The ministry of Jesus Christ was not only revealed to the people whom the Lord had chosen during the last three and half years, but just as His birth had been proclaimed in the Bible hundreds of years before His actual birth to this world, it had been prophesied: what He would do and where He would serve. One of the prophets who prophesied about this ministry is the prophet Isaiah. He said that Jesus Christ would be fulfilling His ministry in the province of Galilee to be known as the Galilean ministry. The four gospels record that in this region of Galilee, Jesus Christ had done a great work to show the people that He is the Messiah whom the Lord had promised to their forefathers.
The context of Isaiah chapter 9 tells us about the condition of the nation of Israel at that time, particularly the Northern Kingdom which rejected God’s Word through the prophet Isaiah. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali because of their disobedience and unbelief were the first targets of the Assyrians to hold captive. Nevertheless, the prophecies informs that these lands would also be the first to see the new and great light that God would focus on Israel (cf. Isaiah 60:1-3). When the Lord gave His word to the prophet Isaiah in chapter 9:1-2, the Lord, despite their rejection of His Word, continued to give graciously the light again. In Matt. 4:13-16, Matthew wrote of the fulfillment of the prophecy given by Isaiah. As Grogan said, “Matthew rightly saw the fulfillment of this in the ministry of Jesus in Galilee (Matt. 4:15-16; cf. Luke 1:79; John 8:12; cf. John 7:52 with its reference to Galilee.”
Based on this study, the light that would come to the nation of Israel would not rise upon the land of Judah first, though Christ was from the line of Judah, but rather upon other parts of the land, the region of Galilee. During the invasion of the Assyrians the land of Zebulun and Naphtali suffered the most. Nevertheless Keil said, “these countries would be the very first that would be remembered when that morning dawn of glory should break. Matthew informs us (ch. Iv.13 sqq) in what way this was fulfilled at the commencement of the Christian times.” A study of the ministry of the Messiah in the four gospels will show that the Lord had enlightened the people of God in the region of Galilee by spending more time in this region and performing more miracles. In fact Jesus spent most of His time together with His disciples in the region of Galilee.
Looking at the chronological order of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will be noted that soon after the early Judean and Samarian ministries of Christ, His ministry was focused on the land of Galilee. There were three periods of great ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ in Galilee during which miracle after miracle were performed in the midst of the people. In addition, it was during these ministries that the Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself as the Messiah through His teachings and miracles performed in the midst of the people.
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