WEBVTT 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:16.239 Matthew chapter four, verses twelve through seventeen. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:29.199 Now when he, being Jesus, heard that John, John the Baptist, had been arrested, Jesus withdrew into Galilee. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:42.320 And leaving Nazareth, he went and lived to Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:01:05.680 And now the next two verses are a quote from Isaiah 9, verses 1 and 2 the land of Zebulun and the land of Napoli, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 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. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:15.920 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:25.680 One of the most foundational themes of the Bible is the tension between light and darkness. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:31.280 And I say foundational because this is really the first theme revealed in the Bible. 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:39.920 When you go back to Genesis 1, the earth was formless and void, and then God enters into creation. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:46.799 And he enters into creation by revealing the contrast between light and darkness. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:50.000 And so when I say enters into creation, this is what I mean. 00:01:50.239 --> 00:02:08.319 That for all eternity in the past, for all time, God has been overflowing with love and with life and with light, but to himself, the Father has given life and light and love to his son, and the Father and Son have given life and light and love to the Spirit. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:11.520 And so God has magnified himself. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:18.719 He is overflowed with love towards himself. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:36.319 So for all time, in eternity past, before there even is time, God is completely overflowing with life and love and just delight, communion, fellowship, infinite happiness to himself, from himself, for himself. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:38.560 Everything is contained. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:53.439 And at some point, the Father, Son, and Spirit decide to no longer be confined to the Trinity, but to break out into something outside of himself. 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:01.759 So again, God has infinitely been sharing himself, revealing himself, loving himself, and then enters into a world. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:05.360 Now, of course, for God to enter into a world, he has to create the world. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:07.439 So he creates the world. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:12.800 He begins with the canvas that is formless and void, Genesis 1 says, 1-1. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:20.080 And then the first thing that happens as God enters into the world is light and darkness are separated. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:22.000 So light is from God. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:25.680 God declares, let there be light, and there is light. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:29.680 Of course, light is illuminatory. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.080 Light proceeds from God. 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:33.280 God is light. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:41.520 And so when he declares, let there be light, God is revealing himself to his creation, which at this point consists of nothing. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:43.759 But there's light. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:45.520 And the light is from God. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:48.560 God is called light because God is pure action. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:49.919 Light is pure action. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:52.560 God is energy as opposed to body. 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:53.599 God doesn't have a body. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:54.479 He is spirit. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:59.280 He like light is shining. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:00.800 Light never is static. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:02.479 Light just is illuminating. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:03.360 Light reveals. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:04.240 It penetrates. 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:05.199 Light has heat. 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:06.400 Light has energy. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:07.439 That's what light is. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:12.719 That's why God is described as light, because he is pure action, pure love, pure life. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:15.039 He's just radiating. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:18.480 Again, an eternity past, radiating to himself. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:26.959 And then in Genesis 1, he bursts into creation by making creation to create light, to reveal himself. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:33.040 Now, I love that God is called light because the only way to see light is by light. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.480 The only way to see God is by God revealing himself. 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:42.160 So God is the source, he's the luminary, but he's also the revealer. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:45.519 If you want to know what God is like, you have to listen to God. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:48.480 If you want to know what God is like, you have to take his word for it. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:52.240 Because you haven't seen him, you haven't met him, unless he reveals himself. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:58.639 Just at this most basic level, if God didn't want to share himself with creation, you and I would not exist. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:00.959 You understand that? 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:07.199 You exist because God made you, and he made you to receive his self-revelation. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:09.839 He reveals to you who he is. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:13.120 So God opens the Bible. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:15.279 The Bible is the book of revelation of God. 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:21.839 It's the scriptures, God's writing inspired by the Holy Spirit, infallible, to reveal himself to us. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:24.560 So the Bible begins with God revealing himself to us. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:28.800 It doesn't begin with what God was doing before time, because that's not for us. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:32.319 It begins with God entering into time because that is for us. 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:34.160 It's God revealing himself to us. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:40.879 So the first thing we see, God enters into his creation by making it and then separating light from darkness. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:46.480 He says, Let there be light, light over here, darkness over there, light is good. 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:49.839 Then there was evening and morning day one. