Kingdom at Hand
By: Trell Ross
Ignorance is bliss, right?
This is a proverbial statement that most of us have probably heard at some point in our lives.
And what people tend to mean when they make this statement is that if someone doesn’t know something, they don’t worry about it.
They’re suggesting that someone is better off by not knowing something that would cause them to worry if they did know about it.
They’re in a state of bliss . . . because of their state of ignorance.
And now I can think of many situations when this statement proves to be true.
But just like any other man-made proverb, the statement has limitations.
In World War II, there was a Japanese soldier by the name of Hiroo Onada!
And Mr. Onada seems to be everything that the Japanese would’ve wanted in a soldier.
He was smart, he was well-trained, and he had a sense of devotion like few other men on the planet.
As a matter of fact, Officer Onada was so devoted that his devotion cost him several decades of his life even after the war had ended.
In 1944, he and a few other Japanese soldiers were sent to an island in the Phillippines.
And their assignment on this island was to hide out in the jungle and gather any intelligence that would’ve helped the Japanese in their battles during the war.
Well it was only a year after that, in 1945, the Japanese military surrendered and were no longer involved in the war.
Most soldiers received this news and returned home to their families.
But Mr. Onada—he’d been given very stern instructions by his commanding officer.
When they were initially sent on this mission, his commander told him that he was to live off the land, that he was to survive by any means necessary, and that his mission could only end in 1 of 2 ways: Either he would be killed by the enemy, or the commander himself would come to relieve him of this mission.
Well Mr. Onada took those instructions and ran with ‘em.
He was in complete ignorance when the war ended in 1945, and so he remained in that jungle, believing he was at war for 2 extra decades.
They sent letters; they sent pictures of his family; they tried many forms of communication to let Onada know that they were no longer fighting . . .
. . . but he stayed in that jungle until 1974, when the commanding officer himself was reminded that he needed to go and relieve Officer Onada of this mission.
So again I say, ignorance may be blissful at times . . . but there are other times when you just need to know what’s going on!
In our passage this morning, Jesus begins His earthly ministry . . .
. . . and in doing so, He announces that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
He lets an ignorant world know that He has begun His ministry, bringing God’s Kingdom closer than it was before, and that those who were to be the people of God needed to realize this in order to respond rightly.
And I’m gonna go ahead and give the outline up-front for those of you who like to take notes.
· Point 1 is: The ministry of Jesus creates a Kingdom realization. (vv. 12-17)
· Point 2 is: The ministry of Jesus mandates a Kingdom response. (vv. 18-25)
Point 1: The ministry of Jesus creates a Kingdom realization. (vv. 12-17)
So our text opens up with a statement that forces us to look backwards and wonder what’s going on.
Verse 12 tells us that John—meaning John the Baptist—has been arrested; that Jesus has heard of His arrest; and that Jesus is now withdrawing to Galilee.
We can infer different things about why Jesus would withdraw to Galilee when He hears of John’s arrest.
Some may say that Jesus was saddened by John’s arrest and so he left because he felt a sense of grief.
But others, and most scholars would say He left because He knew that John being arrested was a part of God’s plan, and that the next step in the plan was for Him to go and begin His ministry.
The text doesn’t exactly tell us what Jesus was feeling or thinking as He withdrew . . .
But what I want us to focus on is that there’s a bit of irony here around John’s arrest.
In chapter 14 of this Gospel, Matthew tells us the reason John was arrested.
There was a Roman governor by the name of Herod; Roman governors were basically Kings in those days; and John had been preaching the Gospel in the kingdom of king Herod.
He’d been preaching the truth of God’s Word, even to the point of calling out Herod himself because of some sin in his life.
And so what happens is you have this earthly king who has established his earthly kingdom and he’s living by his own earthly rule . . .
But then John comes along and he’s preaching the truth of the Heavenly King, and the truth that he preaches collides with the false truth that Herod had built his life upon.
So Herod has John thrown in jail because he wants to silence this truth of the Heavenly Kingdom . . .
. . . but what Herod and everyone else in the world were about to realize is that the truth was no longer dependent upon John preaching it, because the Heavenly King Himself was on earth beginning a ministry that would preach His own truth!
You see the irony here?
Herod throws John in jail to silence Heaven’s truth, but Jesus was beginning His ministry that would cause Heaven’s truth to spread across the entire world!
Saints, we live in a world that is certainly broken and rampant with sin.
We live in a world that is governed by sinful, broken men.
And there will be times when circumstances make that all the more evident, but in those times, we must remember that even if it seems like earthly kings are most dominant . . . there is a Heavenly King, and a Heavenly Kingdom that will prove ultimate dominance.
