LOC 031: Life of Christ:
Capernaum of the Gentiles
Last week we looked at the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ at
Nazareth from the middle of Luke Chapter 4.
There was nothing in the way Jesus was treated by his countrymen that
should have brought judgment upon the townspeople, other than they saw Joseph
as the son of Joseph, rather than as the Son of God. They looked for signs and wonders; they were
not looking for the Messiah as the one sent from God to deliver them.
Remember to whom Luke wrote?
He was writing to Theolphilus, a Greek.
Jesus’s two illustrations to apply Isa 61:1-2 to himself were offensive
to the Nazarenes, but they would have given comfort to the Gentile
audience. Luke is the only one to record
these events. I believe he mentions the
Widow in Zarapath and Naaman the Syrian for the very reason of giving the
Gentiles hope that they too could be included in the new thing God was doing,
Salvation was not for the Jews alone, it was a worldwide things for all the
nations. Actually, the word most often
translated a Gentiles is the word ethnos, meaning nations. All non-Jewish people were to the Jews,
Gentiles. They had a superiority
complex. They gloried not in God, but in their status as sons of Abraham. God’s plan was to include the nations in
salvation.
The word ethnay, from which we get the English ETHNIC, is found
152 times in the New Testament. 62 times
it is translated nation or nations (ethnoi) in the NKJV. 89 times it is
translated Gentile or Gentiles. And once in Acts 8:9 it is translated people
speaking of the people of Samaria, the pagans, the people, the gentiles, the
non-Jews of Samaria.
The word is used in a number of ways to show God’s work will be
directed to the ethnoi of the world, the nations. Most noteworthy is the presence of this word
in Matthew 29:19-20 where we find the great commission. Jesus commanded the eleven disciples to:
MAT 28:19 "Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching
them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
Go make disciples, those who will follow me from among the
nations, the pagans, the Gentiles. Those who become disciples are to be
baptized and taught. Teach them to observe everything I have commanded
you. And remember, even though I am
going away, I am with you always, especially to the end of the age.
Jesus’ command to disciple and teach was directed through the
eleven disciples to the world of pagan Gentiles. These were his marching orders.
This underscores what we have been saying about the world. The world as it related to the world of men
has ethnic overtones. The work of God is not primarily for the Jews, even in
the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus.
We need to distinguish between biblical concepts. The World we have defined and proven to mean:
the system or orderly arrangement of those allied against God. It has little reference to people and never
means each and every man upon the earth.
Whenever it is used it means basically some kind of system or orderly
arrangement. It can mean the world of men or people, but that does not mean that
it means each and every person. It is
the system or arrangement of all types and kinds of a thing.
So too, we must have a right definition of this word Nation, or
Gentile, in the singular and plural sense.
Again, it is not each and every person within that ethnic group or
region that is in view, but the people generally known by that name. It was a
way of designating everybody in the world of men from the Jews. The Jews were the people of God, so they
thought, and every one else was outside of the covenant, therefore, they were
the nations.
In the first century, the Establishment Jews had a view of
themselves as being extremely important to the ways of God in the world. They expected to rise to a point where they
would dominate the nations of the earth, just as they had come to dominate in
Egypt 1450+ years before.
The Jews were nationalistic and exclusivistic. They were to be evangelical and
inclusive. They were to be a light to
the nations around them to the point where the nations would be brought to
worship Jehovah-God. The history of Israel, however, shows the Jews as
accepting other gods while repudiating the worship of Jehovah. Time and time again, God judged Israel by
sending them into captivity for idolatry.
Instead of leading the nations to worship at the footstool of God, they
went and worshiped other gods and at times brought them into the Temple. That was their notion of evangelism. We can get them to the Temple in Jerusalem if
we put there idols alongside of Jehovah.
That was a bad thing.
Listen to the effect idol worship once had in the life of
Israel. They had slipped so far, that
drastic reform was needed. When Israel
and her king were confronted with God’s Law, they had to do something about it. They had to purge out the influence of the
Pagan nations. Nations that should have
been judged for their own sin. However, the sins of God’s covenant people are
always greater in degree and scope than the Nations who are darkened by sin.
It is a time honored principle that judgment begins with the house
of God. 1 Peter 4:17 For the time has
come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if
it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the
gospel of God?
What the Jews always wanted they did not experience because of their unbelief. What was to be theirs on
the condition of obedience, was kept from them for many years to provoke them
to belief. Eventually, God gave those
things to the Spiritual descendants of Abraham--those who believe among the
nations. They enjoyed and continue to
enjoy the fulfillment of the spiritual promises by faith.
What the Jews coveted for their own purposes was given to
Gentiles. This is a grand reversal. Those who profess faith must live by the
faith they profess. This is God’s work
as much as any other. Where men will not
live by faith, there is no faith.
Consider one narrative where Israel recovered the Law and the
effect it had upon the faithful king.
Note how low Israel had sunken and the reforms that were needed.
The story of Josiah’s reforms in II Kings 22.
