Jesus began to preach

Mat 4:12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
Mat 4:13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
Mat 4:14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
Mat 4:15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
Mat 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.


Mar 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.


Luk 4:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
Luk 4:15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.


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We don't know how much time passed after Jesus' temptation and when He began His ministry. The varying accounts tell us various things. What is true is that He began to preach.


'The people which sat in darkness-- saw a great light.'
'And to them which sat in the region and shadow of death-- light is sprung up.'


There they were, God's people living under the old covenant and they'd become so oppressed by the distortion of God's will for His people. Yes, the ceremonial laws were exacting, very exacting. Yes, the rituals required of God's people pointing towards the coming Messiah were exacting. There is no doubt whatsoever that God's teaching His people of His love wasn't easy and it wasn't easy because sin had such a hold on people. For 400 years God's people drifted from God's leading. They lived keeping many of the Hebrew ways handed down from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph but they also integrated many of the Egyptian ways into their lives. These oppressed people didn't KNOW God's leading as intimately as the patriarchs- they were to be afflicted for 400 years. Abraham knew this --


Gen 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years


God forewarned Abraham and it came to pass. The oppression, the affliction was real for several generations and that time mingled God's ways with Egyptian ways- not in ALL things by any means but in enough ways that the children of God had learned all about worshipping idols, they'd learned that even in their affliction they were fed and didn't suffer hunger- their base needs were met and became more important to them than worshipping God. They learned SELFISHNESS. God took them out of the oppression. God released them from bondage. They were now free to worship Him in all ways and promised a land that would be theirs and not another's they were to be God's.


For many, many years God's people were to unlearn their corrupt ways. They were given many instructions. They were taught that God, their Creator, their Redeemer loved them and out of that love He wanted them to love. Truly the TEN COMMANDMENTS are commandments of love- love of God and love of our fellow man. When that is TRULY understood then they are not burdensome in any way! To be taught this wasn't easy when selfishness ruled and continued to rule. For all that God's people were given all the means, all the instruction, all the love they needed to live in God's way in hope of the coming Messiah they twisted things up and the love that was to be found was lost in ceremony, lost in laws, lost in pride, lost in selfishness, lost in so many ways. The Savior's arrival, the Savior's beginning of His ministry was to break from the ceremony that over the many, many years herald His coming. The ceremony that pointed to His life, His death, and His life again would be done away with. He would come and fulfill all the prophecy, all the many, many things that were meant to be fulfilled and in being fulfilled not to be continued. How could prophetic ceremonies pointing to His sacrificed be continued after He was sacrificed? They couldn't, a NEW COVENANT was to be made, the covenant that would take the vail away.


2Co 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.