TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL Matthew 4:1-11 _Then_ marks the close connection between the heavenly voice of the baptism and the fiery ordeal of the forty days. Notice that temptation is not in itself sin; only when the evil suggestions of the tempter are harbored do they become sin. Notice also that all a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LIGHT BEGINS TO SHINE Matthew 4:12-17 Our Lord's earliest ministry seems to have been centered in Jerusalem and its contiguous villages. See John 2:1-25; John 3:1-36. But on the news of the Baptist's imprisonment, He took up His testimony to the hearers of the heavenly kingdom, which is the re... [ Continue Reading ]
OPENING WORKS OF MERCY AND POWER Matthew 4:18-25 We must read the first chapter of John into the opening paragraph. Already the Lord had met with these first disciples in the Jordan valley; but they had returned to their homes and nets. Their prompt surrender was the result of the power over their... [ Continue Reading ]