Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Luke 4:42–44
“When it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose’ ” (vv. 42–43).
Healing the sick and casting out demons constituted one major focus of Jesus’ earthly ministry, as Luke 4:38–41 tells us. Today’s passage tells us the second chief emphasis of Christ’s mission: preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
In light of the power over illness and Satan that Jesus demonstrated in Capernaum and throughout Galilee (Luke 4:31–41), the people of Capernaum longed for our Lord to remain among them permanently. When Jesus departed “into a desolate place,” the people came to Him and implored Him to stay in town (Luke 4:42). Elsewhere in the New Testament, we read that Jesus went into desolate places, into the wilderness, to pray and prepare for more ministry (e.g., see Mark 1:35). The residents of Capernaum did not care for this and wanted Jesus to remain among them all day every day, presumably so that they could receive His healing touch and hear His teaching.
The demand of Capernaum’s citizens for Jesus to remain among them reflected a misunderstanding on their part regarding His mission. When they implored Jesus to stay, our Savior told them that He could not always remain with them but had to preach “the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose” (Luke 4:43). Christ’s work of deliverance was essential to His mission before the cross, but preaching the gospel to as many people as possible was just as important—even more so.
This work of preaching was so vital because Jesus came to restore the “kingdom of God.” This does not mean the Lord’s universal reign over all things, which never came to an end (Ps. 47:2); rather, the phrase “kingdom of God” refers to the blessed rule of our Creator through human vice-regents who love Him, serve Him willingly, and enjoy His abundance. This rule was originally instituted in creation, with Adam and Eve’s receiving dominion over the earth, but their fall introduced sin and death, interrupting the blessed kingdom that mankind was to inherit (Gen. 1–3). The rest of history has been about God’s gracious restoration of this blessed reign and placing human beings back into the place of righteous authority that He delegated to us before the fall. This takes place preeminently in the line of David, through Jesus the Messiah, who is both the anointed, perfect human ruler and the incarnate Son of God (see Ps. 2). United to Christ by faith alone, we sit with Him in the heavenlies even now and will one day rule and reign over creation alongside Him (Eph. 2:4–6; 2 Tim. 2:12).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Dr. R.C. Sproul says in his commentary: “The kingdom of God doesn’t just describe that place where God rules; it also describes preeminently the place where God saves. The kingdom of God is the realm of the redeemed, the society of those who have experienced the salvation of the King.” We will reign with Christ, but only if we are first saved by Christ. By grace alone we first receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, and then by grace alone He will allow us to share in His reign.
FOR FURTHER STUDY
- 1 Chronicles 17
- Psalm 8:3–8
- Revelation 1:4–7
- Revelation 11:15
- Revelation 20:4
THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
- Numbers 23–25
- Mark 8:1–21