Transformation Not Teleportation
Notes
Transcript
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
Scripture Reference: Matthew 4:13-22
We are going to be getting back into The Gospel Journey today, so turn with me to Matthew 4.
Context
Context
In our last message in the Gospels, Jesus had travelled to Nazareth, his hometown. He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, which was customary and then read from the scroll Isaiah. All was well until He told the crowd that the Scripture had been fulfilled that day in Him, claiming to be the Messiah. They forced Him out to the edge of town with the intention of killing Him, but He escaped through their midst and went on His way.
As we continue today, we see that when Jesus leaves Nazareth, He comes next to Capernaum.
13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.
“Capernaum” literally means “The village of Nahum”. It is quiet possible that this city was the hometown of Nahum the prophet. Nahum also means “Compassionate”, so it is also possible that when this city was named, there just so happened to be many compassionate people there at the time.
Capernaum is one of the coastal cities on the Sea of Galilee and its city limits, if you will, extended into both Zebulun and Naphtali’s tribal territories.
Now I want to point out that Jesus is not running from Nazareth for fear of His life. He isn’t coming to Capernaum by chance. There are a few very good reasons that Jesus has come to Capernaum, but the first is because it was prophesied He would.
14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:
Content
Content
The Prophecy
The Prophecy
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.”
Theses verses are quoted from Isa 9:1-2.
We learn from vs. 15 that this region has been known as “Galilee of the Gentiles” for quiet some time.
All of Galilee during this time was very open. By open, I mean it was fitting for anyone. Anyone could feel at home in Galilee.
To the North, you had Syria and the Phoenicians. To the South, you had the Samaritans & Jews. To the East, beyond the Sea of Galilee, was Decapolis, which was a region made up of ten different cities. To the West of Galilee were three major port cities on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea: Acco directly to the West, above that Tyre, and above that Sidon.
This means Galilee was one of the major crossroads of the region. One scholar said that Galilee was on the way to everywhere.
It is no wonder Galilee is referred to as Galilee of the Gentiles. It is also no wonder that it is referred to as a place of darkness and the shadow of death in vs. 16.
Galilee of the Gentiles can also be translated as Galilee of the Heathen. Gentiles naturally did not believe in the one true God of Israel during this time. They believed in multiple gods and worshipped those gods in multiple ways. In Galilee, you could be whoever, worship whoever, serve whoever, and believe in whatever you wanted to without prejudice.
Isaiah prophesies over 800 years earlier that this region of Gentiles would be among the first to witness Jesus in ministry.
Imagine that! Jesus did not first reveal Himself in Jerusalem, the epicenter of the religious system of His day. Rather, He reveals Himself in Galilee, the place where He grew up. It was a place of tremendous spiritual darkness. It was the “Land and Shadow of Death.”
But in the midst of this darkness and light would shine. In the midst of this death, life would spring forth. The Messiah had come. He was revealed through many miracles. Jesus performed miracles everywhere He went, at least anywhere that would have faith enough to let Him work. The miracles captivated His audience. This light in the midst of darkness stood out as He should have, but as their eyes adjusted to this new light before them, they stood dazed and confused, unsure of what was happening.
The miracles were only a byproduct though of a much deeper thing taking place. It was the message He delivered that would turn the world upside down.
The Proclamation
The Proclamation
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus begins to preach all throughout the region and the basis of His message is familiar to us. It is a message that we have heard before. John the Baptist, whom we have already looked at in great detail, preached this same message.
It was no coincidence that John and Jesus came preaching the same message. John was the forerunner of Christ. He was called by God to prepare the way of the Lord. It only makes sense that he would preach the same message that the Messiah Himself would come preaching.
This makes one of two possible scenarios true. Either John the Baptist and Jesus are who they claimed to be, or they are both frauds of the same system. This was a critical moment, for many people had believed in John’s message and been baptized by John. If they truly believed in John’s message, then they must in turn believe in Jesus message, for it is the same message.
Furthermore, if they believed in John’s message, that the Messiah was coming and was at hand, then they must at least seriously consider the possibility that this man named Jesus, who has come preaching the same message, could be Him. This spiritual connection between Jesus and John, accompanied by many otherworldly miracles performed by Jesus, left many people on the edge of their seat, seriously considering the ramifications of these events.
As we will see, those who refused to believe in John will also refuse to believe in Christ, at least for the most part.
But what is the message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Repent
The call to action was that of repentance. To repent is to turn away from one thing to something else. It is to do an about face; to turn the opposite direction.
In spiritual terms, it is to find a new way, to see things from a new perspective, to change the way we look at sin and the way we look at righteousness. It is to have a change of heart that leads to a change in action.
Jesus is preaching here that the first step towards the Kingdom of Heaven is repentance. It always has been the first step towards salvation, and it is still the first step towards salvation.
37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
John MacArthur points out, “Israel would not be ready for, or worthy of, the King until she repented.” I will mimic his words for us today. Until we are ready to repent of the sin in our lives, acknowledge that sin as God does and turn away from it, we will not be ready for
Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand
First, I want us to see that this Kingdom is ushered in by Christ. He is the doorway to the Kingdom. John the Baptist preached this same message in his preaching, pointing forward to the coming Messiah who, “would take away the sin of the world.”
7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
No one is allowed into the fold of God unless they come through the doorway of Jesus. It is through His saving power that one gains passage into the Kingdom.
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Unless one is born again, and we have already discussed the meaning of that phrase, which is to believe in Jesus, one can not see the Kingdom of God.
Secondly, we see through the phrasing of this message, that this Kingdom is accessible right now. Notice it says the “Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” That means it is within one’s grasp. It is here and it is now.
Finally, we need to understand that the Kingdom of Heaven (Kingdom of God) is multifaceted. This means that there are a couple of different levels, applications to this phrase.
The Kingdom of Heaven refers to the physical Kingdom that the OT prophets spoke of, Heaven on Earth. It is where Christ will reign from the throne of David, sin will be abolished, and good will conquer evil.
It is this physical kingdom that the people were looking for. They were looking for a military leader, who would lead them out of bondage, destroy their enemies, and build a kingdom that no other could destroy.
I believe Jesus would have set this Kingdom up during His first visit, if the people would have accepted Him as their Savior. But He knew they would not do this, and God knew that they would not do this. For this reason, the cross was always the plan.
Because Jesus was not able to set up this kingdom while He was here in the flesh, this physical part of the kingdom has been postponed until a later time. It will ultimately be set up when Christ returns as the rightful King of all things and establishes the Kingdom of God during the millennial reign.
The Kingdom of Heaven also refers to the spiritual Kingdom of God. As we have already discussed, access into this spiritual Kingdom is gained through Jesus and Jesus alone. He is the door to the Kingdom.
Through belief in Jesus as the Christ, repentance of one’s sin, and the proclamation of that belief, one is given access to this Kingdom. They are saved by God’s grace, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and now experience the Kingdom of Heaven.
As God dwells within us, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, we are now connected spiritually to the Godhead. We now gain access to the throne of grace, which allows us to communicate with our Heavenly Father. We now gain insight into the life of Jesus, who was the perfect example of righteousness in the flesh, learning how to please the Father in word and deed. We now also are empowered by the Holy Spirit to walk by faith as we learn to establish the fruit of the Spirit in our everyday lives.
This spiritual Kingdom is only accessible to those who are believers, to those who have been born again. Not to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven is to be a part of the kingdom of this world. We have already seen how that kingdom is described:
16 “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.”
Commitment
Commitment
