We come now to a very important section of the Gospel of Matthew, the section of the King’s ministry (4:12—11:30). In this message we shall consider the beginning of the ministry (Matt. 4:12-25). After the Lord was anointed, He was tested to prove that He was qualified, and then He began to minister.
Verse 12 says, “Now having heard that John was delivered up, He withdrew into Galilee.” Although John the Baptist ministered in the wilderness, not in the holy temple in the holy city, he was still in Judea, not far from the so-called “holy” things. Due to the people’s rejection of John, the Lord Jesus withdrew into Galilee to begin His ministry, far away from the holy temple and holy city. This occurred sovereignly to fulfill the prophecy of Isa. 9:1-2.
According to the human concept, Jesus should have begun to minister from the holy temple in the holy city, Jerusalem. But the report came to Him that His forerunner, John the Baptist, had been imprisoned. This was an indication to this new King that Jerusalem had become a place of rejection; therefore, He should not begin His kingly ministry there.
In His economy God intended to have a thorough change, a change from the old economy to the new. The old economy had resulted in an outward religion, an outward temple, an outward city, and an outward system of worship. Everything in the old economy was systematized in an outward way. In God’s new economy, He gave all that up and had a new beginning. The environment under God’s sovereignty matched this change in God’s economy. Because Jerusalem had rejected the recommender of the new King, the Lord Jesus knew that He should not begin His ministry there. There was no welcome for Him in Jerusalem.
Although the new King was the Son of God, and although He had been anointed with the Spirit of God, we are not told here that He prayed concerning where He should go to minister. We are not told that He had the deep sense that He was being led to the north, away from Jerusalem. Rather, the Lord considered the environment and received from it the clear indication where He should go. Do not think that we can be so spiritual that we need no indications from our environment. Even the King of the heavenly kingdom, the Son of God anointed with the Holy Spirit, moved according to the environmental indicators. The Lord’s concept was neither natural nor religious, Furthermore, it was not according to past history. According to history, as the anointed King, He should have gone to the capital, Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the proper place for the King. However, because His forerunner, His recommender, had been cast into prison, He went to Galilee. According to the human expectation, it was ridiculous for the newly anointed King to leave the capital and go to a despised region to begin His kingly ministry. He did not even go south to Hebron, the place where David was enthroned, nor to Beersheba, the place where Abraham lived. He went to Galilee.
By considering the Lord’s move after the imprisonment of John the Baptist, we must learn not to try to be supernaturally spiritual. Jesus was not spiritual in that way. We must also learn not to go according to past history or to human understanding. According to history and the human concept, the King of the Jews should be in Jerusalem sitting on the throne. However, Jesus did not move purely according to the spiritual leading, nor did He move according to past history or the natural concept. Rather, He moved according to the environment which corresponded to God’s economy. By so doing, He spontaneously fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1 and 2. Although the Lord moved apparently according to the environment instead of following the Spirit, His move was a fulfillment of the prophecy in the Scriptures.
In moving with the Lord we must avoid two extremes. The first extreme is the supernatural extreme. Some claim that there is no need to consider their environment because they have the Spirit. The other extreme is to pay too much attention to history and to the natural inclination and natural understanding. But in Matthew 4 the new King did not move merely according to the so-called spiritual leading nor according to history or the natural inclination. Rather, He moved along with God’s economy according to the indicators in the environment. He went to Galilee, to the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, to shine as a great light upon those sitting in darkness and in the region and shadow of death (4:15-16).
Nothing that happened either to John the Baptist or to the Lord Jesus was accidental. When John came out to minister at the age of thirty, he was very bold. It was not very long before he was imprisoned. You may find it difficult to believe that John the Baptist could be imprisoned. There seemed to be no reason for this. Once again, his imprisonment was due to the environment. John was imprisoned by Herod the king, not by the Jewish leaders. However, both the religious power and the political power, the Jewish religion and the Roman government, collaborated for the accomplishment of God’s purpose. It was sovereign according to God’s economy that John the Baptist was imprisoned at that time. The reason for this is that there comes a time when every recommending ministry must cease. If John the Baptist had not been imprisoned, it would have been difficult for him to stop his ministry. Because John was the recommender, his ministry should not have continued. In John chapter three we see that the disciples of John the Baptist were in competition with the ministry of the new King (v. 26). The ministry of the recommender was competing with that of the King. Therefore, the ministry of the recommender had to be stopped, and the best way to stop it was to put John himself into prison and even to let him be beheaded.
