The Life of Jesus The..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Please open up our Bibles to Matthew, the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 4. The book of Matthew, chapter 4.

And this evening we're going to continue with our series of Bible studies on the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and his ministry during his incarnation. And this evening, we're going to be addressing the topic of the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, the beginning of the ministry or the beginning of the public ministry or the Galilean ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the portion of the scripture that we are going to be studying together from which we're going to be meditating upon this topic, the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, is found in Matthew chapter four, in verse 12 through verse 22. So we're going to be reading from verse 12 through verse 22 in the book of Matthew chapter 4. So let's pay attention to this narrative after The baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ and the temptation of the Lord in the wilderness.

Now we have the beginning of the ministry of the Lord, and that starts in verse 12. So let's pay much attention to each one of the words with reverend hearts, brothers and sisters. Let's read together you in your heart and the sound of my voice. Now, when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum. by the sea in the territory of Zebulon and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.

The land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned. From the time from that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. And he said to them, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of CBD and John, his brother in the boat with 70, their father, mending their nets. And he called them immediately. They left the boat and their father and followed him. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. Now, brothers and sisters, as I said, we're going to be starting this evening at the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of what is called the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean that the Lord Jesus Christ was not doing things before. He is approximately 30 years old here now.

So There were things that he was doing before. It's not that the work of the Lord Jesus Christ started at this point, but the work that was given from the father to the son started in the incarnation itself. From that very moment, the work of the father given to his son had already started. What we are going to be studying is the beginning of what is called the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to be studying it, as I said, from this version of scripture.

And what we're going to do is that I'm going to try to point your mind to five elements of this beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Five things that we can find here in this portion of the scripture. And from there, I'm going to try to elaborate and to try to, by the Spirit, communicate to you that which will be edifying to our souls in what corresponds to the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in this version of text, it says five things that I want us to see. The first thing, it is the time of the beginning of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a time when it began, the time when he started with his public ministry. But the text does not only give us a time when the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ started, it also gives us a location. It gives us a place on when or where better the ministry of the Lord, the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ started. So not only a time when it started, but also a place or a location when it started. But also the portion of the scripture that we have here gives us a purpose of that beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we have a time, we have a location, and we also have a purpose for the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a purpose that is given to us. And also, besides all of those things, we have here a message. There is a clear message that is found in verse 17, a message that it is communicated by the Lord Jesus Christ when he started or when he began his public ministry. So the text does not only give us a time when the Lord Jesus Christ started his public ministry, but also gives us a location or a place.

Also, we have here a purpose, a message. And finally, in verse 18, until the end of the person of the text that we read, there is actions or something that he does. There's some actions. in the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that if we break down the text in that way, we are going to at least memorize with our minds the narrative of the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it will help us as a framework to start with the things that I want to communicate to you this evening.

The time is very clear, given to us in verse 12. It says now when he that is the Lord Jesus Christ heard that John had been arrested. This is John the Baptist, John the Mercer. He had been baptized and then taken into the wilderness, led by the spirit of God to be tempted. And now we have the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it takes place when John the Baptist had been arrested.

Now, this is very important because John the Baptist was the forerunner. He was the one that was bringing this message of repentance to the people of Israel. He was the Elijah that was promised in the book of Malachi that was going to come before the day of the Lord. So the beginning of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ happens when the public ministry of John the Baptist ends. So he had been preaching in the wilderness.

He had been proclaiming the day of the Lord, that the Lord was coming, that this Jesus Christ that is coming, this Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then when he was arrested, and then in the future, we know that he's going to die beheaded. the beginning of the ministry of the Messiah takes place. That is the time of the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. But also the text clearly gives us not only a time, which we know is now when John the Baptist, John the Immerser was arrested, but also gives us a location.

He says, he, the Lord Jesus Christ, in verse 12, he withdrew into Galilee. And he gives us a little bit more detail, leaving Nazareth and went and lived in Capernaum. So we also have not only a time, but also we have a location. We have a place in which his public ministry is going to start. He had come down to the Jordan to be baptized.

He had gone or taken by the spirit into the wilderness. And now we are told that he's going to a region, to a district that is called Galilee. Galilee was a district. It was kind of like a region. If you think of Queensland, kind of like a state.

