Jesus, fresh from His victorious battle in the wilderness over Satan, the Prince of Darkness, starts His preaching/teaching ministry in earnest in a region known as Galilee, which is in the northern section of Israel. A majority of the inhabitants were pagan in culture, living in darkness, and very much in need of A GREAT LIGHT!!!

Matthew 4:12-16

12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned.”

[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn?

+ Matthew seems to tie the arrest of John the Baptist to Jesus "withdrawing" into Galilee? What do you think of this and is there something in the word "withdraw" worth noting?

+ Why did Jesus leave His hometown of Nazareth? Read Luke 4:16-30 for some insight.

+ There have been several references to the prophet Isaiah in the first four chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. Why is that?

+ What were the verses in Isaiah originally referencing? [This may take a little digging into Isaiah 9:1-7].

+ What is significant about Jesus establishing his “base camp” in “Galilee of the Gentiles”. How do you reconcile this with Matthew 10:5-6?

+ What does verse 16 mean in context? Who are the people? What does it mean they were dwelling in darkness? Who or what is the great light? What do you make of the use of the verb tense? If this was foretelling of a future event, why is it stated in the past tense “have seen a great light,” “on them, a light has dawned”?

[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to action/obedience?

+ Is there sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?

+ From Dr. R.C. Sproul’s expositional commentary on Matthew:

“The metaphor of light and darkness is used abundantly in the New Testament. It gives a vivid contrast between righteousness and evil and between life and death. The Bible teaches us that by nature we are children of darkness…who prefer darkness to light because in the light of day our sins are made manifest. One of the things we most fear is exposure”

If you are struggling with sin in your life, I implore you to bring it to the light of day IMMEDIATELY by confessing first to the Jesus, the Light of the World, then to a close fellow believer, a child of the Light, who can encourage and keep you accountable to live in the light (1 John 1:5-7).

[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus?

+ What is my next step?