Galilee Sees a Great Light
- Isaiah 8:22 And
they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness,
dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
- 9:1 Nevertheless the 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 afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the
sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
- 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 the light shined.
Fulfillment
Those that questioned that any prophet coming
from Galilee most probably were not deep into scripture but heard
bits and pieces like some of us do today.
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Matthew 4:12 Now when Jesus
had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into
Galilee;
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13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum,
which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and
Nephthalim:
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14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
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15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of
Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the
Gentiles;
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16 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.
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17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say,
Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Jesus Christ the Messiah is truly the
light of the world. Except for a short space of time for a few evil
nations, most nations that have not many believers in Jesus Christ,
are poverty stricken, suffer slavery, hardship, cruelty etc.
We can credit Jesus Christ and true
believing Christians with the improvement in prisons, building of
many hospitals, the stopping of torture such as they had in the
middle ages, aid to victims of tragedies, humane treatment of human
beings, fair trials for criminals, prosperous economy, good sanitary
conditions and many other things that we take for granted. A lot of
the laws given to Israel that we see recorded in the Old Testament
attributed to their health and well being.
Jesus Christ stirs up compassion within
us. Instead of apathy towards the suffering, we desire to do
something about it.
Jesus is actually kind toward women and
shows them respect and love just as much as men. Not all religions
do that. Women are actually held in a higher level of respect. I
credit Jesus Christ even with women being allowed to vote.
Indirectly a Christian nation (that walks in the truth of what is
taught in the New Testament), tends toward giving, compassion and
respect toward women.
Still the message of Jesus is the same,
"Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Repent, change, turn
around, follow Christ and receive the gospel or good news. True
repentance brings immediate change although some changes are
progressive as one grows in Christ. If one immediately goes back
into the sin he or she was forgiven of, usually it means that they
did not genuinely repent.
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Matthew 4:23 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
disease among the people.
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24 And his fame went throughout all Syria:
and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with
divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with
devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy;
and he healed them.
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25 And there followed him great multitudes of
people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and
from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Oh how I would have loved to have heard Jesus
Himself teaching in the synagogue. I would have loved to see Him
heal the sick but more than that, I would have loved to hear what He
had to say. We can find out most of what He said by reading the New
Testament in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Since the light of the world entered
2000 years ago much improvement has come to civilized nations. Even
though we constantly dwell along side of evil, nations are still
influenced by the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. I believe
Democracy is a product of Christian influence. Sometimes though
Democracy can allow the freedom to do evil as well as good of a
nation stops following the teachings of God. If that continues, they
start to forbid it then there is no freedom.
Darkness represents:
Evil, cruelty, oppression, slavery, hate,
prejudice, slander, bitterness, jealousy, unforgiveness, sin, lust,
sexual immorality, filthiness, murder, rape and selfishness.
Light represents:
Love, joy, peace, kindness, freedom,
charity, giving, friendliness, sincerity, truth, fairness, judgment,
law and order, mercy and a love for the word.
As long as there are true people who
let the Light of the World, Jesus Christ shine into their lives and
flow out to others, there will be good in the world. When people
grow cold and away form God and His word, evil will prevail.
Jesus cast out devils because He saw
the victims of demons living in darkness and without hope. He
delivered them that they might live and be free from sin and
darkness. We can carry on the work of Jesus by allowing the Holy
Spirit to fill us and use us to do the will of God. Jesus' Galilean
ministry can continue in us today and we can take the gospel much
further than Galilee.
Messiah Index
Messiah part 21