And the state has different cities or different towns like Brisbane or Gold Coast will be in Queensland in Nazareth. And Capernaum will be like towns or little cities that will be in this region, in this kind of like district that is called Galilee. And we are told that the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ takes place when John the Baptist is arrested. And then he goes to this place, Galilee, initially to Nazareth. And then he's going to go to the city that is going to be that is called Capernaum.

But if you pay attention to the words that you have in your Bible, it says that he lived in Capernaum. He went and lived in Capernaum. He was living in Nazareth. That's why he was called the Nazarene. He was living in Nazareth.

But now he is moving if you want, like changing from one city to another. He's now living in Capernaum. So this is going to be the location where his ministry is going to start. And we're given some details about that city in the scripture. This Capernaum is by the sea.

So it is by the sea, the Sea of Galilee. We know that it is the name of that sea in the territory of Sebulon and Neftali. He even adds more detail to the location because the name that people used in those days to refer to that location was, of course, Galilee and Capernaum. But we know now something very interesting here, and that is the intention of the author, that is now he's going to refer to that place as the land or the territory of Sebulon and Naphtali. Now, these two were tribes of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Now, The territory on these days on the Lord Jesus Christ, it was not divided by the 12 tribes because the kingdom had already been broken and dispersed. So the 12 tribes distribution given to Moses and Joshua had already passed. So for the people, the kingdom was distributed according to the Roman Empire and how they wanted to distribute the kingdom and the land. However, the author has given us a clue here. He's saying that this is the territory of Sebulon and Naphtali.

That shows us the purpose of the author in communicating all of this to a Jew audience. he's communicating these to Israelites. And this is perhaps, I think, what I said the first time that I had the opportunity to share with you in the first Bible study, that if we were going to summarize Matthew, the book of Matthew, this will be a presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ from Matthew the author to a Jew audience, to the people of Israel. This is the way that they will present the gospel, the message of salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. But now we have In our account here, we have the time of the beginning of the ministry of the Lord, and also we have this location.

And this location is given to us in Roman terms, or let's say in contemporary terms in that time, Galilee, but also in terms of the tribes of Israel, namely Zebulun and Naphtali. But in verse number 14, we have the third item, and that is the purpose. That is the purpose, and the purpose is so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. And I want you to see how the beginning in the time of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ with the location and the purpose and the message and the action builds upon the other, and they are sequential in time. So he starts his ministry.

He moves to Capernaum. And the Bible says that the reason why he moved to Capernaum was that the prophecy that was given by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. So we have something glorious here because the Lord Jesus Christ is doing all of these things, going to Capernaum, to Galilee with the purpose of fulfilling a prophecy that was written like 700 years before these things were taking place by the prophet Isaiah. And that was the purpose of going to this city, Capernaum. In verse 15, we are given that prophecy.

And that prophecy now is going to be attached to the name of the tribes in which now the Lord is living. It says the land of Zebulun and the land of Nephtali. If we were going to translate that in, contemporary terms in the first century, that will be the land of Galilee and Capernaum, where the Lord was living. So he says, the land of Sebulon and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, because the city was by the river or by the sea, beyond the Jordan. And it says, Galilee of the Gentiles.

Now, this is a quote from Isaiah chapter 9. This is the prophecy given by the prophet. It says, the people dwelling in darkness. have seen a great light. And for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death on them, a light has dawned.

That is the prophecy of the prophet. It says that these people off several on and the people off Natalie, they lived in. darkness, that they lived under the shadow of death, that this was a region of death, and that they have seen a great light, that they have seen that on them came the light as a dawn, that they were living in darkness, that they were under the shadow of darkness, and then the light has come. And we can easily understand that, right? Jesus Christ, the light of the world, has moved to Capernaum.

And he has not only moved to Capernaum. This is the king of the Jews. This is the king of the Israelites. This is the savior of the world. He has decided to move to the city.

The light of the world has come. They don't need the sun. They have Jesus Christ. They have Jesus Christ now living and not only living among them, but Jesus Christ is preaching among them. Because now, apart from the purpose, we have the message that is given to us in verse 17.

the time, the location, the purpose. And then in verse 17, we have the message of the message that the Lord Jesus Christ was preaching in the beginning of his ministry. And this key, this verse is going to be a key for us to unlock the prophecy and to understand this portion of the scripture. This is the message in verse 17. This is the preaching of the Lord.