You may say that God could not be so cruel as to allow this. But God sometimes allows things like this. No doubt, God brought you forth, prepared you, constituted you, qualified you, and then used you very much. But after He has used you, He may say, “Go to prison and wait there to be executed.” Are you able to take this? You may say, “This is altogether unfair. God shouldn’t allow this.” But in the past God has allowed this very thing many times, and I believe He will allow it again. If He allows this to happen to you, you should simply say, “Amen.” Do not send some of your disciples to challenge Christ, saying, “Are You the Christ, the almighty Lord whom I serve? If You are, why don’t You do something to rescue me from prison?” The King would say, “I shall not save you from this. You must die. You must be terminated. Let the new King be on the throne.” John the Baptist and his ministry were terminated because the new King was there. When the new King is here, there should not be any competition.
The new King began His ministry in Galilee, even at the Sea of Galilee, not in the holy city or in the holy temple. His forerunner ministered by the riverside, in the wilderness, but He began His ministry by the Sea of Galilee. Galilee was a place of mixed population with both Jews and Gentiles. Hence, it was called “Galilee of the nations” (Gentiles) and was despised by orthodox Jews (John 7:41, 52). The newly appointed King began His kingly ministry for the kingdom of the heavens in such a despised place, far from the capital of the country, dignified Jerusalem, with its sacred temple, the center of the orthodox religion. This implied that the ministry of the newly anointed King was for a heavenly kingdom, different from the earthly kingdom of David (the Messianic kingdom). John the Baptist ministered by the riverside because he was prepared to bury everyone who came to him in repentance. The new King ministered around the Sea of Galilee. In the Bible the Jordan River signifies burial and resurrection, termination and germination. But the Sea of Galilee signifies the world corrupted by Satan. Thus, Jordan was a place of burial, and the Sea of Galilee was the corrupted world.
In this portion of the Word there are four disciples who were called by Jesus: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Do you know where and when these four were saved? The answer to this question is in John chapter one. As John the Baptist was ministering, Andrew was brought to the Lord Jesus (John 1:35-37, 40). Andrew then found Peter, his brother, and led him to the Lord (John 1:40-42). When the Lord met Peter, He changed his name from Simon to Cephas, which means a stone (John 1:42). Therefore, in John chapter one both Peter and Andrew met the Lord Jesus. I believe they were saved at that time at the riverside of Jordan. The same thing happened to James and John. Of the two disciples of John the Baptist mentioned in John 1:35, one was the Apostle John. This John also brought his brother James to the Lord. Therefore, the four disciples mentioned in Matthew 4 had been terminated, germinated, and saved by the riverside of Jordan in John chapter one. However, they probably did not clearly understand what had happened to them.
I believe all this took place before the Lord’s temptation, while John was still ministering by the Jordan. After that, they returned to Galilee to continue their work of fishing. Probably they forgot what had happened to them by the riverside. They simply returned to their old occupation around the sea. But the Lord Jesus did not forget them. After His temptation, He began His ministry and came after them. It was the same with many of us. The first time we came to the Lord, He did many things to us, but we had no realization of their significance. Perhaps your riverside was in Canada or China. After meeting the Lord by the riverside, you came to a Sea of Galilee to make a living, to do your job of fishing, forgetting what the Lord had done to you by the riverside. Many of us simply forgot what the Lord had done to us in the past by the riverside of Jordan and did our best to make money working around our Sea of Galilee, in the evil, devilish, Satan-corrupted world. But one day, much to our surprise, the One who had saved us by the riverside came to our Sea of Galilee as the newly appointed King purposely to find us.
When the Lord came to us by our Sea of Galilee, there was something different about Him. In John chapter one, Christ’s recommender declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” When John declared that Christ was the Lamb of God, two of his disciples, Andrew and the Apostle John, followed the Lord Jesus. Eventually, as we have seen, both Andrew’s brother, Peter, and John’s brother, James, were also brought to the Lord and saved. Although it was wonderful to be saved, they later forgot their experience. Many of us did the same thing. Perhaps you said, “What happened there by the riverside of the Jordan? That was silly! We were put into the water and we met a Nazarene who was called the Lamb of God. But now we need to make a living. Let’s go back to our job. We have plenty of fishing and mending of nets to do.” Nevertheless, the King has His goal, and He needs you, just as He needed Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Thus, suddenly, the Lamb of God appeared at the very place where these four men were working to make a living. But this time He did not come as the Lamb — He came as a great light.
