The Life of Christ

• Capernaum was located right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, a natural launch point for many of their trips on the boat.

• A couple miles down the road was the location where Jesus later gave the Sermon on the Mount.

Mt. 4:14-16 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES — “ THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND TO THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.”

These words are taken from Isa. 9:1-2.

• The land of Zebulun and Naphtali refers to the land inherited by the two tribes of the same name.

• The Sea of Galilee is located within these two tribal territories.

• 700 years prior to these historic days in Capernaum, the prophet Isaiah predicted the visitation of a great light — the Light of the world.

Isaiah’s prophecy includes the term “Galilee of the Gentiles.” • When Solomon built the Temple, he gave away 20 cities of Galilee to the King of Tyre (1 Kings 9:11), who is a type of Satan (Ezek. 28:2).

• The king of Tyre came and looked at Galilee and called it “worthless, barren, and unproductive.”

• It would later become known as “Galilee of the Gentiles” after the Israelite population had been carried away captive to Assyria and replaced by a colony of pagan immigrants (2 Ki. 15:29; 17:24).

• Isaiah prophesied this would happen in Isa. 9:1: Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first, He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles.

• This helps explain why Judea was considered much more esteemed that Galilee.

• However, in Isa. 9:2 his prophecy continues: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Isa. 9:2).

• The “light” that the prophet Isaiah saw was Jesus now coming to this forsaken land.

• Because of Jes us’ great compassion to deliver people from “gloom,” He will spend more time in this area than any other (Isa. 42:6).

Lk.1:78-79 reads: “ Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

• One of the 50 titles of the Lord Jesus is “Dayspring,” which refers to the first light of the morning, coming out against a backdrop of darkness.

▪ Jesus came to those who sat in the darkness of Galilee as the “Dayspring.”

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