It says from that time, Jesus, began to preach, saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, or the kingdom of heaven is close, is near, there's a proximity of the kingdom of heaven. That was the message that he went preach to this region that is called Galilee or to the city that is called Capernaum, that in terms of the 12 tribes of Israel is called Naphtali and Zebulon. This is the message that he was preaching. But I said to you that there's also some actions that he does certain things as he is in this location, preaching this message as the fulfillment of this prophecy given by Isaiah chapter 9.

And that action is what we found in verse 18. And we can summarize that just simply as the calling of his first disciples. Now, this is taking place in the city that is called Capernaum, that it is in Galilee, in this land of Zebulun and Naphtali. It says, verse 18, while walking by the Sea of Galilee, this is the sea that the city Capernaum was at or on. I don't know how to say that, at.

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fisher of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them. And also, just like Peter and just like Andrew, immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Here we have upon or after the capture or the arrest of John the Baptist, we have the Lord Jesus Christ moving into the city of Capernaum in the land of Galilee, which is called Sebulon of Naphtali. with the purpose of fulfilling this prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, preaching this message of repentance and the proximity or the closeness of the kingdom of heaven. And the thing that he does is he's starting to preach this message is to call the first disciples. We have Peter, Andrew, John and James who come and followed him immediately. How are we going to understand now this version of text that we have in front of us?

I said to you that verse 17 is going to be the key for us to unlock the prophecy and for us to unlock the personality of the scripture and for us to unlock the carnality of our hearts so that the word of God will come into us. The message that the Lord was preaching uses very particular and interesting words. So he says, from the time that Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is going to be very important. Each one of those words is going to be very important.

He's calling people to repent from their sins. And also he's saying that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, this is crucial because the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ takes place when the ministry of John the Baptist finished. And if you go to chapter three in the same book of Matthew, and if you go to verse number two, When we were analyzing and when we were reading about the ministry of John the Baptist in chapter three, in starting with verse one, it says in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. So he was also preaching.

And the message that he was preaching was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So we have here a continuation. We have a continuity. between the message of the forerunner of the Lord, John the Baptist, and the message of the Messiah, of the King. Now, people would have heard Jesus saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And they would have known that this was the message that John the Baptist had been preaching also. Now, John the Baptist now was in jail. He was arrested. He was captured. But now Jesus Christ was preaching this message.

If you go to the book of Mark, in Mark chapter 1, in the narrative of the same story, the author of Mark is going to give us a little bit of more detail about that message that was preached. All good? Mark. Mark chapter one. It says, chapter 14 and 15, it says, Mark chapter one, verse 14 and 15.

We have the same narrative from the perspective of Mark for the author of Mark. Now, after John was arrested, right? We have the same thing. Jesus came into Galilee, right? It's exactly the same thing proclaiming the gospel of God.

Now, the name of that message that we read in Matthew. Now it has a name. The name of that is the gospel of God and saying this was what he was preaching. The time is fulfilled on the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.

Now Mark is going to give us no more details about the message that the Lord Jesus Christ was preaching that this kingdom of heaven is the kingdom off. God, right? That this kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God. And that this message is called the gospel of God. And that if they were not only he was not only calling them to repent, but he was also calling them to believe in this message, this message, this good news of God.

This was the message of the kingdom of heaven, which Mark calls it the kingdom of God. This is just simply taken from scripture. We're just interpreting a scripture with the scripture. Now, there's another passage that is going to even give us more light to unlock this prophecy and to understand this prophecy. And this is found in Acts chapter one.

So let's go to Acts chapter one, because there we are not going to see. We know that the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God. And we know that this message that Jesus was preaching in the beginning of his ministry, it is the gospel of God. that was to repent and believe because the kingdom of heaven was at hand, or namely, the kingdom of God was at hand. And now we are going to be given by the Holy Spirit more biblical evidence for us to understand this portion of the scripture.

And that is found, as I said, in Acts chapter 1. In Acts chapter 1, this is the portion of the scripture that we read a few weeks ago when I had the opportunity to do the first Bible study. It says, chapter 1, let's read it from verse 1 through 11. Pay attention carefully to each one of the words in the first book of Theophilus. I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and to teach or teach until the day when he was taken up After he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, he presented himself alive to them after his sufferings by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Okay, so after he was ascended or after after he was resurrected better, he spent some time with the disciples and he was speaking about the kingdom of God. So the same thing that he started to preach in Galilee, the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God is that what he continued to teach his disciples through his ministry on also that which he taught them. in the time before his ascension. But continue reading, it says, And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said, You heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Pay attention to verse six.