Jesus is King of Kings!
And though we’re yet to see it in its fullness, He is gradually revealing the full expression of His Kingdom so that all will see.
This all reiterates the sermon’s first point: Jesus’ ministry creates a Kingdom realization.
His Kingdom is, and has always been, in place!
But it’s as He ministers to blind eyes and sinful hearts that we realize His Kingdom is at hand!
That’s what the ministry of Jesus is about. He’s blessing us with the realization of His Kingdom!
And this text is gonna show us that in more ways than one.
So let’s move on and continue to unpack the first point: Jesus’ earthly ministry creates a Kingdom realization.
Now verses 13-17 show us that when Christ leaves Nazareth, He goes to Capernaum.
And Matthew writes that when Jesus goes to this specific region in Capernaum, He actually fulfills a prophecy that was given about the coming Messiah.
His withdrawing into Galilee to Capernaum fulfills the prophecy from Isaiah 9 that Whit read for us this morning.
See in fulfilling this prophecy, Jesus further demonstrates that He is the Messiah-King that has been promised for thousands of years now.
When Matthew wrote this Gospel, the cities he named wouldn’t have even been referred to by those names anymore.
But he calls ‘em these names because he wants his readers to know that even in the traveling destinations chosen by Jesus, it’s being proven that it has always been God’s plan to send this mighty King to reveal His eternal Kingdom, and invite lost people to become citizens of that Kingdom.
So Matthew records this with the city names exactly as Isaiah had recorded it hundreds of years before.
. . . . . . . And one of the beautiful things about this prophecy’s fulfillment . . .
. . . is that it also foreshadows how Jesus’ ministry wasn’t exclusive to any one group of people, but His ministry was for the entire world.
The Israelites of Jesus’ day anticipated a Messiah that would come and save only those who were from Israel, but you should notice that this prophecy says Jesus is headed to what Isaiah and Matthew call Galilee of the Gentiles.
And shortly after that they also classify this region as the shadow of death.
A little bit of the history of Galilee is it was a Jewish-established city that had endured several invasions and had been taken captive by several different enemy nations throughout the years.
So this region was called “shadow of death” and “Galilee of the Gentiles,” because the invasions of so many foreign enemies had caused the area to see a lot of death and to become extremely diverse with different people groups.
When Babylon showed up, they killed Israelites and then intermingled with the survivors.
When Assyria came, they killed Israelites and intermingled with whoever lived.
This place had seen death, and it was now extremely diverse.
And here we’ve got Jesus headed there to begin His ministry.
This completely went against the Israelite expectation.
It shows that Jesus wasn’t out to seek and save only Israel, but Jesus is out to seek and save those who are tired of darkness and desire to have the light of Christ in their lives.
Jesus knew that in heading to Capernaum, He was about to be among a diverse group of people.
And Jesus also knew that He was headed to be among a dead group of people.
Like I said a moment ago, this region was known for being a region where many Israelites had died in ancient invasions, so it had earned the nickname, “shadow of death.”
But I think this nickname provides a picture of where the people in that region, as well as any other person, stand apart from Christ.
Ephesians 2 tells us that apart from Christ, we’re all dead in trespasses.
And the Gospel tells us that Christ came and placed Himself among us who were dead so that He could defeat death and provide us with new life.
I think we should read this passage with the acknowledgement that apart from Jesus and His ministry, we are those that the passage is talking about.
All of us—we are the people who dwell in darkness! We are the people who dwell in the region of the shadow of death!
If Christ doesn’t call us out of darkness and death, then we remain the people who dwell there in need of His light and life.
But praise God that He’s in the business of giving this great light for us to see, and that He allowed light to dawn on us when we dwelled in death and darkness.
As a matter of fact, some of you here may not actually be a Christian.
And I would imagine that if you’re not, you may feel that you’re dwelling amidst death and darkness.
Well I wanna let you know that I’m glad you’re here today, and that this passage could become applicable to your life too.
What I mean when I say that Jesus has given light for some of us to see . . . is that He has provided a way for us to escape the darkness of sin.
One of the things that mankind can’t deny is that there is sin in the world that all of us contribute to.
And God’s Word teaches us that this sin causes us to be separated from Him, dwelling in darkness, apart from the light that He is.
But God’s Word also teaches us that the same Jesus we’re reading about in this passage lived a perfect, sinless life, then willingly endured crucifixion and rose to life after being dead for all of 3 days . . . so that we who actually deserve death because of our sin could be seen by God the Father as sinless and righteous and worthy of having citizenship in His Kingdom.
