“The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.” Matthew 4:16
Approaching the last days of His ministry, and thus, speaking of His second coming, we see the Lord Jesus at one point looking over Jerusalem, and lamenting: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy chldren together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and YE WOULD NOT.” (Matt. 23:37) The Lord would go on in his discourse, speaking of the coming judgment upon Jerusalem because of her rejection of HIm. Seventy years would pass before the judgment came, but at that point the Romans conquered the city, and leveled it. They left it a desolation, just like He said it would be. Why was the judgment so severe?
When Jesus began His ministry, He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum, which is by the sea. This would be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy hundreds of years before, declaring that the Messiah would live in the area of Galilee of the Gentiles. It is there that Scripture describes the spiritual condition of the people, and the intruduction of Christ’s presence. Matthew writes: “The people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.” (4:16) In other words, the spiritual state of the people was hopeless darkness, blindness, without a knowledge of the truth, and the “Light” of men. Just by the fact of Christ’s arrival, and presence in the area, Scripture declares that a “great light” had come. Not only had God in His mercy brought the living Christ for the people to see, and grasp something of who He was, but also, that this light “sprung up.” It was a powerful light revealed to the people, completely ordered by Heaven, and confirmed by the effect and power of His presence. So, the testimony of the Life of Christ was first and foremost the evident manifestation of His Holy Life.
The second aspect of this light which sprung up, expressed itself in the form of words, for it was at this time that, “Jesus begain to preach, and say, ‘Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (v.17) The powerful expression of Christ’s life was accompanied by the powerful words He spoke, life-changing words, so powerful and convicting that when He called several fishermen to leave all and follow Him, as His disciples, they “immediately” did so. The testimony that God the Father would give through the Son concerning who He was, and what He had come to do, was demonstrably revealed to all concerned. Scripture then goes on to tell us that, as a result of the manifestation of the power of His Life, words, and works, “…great multitudes of people followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis, Jerusalem, and from beyond the Jordan River. There would be NO doubt as to the very visitation of God in Christ, accompanied by the preaching of the kingdom.
So, what about Jerusalem, and its eventual judgment because of her rejection? Why was her judgment so severe that the Lord, by the hands of the Romans, destroyed it, along with the temple? It had to do with the amount of light, the true light of the life of God in Christ. Jerusalem had been the recipient of much light, great revelation of spiritual things, truths, and the identificaiton of who Christ was. She had certainly seen great light, and the manifestation also, and moreso, of the springing up of that light, the very power of God. But the attitude of Jerusalem was not just a cursory refusal to hear, or even entertain the words and testimony of Christ. She would kill the prophets, reject and perhaps kill also wise men, and scribes that God would send to her. There would be great persecution, primarily because of the utter rejection, and crucifixion of Christ.
Dear Father, Preach LIGHT through our lives and words. In Jesus’ name, Amen.