So when they have come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus Christ had been teaching them about the kingdom of God. These disciples started. They were chosen. The scripture says they were chosen by Christ and they immediately followed him.

And he started to preach about this kingdom of heaven, this kingdom of God. And not only that, through the ministry and also after the time of his resurrection, the resurrected Christ was teaching them about the kingdom of God. And then they come with this question, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom, not of God, but the kingdom to Israel? Now, he said, verse seven, he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria and to the end of the earth.

And when he has said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in their white robes and said, men of Galilee, right? They were chosen, or at least the first disciples. They were chosen in Galilee. They're in Capernaum by the river, by the sea.

So it says men of men of Galilee. Why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him into heaven in the same way that he was taking. He will come back. This is the message that the angels or this is the question.

Now, brothers, I want you to pay attention to a couple of things there. First of all, that now the Lord was teaching them about the kingdom of God. But the disciples who had been taught by this Lord, by this rabbi, by this master, by this teacher, they come with a question of when or when the kingdom of Israel is going to be restored. Now, The thing is not so much the question, but rather the answer or not so much the answer or the answer that Jesus Christ did not give them. The thing that he did not say to them is that their question was wrong.

He did not say that their question was wrong. His answer was that it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. They would have never thought they would have never thought or concluded. And I don't think that not a reasonable person can conclude that from that answer, a person can say that the kingdom of Israel is antithetical or opposite or contrary to the kingdom of God. That is that for them, asking Jesus Christ about the restoration of the kingdom of God was within the parameters of the teachings that the Lord had given them, namely the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God.

And even perhaps in their minds, the kingdom or the restoration of the kingdom of Israel was equivalent to the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. But the Lord never said to them that the restoration of the kingdom of Israel was antithetical or opposite or contrary or against the concept of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. And this is very important. This is very, very important. Now, why would they ask about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel?

And I think that I've mentioned that in the past. They would ask, of course, about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel because the kingdom of Israel had been divided. They have been taken in exile and they had been under the power of other kingdoms for hundreds of years. You restore something that is broken. You restore something that is damaged.

You want something to be restored that needs restoration. So that means that the kingdom of Israel was in need of restoration because it was broken and it continued to be broken. And these disciples had the desire for this kingdom to be restored. Now, we're going to take it from there. We're connecting words and concepts and we're going to take it from this concept of restoration, because I'm going to argue, brothers and sisters, that the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is equivalent, it is equivalent, or it is, if you want, you could say the definition of it, the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is equivalent to the beginning of the establishment of the kingdom of God.

And I think that this is quite obvious from the text. It says the kingdom of God is at hand, or the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So the beginning of this public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ that started after John the Baptist was captured when he went to Galilee, to Capernaum, and he was fulfilling this prophecy of Isaiah with this message that this beginning of his ministry is equivalent to the beginning of the kingdom of God, the beginning of the establishment, if you want, of the kingdom of God. And also from the implication of this text, It is the beginning, if you want, of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. It is the beginning of the restoration of the kingdom to the people or to Israel.

So we're going to try to see how the Bible supports that idea. Now, brothers and sisters, think about a kingdom that needs to be restored. I said that a kingdom that needs to be restored is a kingdom that has been broken, that needs to be And when we think about the strength of a kingdom, because if a kingdom needs to be restored, that means that that kingdom was not that strong, and it was actually weak, and something happened to that kingdom that is now broken. But if you think in human terms about the strength of a kingdom, the things that come to our mind is that the strength of a kingdom is derived from its economic power, from the thickness and the height of the walls. from how strong the people or the soldiers or the army is, or how many horses they would have had, or how many people would have had in their army.

This would have been a kingdom that is strong. And if a kingdom is strong, then that kingdom will not be broken. And if that kingdom is not broken, then that kingdom does not need restoration. That is, from human terms, how we see the strength and the power and the might of a kingdom. With Israel, it was opposite and completely different because the strength of the kingdom of Israel was established and founded upon obedience to the law of Moses.

