Following Jesus in Triumphant Victory
In Matthew, the Holy Spirit gives a very interesting and important narration to sum up Jesus’s achievements in his wilderness warfare. The grammar is challenging, but look for the word “Death”—death with an uppercase “D,” making it into a proper name; it has eye-opening insight:
(Matthew 4:13–17 DKJV) And leaving his residence in Nazareth, he came and lived in Capernaum, which is on the seacoast—he lived in both the region of Zebulon and Naphtali. (14) This happened so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet (in Isaiah 9:1–2) might be fulfilled: (15) “Land of Zebulon, and the land of Naphtali, the region along the sea, Transjordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; (16) the people who dwelt in darkness saw great light, and to them who sat in the region overshadowed by Death, light has risen (dawned).”
When he says that the region had previously been “overshadowed by Death,” the “D” implies that a person called Death had blocked God’s light from the whole region—causing a shadow. But then, suddenly—because of Jesus’s successful prayer and warfare mission to cleanse the heavens and drive out the enemy—Death was gone; his darkness was vanquished, and God’s light burst into the whole region.
(Matthew 4:17 DKJV) From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is near [at hand].”
With victory under his belt and with Death replaced by “the Spirit without measure” (John 3:34), Jesus could rightly and boldly declare that God’s kingdom was at hand. Or, in my humorous and somewhat contemporary slang paraphrase, he could shout: “God rules here now!” Jesus could announce this confidently because finally it was absolutely true; as a result of Jesus’s intercession, God now had the upper hand in the devil’s world kingdom (See: Mat. 4:8–9); God’s Spirit was now in manifestation, not the enemy’s dark spirit of Death. What was the outcome for the ordinary people?
(Matthew 4:23–25 DKJV) And Jesus led them around the whole Galilee region, teaching in their local synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. (24) And his fame spread throughout the whole of Syria. And they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and tortured with pain, those who were demonized, those who were lunatic, and those who had paralysis; and he healed them. (25) And great crowds followed him from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan River.
With Jesus’s teaching and preaching imparting the necessary faith, and with God’s Spirit having the upper hand in full manifestation, the crowds received healing, liberation, and joy; they were finally free of Satan’s oppression. Jesus—whose name means savior, rescuer etc.—had truly saved his people from their greatest enemy. His kingly mission to deliver his people from tyrannical oppression was well under way; he truly was their Savior King.
The people were being set absolutely free; celebration permeated the atmosphere, joy-filled songs of praise could be heard everywhere, and astounding testimonies flooded the airwaves. Everyone was blessed, happy, and over-the-moon with excited gratitude. At the height of this euphoria, Jesus called his disciples aside to take it all in, and—in light of this triumph and blessing—to give them some explanation in a classroom setting:
(Matthew 5:1 DKJV) Observing the crowds, he (Jesus) went up to the mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples came to him, (2) and he opened his mouth, and began to teach them, saying: …
We will look at what he taught them later, but for today, let us reflect on the great freedom and blessing wrought because of Jesus’s wilderness experience—his place of focused prayer and intercession.
What Jesus did there, we can all do; we have the same Spirit, the same name, along with his righteousness, weapons, and authority. We even have the same word of God that he quoted from. With a similar effort, we can cleanse Death and his darkness from the areas over which Jesus has given us responsibility.
If we live the holy life of being led by the Holy Spirit, have God’s word overflowing through our lips, follow the call and wisdom of Jesus, we too can see astounding results from our times of wilderness advance against the enemy.
Today, I encourage you to devote yourself to the selfless life of study, worship, holiness, and yieldedness—like Jesus did in preparation. Then, as the Holy Spirit leads you—albeit into a wilderness to take on the spiritual battle that God assigns to you—you can return victorious: having cleansed the heavens of Death’s darkness; having un-blocked the dawning of God’s light; and being clothed in the Holy Spirit’s power. You will then be doing the works of Jesus; great freedom, joy, blessing, and celebration will result.
May you be filled with God’s grace as you follow Jesus further into this today!
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