Oh Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's Word from a Hebrew messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levitam. Shalom dear brothers and sisters. We are going to continue to study together the Gospel of Matthew. We have arrived to Matthew chapter 4 and our reading will be from verses 12 to verse 25. Hopefully you have a Bible open and I would like you please to follow me as I'm reading these very interesting verses of the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 4 and verse 12 onward. And I'm reading, Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Kfar Nachum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zvulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the regions and shadow of death, light is sprung up. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren. Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me. and I will make you fishers of men.' And they straightway left their nets and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship, with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. And they immediately left their ship and their father and followed him. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria. And they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with demons, and those which were lunatics, and those that had palsy, and he healed them. And there followed him a great multitude of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judah, and from beyond the Jordan. And I'm going to stop here, beloved brothers and sisters, with the reading of Matthew chapter 4, verses 12 to 25. Now, this portion of Scripture presents before us the beginning of the public ministry of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, which began in the north of Israel, in the Galilee, surrounding, of course, the Sea of Galilee, the Kinneret, There in the Galilee, in Galilee, the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah began His public ministry. Now remember, beloved brothers and sisters, that the public ministry of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah is the ministry to present Himself to His own people Israel as the King of the Jews. We have covered chapter one. And in chapter one, we saw the genealogy of the Messiah, Yeshua, who was supposed to be, by others, supposed to be the one that was the son of Yosef. But he was not the physical son of Yosef. He was the son of Miriam, that the Spirit of God placed in the womb of Miriam the seed, and he is called in scripture the seed of the woman. In fact, through the genealogy of Matthew chapter 1, we learn that had he been the physical descendant or son of Yosef, the husband of Miriam, he could not reign on the throne of David. And why? Because he would not be sinless. He would not be the Messiah, if he was truly the son of Yosef. Also, because the genealogy through Joseph was judged by God because of Jeconiah. According to Jeremiah chapter 22, Jechoniah was cursed and therefore the genealogy of the Gospel of Matthew shows us the royal line of Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, but also at the same time, it shows us why He must not be the son of Yosef, because had He been the son of Yosef, He would not be of the seed of the woman. And that's why... Matthew, the genealogy in Matthew is presented before us in order to show us that he could not be the physical son of Yosef, and he was the physical descendant of the line of David, the king of Israel, through Miriam. And the genealogy of Miriam is presented before us in the Gospel of Luke, in chapter 3. We also learn from the second chapter that the wise men came in Matthew chapter 2 and they wanted to know where is he that was born the king of the Jews. Matthew chapter 2 and verse 2. And we have learned this, that they were looking for the King of the Jews. Well, beloved brothers and sisters, the King of the Jews, the Lord Jesus the Messiah, was born. And when He was born in the city of Bethlehem to Miriam, His mother, we do read In Matthew 1 and verse 21, she shall bring forth a son and shall call his name Yeshua in the Hebrew, Jesus in the Greek, for he shall save his people from their sins. And truly, as he was born from the Virgin Miriam, how wonderful to see that he entered into this world taking union, human nature with his divine nature. In chapter 3, beloved brothers and sisters and dear friends, we read of the baptism of the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. He was baptized by John the Baptizer, Not because there was any sin in him, not at all. He was that sinless one, the undefiled, the one who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. But the baptism of his in the Jordan River by John the baptizer, was in order that he will identify with the remnant of Israel, the people of Israel who came down to John the Baptizer because John the Baptizer said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The king is coming. The kingdom is coming. Repent. Get yourself ready. The king is coming. The kingdom is coming. The Messiah is coming. Many came down to John from Jerusalem and all the surrounding areas, and they were baptized by him. And when Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, identified with them in the baptism unto repentance, He wanted to identify with those who turned to God in order to receive the promised blessing from the King of the Jews and the established kingdom, which was to be established had the rest of the nation of Israel have accepted him. Well, sadly, Israel as a nation hasn't accepted him as a nation, and the kingdom was postponed, but yet the kingdom was offered to the nation of Israel. In chapter 4, we have already learned in the first 11 verses that Yeshua, the Messiah, was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, by the devil. And he was tempted by the devil in the three areas that all of us are tempted every day in our life. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It was Eve, that is Chava, before Adam and Eve fell into sin, that Satan, the devil, tempted Eve in the Garden of Delight, in Gan Eden. The devil tempted Eve in the same three areas, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. by telling Eve that she can eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God has commanded Adam not to eat thereof. Because God said to Adam, the day that thou shalt eat thereof thou shalt surely die. Well, Eve was beguiled by the devil. who beguiled her in these same three areas, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Eve, in disobedience and in being beguiled, she took of the fruit of the tree and ate from it. She gave it to her husband, who should have not eaten from it, because God commanded him not to eat from it. But Adam, in disobedience, ate from that fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In Hebrew, it is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And by doing so, in disobeying God, he plunged the whole human race into sin. That's why, beloved friend, you and I are sinners by nature. And that's why we need forgiveness, and that's why the Messiah, Jesus, Yeshua, came from heaven to become the one that will take away the sin of this world. That's why we have read already in Matthew chapter 1 verse 21, "...she shall bring forth a son. Thou shalt call his name Yeshua, Jesus. Why? For he shall save." people from their sins and how wonderful that the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah came from heaven and now beloved friends and dear brothers and sisters We are moving along in the study of the Gospel of Matthew, which presents before us the King of Israel, the King of the Jews, the Messiah, the promised Redeemer. And it is in this Gospel which specifically is to reveal to our own people, to the Jewish people, that He, Yeshua, is truly the promised Messiah. You notice that again and again this gospel records the prophets of Israel as it is written, as it is written. Matthew again and again makes references to the Hebrew scripture. Because it is written in the Hebrew Scriptures that the Messiah will come. Where will he be born? to whom He will be born, what kind of a life will He live here on earth, what He will do, how He will heal and bless so many, but ultimately the fact that He will go to this shameful altar, the shameful cross and pay by sacrificing, giving Himself over as the sin offering for the sins of this world. The sinless one would give himself as the good shepherd for the sin of this world. Well, after he was tempted three times by the devil in the wilderness after being hungry for so many days, Yeshua, once and again, repeated the quotation from the Word of God. It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, quoting Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 3. Again, it is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 16. Again, thirdly, it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only thou shalt serve. Deuteronomy 6 and verse 13. Again and again he responded to the devil, Satan, who sought to tempt Him, to beguile Him, to cause Him to fall. Yet the Messiah, Yeshua, is the one that victoriously He was faithful to God and the devil left him and the angels came and ministered unto him. Beloved brothers and sisters, how wonderful to see to prove to us concerning the perfection of our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. He is that sinless One who never sinned, and the temptation was only to prove that He is the perfect One, the Holy One of Israel. We are now continuing, beloved brothers and sisters, And in the next verses, we have verses 12 to 25. The theme of these verses is the beginning of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. And we notice, beloved brothers and sisters, that between verse 11 and verse 12, there is an interlude between these verses, a time passed by, And before Yeshua the Messiah began the ministry that he would do publicly in the Galilee, in the north of Israel, something took place. And that was the fact that John, the baptizer, was cast into prison. And there was a reason why John the baptizer was cast into prison, because according to Matthew chapter 14, and I want to read these verses for you, the first few verses in Matthew chapter 14 shows us why John the baptizer was in prison. We do read in Matthew 14 1 at that time Herod the Tetrarch. This is Herod Antipas the son of Herod the Great. He was the one who was that captured John. He heard of the fame of Jesus and he said to his servant this is John the baptizer. He is risen from the dead and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in Him. Now, of course, what we have in Matthew chapter 14 is additional information that we learn about the reason that John was imprisoned, but also that John, Yohanan, was killed by Herod. And I tell you in verses 3 and 4, why was he imprisoned by Herod the Tetrarch, Herod Antipas? Because it says in verse 3 and 4 of Matthew chapter 14, For Herod had laid hold on John, and he bound him and put him in prison. Why? For Herodias sake, his brother Philip's wife. Why? For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. Now John, Yohanan, said to Herod Antipas, he said to him, it's not lawful for you to take your brother's wife. And because of this, Herod the Tartar put him in prison. Later on, of course, he actually