Now, just let me repeat that again. The strength of the kingdom of Israel was founded, was established upon obedience and perfect obedience to the law of Moses. So that is that if other kingdoms wanted to be powerful and mighty and wanted to succeed, they would have put all of their effort to have thick and high walls and have many horses and mighty armies and many soldiers. That was their way of being mighty. But the mind of the kingdom or the people of God was established upon obedience to the law or obedience to the Lord through the law that was given to Moses.

So that means that for the kingdom of Israel to be broken and to be weakened and to be destroyed, that means that the people of Israel disobey the law of Moses and disobey the law of the Lord. This is very important, and I know that you know that, but come with me, please. to Deuteronomy chapter 28. And I'm going to show you this pointer. Deuteronomy chapter 28.

The strength and the might of the kingdom of Israel was established upon the obedience to the law of Moses. Now, because brothers and sisters, the reason why these apostles and we know that the reason why these apostles are asking this question about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel is because other powers had come and taken into exile Judah and the northern kingdom. They had been dispersed. The kingdom had been broken. The kingdom had only been well established for only perhaps 80 years.

But besides those 80 years, the Kingdom of Israel needed restoration, and that restoration never came. Let's just find out and then just see the connection between this in the scattering of the people because of their disobedience to the law. If you go to Deuteronomy chapter 28, Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 58. Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 58, all the way until the end of the chapter. Mikey, would you please help us reading the portion, please?

If you are not careful to do all the works of the Lord that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, that the Lord your God, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring upon And He will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Every sickness also, and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed. Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and in multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off from the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And among these nations you shall find no respite. and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot. The Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul.

Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, if only, or evening, and at the evening you shall say, if only, or morning, because of the dread that your heart shall feel and the sights that your eyes shall see. a journey that I promise that you should never make again. And there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female servants, but there will be no fire.

Wow. Now, brothers and sisters, this is what is called the curses of not obeying the law. And it starts verse 58. If you are not careful to do all the words Your enemy is the law. All the words of this law that are written in this book that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God.

And then he started just to list all of those things. In verse 64, it says, And the Lord, naming those things that he will do because of their disobedience, he says to all the words of the law, 64, and the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth. to the other. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. But now, brothers, I want you to pay attention how here, for instance, in verse 60, he says, and he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid and then shall cling to you.

The Lord here through the spirit is connecting disobedience, complete lack of obedience or disobedience at any level to the words of the law or to the words of the law, to a curse similar to even going back to Egypt. And one of those curses is for the people to be scattered throughout the nations. that the people of Israel will go through other nations and they will serve other gods and they will serve other peoples. And they are not going to have a rest. They are not going to have a dwelling place in those other nations where they will be taken and scattered because of disobedience to the law.

Now, this is very important because I said to you that the strength of the kingdom of Israel was established upon obedience and perfect obedience to the law of Moses, namely the law of God given to the people of Israel through Moses. So that means that the exiles that took place, that means that the captivities that took place and that we have already studied, the Assyrian and the Babylonian captivity for the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom are the result of breaking the law of Moses. And this is very important. Kings chapter 17 for you to see this very important point not from my mouth but to see it from a scripture. 2nd Kings chapter 17.

Now from our studies on the exiles We know that the kingdom of Israel, after the time of David and Solomon, that kingdom was divided. You remember that, right? It was divided in two. And we had in the south, we had Judah and Benjamin, only two tribes, and then the north with all the other tribes. And that which was in the north was called Israel and that which was south was called Judah.

So what it was the kingdom of Israel, they became these two sub kingdoms, Israel in the north and then Judah in the south. And both of those sub kingdoms or divisions of the kingdom of Israel will be taken in exile. The first one will be the northern kingdom by the Assyrians. And then a time later, it will be the southern kingdom Judah by or in the hands of the Babylonians. Now, we're going to have the narrative of that here.

But I want you to see the connection between breaking the law and that even connected through the rescue, you know, the liberation of the Lord from to his people from the land of Egypt and the consequences of it for the kingdom that is found in Second Kings chapter 17. starting in verse 6 all the way. It's a long reading. Brother Jesus, if you can please help me with that from verse 6 to verse 23. In the ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Hala.

