One of my favorite notes from church history that I’ve referenced before comes from the pen of Tertullian, who was an elder of the church in Carthage in North Africa. Around the end of the second century, as Christians were suffering persecution, Tertullian wrote a letter to the local Roman ruler threatening him with rebellion if he continued to persecute Christians. He wrote, “We are a people of yesterday and yet we have filled every place belonging to you—cities, islands, castles, towns assemblies, your very camp, your tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum. We leave you only your temples. We can count your armies; our numbers in a single province will be greater.”1
Years earlier, Pliny, the governor of Bithynia, wrote to the Roman emperor that the temples of the gods in Asia Minor were practically empty because of the spread of Christianity, which was impacting people regardless of their age, gender, or walk of life. By the middle of the third century, Philip Schaff estimated that there were about 60,000 believers in Rome.
In our own day, a report done by Wheaton College estimated that there are roughly 90,000,000 evangelical Christians in the United States alone,2 and a study of the International Mission Board tells us that nearly 5,000 different people groups in the world have been reached with the gospel so that at least there are more than two percent of these groups who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.3
Now, I know that these aren’t the numbers we typically report, so in order to find the number of “reached” people groups is much more challenging of a task than finding the number of “unreached” people groups. And I know that there is still much work to do with the advance of the gospel. But, at the same time, it is worth pausing for a moment and taking note of the advance of the gospel across the globe and across the ages and marveling.
I mean, Tertullian wrote that Christians had basically overtaken Carthage less than 200 years after Jesus of Nazareth wondered about Galilee and called some fishermen, a tax collector, and a few other dubious men to follow him. And from there, the gospel spread like wildfire so that eventually the gospel worked its way into our lives. So how did that happen? How did the task of making disciples get started so powerfully that the gospel went from an ancient near eastern town to a family of farmers in Western Kentucky who held up the gospel to me, called me to repent, believe, profess my faith in baptism, and obey everything that Christ commands? How did that happen?
The answer to how that world-wide gospel movement started and continues to this day begins right here in Matthew 4:12-25. With the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (which is what our text this morning covers), Matthew provides us a picture of Jesus’ mission and the manner, content, and power of that mission that he passes on to his disciples. Really what I want to argue this morning is that the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry is the birth of the church’s mission that we’re going to hear declared by Jesus to his church at the end of this gospel as he says in Matthew 28:18-20, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Let me then see if I can show you why I think that to be the case. First, I want to start with the note that Matthew foreshadows for us in his telling of Jesus doing his ministry in Capernaum (4:12-16), namely, that:
Matthew begins his note about Jesus’ start of his public ministry by mentioning that John the Baptist had been arrested. For some reason, Jesus took this as an indicator that he needed to go back to Galilee and really begin his public ministry there. And this move would have been heavily criticized because Galilee was not an area that a number of Jews thought well of. Capernaum, where Jesus settled, was an area that had formerly been given as inheritance to the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, as Matthew mentions in 4:13. But in the eighth century B.C. that had been one of the first areas to be conquered by the Assyrians with its inhabitants taken into exile and the area repopulated with Gentiles.
Now, it is true that by the time that Jesus went there many Jews had moved back into the area, but Galilee’s reputation remained what it was. It was an area removed from Jerusalem, home to a number of pagan Gentiles, and consequently home to a mixture of religions. So, why was Jesus beginning his ministry in this place derogatorily called “Galilee of the Gentiles?”
Matthew’s first answer to this question is that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. Matthew notes that Jesus’ move to begin his public ministry in Galilee was a fulfillment of what Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 9:1-2, “The land of Zebulun 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” (Matt. 4:15-16). Isaiah had prophesied that the dawning of the Messiah would be in this area, and indeed it was. Jesus was fulfilling prophecy and thus reminding us again that he is indeed the promised son of David.
But perhaps there’s another reason why Jesus’ begins his ministry in this place called “Galilee of the Gentiles” or “Galilee of the Nations.” We remember from the opening lines of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is introduced to us as the son of David and the son of Abraham. I said at the time we looked at that first chapter that Jesus being the son of Abraham reminds us that he has come to bring blessing to the nations because that was part of the very promise that the Lord made to Abraham. Well, I actually think that the note that Jesus is the son of David also reminds us that Jesus has come to bless the nations.
Let me try to show you why. First of all, the quotation from Isaiah 9:1-2 that Matthew gives us inevitably reminds us that Jesus is the promised son of David. After all, one of the most precious OT promises comes a few verses later where Isaiah writes in 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” This is a declaration by Isaiah that the promised one who will dawn in Galilee of the Gentiles will be the promised son of David.