killed him, as we will read when we will study Matthew chapter 14. But when he was in prison, that became a time in which our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, left the wilderness area, Judea, and moved to the Galil, to the north of Israel. In Mark chapter 1 verse 14 we read, Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came unto Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. Notice the difference. In Mark 1 verse 14 we read, Now after that John was put in prison, And in Matthew chapter 4 verse 12 we read, when Jesus heard that John was cast into prison. In other words, because the Lord was in tune with the will of his Abba, of his Father, It was only after John was placed in prison that Yeshua began his public ministry and he moved from the wilderness where he was tempted By the devil, by Satan, he moved to the north of the land of Israel to the Galilee, surrounding the Sea of Galilee in the area where he could minister to many in the northern portion of the land of Israel. And so you notice here, beloved brothers and sisters, in Matthew chapter 4, verses 12 to 17, We are presented with the Messiah, Jesus, returning now back to Galilee to begin his public ministry. Then in verses 18 to 22, we are presented with the fact that Jesus the Messiah had called the first disciples, the first Talmidim, to follow him. and to become now fishers of men. And then verses 23 to 25 of Matthew chapter 4, Jesus the Messiah is presented before us as the one that is teaching, that is preaching, that is healing. many surrounding the Sea of Galilee in the northern part of the land of Israel. So you notice it says in verse 12, Once John, the baptizer, was imprisoned, then the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, began his journey back to the Galil. It says in verse 12, Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. To remind you that in the time that he lived in We might say, behind the scenes, in the first 30 years of his life, he lived in Nazareth. Of course, with his father, with his family, he came down to Jerusalem every year for every feast. Whether it is the feast of Pesach, Passover, or whether it is the feast of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, or whether it is for the feast of Sukkot, Tabernacles. Yeshua came to Jerusalem with His Father and all the men of Israel that came down three times a year to celebrate the God-given feasts that He had given to His people Israel. But He was, for these 30 years of His life, living in, we might say, an obscurity in the city of Nazareth. And his public ministry only began after he was baptized by John the Baptizer in the wilderness, in the Jordan. And then after he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness and defeated the devil in his obedience to the Lord, then once John the baptizer was in prison, Yeshua, the Messiah, is returning to the Galil and he is returning, first of all, to the city of Nazareth. Now we don't read, beloved brothers and sisters, what caused in this chapter of the reason that Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, moved from the Nazareth, the city where he lived, to another village called Kfar Nachum. We don't read here the reason, but we do read in verse 13 that Yeshua moved from Nazareth to the village called Kfar Nachum. Now to remember, the word Netzer, Nazareth, we read about it earlier. in chapter two, that it was, the meaning of it is a small shoot, small branch that come from the lowest part of the tree, which representing the locality in the north of Israel, the city, that is not as important in the history of the people of Israel. Israel, you remember we read in another Gospel in John, can any good thing come of Nazareth? Well, the Messiah lived in the city of Nazareth, but because Nazareth was not as important city in Israel's history as Jerusalem, of course, so he lived with his family in obscurity in the city of Nazareth. But now, We read in verse 13, "...living Nazareth, he came and dwelt," notice that, "...in Kfar Nachum, which is upon the sea coast in the border of Zevulun and Naphtali. The village that is called Kfar Nachum is right on the seashore of the Sea of Galilee. And there, as it says here, is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zevulun and Naphtali. The two tribes of Israel, the tribe of Zebulun and the tribe of Naphtali, they receive this area as part of their inheritance. So in verse 13, Our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, is moving from Nazareth to Kfar Nachum, and I would like you to notice that there is more than just one reason as to why Yeshua moved from Nazareth to Kfar Nachum. In fact, we get some help as to why, because beloved brothers and sisters, Yeshua the Messiah was not accepted in his own town because, humanly speaking, the local people of Nazareth did not see in him any more than just son of Yosef and Miriam. Just to read a verse or two from the Gospel of Luke, In chapter 4 of the Gospel of Luke we do read in verse 16, he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was, notice that, He went into the synagogue on the Shabbat day and stood up for to read. Notice that the custom of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah was just like his father, stepfather Yosef, his brethren, and his family used to go to the Beit HaKnesset, to the synagogue. It was his custom every Shabbat. And I have a confidence that they went much more than just on a Shabbat day to the Beit HaKnesset. Why? Because the scripture is read in the synagogue, in the Beit HaKnesset. God's Word is taught. God's Word is presented. But notice what we read. In that particular time, that he returned from the baptism, from the temptation in the wilderness, coming back to Nazareth. What we do read, that as it was his custom when he was younger throughout the years, now he's coming back to the synagogue once again. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And by now, beloved brothers and sisters, everyone heard about the fame of this person by the name of Yeshua, Jesus. Especially after his baptism, because the news that a voice came from heaven that says, this is my beloved son. And that this prophet or this servant of God by the name of Yohanan, John, the baptizer, baptized Yeshua also. And that the Spirit of God came in the form of a dove and rested upon Him. And that the voice that came from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I found all my delight. That event must have been spread throughout the land of Israel. And yet, when everyone looked at Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, who already lived in Nazareth for 30 years. For the ordinary Israeli, the ordinary Jewish people, he was one of the family that lived in Nazareth. So when they gave him the book and he read from the prophet Isaiah, We read that he found a place in Isaiah, this is Isaiah 61, and we read that the Lord Jesus the Messiah was reading publicly in the synagogue as it is the custom to do so up till today. And so he read Isaiah 61, again to remember there is no New Testament in existence. There is not what you and I know today as the assembly, the church in existence. These events took place in the land of Israel before the church age had begun, before the Messiah died. He's just in the beginning of his public ministry, which began now and will take place for about three and a half years before the Lord Jesus the Messiah will be crucified by the Romans. And so we read that as he opened the book of Isaiah, he read, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captive and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and he gave it back to the Chazan. Chazan is the minister there. And he sat down. When he read this beloved friend, beloved brothers and sisters, we read that the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue, in the Beit HaKnesset, they were fastened on him. Because when he was reading this, He was not reading this as someone else reading it about the one that would come, about the Messiah that would come. He was right in the midst of the people there in the synagogue in the city of Nazareth. Well, notice what he said. After He sat down, everyone fastened, their eyes fastened on Him, Yeshua began to say, notice it, this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. In other words, what He was saying to them, what Isaiah wrote some 700, 750 years earlier about the Messiah that would come, This day, this Scripture that promised that the Messiah would come to do what he was going to do, to be the one that will preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, to recover the blind, the sight of the blind, to give liberty to them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. He says this scripture is fulfilled in your ears. And all Baal he witnessed, and they wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, listen to this, beloved brothers and sisters and dear friend. They said, I'm reading Luke 4 and verse 22. They said, is not this Joseph's son? You see, beloved brothers and sisters, people in the synagogue, in the city of Nazareth, If you were there, would have been there, probably you and I would be just the same. They did not realize, their eyes were holden from seeing that he was the Messiah himself. You see, the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God because there are foolishness unto him. They could not see that he was indeed the Messiah, the Son of God. And they said, is not this Joseph's son, Yosef's son? They couldn't see that the time has come, the Messiah has appeared and he's in their midst. And they only saw in him as the one that was Joseph's son. And you notice what Yeshua said unto them. You will surely say unto me this proverb, verse 23. Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Kfar Nachum, do also heal in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. You see what he's saying to them? They did not believe on him. They didn't accept him. In fact, as we read a little bit later, in verse 28, All they in the synagogue, when they have heard these things, they were filled with wrath. They were angry with him because they were assuming that he was wrong in saying that what Isaiah the prophet wrote prophetically about the coming of the Messiah, that it was fulfilled in his person, in the person of Yeshua. In fact, what we read They actually wanted to cast him down headlong as they thrust him out of the city and led him to one of the hills there in the city of Nazareth. Very, very sad. Very sad. And you see, beloved brothers and sisters and dear friends, our hearts by nature are hard. And none of us would be able to grasp what took place unless the Spirit of God will reveal this to us as He opened the eyes of many in past days and today in the present day. But you see, sadly, in His hometown, the city of Nazareth, The people in that synagogue on that Shabbat day, they heard what he said, saying that this day, this scripture had fulfilled in your eyes, they were filled with anger, with wrath. And now, beloved friends, we can see that this is one of the reasons that caused the Lord Yeshua the Messiah to move from Nazareth now to Kfar Nachum. Because the next verse in Luke 4 verse 31 says, And He came down to Kfar Nachum, city of Galilee, and taught them on the Shabbat day. So the