And on the harbor, the river of Gozan, And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had fled out of Egypt, and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God, things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in their towers, in all their towns, from watchtowers to fortified cities. They set up for themselves pillars and asherim on every high hill and under every green tree. And there they made offerings to all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried our way before them.

And they did And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord. And they served idols, for which the Lord had said to them, you shall not do this. Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every sea saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes in accordance with all the law that I commanded your fathers and that I sent to you by my but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. They despised his statutes and his covenants that he made with their fathers, and the warnings that he had given them. They went after false idols, and became false, and became false.

And they followed the nations that were around them, concerning him the Lord, had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves, and they made an Asherah, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served Baal. And they buried their sons and their daughters as offerings, and they used deviation and the omen and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.

Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers until he had cast them out of his sight. When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit great sin. The people of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam did, and they did not depart from them until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants, the prophets.

So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day. Amen. Thank you, brother. Now, brothers, You have, I think the connection is quite clear, not obedience. They did not keep my commandments nor my statutes in accordance to all the law that I commanded your fathers, that I sent you by my servants, the prophets, he says in verse 13.

They did not keep the law of Moses. And therefore, just as it was promised in Deuteronomy chapter 28, the people of Israel were scattered and taken as exiles and captives by other nations to serve other gods. And that happened not only to Israel, it says verse 19, it says Judah also did not keep the commandments. And we know from the rest of the scripture that then Judah will be also be taken by the Babylonians. And then we have in the end of in the end of verse 23, it says, so Israel, the northern kingdom, this is the northern kingdom.

So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day. That is that the kingdom of Israel or the sub kingdoms of Israel in Judah and Israel that were submitted under the law of Moses. Now we're going into exile and captivity, and they were being in the diaspora is carried abroad because of their disobedience. And we're given this very interesting verse here. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

But now there's going to be another piece of information given to us in the following verse, which is going to help us to understand the prophecy of Zebulun and Naphtali. Why? Because Zebulon and Naphtali, which was Galilee, Capernaum, belonged to the territory of the northern kingdom, to the northern kingdom. It was only Judah and Benjamin that were in the south. But here we are given this information about the Assyrians taking Israel and this Naphtali and this Zebulon, this territory of Galilee, where the Lord moved after the arrest of the capture of John the Baptist to begin his ministry.

was the territory that belonged to the northern kingdom. That was Israel. Pay attention to what happened after the exile in verse 24. It says, and the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon. So Babylon at that time was under the Assyrians.

So the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon. Kutah, Avah, Hamath, and Sepharbaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities." In other words, this was a strategy of this empire that every time that they will conquer a land, the way that they will assure and make sure that the land that they have conquered will still in submission to them was by replacing the people. So it was just by taking the people, taking them to their land, and then taking my people and sending them to that land, and then I will populate that land with Gentiles in biblical terms.

So that means that the Northern Kingdom population was replaced or was mixed with Gentiles and with people that were coming from the Assyrian Empire. This is very important. Why is this very important? Because when we go through the narratives of the exiles and we go through the prophecies, the prophecy given for the return to the land was given to the people of Judah. Now, we know that Babylon will come and take over Assyria, and they will come and take over all the territory of Assyria.

And namely, of course, it will also take all the people of the northern kingdom that would have taken in exile by the Assyrians. This will happen when the Babylonians would have taken over the Assyrians. And then after that, this new instituted Babylonian stronger empire that had now taken over the Assyrians, And therefore, the people of the Northern Kingdom that was under them came. And then 100 years after that took the people of the Southern Kingdom. Just please bear with me here.

The promise that we have in the scripture of the return to the land was given to the people of Judah. Now, the people of Judah and the people of Israel would have mixed under the Babylonian Empire, of course. And even when Ezra and Nehemiah were coming back from the exile, and they were building the temple. Even Ezra took 12 families representing the 12 tribes of Israel, because in his heart, he wanted to bring again now all of this scattered abroad that were under the Babylonians. He would he wanted to bring them to the temple that had been built and the walls and the city he wanted just to restitute Israel starting from Judah.

The thing is that Israel never now speaking Israel as a whole nation. never, ever, ever again became the kingdom that once was as under David or Solomon. He was never united again. The territory was never again the same territory. Then Israel would be under the power of different type of kingdoms throughout history.