This passage shows us that Jesus went to Capernaum and began a ministry that shone the light of the Gospel on those who were there, but the great reality of this is that His light still shines today and it has an effect on everyone who will ever walk the face of the earth.
In verse 17, Jesus makes the statement that led me to title this sermon “The Kingdom at Hand.”
With this statement, He gives a little insight into what it means for Him to shine light in dark places.
Verse 17 reads: 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The phrase, “from that time” suggests that the story is taking a bit of a shift, and Matthew tells us that at the heart of this shift is Jesus preaching repentance because of the Kingdom being at hand.
This is a 2-part message of Christ: Repent . . . for the Kingdom is at hand.
I want us to work backwards through this statement, so we’re gonna start with that phrase: the Kingdom is at hand.
This is a proclamation that was made by both Jesus and John the Baptist.
Look back at verse 2 of chapter 3 and you’ll see that John used the exact same statement when He announced the coming of Christ.
If this is something that John first says about the coming of Christ, and that Christ Himself comes along to continue proclaiming later . . . what does it mean for the Kingdom to be at hand?
Well one thing we know is that Matthew is NOT saying that Jesus’ arrival and ministry are the beginning of God’s Kingdom reign.
Remember, one of the primary themes of Matthew’s Gospel is to reflect on prophecies of the past that show how God has been writing the script for the world ever since the beginning of time.
But what I DO think this statement means is that the Kingdom is now being more clearly manifested as Christ begins His ministry.
In Luke’s Gospel, he records a conversation that Jesus has with His disciples after the resurrection . . .
. . . and in that conversation, Jesus tells the disciples that everything prior to His ministry had been pointing forward to the work that He would eventually come to do.
So the Old Testament serves to foreshadow and give glimpses of the ministry we’re reading about the start of in our passage this morning.
The Kingdom of God has always been in place; God has always been the ultimate ruler of all things . . . but when Jesus ministers on earth by teaching truth and performing miracles, and ultimately defeating death . . . He gives us all a clearer picture of God’s dominion and rule.
So when Jesus says that the Kingdom is at hand, He’s saying that what used to be known from a distance—what you used to be able to dimly perceive—you can now perceive more clearly because its literally close enough for you to reach out and touch it.
Saints, this is a statement that has forever changed the world!
Jesus’ ministry has rid us the excuse of being ignorant and unresponsive to the truth of the Gospel.
The Japanese soldier that I mentioned in my introduction—after he finally realized the war had ended, he actually had to go to some sort of hearing before the Philippine government.
Apparently, during those 20 years that he was still in the jungle, he killed about 30 innocent civilians who happened to wander near where he was camping.
But when he had this hearing with the Philippine government, they actually offered him a pardon because in his ignorance, he thought that the war was still being fought . . . and this was enough of an excuse for them to look past these killings.
So in a sense, his ignorance provided an excuse for his fault.
But in our passage, Jesus eliminates our excuse because he removes our ignorance.
In His ministry of giving clear manifestation of God’s Kingdom, He forces us all to acknowledge and respond to the reality of Him being King.
He shows us that the Kingdom of God is at hand . . .
. . . And if we look back at the first part of what He says in verse 17, we see that He also tells us what our response to that should be.
Point #2: Jesus’ ministry mandates a Kingdom response
So this is where we move on to point #2: Jesus’ ministry mandates a Kingdom response.
Now looking at verse 17, we see that the first thing Jesus calls us to do in light of the Kingdom being at hand . . . is to repent.
He says the Kingdom is at hand, so you should therefore . . . repent.
It makes perfect sense for this to be the requirement that Christ gives . . . because in bringing the Kingdom closer, He’s bridging the gap between mankind and God the Father, who can’t tolerate any sinfulness.
It almost seems like Jesus gives an implicit invitation for man to be a part of this Kingdom . . .
But it’s also clear that repentance is like the RSVP for Kingdom citizenship.
So we can’t have the Kingdom apart from the act of repentance.
Just a few chapters after this in Matthew 7, Jesus says: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
I think this is something that we’ve gotta lock in at the forefront of our minds.
God’s Kingdom is at hand, and this is a reality that will have an effect on all of our lives, but the only way for it to have a positive effect is for us to be people who live lives of repentance.
We’ve gotta realize that our sin is worth less than our salvation, and choose to be saved citizens of God’s Kingdom by forsaking our sin and following Jesus.
I can assure you, friends, whatever sin may offer us is nothing in comparison to what we’re offered in the ministry of Christ.