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:52.480 So it's foundational. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:06:01.199 Before there was a sun, before there were stars, before there was any luminary, there's just God, and God is light. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:03.600 And that defines creation. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:11.040 I have had people ask me, how can there be a day one unless there is a sun? 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:16.560 And my answer to that is that not everything revolves around the earth, you know? 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:27.600 Or to be more astronomically precise, not everything revolves around the sun. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:32.720 The sun and the earth are not the most important features in the universe. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:37.360 The most important feature in the universe is God, who's making everything else. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.160 God gives everything else their meaning. 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:42.639 So God can measure time by Himself. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:51.439 And I believe in six of the old days of creation, of course, and if you are insist on there having to be some kind of rotation for there to be evening and morning, fine. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:56.000 The earth is revolving around the light source, which is God. 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:59.920 God gives the earth the sense of time, God gives the evening and morning. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.959 It is God who is the source of revelation and light. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:05.279 So God makes light at the beginning. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:07.040 This is why it's so foundational. 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:11.839 Understanding the universe does not begin with understanding the earth's relationship to the sun. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:17.279 Understanding the universe begins with understanding that God reveals himself to his creation. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:21.439 There's a creator and a creature distinction. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:24.160 God reveals himself. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:25.600 That's light. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:27.920 You want to know about God? 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:28.800 You look to God. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:34.639 Psalm 4, verse 6 says this: Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Yahweh. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:37.920 Very foundational prayer. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:44.720 If you want to learn about God, you pray to God and say, God, please reveal yourself to us. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:48.399 Let the light of your face shine on us. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.319 James describes God as the father of light. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:57.439 Think about what that means. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:01.279 There is no light unless it comes from God. 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:03.040 Father is the word for source. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:05.360 Father gives the life, he's the source of it. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.040 That's what Father means. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:09.600 God is the father of lights. 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:12.480 Lights come from Him. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:22.160 In other words, there is no true beauty, there is no true morality, there is no true revelation or illumination unless it comes from God. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:33.759 If there's anything beautiful or praiseworthy or glorifying God in the whole universe, anything is noble, anything is true in the whole universe, it has its source in God. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:40.639 That's why Psalm 36, verse 9, declares to God, In your light do we see light. 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:44.639 It sounds like a tautology, but it's true. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:46.480 In God's light you see light. 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:48.480 You need light to see light. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:53.120 Only with the revelation of God can you behold light. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:55.679 It's God who illumines everything else. 00:08:55.919 --> 00:09:01.120 That's why Psalm 56, verse 13, calls God the light of life. 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:05.919 Life comes from God because light comes from God. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:10.720 You understand this in the botanical sense. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:13.600 A plant needs light. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:37.120 You keep a plant in your closet, your plant will die because the light has energy, it has heat, the plant leaf absorbs the light and the energy, it mixes that light with the water that is drawn up through the roots, it creates a you know a cellular sugar, like a glucose that gives the plant its green hue and energizes the plant and allows it to continue to grow. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:41.120 It needs the air and it needs the light and it needs the water. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:47.120 You remove the light, it doesn't matter what else you have, it's not going to live because the light gives life. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:49.840 And this is how it is spiritually as well. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:55.360 For you to have any kind of spiritual life, the light of God has to shine on you. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:07.279 That's why the Bible refers to God as light, as the fountain of light, as the source of light, as the Lord of light, as the light of light. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:10.080 So, I mean, those are all titles attributed to God in the Bible. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:16.639 The contrast to that, by the way, is that if light is life, then darkness is death. 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:17.600 That's the contrast. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.000 The Bible refers to darkness as death. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:27.200 Job, when you was born dead, when he wished he was stillborn, he said, then I would have gone to the land of darkness. 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:33.759 He says, Then I would have made my bed in the land of darkness and death. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:38.480 If you're in a hotel room, you want them to be dark so you can sleep. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:45.759 That's what Job was picturing death as, to go to the place of darkness without revelation. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:47.360 That's Job 17. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:50.240 This dichotomy is picked up in Matthew. 00:10:50.399 --> 00:11:06.799 Of course, when Jesus is transfigured at the Mount Hebron, he's brought up with his three disciples, and they go up, they go up there and they behold Jesus transfigured with Moses and Elijah, but it is Jesus who is illuminating. