Matthew 4:15 KJV
The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
This verses, a fulfillment of Isaiah 9:1, points out that not only in the Lord's earliest ministry but also in the eternal plan of God, the Gospel was not just for the Jews but also the Gentiles.
The Bible does ay of the Lord that
John 1:11 KJV
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
His own were the Jews and He came to them first.
But He did not come to them only.
God's holy plan had Jesus Christ, from a very young age, dwelling in the midst of both Jews and Gentiles. While Nazareth may have been a strictly Jewish community, the northern regions of Israel were not. Each trip to Jerusalem would have involved some contact with the Gentile people who inhabited portions of that northern land (not to mention the Romans who had occupied Israel by that time).
And then came the early days of the Lord's ministry. Just after his temptation in the wilderness, and immediately after hearing of the imprisonment of John the Baptist, Christ moved from Nazareth to Capernaum in fulfillment of Isaiah 9:1. John Gill says of Capernaum that it,
".... was situated by the sea of Tiberias, beyond Jordan, and in, "Galilee of the nations"; the upper Galilee, which had in it people of other nations besides Jews."
So almost from the beginning of His ministry, while He came unto His own, He surrounded Himself with the Gentiles.
And the significance of that is just this; that the Gospel is for all people and always has been. God has never desired that His people seclude themselves into conclaves of their own faith but has designed that we live among the nations, witnessing and testifying that the same Christ which has given us faith can do the same for them.
The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
This verses, a fulfillment of Isaiah 9:1, points out that not only in the Lord's earliest ministry but also in the eternal plan of God, the Gospel was not just for the Jews but also the Gentiles.
The Bible does ay of the Lord that
John 1:11 KJV
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
His own were the Jews and He came to them first.
But He did not come to them only.
God's holy plan had Jesus Christ, from a very young age, dwelling in the midst of both Jews and Gentiles. While Nazareth may have been a strictly Jewish community, the northern regions of Israel were not. Each trip to Jerusalem would have involved some contact with the Gentile people who inhabited portions of that northern land (not to mention the Romans who had occupied Israel by that time).
And then came the early days of the Lord's ministry. Just after his temptation in the wilderness, and immediately after hearing of the imprisonment of John the Baptist, Christ moved from Nazareth to Capernaum in fulfillment of Isaiah 9:1. John Gill says of Capernaum that it,
".... was situated by the sea of Tiberias, beyond Jordan, and in, "Galilee of the nations"; the upper Galilee, which had in it people of other nations besides Jews."
So almost from the beginning of His ministry, while He came unto His own, He surrounded Himself with the Gentiles.
And the significance of that is just this; that the Gospel is for all people and always has been. God has never desired that His people seclude themselves into conclaves of their own faith but has designed that we live among the nations, witnessing and testifying that the same Christ which has given us faith can do the same for them.
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