Lord moved from Nazareth to Kfar Nachum as we have it here in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 4 verses 12 and 13 of our study together. This is important to bear in mind because we have two reasons as to why Yeshua moved from Nazareth to the village of Kfar Nachum. Reason number one, because he was rejected in his home city, Nazareth. Secondly, because he was moving about in obedience to God who directed him in his life here. He was led by the Spirit of God one step at a time. And this is to show us that there was that one man that ever lived in full tune with God the Father throughout his life here on earth. And so from verses 14 now to verse 16, we can see that all that which took place is a fulfillment of the word of the Lord through Isaiah to the nation of Israel. Notice again, I'm reading and I'm back to Matthew chapter 4 verses 14, 15, and 16. Notice it says that it might be fulfilled. Beloved brothers and sisters, see every move of the Lord Jesus the Messiah was in light of that which the prophets of old were speaking about. So he moved to the Galil to begin his public ministry. He went to the synagogue in Nazareth. He read the scripture in the book of Isaiah. The scripture that he read was in Isaiah chapter 61 verses 1 and 2. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me. Then moving from Nazareth to Kfar Nachum, which is in the coast of Zvulun and Naphtali. And their move was in order to fulfill other scriptures that were spoken by the prophet Isaiah. And then we read in verses 14, 15, and 16, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, the land of Zulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region In the shadow of death, light sprang up. Notice this? Then continue in verse 17. You can see what the Lord has done there in Galilee. But you notice that the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled. Isaiah wrote in the ninth chapter concerning the fact that the people in this area of the Galilee, of the Gentiles, they were in darkness. And when the Messiah came and presented himself, there was light in the midst of darkness. In Isaiah chapter 9 we read in verse 1, nevertheless, dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation. When at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterwards did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in the Galil of the nation. Verse 2, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath light shined. Notice the word for light, it comes from the Hebrew word or. You see, there was a period of time in Israel's history and the surrounding nation. In fact, it is throughout the world, the darkness that's existing in the world in which we live in, the moral darkness. And when there is a refusal to obey God and accept God's Word and the Messiah, God's Son. And so, In those days, there was an anticipation of the coming of the Messiah in the midst of the darkness that existed in the land of Israel and the surrounding nations. And so when the Messiah came, when the Lord Jesus, the Messiah came, There was this light in the midst of the darkness. In fact, it says in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 1 that the Galilee is called Galilee of the nations of the Gentiles. Why? The Galilee in the north of Israel is very close to the nations surrounding. North of Israel, you have Syria, you have all the nations around, Lebanon, and all the nations from the Gentile nation. But it's also in the north of Israel, there was a period of time, in the time when the Messiah came, there was a time of decline. That's why you will notice, as we are going to study, that during the coming of the Messiah, there were terrible activities of the demons, of satanic activities, throughout the land and the surrounding nation. And so we read, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Beloved brothers and sisters, the light is the light of the coming of the Messiah. You notice what Isaiah also said in the 42nd chapter of his prophecy concerning the Messiah. He does say in verse 5, Thus says God the Lord, He that created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein. I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, notice that, for a light of the Gentiles. So when the Messiah Jesus came, going to the Galilee, on the border in the Galilee, as we read here in our chapter, that it was in the border of Zvulun and Naphtali. This is the portion of the lot that was given to these two tribes of the people of Israel. That was the time in which the light have come and shone in the midst of these people when they were in darkness. According to Isaiah, also a little bit later on in his prophecy in chapter 60, we read, Arise and shine, verse one, for thy light is come. and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." See, the call of God to Israel is, arise and shine for thy light, thy Messiah has come. And God intended and designed for the nation of Israel to accept that One that is called the Light. This is the Lord Jesus the Messiah. In His coming, beloved brothers and sisters, He fulfilled that which He was called to be, a Light here in this world. The Gospel of John presents before us this truth that Yeshua called Himself, I am the Light of the world. He that cometh unto me shall not walk in darkness. In fact, beloved brothers and sisters, in the Gospel of Luke we read in chapter 2 concerning Shimon, Simon, this elderly man, this godly Jewish man who was waiting for the consolation of Israel, when Yeshua was only eight days old, according to verse 21 of Luke chapter 2, And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew, which was so named