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:16.320 It's not that Jesus is under the spotlight, rather, Jesus's clothes are radiant, he is shining from the inside out because Jesus is the light of the world. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.480 He illumines all other things. 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:23.120 Moses and Elijah have light because they are illuminated by Jesus, who is the source. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:24.799 He is the light. 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:32.480 And yet, when he is crucified, when the light of the world is crucified, darkness falls over the land. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:43.679 Matthew, Matthew 4, begins Jesus' ministry in the land of darkness. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:45.840 In the land of darkness. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:49.039 This is nighttime for the whole world. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:53.679 Verse 16, the people are dwelling in darkness. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.480 At the end of verse 16, they're living in a place that's called the shadow of death. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:02.559 This is picking up language back from Genesis 1. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:04.799 Again, God is light. 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:07.279 There's a division between light and darkness. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:09.600 The Garden of Eden had life in it. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:10.799 They had the tree of life. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:12.799 They could eat the tree of life and live. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:20.559 And yet when the devil approached Adam and Eve and tempted them, they believed that they got to define what good and evil was. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:27.039 They ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil so that they could define what was good and what was evil independent of God. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:31.519 And that separation is sin, and that separation is death. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:33.759 And that separation is darkness. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:41.759 The idea that you can see for yourself what is morally pure and what is sinful, that is darkness. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:43.679 It's folly, it's foolishness. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:48.000 It's equivalent to somebody saying, I can read with the lights in the house off. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:51.519 I don't need light to read. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:53.279 I'm my own light. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:55.360 It's folly and foolishness. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:57.279 That's nighttime for the world. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:02.799 Adam and Eve sinned and are thrown out of the garden into darkness. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:04.559 They're left grasping. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:06.399 That's how Paul describes it in Acts 17. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:12.000 The nations of the world went their own way, grasping for truth, looking for the light. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:16.000 People are left to go on their own. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:18.399 And they've been going on their own ever since. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:20.720 The world has been thrust into darkness. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:23.519 Jesus encounters that darkness in John chapter 4. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:28.240 I mean in Matthew chapter 4, verse 12, he heard that John had been arrested. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:31.360 This is after the temptation. 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:33.759 He's coming out of the Judean wilderness. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:36.320 For 40 days he's been cut off from the world. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:37.840 40 days he's been fasting. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:39.919 40 days he's been independent of the world. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:41.759 No CNN out there. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:45.200 I mean, there's a little bit of a joke, but a little bit of a truth. 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:52.480 Remember in the temptation, he was, I said over and over again, he was operating, he's being tempted as man. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:14:02.720 In fact, the second temptation in particular was to the devil trying to get him to fall back on his deity and withstand temptation as God rather than as man. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:05.120 Had he done that, we would have not had an advocate. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:14.639 We would not have had a second Adam who was truly human who could stand against the devil and be righteous in our place, because we would have had God who can stand against the devil. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:18.320 And God, of course, is righteousness, but that's not what we needed in an advocate. 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:19.679 We needed the God man. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:31.840 And so Jesus was tempted as God, I mean, sorry, tempted as man, he withstood the temptations as man, and now he's descending from the mountain, and he again is operating in his humanity. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:35.759 He learned, he heard that John had been arrested. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.799 As God, Jesus is omniscient, of course. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:39.840 He knows all things. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:43.679 As God, Jesus is the author of providence. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.639 He wrote world history. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:51.840 All things happen according to his permissive or explicit will. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.799 Everything that happens in the world happens according to providence. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:56.720 Jesus is the author of that. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:00.799 So in that sense, in his deity, he knows John has been arrested. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:03.440 But this is the pattern throughout his life. 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:07.519 He's operating for the most part in his life as a man. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:11.519 So that he can lead a sinless life. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:17.120 For his life to be sinless and a substitute in our place, it has to be a human life. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:22.480 So here, he's not relying on his omniscience to know that John was arrested. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:26.320 He's limited by his incarnation in that sense. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.399 He freely limited himself. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:34.480 And he walks down from the wilderness and hears that John had been arrested. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:36.000 The news is spreading. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:45.919 Ryan brought that out a few weeks ago in his sermon series in John 1. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:56.159 Those powerful messages reminded us that John had spoken publicly to more people than anybody else alive at that time. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:01.120 Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people had gone out to the wilderness to see John. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:03.840 He was famous in that sense. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:07.360 He was opposed to the Pharisees. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:11.039 The Pharisees didn't like him because the Pharisees guarded Judaism. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:14.159 John was outside of what they permitted. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:20.799 John was not operating in Jerusalem or in Caesarea Maritime, which was the largest Roman city there in Israel. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:21.360 He wasn't there. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:22.639 He wasn't in Egypt, of course. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:24.000 He wasn't obviously in Rome. 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:33.519 He went to the Judean wilderness, the middle of nowhere, outside of Jericho, the Jordan River, going from the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:37.039 That's where John went, baptizing people in the dirty Jordan River. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:39.600 This was absurd, of course. 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:43.440 That's where he went, and everybody came to him. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:49.519 And then he baptized Jesus. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:51.919 That was 40 days ago. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:53.919 He baptized Jesus. 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:56.639 And then everything changes. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:00.399 Jesus' disciples, we're going to meet them next week. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:02.080 They start baptizing people. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:05.599 More people start going to Jesus and his disciples for baptism than to John. 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:06.640 That's okay with John. 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:08.799 John says in John chapter 1, he's going to grow greater. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:09.759 Jesus will grow greater. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:10.480 I'll grow less. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:11.200 That's okay. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:13.039 So what does John do? 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:23.759 He goes back up to Galilee, which is a largely Gentile area along the Sea of Galilee, to Tiberias, which is the Jewish, or the Roman capital of that region. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:25.440 It's a massive city. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:30.240 He goes there and he confronts Herod for Herod's marriage. 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:31.200 Not Herod the Great. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:34.319 Herod the Great, someone who butchered all the babies back in Matthew 2. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:35.599 This is a different Herod. 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:44.480 Herod the Great, when he died, split his kingdom up among his sons, all of whom were named Herod, just to drive history majors crazy. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:49.920 Herod's sons then had a power struggle with each other. 00:17:50.960 --> 00:18:01.680 One of them divorced his wife, Herod Antipas, divorced his wife, and married his brother's wife instead. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:03.119 Herod Agrippa. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:05.759 Herod Agrippa ruled what's modern-day Syria. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:09.279 Herod Antipas ruled Tiberius in the Galilee region. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:13.759 And that Herod left his wife and stole his brother's wife. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:17.200 That's like a Roman king power play right there. 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:18.880 You want to know how powerful I am? 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:21.759 All of Herod's descendants are vying for power. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:24.480 And this Herod says, I'll show you who the strongest Herod is. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:26.559 I'm going to take that other Herod's wife. 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:28.880 And nobody can do anything about it. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:37.119 So John leaves the wilderness, marches up to Tiberius, and confronts him. 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:40.160 And says, That's not lawful. 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:42.480 You don't get to define marriage for yourself. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:44.880 You don't get to marry whoever you want to. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:51.680 God defines marriage, and you're going to submit to his rule because you're a creature, not the creator. 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:57.680 And Herod locks John in prison. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:04.160 Eventually, likely a year later or so, he's going to take off his head. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:12.000 John is going to be a martyr for confronting Herod about marriage. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:15.359 Well, Jesus comes out of the mountain and hears about this. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:17.680 Knows that John's in prison. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:20.720 And Jesus doesn't turn right to go to Jericho. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:21.759 Doesn't turn right. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:24.000 You could go to Jericho and then over to Jerusalem. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:25.599 That's where you might expect him to go. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:27.359 He's just been baptized in the river. 00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:31.759 You would expect him to march to Jerusalem, which is the Jewish capital. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:32.960 All the Jews are there. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:33.920 The Pharisees are there. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:36.640 If he's going to be unveiled as the Messiah, that's where he should go. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:37.759 Anybody would tell you that. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:43.759 No, he goes left and he goes up to Galilee, which is, you know, isolated. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:48.480 Galilee is not, as far as the Jews are concerned, Galilee is practically apostate. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:54.160 Back in the Old Testament, when Israel and Judah were split, Israel was the ten tribes of the north. 00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:55.200 That's where Jesus went. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:04.480 They had Galilee, they had Samaria, they did not have the temple, they did not have the Pharisees, they did not have the Ark of the Covenant, they didn't have the priests, they didn't have the Davidic king. 