The Light Dawns, Part 1
Matthew 4:12-13
Matthew chapter 4, we are continuing a study in the Gospel of Matthew; and in this section, we find the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ. Matthew 4:12 reads, "Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He departed into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the Seacoast in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by 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 sat in darkness saw a great Light; and to them who sat in the region and shadow and death, Light is sprung up.' From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.'"
Now, one of my favorite glimpses of the incomparable majesty of Jesus Christ is His character revealed as Light; and you will notice that in verse 16, we see that "the people who sat in darkness saw great Light; and to them who sat in the region and shadow of death, Light is sprung up." It is a favorite designation of the writers of Scripture to view Jesus Christ as Light. Lemme illustrate that to you by, particularly, having you notice the Gospel of John. A favorite metaphor that John uses, a favorite picture of Jesus Christ is the concept of light; and in John we find it right away in the 1st chapter verse 5. "And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness overcame it not." Verse 7, "The same came for a witness to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which lighted every man that cometh into the world."
In the 3rd chapter of John's Gospel in the 19th verse, "And this is the condemnation: that Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." In chapter 9 of John's Gospel, again, John calls on the same picture. This time the very words of Jesus, "As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world." In John chapter 12, again, in verse 35, "Then Jesus said unto them, 'Yet a little while is the Light with you. Walk while ye have the Light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not where he goeth. While ye have Light, believe in the Light, that ye may be the sons of Light.'" Same chapter verse 46, "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness."
John then selects those times and those places when Jesus called Himself the Light. I think the most graphic of all is in John 8. Back up the 8th chapter and the 12th verse. In John chapter 8 and verse 12 we read, "Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, 'I am the Light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'" This was a tremendous statement. The place where the statement was made is indicated in verse 20 of chapter 8. "These words spoke Jesus in the treasury." The temple treasury was the court of the women, the outer court of the temple; and the time of the year was just at the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles; and during the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, the people of Israel commemorated what they called the illumination of the temple. They put in the middle of the temple a massive series of candelabras, and every night and all night long, they lit them so that right out of the middle of the court of the women in the temple came streaming this massive light all night long; and they did it for a week. It was to commemorate the cloud of light, the pillar of fire that led them in their wilderness wanderings. This was the commemoration of the great Light that had led them in the exodus. And, as Jesus enters the court of the women, the light is out. The Feast of Tabernacles is over, but the remnant is still there. All the candelabra apparatus sits there. It's there, but there's nothing lit, and Jesus walks in in the midst of that scene and captures the moment for Himself. All the people are very aware of this great Light that has been going on in Jerusalem for the seven days prior. They're all aware of this, and Jesus steps up into the midst of the moment and says, "I am the Light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of light."
In other words, He captures the scene for Himself. He was a master at doing this. He is the Light. The Bible tells us that man is in darkness. It tells us that repeatedly. It tells us that from one end of the Scripture to the other, that man is engulfed in darkness. It is part of man's pattern. According to Proverbs 2:13, "to walk in the ways of darkness." That is man's approach to life. He cannot know. He cannot see the Light.
In chapter 4 of Proverbs in verse 19, it says, "The way of the wicked in like darkness. They know not at what they stumble." But verse 18 says, "The path of the just is like the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. So sinful men, the society of the world is pictured as walking in darkness.
Now, we're looking at Matthew, and that picture of the darkness of society is in Matthew. In Matthew 6:23 it says, "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" He talks about the whole body being filled with darkness. In the 22nd chapter of Luke and the 53rd verse, I think it is. Yes, "When I was daily with you in the temple, you stretched forth no hands against Me; but this is your hour, and the power of darkness." And here Christ recognizes that the power behind His crucifixion, the power behind His arrest, the power behind the antagonism, is the power of darkness. The power of Satan himself.
The Apostle Paul sees the same thing in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6. He says, "For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness that's shown in our hearts." In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 11, the Bible says are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. In Ephesians 6 verse 12, "We wrestle against the rulers of the darkness of this world. The spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies." Even Peter talks about it in 1 Peter 2:9 when he says, "God has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
Paul writes to the Colossians that we've been called out of the kingdom of darkness, as it were, into the kingdom of His dear Son. So the world is seen in darkness, moral darkness, spiritual darkness, ignorance, the un...inability to know God. The inability to know truth. The inability to change its behavior to that which is right. That's the kind of darkness that the world is engulfed in.
