Matthew 4:17

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. FROM THAT TIME JESUS BEGAN TO PREACH, AND TO SAY, REPENT: FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND. Thus did our Lord not only take up the strain, but give forth the identical summons of His honoured forerunner. Our Lord sometimes speaks of the new kingdom as already come-in His own Person and ministry; but the economy of it was only "at hand," [ eengiken (G1448)] until the blood of the cross was shed, and the Spirit on the day of Pentecost opened the fountain for sin and for uncleanness to the world at large....

12-17 It is just with God to take the gospel and the means of grace, from those that slight them and thrust them away. Christ will not stay long where he is not welcome. Those who are without Christ, are in the dark. They were sitting in this condition, a contented posture; they chose it rather than light; they were willingly ignorant. When the gospel comes, light comes; when it comes to any place, when it comes to any soul, it makes day there. Light discovers and directs; so does the gospel. The doctrine of repentance is right gospel doctrine. Not only the austere John Baptist, but the gracious Jesus, preached repentance. There is still the same reason to do so. The kingdom of heaven was not reckoned to be fully come, till the pouring out of the Holy Spirit after Christ's ascension....

Verse Matthew 4:17. _JESUS BEGAN TO PREACH, AND TO SAY, REPENT_] See on Matthew 3:1; Matthew 3:2. Every preacher commissioned by God to proclaim salvation to a lost world, begins his work with preaching the doctrine of _repentance_. This was the case with all the _prophets_, _John the Baptist, Jesus Christ_, all the _apostles_, and all their genuine _successors_ in the Christian ministry. The reasons are evident in the notes already referred to; and for the explanation of the word κηρυσσειν, _preaching_ or _proclaiming as a herald_, see at the end of chap. Matthew 3....

See the notes at Matthew 3:2....

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 4:1 THE TEMPTATION. The Father's acceptance of the Lord's consecration of himself for the work of the kingdom does not exclude temptation, but rather necessitates it. Psychologically, the reaction from the ecstasy of joy in hearing the announcement of Matthew 3:17 was certain; ethically, such testing as would accompany the reaction was desirable. Even the Baptist was, as it seems, not without a special temptation during this period (cf. John 1:19; and Bishop Westcott's note). At the very commencement of his official life the Lord is led consciously to realize that he has entered on a path of complete trust (even as his brethren in the flesh

FROM THAT TIME JESUS BEGAN TO PREACH AND TO SAY,.... Not from the time he dwelt in Capernaum; for he had preached in Nazareth before he came there, Luke 4:16 nor from the time of John's being cast into prison; for he had preached, and made disciples, who were baptized by his orders, before John's imprisonment, John 3:22 John 4:1 but from the time that Satan left tempting him; as soon as that combat was over, immediately he went into Galilee, began to preach, and called his disciples. The words with which he began his ministry are the same with which John begun his; which shows the entire agreement between them, in that they not only preached the same doctrine, but in the same words;...

4:12. _Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;_ Notice that there were at that time only two great ministers of God, John the Baptist, he must go to prison and to death; Jesus, the Son of God, he must go to the desert to be tempted of the devil. If any Christians escape temptation, they will not be the leaders of the hosts of God. Those who stand in the van must bear the brunt of the battle. Oh, that all who are called to such responsible positions might be as prepared to occupy them as John was, and as Jesus was! Matthew 4:13. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: that it might he fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Gali

AT HAND "At hand" is never a positive affirmation that the person or thing said to be "at hand" will immediately appear, but only that no known or predicted event must intervene. When Christ appeared to the Jewish people, the next thing in the order of revelation as it then stood, should have been the setting up of the Davidic kingdom. In the knowledge of God, not yet disclosed, lay the rejection of the kingdom (and King), the long period of the mystery-form of the kingdom, the world-wide preaching of the cross, and the out-calling of the Church. But this was as yet locked up in the secret counsels of God. (Matthew 13:11); (Matthew 13:17); (Ephesians 3:3). KINGDOM Se

MATTHEW 4:17 metanoei/te( h;ggiken ga,r {A} Despite the absence of metanoei/te and ga,r in the Old Syriac and one manuscript of the Old Latin, and although it could be argued that the words are a later assimilation of the text to Matthew 3:2, the unanimity of the Greek evidence, as well as the overwhelming testimony of the rest of the versional and patristic witnesses, seemed to the Committee to require that the words be retained in the text....

4. THE TESTING OF THE KING AND HIS TESTIMONY. _ 1. The Testing by the Devil. (Matthew 4:1 .) 2. His Testimony and His Disciples. (Matthew 4:12 .) 3. The Powers of the Kingdom. (Matthew 4:23 .)_ CHAPTER 4 The first part of this chapter gives us the history of the temptation of the King. This is a most important topic, many-sided in its applications; large volumes have been written on it without exhausting it. We will therefore have to confine ourselves to the bringing out of some of the most important teachings, without attempting to go into many of the precious details and applications to the believer. The baptism marked, as we saw in the last chapter, our Lord's entrance upon