Galilee because He was forced to do so by Herod or by the Jewish leaders or because He had nowhere else to go. He left Judea because His work there was finished for that period of His ministry. He went through Samaria in order to bring light to the half-Jew, half-Gentile Samaritans. He then withdrew (anachre, used often to convey the thought of escaping danger) into Galilee because that was the next place where the divine plan scheduled Him to minister. By divine determination Jesus went to the right place at the right time.

When Jesus withdrew into Galilee after hearing of John’s arrest, it was not out of fear of Herod. He feared no man, and was surely no less brave than John. Had He wanted to escape possible trouble from Herod, He would not have gone to Galilee, because that, too, was under Herod’s control.

We again find additional information in John’s gospel. “When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John,. . . He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee” (John 4:1,3). Jesus left the lower Jordan region for Galilee because of the Jewish leaders, particularly the Pharisees, and not because of Herod. Though Jesus had not yet begun preaching, His close association with John the Baptist made Him suspect to the Pharisees and Sadducees, whom John had so scathingly rebuked (Matt. 3:7). Those religious leaders had come to hate John, but did not dare take action against him because he was so highly regarded by most of the people. Even several years after John’s death they would not speak ill of him for “fear [of] the multitude” (Matt. 21:26). They were therefore greatly pleased when Herod did to John what they themselves wanted, but were afraid, to do. When they learned that Jesus was gaining a larger following even than John, their hatred would soon turn against Him as well. Jesus had no fear of their hatred, but it was not yet time for that hatred to be unleashed against Him.

Jesus was no more afraid of the Pharisees than was John, but He wanted to avoid a premature confrontation. When the time came, Jesus faced the Jewish religious leaders without a wince, and His denunciations of them were longer-lasting and immeasurably harder than those of John the Baptist had been (see, e.g., Matt. 23:1-36). Jesus knew that He was eternally safe from any danger that men could devise. His life would be forfeited, but by His own divine will, not by the wills or power of His enemies (John 10:17-18). And He would live again!

The Roman region of Galilee was primarily to the west, but also extended north and south, of the Sea of Galilee—which was really a lake, sometimes called Tiberias (John 6:1) or Gennesaret (Luke 5:1). The region is some 60 miles long, north to south, and about 30 miles wide. The area around the lake was heavily populated (estimated by some to have had as many as two million people in Jesus’ day) and had long been the breadbasket of central Palestine. The soil was extremely fertile, and the lake furnished great quantities of edible fish. The Jewish historian Josephus, who at one time was governor of Galilee, said of the area, “It is throughout rich in soil and pasture, producing every variety of tree, and inviting by its productivity even those who have the least inclination for agriculture. It is everywhere tilled and everywhere productive” (The Wars of the Jews 3. 3.2).

The Jews who lived in Galilee were less sophisticated and traditional than those in Judea, especially those in the great metropolis of Jerusalem. Josephus observed that Galileans “were fond of innovations and by nature disposed to change, and they delighted in seditions.” They even had a distinct accent in their speech (Matt. 26:73). Perhaps Jesus chose His disciples from that area because they would be less bound to Jewish tradition and more open to the newness of the gospel.

It is evident from the text that Jesus was in Nazareth for a while. Luke explains that, after Jesus came from Judea through Samaria, He “returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,… and He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read” (Luke 4:14,16). At first “all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’” (v. 22). But after Jesus exposed their true spiritual condition, “all in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things.” They would have thrown Him over a cliff to His death had He not escaped (vv. 23-30).

After Jesus’ hometown rejected Him, just as He had said they would (Luke 4:23-27), He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

Capernaum means “village of Nahum” and was possibly named for the prophet Nahum. But Nahum means “compassion,” and it may be that the town simply had been named for its compassionate people. By Jesus’ day it was a flourishing, prosperous city. It was here that Matthew had his tax office (Matt. 9:9), and it was this place that Matthew refers to as “His city,” that is, Jesus’ own city (9:1). Yet a short while later Jesus would say of it, “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you” (Matt. 11:23-24). Today Capernaum, though a popular attraction for Christian visitors, is virtually uninhabited.