Say, "Well, doesn't God give man a little light?" Yes, you might say that God has given to man two little candles. One is the candle of creation, and the other is a candle of conscience. But before very long, man blows them out; and then he's in total darkness. According to chapter 1 of Romans, look at this and verse 19. "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in man, for God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of the Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made." That is creation. There is that little candle of creation that is enough light to see God...and there is that which is within them, that little candle of conscience, which is enough to see God, so that at the end of verse 20, he says, "They are without excuse."
But verse 21 says, "Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagination, and their foolish heart was...what?...darkened." Man, in his sinfulness, extinguishes the only two faint lights that he has to give him any sense of where God is, any sense of where right and wrong are, any sense of truth. He blows out the only hope that he has by the willful sin in his life.
I had this illustrated to me very graphically this week as I was reading an article in the latest edition of Inspiration Magazine written by Phil Yancey on the subject of pain. He tells in that article about Dr. Paul Brand. Dr. Paul Brand is a researcher of Hanson's disease. Hanson's disease is the name that we have modern...we modern-day people have given to the ancient disease called leprosy. For short, it's called HD, Hanson's disease. Now this man, Dr. Paul Brand, has done research on leprosy or Hanson's disease all over the world from Carville, Louisiana, where the United States Public Health Service has the most famous leprosarium in the northern continent, all the way to India, where he has conducted experiments in leprosy places there.
After years of research, he has concluded that leprosy is not a disease that causes decay. Leprosy is a disease that is an anesthetic, and what he means is this. For thousands of years, people thought that leprosy caused the ulceration of the hands and the feet and the ears and the nose and all the extremities, so that, eventually, the flesh rotted away and the limbs rotted away and deteriorated, and you've been exposed to that kind of thinking.
Through Brand's research, it has been established that, in 99 percent of the cases, leprosy only numbs the extremities. It causes no kind of decay at all. It only numbs them, and the destruction follows, because people cannot feel with their extremities, and they do not know what they're doing to their own flesh. For example, he saw in the surveys that he was doing in India that people who had this disease would drop something in a fire. They would reach right in to take it out, because they couldn't feel any pain. That workmen who worked with a shovel for an entire day would work with the shovel that had splinters and nails, and they would rip and tear their flesh; but, because they had no sensation, they wouldn't feel anything. When he was in India, he couldn't open a particular lock in a door; and he... he was having a very difficult time turning the key in a rusty lock; and a young boy came over who had this disease. He took ahold of the key and turned it, ripped the flesh right through to the bone and never felt a thing.
So the conclusion came after years of study that Hanson's disease or leprosy is simply an anesthetic disease that numbs the extremities and removes the feeling that needs to be there to protect you from destroying yourself. Now the case of a man in the Carville hospital who had this terrible disease in his feet, and eventually he wore his toes away thinking all the while that the disease was doing it, only to find out that with the shoes that he was wearing, they were doing it; but he couldn't feel them doing it.
The U.S. Public Health Service operates that hospital. The most famous patient there, a man named Stanley Stein, has written a book called No Longer Alone; and Stanley Stein is blind; and the reason he is blind is because of a strange quirk of this disease. His face is numb, and his hands are numb; and it was his habit for years to wash his face every morning with hot...a hot washcloth; but because he was unable to know how hot the washcloth was, he eventually burned his eyes out...because neither his face nor his hands were able to respond to the heat; and now Stanley Stein is in total darkness.
I couldn't help but think of a parallel. That's not unlike the disease of sin. The disease of sin has a way, because of its numbing effect, of allowing man to blind himself without even knowing he's doing it. Sin has a way of destroying man's spiritual sensitivity. It has a way of numbing him so that he puts his face into things that he doesn't realize are gonna burn out the very thing that God has given him to reveal who God is; and man literally burns away his own spiritual sensitivity because sin numbs him. So the numbing of sin has had its effect. It has blown out the two small candles of creation and conscience, and man is left in darkness. That's the way it is with man...but John tells us and Matthew tells us and many other Bible writers tell us that into the darkness of the world and into the darkness of man's situation comes the Light Jesus Christ; and His Light is so blazing; it is so iridescent; it is so powerful that it penetrates the blackest of blackness, the darkest of darkness. That's the message that the Apostle John, the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter wanted to give us in the Scripture we looked at; and that is also the message of Matthew chapter 4. Let's look back at it.