Second, when God promised David in 2 Samuel 7 that he would raise up one of David’s offspring who would be a “son” to him, David understood that this had implications for every person on the planet. In fact, after expressing to the Lord how overwhelmed he was at the graciousness of God toward him, David said in 2 Samuel 7:19, “This is instruction for mankind.”
Now why would David think that God’s promise that he would raise up a king who would be a son to God himself be something that all mankind and not just Israel and Judah needed to take note of? After all, this idea of a king being considered the son of some nation’s god was somewhat commonplace. The pharaoh in Egypt called himself the son of the god of Egypt. So, when he declared that he was the son of the god of the Egyptians, then all of the Egyptians needed to take note. They had a king who should be obeyed their god himself was commanding them. So, why doesn’t David think that this great promise was instruction just for all of Israel? It’s because David understood that the God was Israel was indeed the God of the whole earth. Even the so-called god of the Egyptians wasn’t really and truly a god, but the God of Israel was the God of the Egyptians. And if this God was going to raise up one who was a Son to him whom all must obey as if God himself were speaking, then the whole earth needed to take note of this because this promised Son of God would be the king of not just one nation but of all the nations.
This is why (getting ahead of ourselves in Matthew’s gospel) that the Great Commission is given to us as it is. Jesus declares that he is the king of all of creation, noting that all authority has been given to him (that is, according to the language of Romans 1:4, he was “declared to be the son of God in power … by his resurrection from the dead”), and then he says what should naturally follow, namely, “Go make disciples [of Jesus] of all the nations.” Why? Because he’s king of all the nations, not of Israel alone.
This is one reason why, I think, Matthew notes early on that Jesus is settling in “Galilee of the Gentiles” as David’s promised son and God’s promised king. It’s because he has come to be a light to all the nations and gather people from every nation to himself. Matthew 4:12-16 is foreshadowing Jesus’ declaration in 28:19-20.
Now, I want to temporarily skip over Jesus’ message in 4:17 and come back to it shortly. But first I want us to note from 4:18-22 that,
In verses 18-22 we read of a couple of interesting scenes. Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee, and he sees a couple of brothers, Andrew and Simon (whom we know as “Peter”), casting their nets into the sea, for they were fishermen, and he calls them to follow him, and they immediately do. Then, he continues walking and sees two other brothers, James and John, mending their nets, for they were fishermen, and he calls them to follow him, and they immediately do. And that’s weird, isn’t it?
It would have been a bit odd even during the time and place where it occurred. Typically, individuals might watch and listen to a traveling teacher, and then decide themselves that they wanted to follow him and be his disciple. Not with Jesus. He just walks along and says, “You. Follow me.” And they do.
Second, the fact that they do indeed follow him is odd. I mean, Peter will later acknowledge to Jesus that they’ve left everything to follow him (Matt. 19:27). Perhaps this is a reminder to us of Christ’s powerful call. After all, he does say in John 10 that his sheep will hear his voice and come to him, and Paul declares in Romans 8:29-30 that those whom he calls he justifies.
But one of the most interesting aspects of Jesus calling these men to follow him is that he tells them that he’s calling them to follow him so that he might make them into something, namely, “Fishers of men” (v. 19). You see, right from the start, Jesus makes clear that part and parcel of being a follower of Christ means that you must gather others to Christ. Now, Jesus is obviously playing on the fact that they were fisherman with his note that he will make them “fishers of men,” but the point is obvious. He will make them into men who gather others unto Christ even as Christ is gathering them now to himself.
You see, inherent within the call to follow Jesus is the call to gather others to follow Christ and teach them to follow him. Jesus makes this directly clear with the very first individuals he calls to be his followers, and he will make it clear to the church throughout the ages as he gives the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. How then do we gather them? Well, this is answered by looking at Jesus’ message.
Matthew gives us a picture of what Jesus was preaching two different times in our text. First, he tells us in verse 17, “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Then, he tells us in verse 23, “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom …”
This is the message Jesus preached, and it’s the message that we must preach to all the nations as Jesus will make clear, saying in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
What though is the gospel of the kingdom? We’re familiar with the gospel, the message that Jesus lived, died, and was raised for us so that we might repent, believe, and be saved. But what is the gospel of the kingdom? I mean, the kingdom was clearly significant in Jesus’ message because in verse 17 he’s telling them to repent “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and in verse 23 it’s the gospel “of the kingdom” he’s preaching throughout Galilee.
The gospel means “good news,” and the gospel of the kingdom is the good news that God’s promised king has come, and he’s made a way for us to be reconciled to God (whose enemies we’ve become because of our sin) through his perfect life, sin-bearing death, and justifying resurrection. If we’ll repent of our sins and believe in him, then we can be reconciled to God, declared righteous before him, and saved from his wrath on that day when God’s king, Jesus Christ, returns to save his people and judge his enemies.