As we learn from Matthew’s quotation of Isaiah 9:1 in verse 15, the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, had long been known as Galilee of the Gentiles (ethnoi, heathen, or nations). All of Galilee was cosmopolitan, with the Syrians to the north and east and the descendants of the ancient Phoenicians to the west. It was more of a crossroads than Jerusalem, which was isolated from much trade traffic. A famous trade route was actually known as the way of the sea. It went through Galilee on its way from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast and then down to Egypt. One ancient writer said that Judea was on the way to nowhere, whereas Galilee was on the way to everywhere. The Galilean Jews’ constant association with Gentiles contributed greatly to their nontraditional character.

The region of Galilee originally had been given by the Lord to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali when Israel began to settle in Canaan (see Josh. 19:10-39). But, contrary to God’s command, Zebulun and Naphtali failed to expel all of the Canaanites from their territories. From the beginning, therefore, these unfaithful Jews suffered the problem of mixed marriages and the inevitable pagan influence which that practice brought.

In the eighth century B.C. the Assyrians, under Tiglath-pileser, took away a large part of those tribes as captives (2 Kings 15:29) and replaced them with Assyrians and other non-Jews. Until it was temporarily liberated by Judas Maccabaeus in 164 B.C, the region of Galilee was largely under foreign control and was even largely populated by non-Jews. Another Jewish leader, Aristobulus, reconquered Galilee in 104 B.C. and tried unsuccessfully to establish an entirely Jewish nation by forcibly circumcizing all the male inhabitants. Through those disrupting centuries, the Jews that remained in Galilee had been greatly weakened in both biblical and traditional Judaism—giving even greater significance to the name Galilee of the Gentiles.

It is not strange, then, that the reaction of many Jews in Jerusalem was, “Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He?” (John 7:41). The idea of a Galilean Messiah seemed ludicrous. When Nicodemus tried to convince the Pharisees that Jesus should be given a fair hearing, “They answered and said to him, ‘You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee’” (vv. 51-52).

Yet, as Matthew here reminds his readers, Isaiah had long before prophesied that in Galilee of the Gentiles—The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned (cf. Isa. 9:1-2). The fact alone that Jesus so accurately and completely fulfilled Old Testament prophecy should be enough to convince an honest mind of the Bible’s truthfulness and authority. Just as Isaiah had predicted eight centuries earlier, the despised, sin-darkened, and rebellious Galileans were the first to glimpse the Messiah, the first to see the dawning of God’s New Covenant! Not mighty and beautiful Jerusalem, the queen city of the Jews, but Galilee of the Gentiles would first hear Messiah’s message. Not the learned, proud, and pure Jews of Jerusalem, but the mongrel, downcast, nontraditional mixed multitude of Samaria and Galilee had that great honor. To those who were neediest, and who were most likely to recognize their need, Jesus went first.

The fact that Jesus began His ministry in Samaria and Galilee, rather than in Jerusalem and Judea, emphasizes the fact that His gospel of salvation was for the whole world. It was the fulfillment of Old Testament truth, which God had chosen to reveal through the Jews (cf. Rom. 3:1-2), but it was in no way an accommodation to the traditional, proud, and exclusive Judaism that had developed during the intertestamental period and that was so dominant in Jesus’ day. The Son of God was sent to be “a light of revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke 2:32; cf. Isa. 42:6; 49:6; 52:10). It was no coincidence of history that “the light of the world” (John 8:12) first proclaimed Himself in Galilee of the Gentiles.

It was in and around Galilee that Jesus had spent all but a small part of His childhood and early manhood, and it was there that His ministry first developed and began to spread. As the new day of the gospel dawned, the first rays of light shined in Galilee. Into this land of oppression, dispersion, and corrosive moral and spiritual influences—and impending death at the word of divine judgment—Jesus came with words and deeds of mercy, truth, love, and hope: “To those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned.”

