Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Welcome back to the Point Church Podcast as we are doing 40 days, 40 podcasts through our ⁓ Lent this year with Pastor Sam going through the book of Matthew. ⁓ we left off after ⁓ and Matthew four chapter four four with Jesus being tempted by the devil ⁓ yesterday and and today we're stepping into verse twelve and his ministry in Galilee. So we're gonna begin by reading that. ⁓ and it reads first when he heard that John had been arrested he re with Drew into Galilee. So let's pause there, because in this they're talking about John the Baptist. Why was John arrested? Yeah, so Jesus comes out of forty days. Yeah. And in those forty days, John's been arrested. ⁓ he was arrested for speaking publicly, denouncing what Herod, who was had taken over for his father. So there's like four Herods in the like in the Bible. It's kind of confusing. But you had Herod the Great, who was the one who was seeking Jesus with the wise men. This is ⁓ then you had the one who took over for him, who everyone like hated and they sent to Gaul. This is another son who took over. This Herod had taken his brother's ex-wife to be his wife. ⁓ her name was Herodias, which again, Herod and Herodias, you know what mean? Like But John denounced that. ⁓ yeah. Like John was the one who was speaking up saying, like, you're supposed to be the king of the Jews. And you are breaking Torah. ⁓ And he John was always getting in trouble. I mean, he riled up the religious leaders and he riled up, you know, Herod. But he was right. Like he was right. But he was arrested in order to silence him. And and this obviously was difficult for for Jesus to be like Wow, okay, that was my cousin. This is this is what the powers do. Yeah. To people like John and I who are gonna speak up and set things right. Yeah. They're gonna silence us, they're gonna arrest us. So That's what's going on. And we kind of could see that this might have been coming because the last time, you know, we were talking about John the Baptist, he was calling the Pharisees. Yeah, he's not making any friends. Revivors. Yeah. He's not making any friends. So yeah, pick it up in thirteen, it reads, He left Nazareth and went to live in Campernum by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtala. Naptali. Naptali. Like Natalie with an F. Yes, there you go. Perfect. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah, land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, along the road by the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who live in darkness have seen the great light, and for those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. Yep. So this comes to us from Isaiah, again an old testament prophet, ⁓ probably the prophet who made the most of Prophecies about the Messiah. ⁓ Isaiah, a fun fact, has been at times called the fifth gospel because he talks so much about Jesus. Yeah. Just before he shows up on the scene. But he's always talking about Messiah. He's always talking about the Savior. And so this is another one of these talking about the people who have lived in darkness. This is ⁓ again harkens back to the creation story. There's only darkness. And then light breaks in, and this is clearly the presence of God, and they've seen this great light. But what's interesting is the language he chooses is ⁓ the land of the shadow of death. Yeah. Which is very reminiscent of Psalm 23, the valley of the shadow of death. Yeah. And ⁓ like the he is a great light in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. And a story that I absolutely love to tell, it's not original to me, but ⁓ there's a ⁓ there's a pastor, I believe, in Philadelphia about like fifty years ago, Barnho Barn House, was his last name I believe, Barn House, and he tells this story about Psalm twenty three and this idea of the shadow of death. And this young pastor has three kids and you know, young family, and his wife gets killed in a car crash. And he's like, How do I explain to my seven year old that mommy's not coming back? Like, how do I talk to her about or talk to him about this? And they're on their way to the gravesite of ⁓ this little boy's mom. And as they're driving to the gravesite, he sees a semi truck ⁓ on the other side of the road, but coming their way, and he says, Do you see that truck? He said, Yeah. He's like, Do you see the shadow of the truck? Yeah. Because Jesus Christ got hit by the truck of death. Mommy only got hit by the shadow. And so what again is being alluded to in this passage is that Jesus took on the full punishment of death. The full punishment of God's wrath that we see later on. Like he's the child that was born to die to be the sacrifice. Again, that's what the myrrh symbolized. So that when we do experience death. We do not enter into an eternal death, separation from God, but it's a passing on into life everlasting with God. So like again, that's part of why Jesus has come. That He is the light in the darkness of our lives, but also He is the one who took away the ultimate darkness, which was death and eternal separation from God. That is that is good. That's good. That is really good. and from that That final verse there. From then on, Jesus began to preach repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near. Yes, which is the exact same language that John was preaching when Jesus shows up. So again, it's like what John started, Jesus is picking up. Like there's not gonna be ⁓ a gap. He was preparing the way for this. Yeah. And so literally what he yeah, yeah, like Jesus is basically like honoring him by saying, like, I'm here. It's me. And ⁓ he he's continuing what John had started. And so this isn't a very long passage, but it's a powerful passage. Again, just that this is Jesus' reality, stepping in to a world where he's not welcome. Like the Herod doesn't want him. His son Herod, the other Herod doesn't want him. The Sara the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the religious leaders do not want him. They are going to arrest him. They are going to silence him like they did his cousin. This is great courage to say the kingdom of heaven is near and he's about to get started. Yeah. And I think, you know, with this Passage, it really can kind of go into our lives where in the world a lot of times we're not wanted. Nope. Nope. And so it's in this world you will have trouble. Yeah. Jesus says. Take heart. I send you out as sheep among wolves. Mm-hmm. Like if Jesus experienced this, what makes us think that the world is gonna welcome us in? Exactly. It's not, but it's what needs to be done. And and Jesus again will lay out with his teaching, especially as we get closer to Sermon on the Mount. How we are to conduct ourselves and why we are to conduct ourselves this way, that through our example, mm-hmm, we would win people over to the kingdom of heaven. Amen. Amen. So with that, before we dive into the first disciples, we're gonna end here. ⁓ thanks for tuning in and ⁓ we'll see you tomorrow.