Matthew 4

Matthew 4:12-25

Subdivision 2. (Matthew 4:12-25.)The King’s own Testimony. The manifestation of the Lord’s fitness for His work is now complete. From opposite sides He is declared, what even the demons henceforth own Him to be, the Holy One of God. He can now go forth to His appointed work and we have here a brief notice of His preaching, after the close of John’s public testimony. What we have in this place is not yet any detail, but the fact of the announcement of the Kingdom by the King Himself, the place of its announcement, the association with Himself of others to carry on the work; and the signs which accompany it. Each of these things has its importance, and Matthew groups his facts for the purpose of giving a history of the testimony now given to Israel, in its fullness and sufficiency, though rejected by them, the testimony of John being already rejected when that of Christ begins.

1. We have first the place of its proclamation, Galilee being in general in this Gospel the sphere of the Lord’s labors, from Capernaum as a centre, which was now indeed, according to its name, the “village of consolation,” as the place of His residence and the scene of many of His mighty works. That it was chosen in divine wisdom to be this, one cannot doubt, and the prophet Isaiah had marked it out in this way long before, as Matthew reminds us. Galilee, as “the land of Zebulon and Naphtali” on the one hand, and now “Galilee of the Gentiles” on the other, spoke plainly of the ruin into which the people of God had sunk. Zebulon; the dweller in relationship, as he should have been, had long fulfilled Jacob’s prophecy, and “dwelling at the haven of the sea” had become the type of Israel as a whole, giving up its “dwelling alone” to mingle in adulterous commerce with the nations. Now it was but “the way of the sea,” as if swallowed up in its waters while Naphtali, the struggler, sat, struggling no more, in darkness which was indeed the “shadow of death.” But the Saviour of sinners is not hindered thus, and there in the darkness was the very place for light to spring up. And now there had come to Zebulon a Dweller, in whom God Himself could dwell with man; and to Naphtali more than a struggler, a glorious Conqueror, the woman’s Seed. Here in outcast Galilee, the light could shine more freely than in Jerusalem, with its legal pretension and its hollowness at heart. Light, its own immediate evidence for all that have eyes to see! The Personal Word, the “Brightness of the Father’s glory” before men’s eyes! Earth had never before a revelation such as this.
2. The Lord takes up John’s word as to the coming Kingdom. The full truth, when it comes, unites in itself all preceding partial utterances. Along with this comes the call of disciples: and Peter and Andrew, James and John; answer His call to be fishers of men, with prompt obedience. It is an obvious and common remark that the Lord chooses neither men of position; wealth, or learning. The qualifications He requires are first of all spiritual, and He who sends them out means to be with them in their work. Nay, the first of all qualifications is to be dependent upon Himself. But He calls, - calls now, as ever He did and has given over to none His claim to do this. He is Lord and Master and Guide in all His people’s service. That His call requires prompt, unhesitating obedience, He emphasizes Himself elsewhere. How great a thing is promptness, when once we are assured of the Lord’s will. There is then nothing else to be considered, while moral hesitancy may so cloud this assurance as to make obedience then impracticable. Not alone in this, with how many would the present darkness of their way be clearly intelligible, if they would face honestly their past history. And that history must, after all, be faced one day.
3. The gospel preached by our Lord had “signs” accompanying it. This is one of the common Scripture words (though not used in this place,) for what we call “miracles.” Such a word is used in Scripture also, but it emphasizes the “wonder” element only, and is of infrequent occurrence in the gospels. Important was even the power to produce wonder, as a bell to gather an audience, but the words chosen rather for these divine works speak of that in them which was to make its impress on the conscience and the heart. As “signs” they evidenced. themselves as “powers” - acts of power - which in their character revealed God. The Kingdom of heaven which the Old Testament prepared men to expect was, in fact, an interference of divine power on behalf of men which would free the earth from the burdens sin had imposed and the curse brought in by it.

Miracles, therefore, formed an essential part in the “Kingdom and glory,” and are thus called by the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews “the powers of the world to come” (Hebrews 6:5). Most suitably, therefore, did they accompany the message that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand. Yet John, its proclaimer, had done no miracle. His simple call to repentance required none. He saw and announced the Kingdom, but was not to introduce it. He embodied the spirit and emphasized the testimony of the old dispensation, which itself pointed beyond itself for the completion which would of necessity set it aside. He was the judicial summing up of the past, but in near view of the predicted future; and men needed only to have conscience called into activity to confirm to them the truth of what he said. They needed not and were not called to have faith in John; but to judge their own condition; and thus be ready for the coming King. But now here was the King, - the One to whom the world was to be subject, the whole realm of nature submissive to His hand. Here miracles were the natural sign, then; of His Presence; to Him what man would call supernatural was natural: not to have manifested it would have discredited His claim. True and needful testimony it was to Him, when “all manner of disease and all manner of infirmity” yielded to His power, showing Him thus to be Master of the whole condition of things into which He had come. All the consequences of sill had found their remedy: to earth the long-lost paradise might be restored. Sin itself, therefore, as presently was to be proclaimed and certified, had found in Him its conqueror also. And, not passively content with receiving all who came, this grace in Him went forth with ceaseless activity to find its objects.

God’s heart was pouring itself out in such a way as if to preclude all possibility of resistance. Who could refuse such ministry to need so manifest, in which man’s very flesh cried out for the living God: and how could then; his heart be silent? In fact great multitudes flocked after Him from all the country round: from Galilee itself; from Decapolis, Rome’s ten colonial cities; from Jerusalem also, valuing itself for privileges which, misused, were bringing ruin upon all connected with it. Could, then; these various grades of a common humanity, one in the sad inheritance of the fall, which yet had so strangely divided them, find now in one Saviour-King their restorer to one another and to themselves? So it surely seemed as if it would be. “He made and baptized more disciples than John” was said of Him in the early days of His ministry. “The world is gone after Him,” said His enemies at a later time. But history has been slow in fulfilling such a promise. Prophecy, on the other hand, has declared that so it shall be, though under different conditions from the present. And this is the one hope for the world which, in the beggary of all other hopes, shall at last find fulfilment.