THE RIGHT PROCLAMATION

From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (4:17)

Preaching was a central part of Jesus’ ministry and remains a central part of the ministry of His church. From that time, when He went to Galilee, Jesus began to preach. Kruss (to preach) means “to proclaim” or “to publish,” that is, to publicly make a message known. R. C. H. Lenski comments, “The point to be noted is that to preach is not to argue, reason, dispute, or convince by intellectual proof, against all of which a keen intellect may bring counterargument. We simply state in public or testify to all men the truth which God bids us state. No argument can assail the truth presented in this announcement or testimony. Men either believe the truth, as all sane men should, or refuse to believe it, as only fools venture to do” (The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1964], p. 168).

Jesus preached His message with certainty. He did not come to dispute or to argue, but to proclaim, to preach. Preaching is the proclamation of certainties, not the suggestion of possibilities. Jesus also preached “as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 7:29). What He proclaimed not only was certain but was of the utmost authority. The scribes could not teach authoritatively because they had so mingled biblical truth with the interpretations and traditions of various rabbis that all certainty and authority had long vanished. They could no longer distinguish God’s Word from men’s words, and all that remained were opinions and speculations. For God’s people once again to hear someone preach as the prophets had preached was astonishing (cf. Matt. 7:28-29).

Jesus not only preached with certainty and authority but preached only what He was commissioned by His Father to preach. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God” (John 3:34). Jesus Himself said, “I speak the things which I have seen with My Father” (John 8:38). Later he gave the same testimony even more pointedly: “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak” (John 12:49).

In His high priestly prayer Jesus spoke to His Father of His disciples, saying, “Now they have come to know that everything Thou hast given Me is from Thee; for the words which Thou gavest Me I have given to them; and they received them” (John 17:7-8). And it is in His own authority that Jesus sends out His ministers to the world: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matt. 28:18-19). That is God’s commission to everyone who preaches in His name. The faithful preacher and teacher will proclaim God’s certain truth, with God’s delegated authority, and under God’s divine commission.

When the King’s light dawned, the message that His light brought was clear. He began where His herald, John the Baptist, had begun: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (cf. 3:2).

The darkness in which the people lived was the darkness of sin and evil. Jesus was saying, “The great darkness has been upon you because of the great darkness that is within you. You must be willing to turn from that darkness before the light can shine in you.” To turn from sin is to repent, to change one’s orientation, to turn around and seek a new way. Metanoe literally means a change of perception, a change in the way we see something. To repent, therefore, is to change the way a person looks at sin and the way he looks at righteousness. It involves a change of opinion, of direction, of life itself. To repent is to have a radical change of heart and will—and, consequently, of behavior (cf. Matt. 3:8).

That was, and has always continued to be, the first demand of the gospel, the first requirement of salvation, and the first element of the saving work of the Spirit in the soul. The conclusion of Peter’s Pentecost sermon was a call to repentance: “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). Many years later Paul reminded Timothy that repentance leads “to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25).

Israel would not be ready for or worthy of the King until she repented. Repentance, of course, had always been in order and had always been needed, but now that the kingdom of heaven [was] at hand, it was all the more imperative. The King had arrived, and the kingdom was near. Messiah’s time had come—to usher in the age of righteousness and rest, to subdue Israel’s enemies, to bring all of God’s people back to their land, and to reign on the throne of David.

Tragically, because most of Israel did not repent and did not recognize and accept the King, the promised earthly kingdom had to be postponed. As Matthew later explains, the literal, physical kingdom was set aside for a period of time. The spiritual kingdom presently exists only in the hearts of those who have trusted in Jesus Christ, the King. He is not ruling the nation Israel and the world as He one day will, but He rules the lives of those who belong to Him by faith. The world does not have peace, but those do who know the Prince of Peace. The external kingdom has not yet come, yet the King Himself indwells those that are His. The Messiah, the Christ, now rules in those who have received Him who is “the light of men.”