Category: Daily Devotionals

A King has sovereignty over his land, and that includes the right to determine who lives  on said land. In ancient days, a king would make a covenant with the people on the land to that purpose. They could stay and enjoy both the fruitfulness of the land and his protection – but they are obligated to honor him as king, and him only. To violate this covenant was treason, and treason required the death of the traitor. As most were illiterate, the covenant was usually accompanied by a graphic death sign, so that people knew that violating the covenant would have most serious consequences.

God is King of Kings, and He owns the whole earth, and all who walk upon it (Psalm 24:1). As such, He gave the right to live on the earth and all the fruitfulness of the earth to Adam (Gen 1:28). That right came with the obligation to honor Him as King, and also a death sign (Gen 2:17). Unfortunately, Adam sinned, and so lost the right to enjoy the fruitfulness of the land and his own life in the process (Gen 3:17-19).

As unrighteousness increased, God makes a radical decision; “God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” Genesis 6-9 record what followed; only Noah and his family survived. This is the pattern God sets out; Honor Him as King, or loose the rights to the land, and your own life in the process. We see that pattern repeated in the Israelite expansion into the promised land. God gave the land to the Hebrew nation because the previous inhabitants had not honored Him as King. They had worshipped idols and committed sins without repentance. So they lost their rights to the land, and their own lives in the process. 

That pattern is prophesied to continue. Isaiah 35 says, “Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart,“Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, but He will save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah. The scorched land will become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, grass becomes reeds and rushes. A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks that way, and fools will not wander on it.” 

What Isaiah prophesies, John later sees fulfilled in the Revelation of Christ (Rev 21-22) and Jesus now confidently speaks in Matthew 5, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” 

What Jesus says is not a pithy saying without substance. It is not a figurative illustration. It is a promise, meant to be taken literally. It is a promise made to those who humble themselves before God , recognizing Him as King of all the earth even before they physically see Him.

Amen.

The renewed earth will be the inheritance of the meek from all nations who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Jesus did not spiritualize away Israel’s territorial promise. Rather, He widened the scope till it extended to the whole world.

Hans K. LaRondelle

APPLICATION: Worship

The inheritance of the righteous is glorious, and the one who bestows that inheritance is far more glorious. Let us humble ourselves and worship Him!

His first teaching a profound lesson on the value of humility, Jesus goes on to make   another seemingly contradictory promise; “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  The words He chooses – makarios for blessed, pentheō for mourn, parakaleō for comforted – these mean exactly what the english translation says. Jesus is again using plain words to convey deep truth.

We mourn when we loose that which we value. Most obviously, that means people. The depth of mourning is directly tied to the depth of love one had for that which is now lost. Everyone who’s ever lost a friend or family member or even a beloved pet know this. But grief is not restricted to losing one you love. One might mourn having to leave a special place (like the home you grew up in), or a treasured role (like the job you thought you’d keep forever). Knowing such things, and knowing that Jesus’ intended meaning is spiritual in nature, one has to ask what one looses, spiritually speaking. 

We know that to step into the Kingdom of God is to give up everything, even though we had nothing, for we were dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). Yet we give up our sin to Him, and in exchange we get Jesus, and He fills us with joy. But even the most preliminary walk with Jesus will soon reveal that you do have more to lose. The Spirit of God does His work in convicting of sin and righteousness and judgment, and we soon recognize that there are parts of our lives – some hidden and some obvious – that we need to divest ourselves of. 

We can do so freely and willingly (Job 13:23) or we can do so after a long wrestling with God (Gen 32:24, Job 42:5-6). But in both cases we must give up our very character, and that is difficult to do. It is done with mourning. Perhaps initially mourning only for having made poor choices for ourselves. But as one journeys with God, we mourn much deeper for having offended God, blinded others to His presence, peace and power, and for having stolen from His glory. 

That’s on one level. On another, God nudges us to truly recognize our brokenness. Giving up that is not so easy. Broken people actually define themselves by their brokenness. Here we find our just how hard it is to forgive those who have so offended us they have distorted our soul and caused us to loose a particular joy. Here we mourn for what can never be regained. 

It is hard to truly forgive the childhood bully who scarred you forever. The person who took what you had without asking. The abusive parent. The adulterous spouse. The rapist. The one who maimed you or your family in their drunkenness or desperation. Perhaps because of their own brokenness. Perhaps entirely by deliberate choice. Either way it is hard to forgive, and one mourns deeply. First for what was lost, then for the time spent without, then for the damage done, and perhaps after that, one might even dare to mourn for others hurt through your experience. The friends and family and well-meaning strangers who endured the roughness of your own personal brokenness that resulted from it. But God is ever faithful, and the comforter does come. The decision is made, the tears are spilt out in prayer, and the Spirit of God warms the soul. 

This is truth; there are levels of intimacy with God that cannot be reached without mourning. God is infinitely deep, and deeply emotional. To journey with Him to those depths is not a short experience or a painless one. Giving our pain and hurt over to Him is not an easy thing to do. But when you rise from those depths, you find in place of the soul-crushing open wound you had, you have a beautiful scar instead. Something that – when you occasionally notice it – recalls the sweet memory of His consolation instead of the pain and fear that used to consume you.  Best of all, you can reflect Him better, until that day He makes us all anew physically, and even the scars are gone. Amen.

Grief is like a knotted ball of yarn. It is not something that can be cut through with scissors but must rather be painstakingly unknotted.

Adam Stadtmiller

APPLICATION: Intentionality

There is no shame in grieving. But grieve loss the way you grieve sin. Prayerfully give your pain over to Jesus, asking Him to give you more of Himself in its place.

There is a lesson to be gained in considering the abundance of the world God  made for  us. There is not one blade of grass, but an uncountable number. There is not one tree, but an uncountable number. There is not one place to live, but an uncountable number. There is an abundance of water, an abundance of land, an abundance of desert and an abundance of icy wilderness. There is sun in season, and rain in season, and both in abundance. In God’s Kingdom, there is abundance, because God is worthy of much, and God is generous. God is also forever, and His blessing is lasting.

Conversely, poverty is not seen as a blessing, and certainly cannot be taken as a blessing from God. Everyone can know that being financially poor might be useful for a season, because you can learn contentment with little if you experience financial poverty for a season. But lasting poverty is what we call ‘grinding poverty’.  Grinding poverty is quite unhelpful. Likewise being relationally poor, or emotionally void. In fact, the first indicator that the Kingdom of God is being manifested in an earthly community is a relief of every kind of poverty – beginning with spiritual poverty. So we can know that lasting poverty is anything but a blessing!

So when Jesus begins, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” we can know that He does not mean that some form of perpetual poverty is a blessing. To be poor in spirit must mean something other than to have an absence of spiritual wealth. In fact, when Jesus says, “theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” He is imparting to the poor in spirit all the heavenly wealth of heaven! Being poor in spirit is therefore not the same as being spiritually poor. Nor does it mean that we intentionally write off our potential. Warren Wiersbe said, ““Poor in spirit” is the opposite of the world’s attitudes of self-praise and self-assertion. It is not a false humility that says, “I am not worth anything, I can’t do anything!” It is honesty with ourselves.” As another commentator succinctly notes, “to be poor in spirit refers to an awareness of spiritual bankruptcy apart from Christ.” 

That is a keen observation. God will not fill the hands that are already grasping something. So to come before Him and recognize who He is (and who we really are) is to be immediately aware of the sin we yet cling to. It is to be acutely aware of His holiness. It is to know and understand our appalling lack of flawless holiness. A lack He – in His great grace to us – does not leave us in, if we are willing to let go! It is therefore a temporary lack, and assuredly so.

The poor in spirit are those who aware of the perfect nature of God, and long to better represent Him. To such people Paul will later write, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” To be poor in spirit is to be rich in Christ. It is to be rich in humility. Humility before God is therefore all the wealth we rightly aspire to in the flesh. And this is true, for humility before God is a virtual guarantee of repentance, and repentance is the door that opens the vault to the very great abundance of lasting spiritual riches.  Amen. 

There is no wisdom in a self-exaltation.

C.H. Spurgeon

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Perhaps if we spent half as much time asking God for humility as we do asking Him for blessing, we would have both, and greater peace besides.

When we left off in Matthew 4, Jesus was going throughout Galilee teaching,   preaching and healing. Large crowds were coming to Him from all over – not only crowds of Jews, but non-Jews from various backgrounds too. That is to be expected, because healing and solid teaching ministry are relevant to every  ethnic, not just to the Jews. 

As chapter five opens, we see Jesus responding to the crowds that had gathered to follow Him. “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them…” As He usually does, Jesus begins with teaching. 

Matthew five begins the Sermon on the Mount – effectively a summary of the things Jesus’ taught to the crowds that came to hear Him. This teaching begins with the Beatitudes. The beatitudes are a particular kind of teaching. As one commentator put it, “They name a situation or action in which they declare God’s blessing or favor is experienced. Implicitly they exhort others to manifest this way of life or experience this situation. For those who do not, the blessing functions as condemnation.” We can see that this is a summary and likely not a verbatim transcript because of the style of the text. The same commentators noted, “Some have argued convincingly that the Beatitudes fall into three stanzas of 5:3–6, 7–10, 11–12. Each stanza has 36 words.”

Each beatitude begins with the word, “Blessed”.  The Greek (μακάριος) is makarios. It means to be fortunate or happy because of circumstances, to be favored, happy, or privileged. The idea is that one is both favored by divine grace, and happy for the state of being so favored.  Yet a quick glance at what Jesus called blessed can impart some confusion. Normally we would not consider any of these things a blessing. To be poor in spirit, or mourning, or meek, or hungry for righteousness (etc), is usually seen as a sad state of mind indeed. But Jesus is not a mere poet, and He does not purpose to be simply ironic. He is teaching the way of the Kingdom of God, and the way of the Kingdom is not the way of human perception! 

Each beatitude “portrays the ideal heart condition of a kingdom citizen—a condition that brings abundant spiritual blessing.”  It is that spiritual blessing that Jesus is interested in imparting – for the spiritual (which lasts) is always more valuable than the physical (which is temporary). That is a truth worth remembering. Also worth remembering is that God always starts with blessing. That may be a profound truth, but it isn’t exactly rocket science. Kindness is the key that opens the door to valued relationship. Without kindness it is all but impossible to have a relationship that the other party wants.

It could even be said that the impartation of a spiritual blessing is a prerequisite to the impartation of a spiritual truth. Blessing must precede truth, or the truth will be judged according to the condition of the other’s soul apart from from the experience of kindness, and often their soul condition is anything but receptive. By starting off with the pronouncement of spiritual blessing, Jesus softens the hearts of those He is speaking to, even if they do not enjoy the path to blessing they are on.  

Joy is the serious business of heaven.

C.S. Lewis

APPLICATION: Thankfulness

Think of a time when you felt truly blessed. What was it like? What blessing are you experiencing now?

Earlier in Matthew, we learned that when Jesus saw the cue that His ministry was to kick into high gear, He went from Nazareth to Capernaum. Capernaum was in the far north of Israel, close to the Gentiles. Jesus went there to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy that the people living in darkness would see a great light. Now that light has dawned. Jesus has begun teaching, preaching and healing. 

As one might expect, those living so long in darkness are very much drawn to that light. Where Matthew 4:23 told us what Jesus’ ministry consisted of, verses 24 and 25 tell us the result. News spreads. It doesn’t stay within the confines of Jewish territory, but moves into Syria and the Decapolis; “News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.”  

Sometimes the people we are sent to minister to are not the people who are most receptive. But when hope is offered, those who are receptive respond. Jesus offers hope. Hope for the ill. Hope for those in pain. Hope for the demonized. Hope for those with untreatable conditions. Jesus offers all of them hope. So the needy come, and there are a lot of needy! 

Jesus quickly gains followers from all the surrounding areas. The language used here points to a great number of followers – “large”, “crowds”(note the pural) and the five different regions mentioned. One commentator notes, “The text abounds in hyperbole: Jesus goes throughout Galilee, and all Syria hears of his deeds; the people bring all the sick, and Jesus heals every illness; great crowds follow Jesus, from every quarter of Israel. With language such as this, Matthew paints a picture of a major undertaking.”

Hyperbole aside, the stirring thing about these two verses is buried right in the middle of them; “and he healed them.” The hope Jesus offers is not a vain hope. It is hope realized. They came in response to news that a teacher was preaching good news and healing – and that is exactly what they found.

Sometimes when people pray or minister to others, they aren’t really expecting God to do anything. They will say all the right words, and follow all the right ordinances. But they don’t expect God to actually show up. They are expecting a miracle in their choice of words, but they aren’t expecting a manifest work of God. Yet Jesus is able and willing to actually heal. To heal the ill. To heal those in pain. To heal the demonized. To heal those who have ‘untreatable’ conditions. As Matthew Henry long ago noted, “He healed all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease. There are diseases which are called the reproach of physicians, being obstinate to all the methods they can prescribe; but even those were the glory of this Physician, for he healed them all, however inveterate. His word was the true panpharmacon—all-heal.” 

Jesus can heal, and Jesus does heal. While that was not the core of His message, we would do well to remember that. We would do well to pray for that and to expect that. Amen.

What you don’t believe strongly enough to teach doesn’t do you any good

A.W. Tozer

APPLICATION: Worship

Praise God that the day is coming when the mortal will put on immortality, and the corrupt will put on incorruptibility. On that day we will be free forever from sickness, disease and death. Glory to God!

His baptism and temptation over and His first disciples called, Jesus now begins His ministry.  Whereas Luke gives a better chronological account and includes detail on Jesus’ preaching ministry in Galilee, Matthew’s concern with the broader picture paints a clear understanding of what Jesus considered His ministry, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”  From this verse we learn that Jesus had a three-point ministry model. 

Yet the first thing we learn about that model is that it was mobile. The fact that Jesus went to the people instead of merely setting up shop (and expecting people to come to Him) is a powerful example of how we must have a missionary mindset in ministry. Lost and hurting people can’t find us because they are not just lost, they are spiritually dead. Jesus knows that the paralyzed and injured can’t walk to Him – how much less so the dead! The people of God must always go to the lost! 

Going, He taught. Teaching the people in their synagogues afforded benefit to those who were seeking God, and allowed that the people could perceive Jesus as a teacher – a man worthy of respect, a man with things to say that are a blessing to hear. Of course, it is a small jump from teaching to preaching – for as soon as you begin teaching material from God instead of material from others, you have crossed the invisible line between teaching and preaching. Teaching can be done without spiritual authority, but preaching relies on it. To that point, it might well be said that Jesus only preached. One commentator writes, “It is unlikely that Matthew intends any sharp distinction between ‘teaching’ and ‘proclaiming’. The choice of ‘teaching’ for synagogue activity may simply reflect the educational orientation of synagogue life.” 

Lastly, Jesus healed. It would become what he was known for, and it would become the great draw for the multitudes. 

To the worldly, healing is far more impactful than teaching and preaching. But God knows that healing unredeemed flesh (that is, flesh that is not yet fit for glory) is temporary at best. Teaching that results in a redeemed mind, and preaching that results in a changed soul – these are far more beneficial than restored bodies that still wind up in a grave.

Make no mistake – healing is a needed Kingdom work. But it is also a risky work, because apart from the truth, the gift of restored health can easily be perceived as more valuable than the giver of the gift. To do wonders and miracles without also communicating the truth of God is to risk becoming a kind of medical Santa Claus. And Jesus does not want to be known as that. Jesus is the Truth, and the Truth seeks to be known as truth, not just a wonderful experience or even just as a tremendous blessing. That is because truth does more than just heal. Truth imparts responsibility. And this is truth: we all have a responsibility to honour God, whether we are healed or not. 

The Lord Jesus Himself never held Divine Healing meetings. He did heal many. He did heal people in crowds (because He was fulfilling prophecy as to the signs that would accompany the Messiah), but He never advertised such meetings, but rather avoided as far as He could all such public manifestations of His healing powers. He strictly charged those whom He healed to keep still about it, lest men should make Him a mere Healer and not what He really was, a Teacher and a Saviour of the soul.

R.A. Torrey

APPLICATION: Intentionality

It takes much intentionality to keep the main thing the main thing. How are you keeping the truth of God the main thing in the ministry of Christ through you?

There is a principle that applies to every good and profitable work: One does not just up and start – one pauses, considers what is to be done, plans accordingly and only then starts. 

The gardener does not immediately grab a shovel and start digging – they must first ensure they are dressed for the job, then they look at the land. They must be ready to dig and determine where to start digging, so that their work will not be in vain. Likewise the architect does not draw up plans for a building without first consulting the bylaws, and then considering the land the building will sit on. The surgeon does not just start cutting, but checks to see that all the tools are in order, reads the scans and ensures the life support team is ready. This is a universal principle of starting well. Prepare yourself, and then observe, and only then act. This same principle applies to every good work.

We are at Matthew 4:18. Jesus has prepared His own soul. He has dealt with the tempter’s work, and has now gone to the seashore. He does not start ministry immediately, but wisely pauses and observes. “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.”

Jesus looks. He sees – likely among all the others working there – two brothers. He knows them, because He has had conversations with them before (see John 1:35-42). In fact, He had been with them at a wedding in the past  and blessed them in a dramatic way (John 2:1-11). Perhaps it was at that wedding that the disciples put their faith in Him, but they had not yet been called. 

He watches as they go about their jobs. They cast a net into the lake. The text adds, “for they were fishermen”. That information seems redundant, but that is just a signal that something else is happening here.

One imagines that Jesus was contemplating how and when to call them into service. After all, Jesus would later testify, “I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.  I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”  So it is entirely possible that He was watching them while praying – asking the Father to tell Him when and how to call them. It is entirely possible that seeing that net rise in the sky and fall into the lake, Jesus heard the Father tell Him exactly what to say. For it is only then that Jesus speaks. ““Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”” 

Jesus’ soul and mind are prepared – He is done dealing with the tempter. He has been most prayerful. He has engaged the hearts of the people by means of prior relationship. He has waited on God’s signal. Subsequently, the work of reaping is immediately profitable, “At once they left their nets and followed him.” 

Sometimes we rush to the work of evangelism entirely out of zeal. But a fruitful harvest never follows a forgetful work. The real work of evangelism is almost entirely unseen. Spiritual preparedness, prayer and observation all take time, and they all go without public announcement. 

But that ‘behind the scenes’ work is never unfruitful.

What is the problem? Rather than following Jesus’ four-step approach, we reverse the order and begin with the last step, witnessing, and skip the blessing, the fellowship and the caring that are to precede the good news. In most cases, this approach to witnessing does not work.

Ed Silvoso

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Are you ready to engage the work of harvest? How have you prepared yourself? Have you spoken to the Father about who you are called to reach? How have you blessed them? How is your relationship with them developing?

Matthew has told us of Jesus’ genealogy, of His birth, of John the Baptist, of  Jesus’  baptism and temptation, and of the message Jesus began preaching. Now Matthew starts the story of exactly how Jesus called His disciples. It begins, “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee…” 

From this we recognize that Jesus chose to begin His ministry at the seashore. Today, most of us would walk by the seaside because it’s contemplative and serene – typically a nice place to go for a walk. In Jesus’ day the seashore was not perceived as that. It was a workplace and a marketplace. Many in the community made their living as fishermen, either in their own boats or working for someone who had a boat. Going to the shore was not unlike going to the shipping docks and factories of today. 

Some only caught what they needed for themselves that day, but if you caught more than you could use, you sold it as soon as you got to the shore. If find that hard to believe, we must remember that refrigeration is a recent invention. The shoreline was a farmer’s market. What do you find at a farmer’s market? People selling the food they just harvested. Harvest the land, or harvest the ocean, it is the same principle at work. Hard work was being done, and the work of business was being done. The seashore in Jesus’ day was a workplace where you could consistently find people. People who had jobs, people who had means, people who had motivation. People who were busy and had obligations and schedules. 

What a bizarre place to start calling disciples! 

To be fair, He didn’t have to start there. He could’ve gone to the library, where He’d find people who had a degree of education and time to study. He could’ve gone to the government, where He’d find people who had civic influence. He could’ve gone to the Synagogue, where He’d find people who had religious passion. But He didn’t. He goes to the seashore, where He knew He’d find regular working folks. Folks not unlike the people that most of us rub shoulders with every single day. This is the ‘field’ that Jesus begins work in. 

There is a certain degree of irony in recognizing that. Before the fall, Adam was placed in the garden of God and instructed to work it and take care of it (Gen 2:15). Now, Jesus goes to His garden – the land of Israel – the land God has chosen for His people. He begins to work the garden. Not to produce physical fruitfulness, but to produce spiritual fruitfulness. Not among the exalted and the learned, but among the ‘salt of the sea’ – the common and ordinary working folk. 

This is truth – mankind works the land and the sea (which are given to us), but God works mankind! One imagines that just as a gardener looks at a patch of ready ground and takes pleasure in the smell of the turned soil, so Jesus looked at the busy shoreline and took pleasure in the sights and sounds of busy people. Where we might have seen a crowd of uninterested and otherwise obligated individuals, Jesus saw a garden full of souls. 

And some of those souls were ripe for harvest.

