Bible Series 2010 - Jesus Begins His Ministry: Matthew 4;12-17

The Sea of Galilee - where Jesus performed many miracles

From the time of Jesus' birth, as we learned in the Christmas Story until the day that He left home, we knew that Jesus was a carpenter, learning the trade from his earthly father, Joseph.    Now comes the second best part of the story of Jesus and this would be called, The Gospels - The Good News.  Jesus begins His ministry and what He is doing because of who He is is teaching what His Heavenly Father, God, wants Him to teach the Jews and the Gentiles.

Jesus, you see, was born human to humble Himself and so that He, God in human form, could walk naturally among the people and to teach them about Heavenly Things.  And with this, we as humans, Christian's, we learn through Christ how to be good witnesses to the people and to teach them about Him and about the same Heavenly Things that Jesus taught and preached about to the people of His day.

So, here is what the Life Application Study Bible, NIV, ppgs. 1535-1536, Matthew 4:12-17 says about Jesus and the beginnings of His ministry:  Jesus preaches in Galilee "When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in  the area of Zebulun and Naphtali - to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

"Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

the way to the sea, along the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles -

the people living in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of the shadow of death

a light has dawned.

From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near."'

Matthew in 4:17 uses the word heaven instead of the name of God because the Jews had reverence and respect for God.  For many years, I wondered why when we wrote the word God on paper His name was written:  G-d.  

Ruins of Synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus preached

Jesus left his hometown of Nazareth and left for Carpernaum because there were many more people in that town and possibly because He had a lot of opposition in Nazareth.  He also felt that he could reach more people and use the resources in the town to support His ministry.  Does this not sound like how a politician would work?  A politician usually and always does better when he has a place where he can reach more people with what he has to say.  However, Jesus was not a politician.  He was everything.  He was a Wonderful Counselor to the people, He did not lie, He did not sin, period.  He was and is the One and Only One who lifts carries the burden of government on His shoulders.  This is mentioned in the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah as well.

Isaiah 9:6 says it this way:  "For to us a child is born,

to us a child is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Jesus was called and referred to as many names, but the most important is that He was called The Son of God.

Matthew quoted much from the Old Testament because this helped his Jewish readers as they knew the scriptures.  This was also important because it made many of them come to the realization that He was the Son of God, the King of the Jewish people and the King of Kings.

Jesus' problems of course started as His ministry started.  Many Jews felt that He was blaspheming because He was referred to as the Son of God.  

So, next, we will be looking into the Four Fishermen who end up following Jesus (Matthew 4:18-22).

Also, Alex and I will be holding our next podcast soon.  It will be entitled, "How technology effects family:  Good and Bad."

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dave

Tucker, Georgia

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve