Matthew 4:18-25 – Piercing the kingdom of darkness

For Kingdom revolution to succeed, the Lord needs people who understand and would buy into His mission. Two pairs of brothers were the first few that He had enlisted. Namely, Peter and Andrew, John and James. These were fishermen. The first pair, Peter and Andrew, were actually fishermen and were fishing. But they left their nets and followed Him. The second pair, John and James, the sons of Zebedee, were actually with their father and were mending their nets. The Zebedees had a fishing business, a small business perhaps. All four of them immediately left their respective careers and followed Jesus to enlist people for the Kingdom. None of them could guess what their callings would entail. They just knew that it was a worthwhile cause. And we shall see that in the process, they would realize the sacrifice they each had to make and were willing to do so. Today God is still calling people into His redemptive purpose. And He is still recruiting redemptive agents. Some of us will be enlisted into His service as a fulltime Gospel vocation worker. Others of us may still have a fulltime secular job but our primary calling is still to enlist Kingdom movers. Let us discern His call upon our lives. Like Peter, Andrew, John and James, we must respond immediately.   

Here we also see Jesus’ early ministry in Galilee. He went about teaching and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. As we have discovered, there is a revolution in progress. The Kingdom of God has appeared and the kingdom of darkness is being invaded. The message of God’s Light was and still is penetrating the sphere of darkness. People of that kingdom are captives. How do we know? They live a sin dominated and their disease infested lives. Because Christ the King has arrived, the forces of darkness has to take a bow. He spearheads the invasion in the unseen realm of darkness. The result is seen emphatically, the sick were healed and those demonized were delivered. In the Lord’s ministry, people brought their sick folks – the epileptics, the paralytic and those suffering pains were all healed. And even those who were demonized were all delivered. Large crowds from the regions followed Him. Mentioned in verse 25 are just a few from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and even from beyond the Jordan. They all followed the King. Are we?