I don’t have to pray for the harvest; it’s there. But the harvesters are few, so they get my prayers.

Calvin Ratz

APPLICATION: Intentionality

How do you view your workplace? How do you think God sees it?

Today, much effort is put toward developing new ways of communicating  God’s truth.  New technologies mandate much of that, but it isn’t just new technology that drives new methodology. Our culture is constantly changing, so the form of our communication becomes dated, and it does so as fast as the culture changes. New methodology is constantly needed. 

Often, church leadership come to understand that a new day requires a new form of Gospel communication. In a largely Christian and rural culture, brush arbor meetings, door to door evangelization and large crusades were effective methods. In a post-Christian, individualistic and urban culture, such methodology produces very little fruit. But while the communication of the Gospel gets contextualized to the culture of the day, the Gospel itself must never be changed. 

We can see that mandate throughout the Old Testament. God’s message is very clear right from the beginning. He is God, and we are created to be His people. We must therefore turn from our sin and toward Him. Salvation by God comes only by repentance. 

Job said of God, “He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil.”

Isaiah said, “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation.””  

Jeremiah wrote, “Therefore this is what the Lord says: “If you repent, I will restore you, that you may serve me.” 

Ezekiel said, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!’”

Indeed, the Word records, “The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways.”

So also in the New Testament.  We’ve already read of how John the Baptist had exactly the same message, “John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”” Now we read of Jesus in Matthew 4:17 preaching exactly the same thing, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”” It is of some great note that this is the very first thing we hear Jesus preaching. 

That message can easily get lost in the modern church, where the prevailing message is not one of repentance, but one of comfort and blessing. Emails and texts and videos are produced to encourage people to come and belong, and to come and be blessed. People are sent to help. People are sent to bless without strings. That is all good – even very good – but if we do not also preach repentance, we are misleading those He made for Himself. Without a call to repentance, strategies and better communication are nothing more than worldly advertising. They have their place, but they are no substitute for what God purposes to give His children.

It could be said that without repentance you can never have lasting blessing, because the blessing of God comes through unity with God, and unity with God starts when you turn from yourself to look to Him. Here there is no place for bait and switch. Repentance really is the first word of the Gospel! 

This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Jesus (from Luke 26:46-48)

APPLICATION: Intentionality

What Gospel are you preaching? How are you getting that message out?

One of the unique beauties of Scripture is that every now and again you read of God tipping His hand. It is as if He occasionally shows us why He is doing something so that we might understand more of His thinking. 

Some seven hundred years before John the Baptist would be imprisoned, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan— The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” So it comes to pass that 700 years later, speaking of Jesus’ actions after John’s imprisonment, Matthew writes, “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 to the sea, along 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.”

This absolute fulfilment of prophesy means that Jesus’ move to Capernaum – in response to John’s imprisonment – was far from impromptu, and certainly not reactive. It was planned for a very long time. God had been waiting to strategically place Jesus near the Gentiles, and Jesus had been waiting for the Father’s cue to go there. It was the Father’s design that this King of the Jews would not live in Jerusalem, but on the northern border of Israel, specifically to be close to the people who were in the shadow of His revelation and those who had no light at all. 

The Jews had been given the light of God’s prophecies, and the light of God’s historic work among them. But they had hoarded that light to themselves. The nearby Gentiles were truly “people walking in darkness”. Up until now, they did not have God’s manifest favor. They did not have God speaking to them. They lacked hope, and they were lead to believe the saviour to come was not for them, but only for the Jews. 

Fortunately, that was about to change. As Isaiah wrote, “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.” It is upon them that the light has dawned, and ironically, instead of a mostly Jewish following, it would be largely Gentiles and the Jewish ‘fringe people’ that perceive the great light that is the first appearing of Jesus Christ. 

Their joy is nothing short of the joy of salvation. As Isaiah said, “You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.” True to form, Israel was enlarged – the nation of those saved by faith in God would include people from nearby Decapolis.

God has always been concerned with everyone made in His image, Jew and Gentile alike. Those on the fringe and those who the religious leadership would not otherwise welcome are no exception. He is purposing to fill the world with “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” There is no nation, no skin tone, no language and no culture exempted from His purpose.

Amen. 

“When you go to the poor with the gospel, the rich join hands with you to take it there.”

William Booth

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Who has God strategically placed you among?  How long have they been waiting to see the light He has already given you?