By Randall L. Broad
Read: Genesis
8:1-10:32; Matthew 4:12-25; Psalm 4:1-8; Proverbs 1:20-23
The day after
reading about the heavenly meaning and practical truths of Jesus’ temptations
in the wilderness we read about His fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy in chapter
nine and His declaration to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
The Kingdom of Heaven is the foundation
of the ministry of Jesus …
12When
Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13Leaving
Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of
Zebulun and Naphtali— 14to fulfill what was said through the prophet
Isaiah:
15“Land
of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee
of the Gentiles—16the people living in darkness have seen a great
light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has
dawned.
17From
that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come
near.”
Matthew 4:12-17
The passage
quoted from Isaiah foretells of the ‘light’ of the Messiah and establishes
Jesus’ as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. This was an important
connection for an audience that prior to the commission of the Apostle Paul was
mostly made of Jewish converts familiar with Messianic Prophecies. The book of
Matthew contains over sixty-five Old Testament prophecies about Jesus. It is
also interesting to note Matthew attributes Jesus’ withdraw from Nazareth to be
a reaction to the imprisonment of John the Baptist, but Luke also records Jesus
leaves Nazareth and moves to Capernaum because His ministry is rejected in His
home town (Luke 4:16-30). The reason is less important than to understand it
was here Jesus would launch the ministry that would carry Him to the cross. Galilee
(v. 12) is located at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee in the regions of
Zebulun and Naphtali.[1]
The Sea of Galilee was really a large lake with about thirty communities
scattered along its shores. Capernaum (v. 13) was the largest of these towns.
The area was fertile and populous with two major trade routes–one called the
Way of the Sea (v. 15).
The language of
this passage is rich in Kingdom meaning. First, the prophet Isaiah speaks of
the great light (v. 16) which dawns on the land of the shadow of death. Matthew
Henry writes:
“When
the gospel comes, light comes; when it comes to any place, when it comes to any
soul, it makes day there. Light discovers and directs; so does the gospel.”[2]
Another phrase
is of key importance in this passage. The language “from that time Jesus began”
appears only twice in Matthew’s gospel (4:17; 16:21) but it is significant both
times. It is a literary bridge from Jesus’ early life to His earthly ministry
(4:17) and later His journey to the cross (16:21). Repent is a key term: John
the Baptist preached it and Jesus declared it as a requirement to reject
self-centeredness and self-control. Finally, the term Kingdom of Heaven is
especially significant since the Kingdom is the foundation of His ministry.
Kingdom of Heaven occurs thirty-two times in Matthew’s Gospel–and is synonymous
with Kingdom of God used sixty-seven other times in the New Testament: four
times in Matthew, fourteen times in Mark, thirty-two times in Luke, twice
in the Gospel of John, six times in Acts, eight times by Paul, and once
in Revelations.
Kingdom of God
Matthew 4:17
does not reveal many details to us about the Kingdom, but like the truth of
God’s Word the One Year Bible will reveal over time the deeper meaning of this
verse. What is significant today is the term kingdom has three important
meanings. First a kingdom is a realm or place where a sovereign monarch reigns.
Secondly, it represents the people who are ruled, and thirdly it represents the
time of the actual reign. All three usages are used in the New Testament, but
as Jesus spoke these words in Matthew 4:17 He ruled over no land and had no
followers, yet in His words the Kingdom of Heaven was “near”. The time of His
reign is what Jesus’ was proclaiming in this verse. In modern usage this
temporal character of the term kingdom is often overlooked, but it was the
primary meaning in both the Greek and Hebrew languages of Jesus’ time. In the
year ahead we will find references to the other two meanings. We will discover
the Kingdom of God is the sovereign rule of God manifested in Christ to defeat
His enemies, creating a people over whom He reigns, and issuing in a realm or
realms in which the power of His reign is experienced.
It is the
experience Jesus is proclaiming in Matthew chapter 4.
Walk with the
Lord …
Ephesians
1:17
(RLB250104)
© Copyright 2017: Randall L. Broad
Disclaimer: This commentary is written by Randall L. Broad. It is in no way affiliated with or represents any denomination, university, church, or pastor. Any errors or omissions are purely my responsibility.
[2] Henry, Matthew. Matthew
Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson ,
1997: 863.
