Following Jesus the Teacher

David W Palmer

(Matthew 4:22–23 NKJV) and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. {23} And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues …

Why did Jesus call his disciples to follow and observe him going all around teaching? Is teaching all that important?

(Matthew 4:16, 23 DKJV) The people who dwelt in darkness saw great light, and to them who sat in the region overshadowed by Death, light has risen (dawned) … {23} And Jesus led them around the whole Galilee region, teaching in their local synagogues … 

From this passage, we are reminded that the light of God’s glorious truth was not reaching his people in Israel before Jesus went to the wilderness. Here, the Holy Spirit shows that the culprit was “Death,” the enemy’s deadly spirit; it was “overshadowing” or blocking heaven’s light from reaching God’s people. Before Jesus, no one was able to cleanse the heavens of its influence, so even the listeners to God’s word could not receive the full light of revelation from it. The Holy Spirit confirms that the enemy’s spirit is responsible for blinding eyes to the light of God’s message: 

(2 Corinthians 4:4 NKJV) Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

In the next passage, the Holy Spirit confirms again that this darkness, lack of light, lack of God’s knowledge is what created the whole evil world system through the sin of fallen man. In truth, this problem was so prevalent that it “blinded” people. What’s more, without revelation of God’s word, these [spiritually blinded] people could only be described as those “who do not believe”; therefore, they could not receive the benefits of God’s kingdom. This is because receiving revelation of God’s word is the only way faith can come (See: Rom. 10:17).

(Ephesians 4:17–19 NKJV) “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, {18} having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; {19} who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”

After Jesus cleansed the spirit realm of this light-blocking, blindfolding influence, suddenly the same word that had been read for years in the synagogue was empowered with God’s Spirit of wisdom and revelation when Jesus taught and preached it. It entered the heart of Jesus’s listeners with power and light, changing them to believers:

(Mark 1:22 NKJV) And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

(Psalm 119:130 NKJV) The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.

After Jesus cleansed the heavens of evil spirits—thus removing the blindfold and “blindness of their hearts”—he began immediately to “teach” God’s word everywhere he went and to everyone who would listen. With the blindfold gone, the light of God’s word entered. This removed the dark “ignorance that was in them.” Consequently, Jesus’s audience received revelation, faith, life, and light. Those thus receiving God’s faith were then able to receive healing, freedom, life, joy, peace, and deliverance from all kinds of evil. No wonder they were grateful and celebrating.

Jesus’s intercession and teaching had produced a great result; God’s grace could be seen! (See: Acts 1:23.) This was the ideal time to take his disciples to the classroom:

(Matthew 5:1–3 DKJV) And observing the crowds, he (Jesus) went up to the mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples came to him, {2} and he opened his mouth, and began to teach them, saying: {3} “Blessed [happy and well-off now] are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”