Day Thirty Three

Matthew 4:12-17

¹² Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.

¹³ And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,

¹⁴ so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

¹⁵ “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶ the people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned.”

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

         In the New Testament there are many instances of prophesies being quoted from the Old Testament that are pertaining to Christ. These prophesies usually begin with “as it is written,” or “this was done to fulfill the prophesy of…” Here, verse fourteen says; so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: Unfortunately, most people only read the New Testament verse without ever following up in the Old Testament. When you don’t go back to read it, you lose the context in which it was given. In this case it is Isaiah 9. We also find out that the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali had been looked down on, but in time they would be exalted. By the time of Jesus, the area was known as Galilee and it was the home area of Jesus. It is important to follow up on these things.

         But the point here is that yet another prophesy had come to pass. Verse sixteen continues Isaiah’s prophesy; the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” In the time of Isaiah, Zebulun and Naphtali had fallen way away from the Lord. They had plunged into darkness. There was the shadow death all around. But that had changed! Jesus had come! A great light had dawned.

         We can apply this to today. The world is in darkness. Not just the darkness we see before a storm, but a deep, deep darkness. Sweetwater, Tennessee is home to an extensive underground cavern system. A guide walks you through. It is amazing. The rock and mineral formations are fantastic. At the lowest point there is a body of water. The guide called it the largest underground lake in the world, which I found hard to believe. It was just about as big as a farm pond. It was quite deep, though, and at some point they had put lights on the bottom. The water was as clear as any I have ever seen and it was loaded with fish. The fish had lost their eyesight over time because there had been no need to see in the darkness. At one point, the guide turned the cavern lights off and it was completely dark. The darkness went on for several minutes while the guide talked. And then, someone in our group flicked on his lighter. Everyone whipped their heads around to see the light. It was just a lighter, but it shown like a beacon. We all took a step toward the man with the lighter. It was life.

         The darkness is the world. Each Christian is a light. The world rejects the light, but when the darkness closes in, we need to be ready to shine.

         The prayer today is that you will be able to shine the light of Christ wherever you go. You may be just the glimmer of light that someone needs to leave the darkness.