So, Matthew says that, “when Jesus heard that John [the Baptist] had been arrested, he withdrew….” What does that tell us? It tells us – doesn’t it? – that there is a force of darkness at work in this world. And we know what that means, of course. It means there is opposition – stout opposition – arrayed against God, set on thwarting the purposes of heaven. You could see it in Jesus’ day in the arrest of John the Baptist. The kingdom of darkness made an aggressive advance against John in an effort to silence the truth.
The darkness took other forms, too, and we can see them in our text. In verse 23, we read of “disease and sickness among the people” of Galilee. Verse 24, which we did not read earlier, gives us greater detail on these afflictions. Along with “various diseases and pains,” there were other types of adversity: demon-possession, epilepsy, paralysis, and so forth.
So, if you look at it, what you see is that, here in this passage, we have two kinds of evil, two forms that the darkness takes. There is natural evil, and it is represented by sickness and disease, although it might also include natural disasters like floods and earthquakes. There is that, and then there is moral evil. Moral evil involves actions taken by some that lead to suffering for others. The arrest of John the Baptist would be an example. John’s arrest was nothing short of an abuse of power. It was the exercise of self-interest at the expense of what is just and right. It was an instance of people in high places being bad and inflicting pain on the innocent. It was a form of institutional bullying.
So, we have these two kinds of darkness. And look at this. Jesus came right into the darkness, and, in coming into it, he brought light. He brought healing to those suffering from natural evil. And you can see that in verse 23, where Matthew tells us that “Jesus went throughout Galilee…, curing every disease and every sickness among the people.”
But he also brought light into the darkness of moral evil. When John was arrested – and arrested unjustly, don’t forget – we are told that Jesus withdrew (v. 12). Wait! Can that be right? Yes, that’s what the text says, but what does it mean? On the surface, it almost sounds as if Jesus yielded to the darkness. So, what do we do? Well, we examine Jesus’ withdrawal, and we see if we can gain some understanding of what it means.
Does it, for example, suggest that Jesus became afraid, so he decided to keep a low profile? Yikes! John’s been arrested and is likely to be executed. Maybe I’d better make myself scarce. Is that what was going on? Was Jesus running for the hills?
You know better than that – that is, if you know Jesus. You know that he was not afraid of the authorities. No earthly power could intimidate him, and no spiritual power could either. When the time came for him to offer his life on the cross, we are told that “he set his face to go to Jerusalem,” which is where he knew he would be executed (Luke 9:50). Right? He wasn’t running for the hills; he was running to the hill, the hill of Golgotha! He was not afraid of what man can do. He did not withdraw because of fear. He was not afraid of the forces of darkness.
But neither was he foolish. He exercised wisdom in his battle with evil. There is a long-standing military strategy referred to as defense in depth. And it works like this. When an attacking force is on the horizon, the strategy is not to prevent the advance of the enemy but, rather, to delay it. In this way, it buys time by yielding space. That’s what Jesus was doing when Matthew says that he “withdrew to Galilee” (Matt. 4:12).
And even when Jesus did march into enemy territory by going to Jerusalem, he went as “a lamb that is led to the slaughter” (Isa. 53:7). By silently going to his death, he allowed death – the greatest darkness of all – to completely overtake him. Surely, Satan and all his dark legions considered themselves victorious when it appeared to them that they had extinguished the light of Christ’s presence on the cross! They were ready to take their place in the “winner’s circle” and claim the triumph of evil over good. Don’t you think?
But what you and I know is that Jesus gave the enemies of truth just enough rope to hang themselves. Colossians 2:15 says that Christ “disarmed the rulers and authorities” – disarmed them no less! and, more than that – “made a public example of them, triumphing over them in [the cross].”
He is light in the darkness. Thanks be to God! Speaking of Jesus, Scripture says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:5). But note this. Jesus himself said, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light…” (John 3:19ff.). They come!
This is why Jesus went throughout Galilee, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven” – that is, the kingdom of God – “has come near” (Matt. 4:17). To repent is to come to the light. It is to expose our sins to the light. It is to acknowledge our sin and see it for the darkness that it is. It is to renounce our alliance with evil. Repentance means all that, but it also means this. It means that the darkness within us is illuminated. Jesus said, “Those who walk in the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world” (John 11:9). When we repent and embrace the kingdom of God, we become children of the day.
Now, notice this. To become children of light means not only that we can now see, but it means something else as well. It means that we are also tasked with showing others the way. We are called to help them to see.
Matthew tells us that, as Jesus “walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea – for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people’” (Matt. 4:18f.). And so, what did they do? “They left their nets and followed him.” Same with James and John, two other brothers, who were also fishermen. “They left [their] boat…and followed him.”
You may never have thought of yourself as fishing for people. But there are those within your reach that God wants to rescue from the power of darkness and transfer into the kingdom of his beloved Son (cf. Col. 1:13). And he wants you to have a hand in casting the net.
Over the last several months, I have preached almost every sermon as if I were preaching to the lost. And I have yet to have anyone ask me why. It’s an unasked question, but I want to answer it anyway. I preach Jesus as the Savior from sin because I do not want anyone who attends this church to say in the Judgment that they never heard the gospel, and I certainly do not want them to say they never heard it here! Going to church won’t save you, but if you go to church and never know what it means to be saved, there’s something wrong with that church.
But there’s another reason I preach salvation in Jesus’ name. And that is this: I hope you will consider doing two things, and both of them have to do with the preaching of your pastors. First of all, I want you to pray. I want you to pray that those who preach here will be aided by the Spirit to do so powerfully, and I want you to pray that sinners in need of salvation will hear the gospel and respond to it. In other words, I want you to engage the battle with darkness and pray that it will more and more recede as Christ is proclaimed.
The other thing I want you to consider doing is this: I want you to consider inviting people to church – bringing them if necessary or meeting them here, whatever works best – people that need to hear the gospel. Maybe they will come, and maybe they won’t. But they’re much more likely to come if you invite them than if you don’t.
We’re not just trying to build up the church, though that would not be a bad thing to do. No. What we’re trying to do – and there is no more important business than this. What we’re trying to do is push back the darkness. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that “the god of this world” – who is none other than Satan – “has blinded the minds of…unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (4:4). How are we going to counter that strategy? There is only one way, and Paul tells us what it is. He says in that same passage, “We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord” (v. 5). That’s the only way to dispel the darkness: to proclaim him who is the light of the world. That may seem foolish and weak to many, but Scripture says, “The weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:4) – read: strongholds of darkness. In fact, through our preaching, “we destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ” (vv. 4f.).