Now, with the return of people from Babylon, yes, the people in Judah will be able to rebuild the temple, as we discussed a few weeks ago. The temple will be rebuilt and the walls even will be rebuilt and the city in the southern kingdom or in the southern territory. So then when the Lord Jesus Christ was born, he was born in times in which the main population of the people of Israel or Hebrews or Israelites were living in the land of Judah. But the other lands would be meek. So a combination.

of people, of the people of God, with those peoples that have taken them over. This is very important, because if you go back to our text in Matthew chapter four. Then, brothers and sisters, when we have when we have the Lord Jesus Christ moving, when we have the Lord Jesus Christ moving to Galilee and Capernaum, We have the Lord Jesus Christ moving to a territory in which the Gentile population would have been so strong and the Jews or Israelites or Hebrews that are the people of God that live there were combined or were mixing, mixed with all of the traditions and all of the things that were taking place in that land, because that had been the history of that particular area or region in there. That's why you can see there in the end of verse 15 that this land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan is called Galilee of the Gentiles. You see it there in verse 15?

It is Galilee of the Gentiles. This is glorious, and I don't have the ability to express how glorious this is, but try just to capture what I'm just trying to say here. The Lord Jesus Christ, after he was baptized, after he fulfilled all righteousness, after he was led by the Spirit of God in the wilderness, and after he offered came all of these temptations. And after he was proclaimed the beloved son of God in whom the father is well pleased upon his baptism, he decides to start his public ministry, according to what we have here from Matthew, in a land that was populated predominantly by Gentile influence and by Jews or by Israelites that were heavenly influenced by the traditions of Gentile nations. And we know from biblical evidence that being a Galilean was something that was despised because of this situation.

To be a Galilean or to live in this territory or to even spend time there was something that was not seen as something that was good. We have biblical evidence for that. Go to please to John chapter two. John chapter 2. I just want to give you a couple of evidence for that to make my final point.

To live in Galilee was actually very low, something people from Galilee would have been despised by the Jews that lived in the south area in Judah, where Jerusalem was, to the point that even People would refer to Galilee in a very difficult way. Now, here we have a similar narrative of the calling of the disciples in chapter 2 of John, verse 43. It says we have here a similar narrative. This one is not going to refer so much to Galilee as a whole, but it's going to refer more to Nazareth, which was, let's say, a little town or city in Galilee. Pay attention to John chapter 1.

John chapter 1 verse 43. John chapter 1, verse 43. The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee, which is the same narrative. He found Philip and said to him, follow me. Now, Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nazareth was a town of Galilee. Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Implicitly saying there's nothing good that can come from Nazareth.

But there's more biblical evidence that refers more generally to Galilee as something that was despised. If you come with me to the same book, John chapter seven, The reason why the Galileans were so despised by the Jews, Jews of Judah and of Jerusalem was because in their mind they were still mixed and they were a combination of Gentile. It was a breed of Gentile. And they have their own tradition. They have their own accent.

And even they had some of them corrupted the scripture. So in chapter seven, if we read From verse 40, the Lord has spoken about the coming off the spirit of God and how the spirit of God. It is the rivers of living water that are coming from from from inside. And then in verse 40, pay attention to this when they heard these words. Some of the people said, this really is the prophet.

Others said, this is the Christ of the Messiah. But some said, is the Christ to come from Galilee? Because he was coming from Galilee. Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was? So there was a division among the people over him.

Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, Why did you not bring him? The officers answered. No one ever spoke like this man. The Pharisees.

Now the Pharisees answered them. Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? That is, have any of good reputation believed in this Galilean? Verse 49.

But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. Nicodemus, you remember Nicodemus from John chapter three, who had gone to him before and who was one of them said to them, thus our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does. They replied. Pay attention to the reply of the Pharisees, of those Jews from Judah. They replied, Are you from Galilee too?

That was not a nice word to say to Nicodemus because he knew that he was not. But are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. Brothers, sisters, when Matthew It is saying that the prophecy given to Isaiah in chapter nine, which, by the way, like if we had more time, we could read it. If you read chapter eight of Isaiah and in chapter nine of Isaiah, this prophecy is given in the context of the people of Israel being taken by the Assyrian empire, the Assyrian captivity, the Assyrian exile for the people of Israel.