If we keep reading, we see that the men in verses 18-22 actually gave up good things for the sake of following Jesus!
Look at verses 18-22.
The text reads: 18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
So we see two groups of men in those verses who give a clear example of what it looks like to forsake everything and follow Jesus.
And just a few things I want us to notice about these men . . .
The first thing is that there seems to be a sense of urgency and abandoning everything with their commitments to follow Christ.
In both encounters, Matthew writes that they immediately follow Jesus.
And you should also note that both groups were in the middle of something.
Jesus didn’t go find them bored, with nothing to do.
He went and found them as they were in the middle of careers, laboring so they could earn a living.
And yet they still dropped everything to follow Him.
Now I think there’s a lot we can learn from this example.
If y’all are anything like me, you like for everything to act according to your timing and plan.
You don’t like having to stop when you’re in the middle of something; if you’re forced to stop what you’re doing, you get all frustrated and complain about how terrible a thing disruptions are.
But this passage reminds us that while God may sometimes interrupt our plans, He’s incapable of disrupting our plans.
The difference between an interruption and disruption is that while both are abrupt, only a disruption is considered rude and disturbing by nature.
See we experience the grace of God anytime we make plans and get to see them go through, but we also experience God’s grace when we make plans and don’t see them go through!
With God being sovereign and ruling all things—past, present, and future—we need to realize that He has special authority to interrupt our plans at any given time.
He doesn’t have to ask our permission before changing our lives because any change He makes—whether it feels like it or not—is always for the good of His people.
I’m sure most of us have had our parents do the whole yell our names and have us come find them in the house so that we could do something for them thing.
My mom was the queen of doing this!
She was the type that would leave the kitchen to go to her bedroom and then suddenly remember that she intended to grab a glass of water before she went upstairs . . .
So of course she would then yell my name, in order for me to come to her room, so she could tell me that she forgot her water, so I could then go to the kitchen that she’d just have left, in order to get her water and then deliver it to her bedroom.
And somehow this happened almost every night. She almost never remembered to get the water.
But see I knew that if I wanted to continue in good health, I’d better answer with respect when she called.
She had a special authority that prevented me from treating her interruptions as if they were disruptions.
In a similar but even more significant way, God is by nature incapable of disrupting us with His plans.
So God hasn’t caused a disruption by allowing the Coronavirus to happen.
He’s known exactly how all of this would play out, and He knows exactly how it would affect all of our lives.
But in some strange way that we may never understand on this side of Heaven . . . He’s being glorified through it . . . and that makes it all worth it.
These disciples demonstrate that God’s interruptions are worthy of us dropping everything we have to serve Him in whatever way He desires.
And they also demonstrate the privilege that it is to be called by God.
In typical fashion of His, Jesus goes against the norm of culture when He seeks out these disciples to have them follow Him.
They were living during a time when Jewish men would seek out the Rabbi if they wanted to be disciples of him.
So when Jesus goes to these men and tells them to follow Him, He makes a statement about how His ministry would be different than the ministry of any average Rabbi.
He’s helping us to see that He’s the God who not only goes to dead and dark places . . .
. . . but He calls His people out of those places into a relationship where they get to serve and imitate Him with their lives.
I’m sure any of us who are here and have been saved by Christ can think back to our salvations and realize that we didn’t muster up the courage to go pursue Christ ourselves, but He came and pursued us first.
This is what our God does.
He lovingly pulls people into new life and relationship with Him.
Jesus goes and pulls these disciples into relationship with Him; He says He’s gonna teach them to pursue others on His behalf; and they quickly realize that this isn’t just any Rabbi that they’ve began following.
The last few verses show us that Jesus’ ministry expands and blows up pretty quickly.
Verses 23-25 read: 23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
So Jesus begins teaching, preaching, and healing people . . . and His ministry is so widely known that people come from everywhere to follow Him.
Just look at the kind of extreme language that Matthew uses: ALL Galilee; EVERY disease; EVERY affliction; ALL Syria; ALL the sick; GREAT crowds.
Matthew is showing us that Jesus proves to be dominant and worthy of following by the truth He teaches and the many miracles He performed.
The people realize that He is the King of Kings!
They realize that His Kingdom is now at hand and more clearly manifested.
They realize they needed to respond by following Him!
And if we walk away with anything today, we need to walk away also knowing those 3 facts.
Jesus is King of Kings!
His Kingdom is at hand!
And we must respond by repenting and following Him in order for that to mean good things for us!
Ignorance isn’t bliss in this situation, friends.
Christ has made His truth known and we must all grapple with what that means for our lives!