Jesus is the day star. Jesus is the bright and morning star. Jesus is the One of whom Malachi said, "The sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His beams." And the sun there is spelled S U N, and that is the great reality of this tremendous text in Matthew. Look again at verse 16, "The people who sat in darkness saw a great Light; and to then who sat in the region and shadow of death, Light is sprung up." You see, Matthew sees the darkness of man, and he calls the Light of Jesus Christ to bear upon the darkness of man, and here he's really quoting the great prophet Isaiah, as we shall see in a few moments. This is how Matthew introduces the ministry of Jesus. It is the light dawning on the darkness. Now, remember, Matthew is presenting Jesus as King over and over again.
Lemme give you a quick review. First of all, in Matthew's Gospel, we saw the ancestry of the King in His genealogy. Then we saw the arrival of the King in His birth. Then we saw the adoration of the King, as the magi came to worship. Then we saw the anticipations of the King as He fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies; and then we saw the announcer of the King, John the Baptist. Then we saw the affirmation of the King in His baptism. "This is My...what?...beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." And in our last study, we saw the advantage of the King in His temptation -- how He won over Satan and took the victory and won the advantage.
And now we come to the activity of the King. The activity of the King. The beginning of His great ministry. Now look at verse 11. "Then the devil leaveth Him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto Him." Now that ends the temptation. The great victory of Christ. The King is established as a King. He has been tested. The greatest monarch in existence in the world apart from God has put Him to the test. That monarch is Satan, the prince of this world, the king of darkness; and he has been beaten. Christ is the supreme King. Having proven Himself, He embarks upon His ministry.
Matthew picks that up then in verse 12. "He departed into Galilee," and that's where it really, officially begins. Now, lemme add this. Between verse 12 and 11, between those two verses, there is a time interval of about one year. Now stay with me. We're gonna get into some history here. You're gonna find it fascinating...
There is a time interval between verses 11 and 12 that takes up about one year. Now we know what happened in that time interval. You know why? It's all recorded for us. From the time of the temptation till the beginning of the Galilean ministry, we have a full record of what happened, and it's in John chapter 1 verses 19 through chapter 4 verse 42. Let's look at it.
Now Matthew doesn't deal with these things, because Matthew has a specific purpose to present Christ as King. John touches on this that happened prior to that time. Now lemme fill you in on the gaps. Look at John 1. Jesus has just won the victory over Satan. He's been 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. He's gained the victory. Following that tremendous victory in the wilderness, Jesus comes back to where John the Baptist is preaching and baptizing. He shows up there again, and He has a purpose. He wants, now that everything is ready, He's been baptized. He's been tested. He's been proven. He's ready to start His ministry. He wants John, once and for all in a great final statement, to point to Him as the Messiah. He wants to give John a final great declaration of who He is, and that is precisely what happens in chapter 1 verse 19, "And this is the witness of John."
It was important for the Jews that John point specifically to this person, Jesus, and say, "This is the Messiah. This is the One I've been preaching about. This is the One who is the King with the Kingdom." And so following His temptation, He comes back, lingering in the area where John was baptizing. Now, He only lingered three days...
The first day, in verse 26, He comes back. He is present. John is preaching. "John answered them, saying, 'I baptize with water, but there standeth One among you whom ye know not.'" You know what John was saying on day one? John was saying, "He's here. He is here. He has arrived. He's standing among you. You don't know Him, but He's here, and He is One who baptizes differently than I, who comes after me, yet is preferred before me, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to loose. He is here," says John on day one. "The Messiah is here."
Day two, verse 29, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming toward him." He's not just standing in the crowd. He's moving toward John, and He says, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me cometh a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'" And in verse 34, he sums up day two testimony, "And I saw and bore witness that this is the Son of God."
First day, "He is here." Second day, John says, "Behold Him. Behold Him. See Him. That's who He is." And he points to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the Son of God. There was a third day, verse 35. "Again the next day John stood with two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as He walked away...the best rendering...He looked to Jesus as He walked away." First day He stood in the crowd. Second day He came out of the crowd and stood with John, and John said, "This is Him." And now He's walking away. Day three.