We might say that the gospel news of the kingdom is the good news that God is offering to his enemies terms of surrender through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ so that we might escape his wrath on the day of judgment. That’s the message that Jesus’ models for us, and it’s the message that you and I must take to our neighbors and to all the nations.
But why do we hope to have any success in this mission of gathering people to be followers of Christ from all the nations through preaching this message of the gospel of the kingdom? The answer is the last point I want to make in this sermon, namely,
Matthew tells us in verses 22-25 that as Jesus went about his public ministry throughout a large area, with large crowds following him, he preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healed “every disease and every affliction among the people” (v. 23). What are we to make of this? I think we’re to see that Jesus is proclaiming the kingdom and demonstrating the power of the kingdom.
The easiest way to think about this is to think of two ages, or kingdoms, or reigns. On the one hand, you have this age, kingdom, or reign where we see the reign and kingdom of Satan, sin, and death. Men are held captive by Satan through fear of death because of their sin. And we see the effects of sin and death everywhere. I’ve been two three funerals of family and friends over the past six weeks, and I took the opportunity in attending a family member’s funeral to ask my parents how my grandmother is doing as she suffers with Alzheimer’s. And all that happened in the midst of me battling my own sin and meeting with and praying for others as they battle their sin. That is a good picture of this age, of death’s reign, and of the kingdom of this world.
However, the kingdom of God is coming. There is coming a day when Christ will reign and allow no enemy to stand before him. In that day (or age), under Christ’s reign, there will be no more sickness, sin, or death. The devil himself will be judged, and we will experience paradise under the reign of Christ. This glorious day is pictured in Revelation 11:15 as John sees a picture of this future day and proclaims, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” That day is future.
However, here’s the interesting element. That future age and reign and kingdom, with the coming of Christ, has already invaded this age and reign and kingdom. This is why Jesus comes on the scene preaching that the kingdom is at hand. If the kingdom of God is seen as God’s promised king is reigning, then Jesus is announcing that the kingdom is here with the promised king.
So what Jesus is doing when he’s preaching the good news of the kingdom and then healing and casting out demons is he’s given us a picture in this age of what things will be like in the age to come. In this age, where people are bound by Satan, he casts out demons. In this age, where people are gripped by sickness and disease, he heals. Jesus is coming into Galilee and from the start he’s pushing around Satan and sin and death. This is why the demons ask Jesus in Matthew 8:29, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” And Jesus’ answer is basically, “Yeah I have, but not completely.” What Jesus is showing us by these acts of healing and casting out demons is that the kingdom and the gospel of the kingdom come with power in this age.
Now, don’t be confused. We’re not living in the fullness of the age to come yet. There’s still Satan, sin, and death tormenting. We’re in a time of overlap between the ages. So what this means is that we would be dead wrong and biblically uninformed to think that everyone who gets sick will be healed. But we would also be wrongly presumptuous and biblically uninformed to think that God will never demonstrate his kingdom power and heal someone as we pray for them.
But even more important than whether God might miraculously heal us from sickness on occasion is the understanding that the Lord shows the power of the kingdom, the power of the age to come, as we preach the gospel and he powerfully takes out hearts that love darkness and gives people hearts that love light, as he powerfully transfers us, in the words of Colossians 1:13 “from the domain of darkness . . . to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”
So, when you’re thinking about that unreached people group in the jungle or your neighbor who just seems so obstinate and set in his stubborn, rebellious ways, and you think, “There’s not a chance he’s going to be saved,” remember that as you go to preach the gospel of the kingdom to him, you’re going with the gospel that is powerful to save, a gospel that can bring it a demonstration of the power of the kingdom to come that Satan is powerless to overcome. And there will be some who will hear that gospel proclaimed, and the enemy who has bound them and blinded their eyes will himself be bound and his goods plundered as Christ’s power from the age to come shines into their hearts and opens their blind eyes to believe. This why we have hope: because our gospel comes with a demonstration of the power of the kingdom of God against which power the power of this age is powerless.
Therefore, let us recognize that the one who came to gather the nations called us as a church to himself so that he might make us as a church into a people who gather others to follow him through the powerful preaching of the gospel of the kingdom so that we might make disciples of Jesus Christ from all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything he’s commanded. And we do this until the end of this age, knowing he’s with us the whole time. Therefore, let us see that mission that began right here in Matthew 4:12-25 and let us by faith declare our willingness to obey the Lord in faith, giving our finances, our prayers, our time, and our lives toward this mission as a church, and let us show that response know by coming to the table. Amen.