Verse 16 says, “The people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those sitting in a region and shadow of death, to them light sprang up.” John the Baptist was a burning and shining lamp (John 5:35). But this new King was the light. In fact, He was not only the light, but a great light. Peter, Andrew, James, and John did not realize that they were in darkness as they were working there by the Sea of Galilee to make a living. They were in the shadow of death. This is a picture of today’s situation. Many Christians met the Lord Jesus at some riverside and were saved. But later they did not care for that experience; rather, they cared for making a living. Therefore, they went to the Sea of Galilee to earn a living. Without knowing it, by going to the Sea of Galilee to earn a living, they entered into darkness and into the shadow of death. All those striving to earn a living in the large cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago are in darkness and in the region and shadow of death. Praise the Lord, the new King did not remain in Jerusalem! He came to the Sea of Galilee, and He is still coming to the Sea of Galilee today, walking about the seashore seeking to catch us. This time He comes not as a little Lamb, but as a great light. As Peter and Andrew were casting their nets into the sea, this great light shined upon them. As He stood there shining upon them, He might have said, “Peter and Andrew, what are you doing here? Don’t you remember that I met you by the riverside of Jordan? Peter, don’t you recall how I changed your name?” That day by the Sea of Galilee a great light was shining upon them.
Our experience was the same as theirs. We were saved at the riverside of Jordan. But we later forgot what had happened to us and went to the Sea of Galilee to make a living. As we were working there for our living, the One whom we had met as the Lamb of God by the riverside of Jordan came as a great light to shine upon us. As He was shining upon us, He inquired, “What are you doing there?” I can testify that this happened to me one day. As I was working by the Sea of Galilee earning a good living, suddenly a light shined upon me, and the Lord said, “What are you doing here? Don’t you remember what happened to you by the riverside? You may not remember it, but I do.” Then the call came, “Follow Me,” and I followed Him. I believe that, in principle, a great many of us have had this kind of experience. You were saved at the riverside by the Lamb of God, but you were called by the Sea of Galilee by the shining of a great light. Although it may be easy to forget about what happened by the riverside, you cannot forget the time the great light shined upon you by the Sea of Galilee.
Although the record is very simple, the actual history is not that simple. It was not a simple matter for the Lord to call you. Firstly, He had to meet you by some riverside. Later, He had to come to you by some seashore. One day as you were working, the room where you were sitting was enlightened, a great light shined upon you, and the Lord asked you, “What are you doing here day after day?” When this happened to certain brothers, they threw down their pen and said, “What am I doing here?” Then the Lord asked, “Don’t you remember what I did to you by the riverside? Now you must follow Me.” Do not read the record of Matthew 4 merely in an objective way. We must read this chapter and even the whole Bible in a subjective way, applying it to ourselves. Praise the Lord that so many of us have had the experiences at two places — by the riverside and by the seashore!
The new King’s ministry for the kingdom of the heavens began not with earthly power, but with heavenly light, which was the King Himself as the light of life, shining in the shadow of death. When the Lord began His ministry as light, He made no display of power and authority. He walked upon the seashore as a common person. But as He came to those four disciples by the Sea of Galilee, He shined upon them like a great light, shining in the darkness and in the region of the shadow of death. At that juncture, Peter, Andrew, James, and John were enlightened and attracted. We have pointed out that John the Baptist was a great magnet. But the Lord Jesus is the greatest magnet of all. As He shined upon those four disciples, they were attracted and captured. They immediately forsook their jobs and followed this little Nazarene.
In Matthew 4 there is no record, as in Luke 5, of any miracle being done by the Lord when Peter was called. However, in Matthew 4, there was the great light that attracted the first four disciples. This attraction came not from what the Lord Jesus did; it came from what He was. He was a great light, a great magnet, with the power to attract people and to capture them. In this way He attracted and captured the first four disciples. No one who follows the Lord because of what He does can be trustworthy or faithful. The trustworthy ones are those who are caught by what the Lord is. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were attracted and captured at the seashore, not by seeing what the Lord did, but by realizing what the Lord was. Because they had been attracted and captured, they became faithful followers of the Lord Jesus unto the end. Eventually, they were all martyred because they followed the King of the heavenly kingdom.