by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And so we read that his parents, his mother Miriam and his stepfather Yosef, brought him to be presented to the Lord when he was a baby, eight days old. was accomplished and now he's in the temple. Eight days accomplished, then there was some time for his mother Miriam purification and then he was brought to the temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifice according to that which is said by the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle dove and two young pigeons. Notice what we read in Luke 2, verse 25. That took place some 30 years earlier, when the baby was just born. When Yeshua was just born, we read in verse 25 of Luke chapter 2, And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name is Simon. And the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him, and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah, the Lord's Anointed. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Yeshua, the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arm, and he blessed God, and he said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word? For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Listen to this, beloved brothers and sisters, verse 31 and 32, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. Beloved friends and dear brothers and sisters, this is fascinating. So when we read in Matthew chapter 4, verses 14 to 16, the fulfillment of Isaiah that he prophesied concerning the coming of the Messiah. He will be that light. He will be the one that will bring light as we read, the people which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and the shadow of death, light is sprung up. Wonderful, wonderful verses, beloved brothers and sisters, to read concerning the person of our Lord, Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. And now, beloved brothers and sisters, as we continue to read, we are reading concerning the next part, how the Lord is calling a people to serve Him. The disciples were called by the Lord for the ministry of serving Him and following after Him. And so we read in verse 17, Beloved brothers and sisters, from that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is very interesting. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. In fact, it was earlier, before John the baptizer was placed in prison, we read of him in Matthew 3 verse 1, in those days John the baptizer came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and he said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now in chapter 4 verse 17, Yeshua is preaching now in the Galilee in the north of Israel and he's saying the very same thing repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand now it is important to understand what does it mean the kingdom of heaven is at hand let me remind you beloved brothers and sisters that God promised that one day will be a king that will rule over this world Why? Because God created humanity for his own pleasure, and men turned away from him, lost the kingdom, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, by their disobedience to God. They have inherited a sin nature and they could no longer rule as king and queen over this earth that God had given to them. To remind you, God said unto Adam and Eve that they are to subdue this world. It was prepared for a blessing for humanity, for mankind. And so man lost, Adam lost this privilege of ruling over this world. And because he lost, he could no longer have this dominion that God wanted him to have over this earth. He handed it to Satan. And Satan is called the God of this world with a small g according to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. The God of this world have blinded the mind of them that believe not, lest the glorious gospel of the Messiah should shine unto them. And we are today under the rule, allowed by God, of Satan that is ruling this world as far as God allows him. and he has many followers but God is intending to restore that which Adam lost. You remember we read in Genesis chapter 2 but also in Genesis chapter 1 we read in verse 28 and God blessed them and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth notice and subdue it and have dominion over it Adam and Eve were called to have dominion over this earth but they lost it now the Messiah is coming the man from heaven and he is going to restore that which Adam lost and he will have dominion over this earth so Yeshua is saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand You notice the expression, the Kingdom of Heaven. In Hebrew, Malchut HaShamayim. Why? The Gospel of Matthew almost entirely using the word, the Kingdom of Heaven, and not the Kingdom of God. It is the same Kingdom, but because Matthew is geared for the Jewish people. And throughout the history of the Jewish people, The name of God is not being used. And every time, instead of using the word Elohim or Yehovah, it is usually replaced by the word Adonai, or HaShem, or HaShamayim, the heavens, the kingdom of God. Jewish people oftentimes replace it by the kingdom of the heavens, the Shamayim, Malchut HaShamayim. And so we read that Jesus preached, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And you notice now that he began to preach in the north, in the Galil, in verses 18 to 22, Yeshua is calling his first disciples to follow him and to minister, to become servants who follow him, serve him, and with him. And later on, they will become the first ones that will preach the message of the gospel not only in the land of Israel, but beyond the borders of the land of Israel. And so we do read in verses 18 to 20, first of all, the call of Peter and Andrew, and then verses 21 to 22, the call of James and John. Notice what we read in verse 18, 19, and 20, and Yeshua walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he says unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. What a beautiful expression. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. This expression, follow me, is a very important expression because One is called to follow the Lord, to follow Yeshua. For them, it meant that they will follow him in the midst of his rejection, the fact that the vast majority did not accept him. They were called to become his talmidim, his followers, his disciples. Follow me. This expression, follow me, is found at least five times in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 8.22, Jesus said unto him, follow me and let the dead bury their dead. In Matthew 9 and verse 9, and Yeshua passed forth from thence, and he saw a man by the name of Matthew sitting at the recept of custom. And he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and he followed him. In Matthew 16 verse 24 we read, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. In Matthew 19 verse 21 we read, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, We read, he said this unto him, if thou wilt be perfect or mature, go and sell all that thou hast and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. Well, it's amazing. In the last time it is mentioned in the Gospel, it's mentioned in John 21 and verse 19. We read, Yeshua said to Peter, he that says unto him, follow me. In other words, he said unto Peter, you make sure that you are following me. So this expression, follow me, is an expression that all those who belong to the Lord are called to. We are to follow Him initially as our Lord and our Savior, and the disciples are called to follow Him as our, not only as our Savior, but also as our Lord. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, we continue to read in these next verses concerning the call of the disciples. And the first one, of course, we read here in our chapter in verses 18, 19, and 20. He called Simon, this is Shimon, and Andrew his brother. And so as the Lord called them, notice what we read, very beautiful to read about them. They were fishing, they were fishers, fishermen. The Lord called them, follow me and I will make you now not fishers of fish, but fishers of men. You will now fish for men. You will serve me and you will reach out to men who need to hear the message of the gospel. And notice what we read, And they straightway left their net, and followed him. Imagine, they must have had their own boats. They were now fishing and they were casting nets into the sea to catch fish. And Yeshua called them to follow Him and to be fishers of men. Now, beloved brothers and sisters, they must have heard of the Lord, of His fame, what He had done. They must have heard of Him. They were attracted unto Him. They, by the help of the Spirit of God, understood in some small measure that he was the promised one of Israel. And they followed him. They followed him. Notice, they left. their nets. Verse 20, they followed Him. In other words, they now have made their responsibility to follow after Yeshua the Messiah, that He will lead them as He pleases. And it's not easy. There was a price to pay There was a living their normal daily business of fishermen and now they are following after the Lord Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. Then notice that in the next verses, verses 21 and 22, Yeshua continuing. He's going on from then and he saw another two brothers. Yaakov, this is James, and Yohanan, this is John, this is John the Apostle, and Yaakov, his brother. And notice what we read, they were with their father by the name of Zebedee. They were mending nets there, and then he called them. And while we don't read it here, but he must have called them and he said to them, James, Jacob, John, Yohanan, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And notice what we read once again, immediately they left the ship. Then they also left their father and they followed him. Now, of course, they were not careless just to leave everything without order, but the wonderful thing that we see that they immediately followed Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, believing That he is the one that was promised by the prophets of Israel to come to be the Redeemer, the Savior, the one that will be fulfilling that which the prophets of old have spoken about. So in verses 18 to verse 22, Yeshua the Messiah called the first disciples, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And as we are drawing on to the end of this chapter, the last three verses, in Matthew chapter 4, we see how wonderful in the public ministry of the Lord. Notice that we find Him doing here in these last verses, number one, teaching, number two, preaching, and number three, healing. Teaching, preaching, and healing. And what was he teaching and preaching about? Again, notice verse 23. It says, and Jesus went about all Galilee, the northern part of Israel. And he was teaching in their synagogue. You see, every city has a local synagogue. In Hebrew, it's called Beit HaKnesset. Beit is a house. Knesset means gathering, the house of gathering, synagogue. And Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, went from village to village, from town to town, and he was teaching in the synagogue. In other words, wherever he has gone, he was ministering the Word of God to remind you, beloved brothers and sisters and dear friends, that all the teaching that Yeshua had done was from the Hebrew Scriptures. So, as the Lord was opening the Word of