Why Did Jesus Move?

Matthew 4:12-17

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. 13Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

15″Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

16the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death

a light has dawned.”

17From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Why did Jesus Move?

               Many of us read over this passage and think nothing of it, but I feel the Holy Spirit is bringing it to my attention today to make us realize that just as Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernum there was a shift in the direction, the anointing and the purpose of His ministry and life.   This has spiritual significance for us today because we who are moving with the Spirit of God are seeing a shift in the spiritual atmosphere.  We are seeing the Spirit of God moving us out of the place of Nazareth and into the place of Capernum.  It was interesting as I looked up the names of these towns that Nazareth means “the guarded one”.  The spiritual significance of this is that we have grown up in a guarded place of creeds and doctrines.   That was not all bad, because it was a place of training and our coming into maturity.  It was a place of protection by those who raised us from our youth.  So why don’t we stay in Nazareth?  Jesus was a Nazarene or a Nazarite which means “separated one”. It is here in this place where God separated many of us unto Himself and trained us up under tutors to teach the basic tenants of the Word of God and show us His ways of salvation.  The place where we grew up the, denominational church system has known Jesus after the flesh and as such many do not have a revelation of personal identity with Him.  They perceive Him as up in heaven with the Father and we are down here patiently awaiting His coming back.  They perceive Jesus as up, out and away from them. Although they acknowledge that Christ has come into their hearts they have not grasped who they are in the spirit.  Let me show you what Jesus encountered in Nazareth as He come back to it in the maturity of His ministry and Sonship. 

               Luke 4:14-28 tells us, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18″The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

23Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ “

24″I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27And there were many in Israel with leprosy  in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

               You see when Jesus came into who He was called to be He became an offense to those in His hometown. “. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.”  You see they knew the natural man Jesus, but the mature man of the spirit and declaration of the Father was an offense to them; so much so that they were ready to throw Him over a cliff.  As we come into maturity and sonship, no longer walking after the flesh but after the Spirit, we also we become an offense to many in our hometown where spiritually we grew up.  This is the reason Jesus had to move to Capernum which means, “village of comfort”.  This was the place of fulfillment of what He read in Isaiah in the temple.  We are no longer proclaiming the gospel of salvation, but the gospel of the kingdom which is the fullness of salvation to all who repent and believe.  It is no longer about just getting saved and going to heaven, it is about the kingdom of God being manifested in a people that are walking in unity with the Father and identified as one in Christ Jesus.  They will be the continued fulfillment of Isaiah 61.  They will bring light and comfort.  They will be a people for healing and restoration. 

               It is a day when our spiritual atmosphere and what we have formerly known is changing. 

We are moving into a new place in God and out of a place of ministry where many of hometown people will not understand or receive us.  We may not see many miracles in that place, but we will bring light into the places where formerly they had only known the shadow of death.  We are maturing as sons and life givers.  We are a people coming into our purpose and destiny.

Blessings,

#kent

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