Matthew makes us aware that Jesus moved away from Nazareth in the fulfillment of prophecy. Some people might argue that Christ deliberately did things during His life in order to fulfill prophecy. It would be more accurate to say that Jesus was completely aligned with the will of the God-head, and so each and every prophecy which detailed events in Jesus’ life were precisely fulfilled. Then along came the Gospel penmen, with the Holy Spirit inspiring their records, telling us that this event or that event was prophesied by Moses, David, Isaiah or Jeremiah.
In this case the Old Testament reference takes us back to Isaiah 8 and 9. And what a wonderful thought is recorded for us here – “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.” This takes us back not only to Isaiah 9, but to several other statements from Isaiah – the most evangelical of all the Old Testament prophets. For example, speaking about the coming Messiah, Isaiah 42 says – “I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” And then there are the wonderful words of Isaiah 60 – “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” You and I are included in those people who sit in spiritual darkness, but who think that we know all things. We are prisoners to our sins, and the executioner – the law of God – is on his way. But we are exhorted to arise and shine, because the Saviour has come – with light, love and life. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
Keep in mind that this is the context from which Matthew describes the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. And “from that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Christ Jesus began with the same message that John had been preaching. But Christ had a slightly different context and attitude – because He is the King of that kingdom.
So did you understand that first verse in Isaiah 9 and what it said about Zebulun and Naphtali? I admit that it isn’t easy – at least to begin with. Those were two of the tribes of Israel which touched the Sea of Galilee and included the city of Capernaum. Does that help us to understand? Not very much. And Isaiah’s reference to “dimness” and “vexation” don’t help us either.
At this point in the history of Israel, God’s unholy nation was depending on the world more than God. For example they were relying more on their neighboring nations than they were Jehovah. Their trading partners were more important to them than the blessings of God. For protection, they looked more to powerful Syria and her king, Rezin, than to the Lord their Rock. They even leaned more to the religion of the heathen than to the worship of God. And Jehovah is a very jealous God. Through Isaiah the Lord told Israel that not only would the rising Assyrian Empire ride roughshod over Syria but over Israel too, beginning in the north and east – beginning with Zebulun and Naphtali.
Without much comment, let’s read the rest of Isaiah 8 beginning with verse 7 – “Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.” (As long as Israel makes alliances with the wicked nations, they will be in danger of divine judgment.) “Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Aind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I (says Isaiah) will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me (Ma-her-shal-al-hash-baz and his brother) are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living (rather than) to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
God’s prophecy through Isaiah was that Israel’s treaty with Syria was an invitation to disaster. Not only was Syria going to fall, but by the very alliance itself, Israel would be taken and captivated. Thankfully, Judah refused to join with Rezin and Remaliah’s son, Pekah, king of Israel’s northern tribes. Judah didn’t go into Assyrian captivity, but was spared for a few decades until she fell before the Babylonians. But again, the point of the prophesy was this – trust in human inventions brings the wrath of God. Does that have any application to professing Christians today? Does night usually follow day?
And then with that we move into chapter 9 – “Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” Despite the pain of God’s chastisement and judgment, the promise of God toward Israel will always remain in effect. And as Ezra will later say, “And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this.”
More specifically, what is the ultimate deliverance? “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.”
Prior to Christ’s relocation to Capernaum, He and His disciples visited the synagogue in Nazareth. This is described in Luke 4 – On that occasion He was invited to read the scripture – any scripture of His own choosing. He turned to Isaiah 61, but it could have been to Isaiah 9, Isaiah 42, or to several other passages. And he read – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
We will come back to this tonight, but notice this was basically the beginning of the Messiah’s ministry. And upon hearing those words, Jesus’ neighbors immediately tried to kill Him for heresy and blasphemy. They began looking for rocks with which to stone Him. “And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.” Christ was forced by opposition to move His center of operation out of Nazareth. “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
A bit later, but still prior to our scripture for this morning, John sent some of his followers to visit Christ. John could not go personally, so he sent some others. “Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” John was undergoing the worst trials of his life, and although not broken, his faith was under attack. He knew, or at least he thought that he knew, that Jesus was the Christ – the Messiah. Like so many other godly people in Israel, he was looking for the Millennial aspect of the kingdom of God. He was waiting for Jesus to drive off the Romans and to take back the throne of David. But not only had that not taken place, John’s life was in serious danger. He may have expected to rule and reign with Christ, but that opportunity seem to be slipping away. To answer John’s questions the Lord Jesus went back to those prophecies in Isaiah, and used them to point to Himself and to His ministry.
Listening to those words John might have begun to meditate on Isaiah 61, which I quoted a moment ago, or he might have thought of Isaiah 35, which speaks about Christ, His kingdom and even about John – “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
And here is my point this morning – Christ Jesus is the Messiah; He is the Anointed; the Promised One. With Him shall come the peace of the Millennial Kingdom, but also the judgment of the wicked. And more specifically according to our scripture in Matthew, He is the one who meets the needs of the rebels; He is the solution for our sins.
So what is it that Christ came preaching? “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That is still what the Lord requires of us. “Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Unless these things are found in us then we must expect the wrath of God. Humble yourself before the Lord and before the cross of Christ. Recognize that you are a sinner, and that God’s word demands your punishment as a sinner. And then put your trust in what the Lord Jesus endured on the Calvary. He died on the cross as a sacrifice for your sins – believe it; trust Him.