2 Kings 22:3 Now it came to pass, in the
eighteenth year of King Josiah, that
the king sent Shaphan the scribe, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam,
to the house of the LORD, saying: 4 "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest,
that he may count the money which has been brought into the house of the LORD,
which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people.
5 "And let them
deliver it into the hand of those doing the work, who are the overseers in the
house of the LORD; let them give it to those who are in the house of the LORD
doing the work, to repair the damages of the house--6 "to carpenters and
builders and masons--and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.
7 "However there
need be no accounting made with them of the money delivered into their hand,
because they deal faithfully."
8 Then Hilkiah the
high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the Book of the Law
in the house of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he
read it.
9 So Shaphan the
scribe went to the king, bringing the king word, saying, "Your servants
have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into
the hand of those who do the work, who oversee the house of the LORD."
10 Then Shaphan the
scribe showed the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a
book." And Shaphan read it before the king.
The Word was found and read.
Note the reaction:
11 Now it happened,
when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes.
Repentance for sin affected his actions
and outlook.
WHAT THE KING DID:
12 Then the king
commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of
Michaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying,
13 "Go, inquire
of the LORD for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of
this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is
aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book,
to do according to all that is written concerning us."
Go pray to God because those
who came before did not follow as God had revealed.
look at 15 Then she
[Huldah the prophetess] said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel,
'Tell the man who sent you to Me,
16 "Thus says
the LORD: 'Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its
inhabitants--all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read-- 17
'because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they
might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath
shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.'"'
But to the King
18 "But as for
the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, in this manner you
shall speak to him, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel: "Concerning the
words which you have heard--19 "because your heart was tender, and you
humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place
and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse,
and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you," says
the LORD.
20 "Surely,
therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your
grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring
on this place."'" So they brought back word to the king.
New Chapter full of action:
1 Now the king sent
them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him.
He sent so they might hear
2 The king went up to
the house of the LORD with all the men of Judah, and with him all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem--the priests and the prophets and all the people, both
small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the
Covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD.
He made a covenant to follow
all God’s WOrds
3 Then the king stood
by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD and to keep
His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and
all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this
book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.
He commanded idols to be
removed
4 And the king
commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the
doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the articles that were
made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them
outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
He removed the Priests who
served the idols
5 Then he removed the
idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the
high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and
those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the
constellations, and to all the host of heaven.
He destroyed the places for
Temple prostitution (Yes, even in Israel)
7 Then he tore down
the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the LORD,
where the women wove hangings for the wooden image.
He went beyond the Temple
Courts -- what people did outside of gathered worship mattered. They were not
private matters.
10 And he defiled
Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make
his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
And,
11 Then he removed
the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to
the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in
the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
And,
12 The altars that
were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made,
and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the
LORD, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the
Brook Kidron.
And,
13 Then the king
defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of
the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth
the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites,
and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon.
And,
14 And he broke in
pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their
places with the bones of men. 15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the
high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both
that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and
crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image.
Do you get the picture of the
corruption among God’s Ancient people?
The Jews thought this was alright.
Ever so slowly these things had been brought into their life and
justified by the leaders. But God had a
very different perspective:
19 Now Josiah also
took away all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of
Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger; and
he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel.
So, the King:
20 He executed all
the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men's
bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
And, he reinstituted the
memorial feast to remember the redemtion God had given to them many years ago
and the covenant that had been made.
21 Then the king
commanded all the people, saying, "Keep the Passover to the LORD your God,
as it is written in this Book of the Covenant."
22 Such a Passover
surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor
in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 But in the
eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the LORD in
Jerusalem.
Another summary:
24 Moreover Josiah
put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and
idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in
Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the
book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
25 Now before him
there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all
his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after
him did any arise like him.
It was not the norm for Israel to have had a righteous king. It
was the notable exception. For this God
would one day leave Israel in her sin in order to bring his message to the
undeserving Gentiles--like us.
Now, we will encounter a time when the work of the disciples is
restricted to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. However, we must see that Jesus is even now
less than a year into his public ministry, ministering to Gentiles. His illustration in Luke 4 as regards the
work of God in the Old Covenant is fit to his concerns at this point in his
life. His ministry and the special work
of God was not for the Jews in Nazareth, God had other plans, which include the
Gentiles.
This was a shameful repetitive sin in the life of Israel. In the last OT prophecy given to them, it
reads: MAL 1:11 For from the rising of
the sun, even to its going down, My name shall
be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure
offering; For My name shall be great among the nations," Says the LORD of
hosts.
The Jews, at least the learned among them, should have seen a
shift in the work and ways of God coming.
God would come to a point where he would give the blessings once
promised to Israel on the condition of faith to the nations that sought to
destroy her. Ohh, the judgment upon his
own people for their sin can be ever so severe.
Israel never learned. They were
busy being pompous and content in their perceived position as Abraham’s
children, without the faith by which Abraham lived. The Just be faith shall live. It was to be
true from Abraham to Habakkuk, to those of us who believe. God would do a new thing. He would be glorified by those who would walk
with him be faith. If not the Jews, then the nations.