God, he was taking, perhaps, from Genesis to Malachi. And He was unfolding before those that came to hear Him the things concerning Himself. Doesn't it remind us of what we read in the Gospel of Luke? At the end of the Gospel of Luke, you remember of those two that went to Emmaus and how the Lord Jesus the Messiah walked with them? And then, you remember what we read? He's speaking to them and He's teaching them concerning Himself. And so, as we read in the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, He opened before these two the Word of God. And He said to them, Art thou not the Messiah? Art thou not the Christ? suffer these things and to enter into His glory. Don't you know that the Messiah, according to the Word of God, was supposed to come to suffer, first of all, and then to come again to enter into His glory? Because they were concerned because Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, died. He was on the cross. He was buried. And time passed by and they were so discouraged. They were hoping that He will be the one that will restore Israel. We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel, but now He died, He was buried. And now He rose again and they don't know where He is. And Yeshua that appeared with them, He said to them, O fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Verse 25 of Luke 24, then verse 26, Art thou not the Messiah to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? Verse 27, And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scripture in the things concerning Himself. Beloved brothers and sisters and dear friends, the Lord Jesus the Messiah is the center in the volume of a book that is written of Me. The book of Psalms says He is the central person of the Word of God. Mashiach, the Messiah. And so we read that He teaches and orders in the synagogue and then preaching. And again, beloved brothers and sisters, what was He preaching? The Gospel of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is coming because the King has come. The King of the Jews, the King of Israel, the King of Kings. So he's preaching the gospel in view of entering into the messianic kingdom that will come. Will Israel receive it? Will the nation receive it? The Lord have opened his hand and his arm and he says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. He promised to bring in the kingdom. Had Israel received him, the Messiah Yeshua, as the king, the kingdom would be established. But we know, and Isaiah the prophet did speak about him, that first of all, the Messiah must suffer and die for the sin of this world, and then to return and to enter into his glory and to establish the kingdom. So Yeshua, the Messiah, preached in the synagogue. Not only he taught, but he preached the gospel of the kingdom. Of course, at his first coming, the kingdom did not come to fruition. It was postponed. until the second coming of the Messiah. And you and I live in this mystery age called the Church Age. But once this Church Age will come to an end and the Church will be raptured, at the end of the seven-year tribulation here on earth, the Messiah will come and He will be the one that will establish the promised Messianic Kingdom. And that Messianic Kingdom will be a millennial, 1000 years long according to Revelation chapter 20. Well, it does say, beloved brothers and sisters, he was teaching in the synagogue, he was preaching publicly throughout the Galilee, and not only that, he was healing all manner of sicknesses and all manner of diseases among the people. Apparently, beloved brothers and sisters, can you imagine? We read that there were so many who were sick and so many who had disease among the people. And you notice the last verses of Matthew chapter 4 we read in verse 24 and 25 that the fame of our Lord Jesus the Messiah went not only throughout Galilee but also beyond Galilee to Syria and all the region about. And the people brought to him, notice that, we read in verse 24, his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people that were, now listen to this, with diverse diseases and diverse torments, and those which were possessed with demons, and those which were lunatic, and those that had palsy, and He healed them. Amazing! Amazing! People that were diseased, they had torment, they had possessed, they were demonic possessed, they were lunatic, and they had palsy, and He healed them. And the last verse of Matthew chapter four says, and there followed him great multitude of people from Galilee and from Diakopolis. These are the 10 surrounding locations surrounding the Galilee and from Jerusalem and from Judea and from beyond Jordan. This verse 25 tells us that there were many that followed after him. They may follow him initially because he was a healer. Some of them turned away from him, but some of them continued to follow after him. Multitudes from the Galilee, from the 10 cities surrounding the Galilee, the Decapolis, from the city of Jerusalem, Judea, and also from beyond the Jordan. How wonderful, beloved brothers and sisters, how wonderful to see the beginning of the public ministry of our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, found here in Matthew chapter 4, verses 12 to 25. Well, may the Lord encourage our hearts as we continue together with the study of the Gospel of Matthew. Until the next time, beloved friend, God bless you. We say to you all, shalom, shalom. so You have been listening to the Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levitam. Gideon teaches God's Word from a Hebrew messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m. at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom. StSq2 2.60