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:07.759 The Davidic king was in Jerusalem, not in Galilee. 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:09.680 That's where Jesus went. 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:19.519 And of course, John's arrest is a picture of the spiritual darkness of the area, but the area was spiritually dark before Jesus went there, before John was arrested. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:24.799 Verse 13, it says, oh verse 12, he says he withdrew to Galilee. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:27.440 This is going to be a big deal in his ministry, remember? 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:38.000 Once Jesus starts to become famous himself, once he starts preaching and doing miracles, the Pharisees hear about it and they say, but he can't be the Messiah because he is from Galilee. 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:39.599 Do you remember that exchange? 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:42.079 No prophets come from Galilee. 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:46.079 Jesus had been called out of Egypt. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:51.359 He spent early part of his life in Egypt, so that it would fulfill the scripture, out of Egypt I called my son. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:53.519 He did not go back to Bethlehem where he was born. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:55.920 He did not go back to Judah, where his family line was from. 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:00.960 He went instead to Nazareth, which is up on the north side of the valley of Armageddon, the valley of Megiddo. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:02.000 That's where he went. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.039 Again, super isolated in the heart of Samaria. 00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:11.039 Now that he's starting his ministry, baptized, filled with the Spirit, the voice from heaven declared who he is. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:14.480 John is in jail, by the way, so now there is no, there's no rival. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:15.839 Jesus is it. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:19.920 And he goes to Galilee. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:26.799 That's an obscure place, and it's a strange choice. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:30.480 It's hard to think of an American parallel to that. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:44.559 I mean, we have a little bit of a concept of, you know, if you want to be president or if you want to be a powerful politician or Supreme Court justice or a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, there's really only a handful of colleges or universities that you can go to. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:49.119 You're going to go to an Ivy League school or maybe this or that business school, but that's it. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:59.759 So imagine somebody who graduates valedictorian and offered a full ride at Harvard and says life goal to be a Supreme Court justice, and he can go. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:15.119 To Harvard, or he could go to Yale, or but instead he's like, no, I'm gonna, because I'm gonna, on a path to greatness, I'm gonna be a Supreme Court justice or president or whatever, I'm gonna go to a small, obscure Christian college down in the south somewhere that no one's heard of. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:17.359 That's this kind of choice. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:22.480 It doesn't make a lot of sense for what he says his goal is gonna be. 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:25.440 If he's the Messiah, he got to go to Jerusalem. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:27.039 But no, he goes to Galilee. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:31.839 Galilee is sort of populated, lots of little towns, a lot of farming. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:33.920 The main highways through Israel go through there. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:40.319 If you're gonna go from Egypt up to Syria or Damascus, you would go by Galilee, you'd follow the Jordan River up and go through Galilee. 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:46.640 If you go along the Mediterranean coast, the highway cuts in at the Valley of Armageddon or Megiddo and it joins there. 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:49.039 So this is like the mixing bowl. 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:50.799 This is the Israelite mixing bowl. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:53.279 You know what I mean by that, where all the freeways come together. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:55.599 That's what Capernaum is. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:57.039 That's what Galilee is. 00:22:57.119 --> 00:22:57.599 That's where he goes. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:22:59.200 He doesn't go to Washington, D.C. 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:02.880 He goes to the where the freeways meet. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:04.880 Out in Noerville. 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:07.519 It's largely Gentile. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:12.799 It's Gentile because if you remember the Israelites did not follow the law. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:18.400 The two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, they had the temple, but the other tribes broke off and did their own thing. 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:19.440 They worshipped idols. 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:21.920 They made cows and worshipped idols. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:24.400 They made their own capital city. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:26.559 They called themselves the Samaritans. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:28.160 They're from Samaria. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:37.359 The first two of those tribes, by the way, if you go to the book of Judges, I mean the book of Joshua, the first two of those tribes were Naphtali and Zebulun. 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:39.920 And they should have taken over that land. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:41.359 This is the land that belonged to them. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:43.279 Naphtali, Zebulun, and Dan. 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:47.440 Those are the three tribes that had that land, but they didn't defeat the Amalekites. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:48.880 They didn't defeat the Hittites. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:51.440 They didn't go to war like they were supposed to. 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:55.680 Instead, they let the Amalekites and the Hittites stay there, and they just tried to coexist with them. 00:23:55.839 --> 00:24:01.599 Dan went homeless, if you remember in Judges, Dan is wandering through the trees like a homeless tribe. 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:06.319 Meanwhile, Naphtali and Zebulun never, ever establish themselves. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:13.279 They totally intermarry with the Gentiles that are there, and it becomes a dark place that Israel never really has control of. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:14.960 That's this place. 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:18.400 It's known for idolatry. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:25.200 Again, they built actual golden calves to worship, and they named their calves Yahweh. 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:26.559 That's them. 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:36.720 And when the Assyrians came and drug them into captivity, scattered them into Nineveh, a few of them remained and they became the Samaritans and lived in the hills. 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:39.119 And you know, the Jews and the Samaritans hated each other. 00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:40.480 That's Galilee. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:41.920 That's this place. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:45.359 And that's where Jesus goes. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:47.119 They're spiritually dark. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:48.559 They're Jewish. 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:49.680 Many of them are Jewish. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:50.319 They're Gentile. 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:52.880 There's a massive Roman city there, Tiberius. 00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:56.720 I remember coming to Emmanuel a few years ago. 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:02.960 And I had somebody tell me, you're not going to last at Emmanuel Bible church. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.880 Because you are from California. 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:10.400 Liberal California. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:17.519 Galilee is like California. 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:26.240 Yeah, you hear it and you're like, oh, that place. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:30.400 That's where Jesus went. 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:33.680 Right into the heart of darkness. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:36.000 And when I call it the heart of darkness, I'm not exaggerating. 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:36.880 Look at verse 16. 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:40.559 The people who are living there are living in darkness. 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:43.759 The end of verse 16 calls it the shadow of death. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:45.119 That's this culture. 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:53.039 And I know that every culture, here's the point of starting back with the Garden of Eden, every culture in the world is in darkness. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:53.920 Do you understand that? 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:54.880 Every culture. 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:59.680 It's kind of a zero-sum game here to say this culture is worse than that culture or worse than that culture. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:01.680 Every culture is in darkness. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:13.359 You think of some of the Asian cultures that devalue human life and what it means to be in the image of God and just ruins by poverty and indifference to extreme suffering. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:21.359 You think of some of the African cultures that drive people to worship the creation rather than the creator. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:26.960 But obviously the American culture is a culture of darkness as well. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:29.839 I mean, that's the one we're most familiar with. 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:42.400 The way it devalues life, human life through abortion, the way it attacks family and attacks law and attacks justice and attacks even work ethic. 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:47.279 You know, working hard in our culture is sometimes seen as a vice, not as a virtue. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:51.519 We tell kids they need self-esteem. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:59.519 The most important thing about you is that you're happy and you have a good self-esteem and you realize who you are authentically, that's the true you and live it out, and that'll be happiness. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:04.720 And then we make all the things that would lead to human happiness and flourishing immoral. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:19.279 You know, we tell we tell kids, you know, grow up to be who you want to be, but you know, hard work is bad and family is bad and law is bad and education is bad, but go be happy. 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:24.960 Think of our culture's attack on gender. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:29.599 This just stands out as the most obvious example of this. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:31.839 You know, you tell kids you need to be happy. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:34.880 Grow into who you are and be happy as you are. 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:39.519 But the most foundational thing about a person is that they're made in the image of God, male and female. 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:40.960 I mean, that's the most basic level. 00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:45.680 So, you know what, you really need to be happy in life, but don't believe in God and don't believe in gender. 00:27:50.480 --> 00:28:00.640 We saw somebody, my wife and I saw somebody that we love very much with their own gender pronouns attached to them. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:08.160 And our heart breaks for that person because that life is not going to lead to happiness. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:15.279 If you think if I follow my own, I I think I'll be happy if I can attack my body. 00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:18.799 I think I'll be happy if I can stop being who I am. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:20.400 There's no happiness in that. 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:22.160 That's the the gerbil on the wheel. 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:23.359 There is no happiness in that. 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:28.799 If you think you can be happy by going to a war against your own body, there's no winner in that war. 00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:33.759 And all this comes down to evolution, doesn't it? 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:34.880 I think. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:39.119 Our culture fully embraces evolution. 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:40.720 Fully embraces it. 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:43.920 And then says that there's no such thing as gender. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:47.119 I mean, that's about as stupid as you get. 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:50.160 Evolution is true, but gender isn't. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:53.279 I mean, there's no meeting with those two. 00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:56.880 And yet they're both embraced as tenets of our society. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:00.640 That is darkness. 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:10.480 It's an attack on light, it's an attack on truth, and it leads to a culture of death. 00:29:12.559 --> 00:29:18.400 I'm picking in our culture because that's where we live, but like I said, don't hear me saying like this is the worst culture in the history of the world. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:22.480