Turn over to Matthew Chapter 4.
Here we encounter the next episode in the life of Christ which is an
application of another Old Testament prophecy (from Isaiah again) to his life and ministry. Listen and follow along:
1. Where he was.
Matthew 4:13 And leaving Nazareth,
2. Where he went
He came and dwelt in Capernaum,
3. Where it was
which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,
4. Why he went
14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the
prophet, saying:
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 sat in darkness have seen a great
light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has
dawned."
Let’s look at the text with a little more detail.
1. Where he was.
Matthew 4:13 And leaving Nazareth,
The Lord Jesus Christ was rejected. So, moving through the midst
of a crowd that sought to kill him, he went on his way to another place. The Jews of that particular synagogue in
Nazareth knew exactly what Jesus was saying.
God’s work was not to be on their terms in line with their desires and
understanding. It would be on God’s
without regard for them at all.
2. Where he went
He came and dwelt in Capernaum,
Capernaum is another city in Galillee. It is on the Northwest
shore of the Sea of Galillee. If you
look at a map in your Bible of the Holy Land, it is the small body of water at
the northern tip of the darkest portions of the Jordan River. The sea of
Galilee is in the North, the Dead Sea is the body of water in the south. Jesus
spends a lot of time teaching around the Sea of Galilee.
In the Bible, Capernaum is only mentioned in the Gospels. We don't
know much of it before that time, nor after.
But, it is the place where the Nobleman’s son had been healed. From
Nazareth Jesus healed this boy. From Capernaum word spread back to Nazareth
about the miracle. Jesus mentions this
to them when he spoke in the synagogue applying Isaiah 61:1-2 to himself.
3. Where it was
which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,
This was in the ancient land partitions given after the conquest
of the land. It is mentioned by Matthew
because of the Old Testament reference he is about to cite. He wants to make an real link between what is
going on in the Life of the Lord Jesus and an ancient prophecy spoken about
this very place.
4. Why he went
14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the
prophet, saying (In Chapter 9:1-2):
15 "The land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea,
A paraphrase of Matthew’s words are found in the LXX version of
the OT. He is making a connection about the land and more importantly, the
faithfulness of God in doing all that the Scripture means.
IF we were to go and look at the context of Isaiah 9:1-2 we would
never get this insight, nor extract this meaning. There is a principle in hermeneutics, the
science of interpreting Scripture, that says, sometimes X = Y. What do I mean?
Sometimes a different meaning is assigned by God to a particular
passage. A passage may have a spiritual
or analogical meaning if God ways that it does.
In the original context it may say one thing and how it is used in the
NT may be a completely different meaning or context. Thus, the principle of sometimes X = Y.
Sometimes the use of a Scripture in two particular contexts may give that
Scripture more than one meaning.
In the original context, the darkness is defined by the events of
Isaiah 8:22.
Look at the entire context:
Isaiah 8:17 And I will
wait on the LORD, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; And I will hope
in Him.
18 Here am I and the children
whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the
LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 And when they say
to you, "Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and
mutter," should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on
behalf of the living?
20 To the law and to
the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there
is no light in them.
21 They will pass
through it hard pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry,
that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 Then they will
look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they
will be driven into darkness.
1 Nevertheless the
gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly
esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more
heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of
the Gentiles.
In that context it appears to be a prophecy of God bring judgment
and heavy oppression upon the lands of Zebulon and Naphtali. But now, it is to bring not curses, but
blessing. God reverses the way he formerly
treated these lands. He once sent judgment when his glory was to be in the
nation Israel. And now sends glory to Capernaum, because of the rejection in
another place.
What is the glory he is bringing to this little out of the way
area? What about this land....
beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:
Apparently, there were a mixture of people here due to its close
proximity to trade route in the North.
Many Gentiles, many men from other nations, many pagans, would have been
here mixed with the Jews. What was God
going to do here? Well the passage
applied to Jesus says,
16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And
upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned."
These were a people who lived in darkness. They had no
understanding of the work and ways of God.
This was about to change.
These were those who lived each day as though death would come.
That does not mean just physical death.
Without the Gospel of God’s grace, the Gentiles had no hope. Not a
pretty picture of life is it? To these
people in galilee of the Gentiles, they have seen a great light and it has
risen among them.
Jesus was going to be that light among them that they may hear of
the glorious good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. God was sending to them his own son, of whom
they were unworthy, but for whom the purposes of God were clearly
established. There would be hope in the
message preached, by a person beyond compare.
The light of the Lord Jesus Christ was rising. He would do a great work among them. A work that would provoke many other Jews to
Jealousy. It had already started with
the faith of the Nobleman and the many others who believed what the sign, the
healing of the Nobleman’s son had pointed to.
In Capernaum, they wanted the reality of all Jesus was. They did not want the signs and wonders. They wanted the real thing. They were to get what Israel had sought, but
not by faith. God was going to give his glory and grace to Capernaum of the
Gentiles. That the Scripture might be
fulfilled.
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