Moreover, when the Lord Jesus called these four disciples, He did not start a movement or a revolution. Rather, He attracted the disciples to Himself for the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens.
Verse 17 says, “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” The new King continued the preaching of His forerunner, John the Baptist, that is, the preaching of repentance for the kingdom of the heavens as the preliminary to the gospel of the kingdom.
Verse 18 says, “And walking beside the sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.” The new King’s ministry was not in the capital, but beside the sea. His forerunner’s ministry began by the riverside and consisted of burying the religious ones and terminating their religion. The new King’s ministry began by the seashore and consisted of catching men who were not so religious, who lived around the sea instead of in the holy place, and making them fishers of men for the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens.
Verses 19 and 20 say, “And He said to them, Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And immediately, leaving the nets, they followed Him.” When I read this portion of the Word as a young man, I could not understand why these fishermen suddenly followed a Nazarene who said, “Follow Me.” I thought that they must have been beside themselves. However, after a number of years of reading the Word and considering my experience, I began to understand. Andrew, one of the two disciples of John the Baptist, had brought Peter to the Lord, in the place where John preached, prior to this (John 1:35-36, 40-42). That was the first time they met the Lord. Here the Lord met them the second time, this time at the Sea of Galilee. They were attracted by the Lord as the great light in the darkness of death and followed Him for the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens in the light of life.
When Peter and Andrew were called by the Lord, they were casting a net into the sea. The Lord called them to follow Him and promised to make them fishers of men. They left the net and followed the King of the kingdom of the heavens to be the fishers of men. Eventually, Peter became the first great fisher for the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-42; 4:4).
The same thing happened to James and John (Matt. 4:21-22). When they were called by the Lord, they were mending their nets in the boat. When the Lord called them, they left the boat and their father and followed Him. John and his brother, like Peter and Andrew, were attracted by the Lord and followed Him. Eventually, John became a real mender, mending the breakages in the church by his ministry of life. (See his three Epistles and Revelation chapters two and three.)
The calling of the four disciples was the beginning of the kingly ministry of the newly anointed King. It was the very foundation for the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens. These four disciples became the first four of the twelve Apostles. Peter and Andrew were the first pair, and James and John were the second. Thus, the first four disciples caught by the Lord Jesus became the first four foundation stones of the kingdom of God, which are four of the twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:14).
Verse 23 says, “And Jesus went around the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.” Jesus spread His ministry by traveling throughout the whole of Galilee.
Verse 23 says that Jesus taught in the synagogues of Galilee. A synagogue is a place for the Jews to read and learn the Scriptures (Luke 4:16-17; Acts 13:14-15). The heavenly King took the opportunity to teach there.
From the beginning of His ministry, the heavenly King preached the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel in this book is called the gospel of the kingdom. It includes not only forgiveness of sins (cf. Luke 24:47) and the imparting of life (cf. John 20:31), but also the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 24:14) with the power of the coming age (Heb. 6:5) to cast out demons and heal diseases (Isa. 35:5-6 Matt, 10:1). Both forgiveness of sins and imparting of life are for the kingdom.
As the Lord traveled throughout Galilee, He healed every disease and sickness among the people. The Lord Jesus spread His ministry by doing four things: traveling, teaching, preaching, and healing. In the work of the gospel today, we also must travel, teach, preach, and heal. We need all four items; we should neither ignore the matter of healing nor look down upon it. We should not follow the practice of either fundamental Christianity, which has very little healing, or Pentecostal Christianity, which places too much emphasis upon it, even having false healings that are mere performances. Instead of following these two extremes, we should walk in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus who traveled, taught, preached, and healed. Do not think that we do not believe in miracles. We definitely believe in them. We follow the Lord’s leading to travel, preach, and heal.
Through shining as a great light, the Lord captured four young fishermen to be His disciples. These four disciples traveled with the King throughout Galilee as He taught, preached, and healed. The result was that “great crowds followed Him” (v. 25) for the kingdom of the heavens. This was the beginning of the founding of the kingdom of the heavens. It was absolutely different from the way of the world. The Lord did not start a political movement or form a political party. He did not carry on any kind of movement. In evangelism we must not follow the way of politics or the way of religion. We must follow the way of the Lord Jesus to shine upon others and to attract them by what we are. Then we must travel, teach, preach, and heal. This will attract a crowd.
