A DAWNING LIGHT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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 of the Sea, beyond 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 has come near.”

Matthew 4:13-17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus’ return to His hometown of Nazareth didn’t go quite as one would have hoped. His homecoming nearly turned into a disaster as His fellow Jews went rogue on Him in the synagogue after He simply told the truth from the scriptures, that on two occasions the prophets Elijah and Elisha were sent by God to tend to Gentiles over Jews. In essence, Jesus was trying to convey to them what His mission was as Messiah, to bring salvation to all people, Jew and Gentile. But the Nazarenes would have none of it. They would rather throw Jesus off a cliff rather than accept the validity of His teaching, authenticating Jesus’ statement that a prophet is not welcome in his hometown.

Well, as we saw in yesterday’s message, the murderous mob failed to injure Jesus in the slightest as He walked right away from them and departed Nazareth for Capernaum where He would live as we see in today’s passage from the Gospel of Matthew:

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 of the Sea, beyond 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 has come near.”  Matthew 4:13-17

Note that nothing Jesus did was by happenstance. Everything was carefully planned, perfectly planned actually, by God the Father who ensured that every “t” was crossed and “I” dotted in regard to fulfilling the words of the prophets. In the case of today’s scripture, the prophecy was from Isaiah who accurately predicted that the Messiah would appear in the “land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali”, an area also known as “the Way of the Sea”.

So what was the land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali?

The answer lies in the names of the territories and their association with one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

You remember the twelve tribes, right?

Go back to the Book of Genesis and you should remember a man by the name of Jacob. You’ll remember he was the younger son of two boys born to Isaac and Rebekah. You’ll also remember that Jacob, in cahoots with his mother, deceived Isaac to take his brother’s (Esau) birthright. Jacob would go on to bear twelve sons and God would change his name to Israel. And each of Israel’s sons would be the progenitors of a tribe, thus the twelve tribes of Israel.

Of course, two of those sons were none other than Zebulun and Naphtali, and after the Israelites successfully crossed the Jordan into Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, the land was divided up and allotted to each of the twelve tribes. If you read the 19th chapter of the Book of Joshua, you’ll see that Naphtali was a region to the north and west of the Sea of Galilee with Zebulun, a smaller territory due west of the Sea, nestled between Naphtali and Asher, north of Issachar.

This is where Jesus would set up shop for most of His Galilean ministry with the focal point being on the city of Capernaum which was located in Naphtali on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And the people there as well as throughout the region were in for a real blessing, a blessing proclaimed by Isaiah:

“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.”

Think about what this part of Israel had gone through before Jesus. The entire northern kingdom had been destroyed and decimated by the Assyrians who ran roughshod over God’s people, hauling most of them away into exile. Those who remained intermarried and immediately became shunned by the Jewish community at large (reference back to the devotions on the Samaritans). Indeed, dark times eclipsed the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali as the people literally did live in a place that was under “the shadow of death”. The people would have been yearning for better days, for one bright spot that might bring them hope for a better future.

Jesus came to do just that, to be a dawning light for a people who were desperate for it. But He did so much more than bring people out of the hardships and difficulties born out of God’s judgment through the marauding, attacking Assyrians. He brought Jesus to them so they might find salvation and eternal life. God sent His only Son as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29) and redeem a people who were living within the darkness of their transgressions, who were walking through the valley of the shadow of death because they hadn’t yet been justified.

Did I mention how much of a blessing Jesus was to the people of His day?

Today, He is still the best blessing God gives His people and He is still a dawning light, shining everlasting hope into the lives of anyone who would believe in Him and trust Him as Savior. I pray that you have made the choice to receive Christ in your life and have allowed His Spirit to illuminate your heart, mind, and soul, now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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