Look at verse 36, "'Behold the Lamb of God!' And the two disciples heard him speak, and they did...what?...they followed Jesus." Day one John says, "He's here." Day two he says, "Behold Him." Day three he says, "Follow Him. Follow Him." In effect, that's what he was saying; and so Jesus lingered after His temptation for three days so that the testimony of John, the witness of John as chapter 1:19 says, could be completed, and then He walked away. And John said to his own disciples, "You go after Him. You follow Him." Jesus was making the transition from the days of the Old Testament to the new, from John the Baptist to Himself; and so Jesus walked away; and they followed him. And you know what? He called them to be His disciples.
From verses 38 to 51 of John 1, Jesus calls the first group of disciples. Andrew, and another one who isn't named, and take a wild guess who that might be. John, and Peter and Philip and who was the last one? Nathaniel. He gathers the first group, makes the first call. Now what did He do from there? Oh, He went to a wedding. John chapter 2 verses 1 to 11 tells us that He went to Cana of Galilee. You remember it there? And He made what? Water into wine. Wonderful time it was; and after He had finished the miracle of Cana where He had made water into wine, and, by the way, Cana is way up north in Galilee, so He...He went all the way from where John was baptizing in the Jordan down by Jericho, down in the desert, all the way up the plateau, all the way across the hilltops, all the way onto the other side of the western side of those hills, on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, to the little town of Cana to the wedding. And after He had been there for a while, verse 12 says, "After He went down... after this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brethren and His disciples; and they continued there just a few days."
From Cana of Galilee, you'd have to walk another ten miles at least up the western edge of the Sea of Galilee around to the northern tip to the little town of Capernaum, and He spent a few days there. So He's done a lotta walking, taken a lotta time. From the Jordan to Cana to Capernaum, and, from there, verse 13. "The Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." You always go up to Jerusalem, 'cause it's on a high plateau; and He went to Jerusalem; and you remember what He did when He got there? Zechariah the prophet said that the Messiah would suddenly come to his temple. Remember that? And as soon as He got to town, He went into the temple, made a whip, and cleaned it out; and that was His official presentation of Himself.
John the Baptist said, "He's here. Behold Him. Follow Him." The announcement was clear. They knew who He was, and He walked right in and presented Himself and took the authority to clean the place up...And so from chapter 2 verse 13 to the end of the chapter, He cleanses the temple. This is His initial and official presentation of Himself to the Jewish leaders and rulers.
Well, you know, they weren't too thrilled, frankly. They weren't too thrilled that He cleaned up their temple; but, apparently, there was one of them that was. What was his name? Chapter 3, Nicodemus; because, by night, Nicodemus, the Greek says, "Who was the teacher of Israel," came to ask Jesus some questions; and He had a wonderful conversation with Nicodemus about being born again.
After that, verse 22, "Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there he tarried with 'em, and baptized. And John also was baptizing." Isn't that interesting? John and Jesus simultaneously preaching and baptizing. The transition isn't over yet. There's still a little overlap. John is still gathering people to himself, transmitting them to Jesus, little by little; and both are working side by side. It's a time of transition...and John kept on baptizing until verse 24 says, "He was not yet cast into prison." He continued his ministry till he was thrown in prison. In fact, that's the way God stopped his ministry. He was such a hardboiled, blunt, bold, aggressive kind of a preacher that I don't know what woulda stopped him. Maybe God knew nothing would stop him, so He had to put him in jail to phase him out. The instant phase out - you're under arrest. It's all over...but until that time, they worked together.
John had done his work. He had heralded the King. He had pointed Him out. He had told the people to follow Him. Jesus had come to Jerusalem, proclaimed Himself. He'd come to His temple. He cleansed His temple. He'd gone to Cana. He'd done a miracle to establish who He was, and then He rested a little while in Capernaum. He came back to the...to be with His disciples, continued His ministry while John continued to preach, but now it was time for Him to begin His work. It was time for John to phase out and Jesus to phase in, and Jesus knew He had to go to Galilee to start, so we come to chapter 4; but before that, at the end of chapter 3, John gives us the great phase out; and John says in verse 30, "He must...what?...increase, and I must decrease." He says, "It's the end of me and the beginning of Him," and Jesus takes over in chapter 4.
"When the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again into Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria." Now watch. Jesus will begin His official ministry in Galilee. He has...He has made His presentation in Jerusalem. He has gathered together His disciples in part. He has done a miracle to establish in their minds and, by the way, the miracle at Cana was for the disciples' benefit -- to prove to them that He was the Messiah. It was for them that He did it, as were many an