Following His baptism, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness where He endures forty days of fasting and faces three temptations from Satan, each countered by Scripture quotations from Deuteronomy. After John's imprisonment, Jesus relocates His ministry base to Capernaum in Galilee, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy concerning light dawning on those in darkness. The chapter concludes with Jesus calling His first disciples—Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John—and commencing His itinerant ministry of teaching, preaching the kingdom, and healing throughout Galilee.
The wilderness refers to the desert regions of Sinai and Judea. Israel wandered here for 40 years after the Exodus. John the Baptist preached in the wilderness of Judea, and Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness for 40 days. It represents testing, preparation, and encounter with God.
The Temple in Jerusalem was the permanent house of worship built by Solomon on Mount Moriah. Destroyed by Babylon, it was rebuilt by Zerubbabel and later greatly expanded by Herod. Jesus taught in the Temple courts, cleared it of merchants, and predicted its destruction, which occurred in 70 AD.
Nazareth is the town in Galilee where Jesus grew up and spent most of his life before his public ministry. It was a small, obscure village in ancient times, which led Nathanael to ask "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary here to announce she would give birth to the Son of God. Jesus was known as "Jesus of Nazareth" throughout his ministry.
Capernaum was a fishing village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee that became the center of Jesus' Galilean ministry. Jesus called it "his own city" and performed many miracles there, including healing Peter's mother-in-law and the centurion's servant. The ruins of a synagogue where Jesus taught can still be seen today.
The Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Tiberias or Lake Gennesaret, is a freshwater lake in Israel where much of Jesus' ministry took place. Jesus called his first disciples, fishermen Peter, Andrew, James, and John, from its shores. He performed many miracles here including walking on water, calming a storm, and the miraculous catch of fish. The Sermon on the Mount was delivered on a hillside overlooking this lake.
Genealogy, birth, John the Baptist, temptation, ministry begins.