Now, What Matthew is doing and saying is that from that land, from that land that is despised, from that land that no one wants, from that land that no one desires, from that land that they have mixed with the unclean Gentiles, from that land that there is impurity and there is imperfection, from that land where there is hidden, where there is sinners, from that land is where the ministry of the Messiah started. You understand what he says there in Matthew chapter four. He says, the people dwelling in darkness. This is the prophecy in verse 15, the land of Zebulun and land of Nephthaly, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light. And for those dwelling in region of shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.

From these despised, rejected, this low region of Galilee that was mixed with hidden and with Gentiles unclaimed region, the Lord Jesus Christ started to preach the message of the restoration and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven. And this is very important because now, even though the kingdom of Israel is not antithetical to the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is much greater than the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. Because when the Lord was going and preaching in this land, he was saying that the message of the restoration or the establishment of the kingdom of God also for those who, in the mind of the traditional Jews, were unclean and were impure, and that they would not be served, not even to be with them. And even many of the Gentiles would have received the message of the restoration of the kingdom of heaven. Now, brothers and sisters, this is very important.

Come with me to Revelation chapter 1. Come with me to Revelation chapter 1. Because in Revelation chapter one, we have a teaching about the fulfillment or a some insights in the establishment of this kingdom, because this Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters, does not only start his ministry in this land of the Galileans in this land that is mixed, but also his followers, his apostles. These are men from Galilee. These are.

Fishermen, the kingdom of God now is being established, not with the rabbis, not with the masters of the law, not with the Sadducees, or not with the Pharisees, or not with the scribes, or not with the men that were very studious and very knowledgeable of the law, those who knew of Moses, but rather the Lord Jesus Christ decides to start his kingdom or his preaching about the kingdom of God in this land that was mixed and also by making these fishermen, making these men that were fishing and that were there in Galilee, making them to follow him immediately. And it will be through them that the kingdom is actually going to be inaugurated and established because it's to the disciples in Matthew chapter 10 that he's going to commission them to go and preach to the laws ship of israel he says do not go to the gentiles but go first to the lost ship of to the lost ship of israel and then they scattered and they go to preach through different cities but then we know that the message of the gospel is the power of salvation for those who believe for the jew first and also for the Greek, because in the text of Acts that we read, then the commission to those disciples that started preaching to the Lordship of Israel, this kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, was that they were going to be empowered from on high with the Holy Spirit. And then they will be witness to this king, Jesus Christ, not only in Judea, but in Samaria and to the end of the earth, because the kingdom of God was a kingdom that it was not only for the Jews, but was for every single sinner. Now, the fortress and the might of the kingdom of God is established upon perfect obedience to the law of Moses. So if God wanted to restore the kingdom to Israel, fulfillment to the law of Moses was required and imperfection.

So then the kingdom will be established now with thick and high walls and with armies and with cars and with all of those things. by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So then the strength of the kingdom of Israel and of the world will be through the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then here in Revelation, we see the glorious connection. between the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is equivalent to perfect obedience to the law of God.

And then those who are recipients of that gift as the kingdom of God. It says this is the prophecy. It says the revelation of Jesus Christ Chapter one verse one. The revelation of Jesus Christ with God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angels to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ.

even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priest to his God and Father.

To him be glory and dominion forever. Forever and ever. Amen. Brothers, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom. Other literally has made us kings and priests to his God and father.

To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Brothers, when the Jews would have heard that this message of the restoration of the kingdom of God for the people of Israel was repent of your sins and believe the gospel. Repent and turn to God. Believe this is the gospel of God.

This is the gospel of the kingdom. This is the message. This is the establishment of the kingdom. they would have simply not comprehending their flesh. It was necessary that just as with us, the spirit of God would have come into our hearts to make us understand that it was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and his complete and perfect obedience to the law, the righteousness, the fulfillment of the righteousness, that which really establishes a kingdom, a kingdom that includes the restoration of Israel, but a kingdom to the world that it starts from the heart.

No Jew in the flesh, but Jew in the heart. Not by the circumcision of the flesh, but the circumcision of the heart. A kingdom that cannot be taken and exiled anymore. A kingdom that cannot be destroyed. A kingdom that says death is no more.

Sin is no more. That all sufferings and all things are taken away because the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is the fortress, the foundation upon that kingdom. is established. Now, brothers and sisters, this goes beyond our ability to comprehend these matters, because the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, is beyond the physical, is beyond that which we can see. It is established upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.