But he passing through the midst of them went his way,
He passed unharmed through the midst of the hostile crowd at Nazareth that had thrust Him out to cast Him down from the brow of the hill, and went on His way to labor elsewhere. Angels who had been with Him in the synagogue surrounded Him, blinded the mob and hid Him from sight so they lost Him and could not find where He went. God by divine power thus preserved His life until His time came, for He did not use His own divine power to save Himself whose mission was to bear human suffering for others. At first all wondered at His gracious words in declaring Isaiah's prophecy of anointing fulfilled in Himself that day, but they stumbled at Him as Joseph's son, and Satan stirred pride, prejudice and unbelief until they were filled with wrath. His quiet withdrawal warns that cherishing doubt can drive the Spirit from the heart, and shows that His servants must not court needless danger but leave a place where life is endangered to work elsewhere.
Visit to Nazareth
This verse closes Christ's first public presentation of His ministry to His own people in the synagogue at Nazareth on the Sabbath. He read Isaiah's prophecy of anointing to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, liberty to the bruised, and the acceptable year of the Lord, and declared it fulfilled that day in Himself. In doing so He stood as the divine Interpreter of the Scripture He Himself had inspired and announced Himself as the Anointed One.
When they demanded miracles like those heard of in Capernaum, He answered that no prophet is accepted in his own country. He showed from the time when heaven was shut three years and six months that God sent Elijah past Israel's widows to the widow of Sarepta in Sidon. He showed from Elisha's time that none of Israel's lepers was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.
All in the synagogue were filled with wrath, rose up, tore Him from His elevated position as speaker, thrust Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built to cast Him down headlong. They hurried Him to the eminence on which their city was built for that deadly purpose.
Escape Through Crowd
Rejected by His own people at Nazareth, He passed through the midst of the hostile, murderous crowd that meant to kill Him and went on His way unharmed and safely, and continued on. They had driven Him out and led Him to a precipice intending to cast Him down headlong, yet He passed safely through them. His escape came amid their unbelief, which also kept Him from doing many mighty works there.
His deliverance came while the people were arguing and quarreling among themselves how to stop His voice entirely. They pushed Him hither and thither, contending over what to do with Him until they seized one another instead. Enraged by a single discourse, they would have killed Him to silence Him.
He was hidden from their sight and suddenly disappeared from their midst. He went away unseen through the middle of them so they could not find Him. They lost sight of Him and knew not whither He went, and those who meant to kill Him could not find Him.
He did not remain in Nazareth where He had spent His youth and early manhood but left after announcing Himself as the Anointed One to an unfavorable reception. He went to seek more fruitful fields, to preach where people would listen and receive His message, to ears that would listen and hearts that would receive. This is because a prophet has no honor in his own country, where people are reluctant to acknowledge wonderful development in one who lived unostentatiously among them and whom they have known intimately from childhood. Prejudice and hatred kept His own people from accepting the light or being reached by His ministry.
Heavenly Protection Given
Angels who had been with Him in the synagogue attended Him through the crisis at Nazareth, surrounding, guarding and preserving Him when the hostile crowd drove Him toward the precipice to kill Him. They blinded the furious mob, hid Him from their sight, made a way for Him through the throng, and led Him to safety and to a place of safety, so that He passed through unharmed and unseen and continued on His way and could not be found by those who meant to kill Him. The people had first been moved by His gracious words and were nearly convinced He was the Son of God, but doubt, unbelief and pride were stirred up until they became violently enraged and tried to kill Him, and angels intervened so that He passed safely through them.
By divine power God protected Him so they could not harm Him when they tried to throw Him from the precipice, and this miracle of protection preserved His life. After one discourse Jewish prejudice was so strong that the people were enraged and would have killed Him to stop His voice entirely, driving Him out of the synagogue and pushing Him hither and thither while quarreling among themselves how to do it, yet divine power and divine agencies saved Him so that He passed from their sight and went His way they knew not whither and presently they lost sight of Him and He was gone they knew not where. This preservation allowed Him to continue His work and fulfill His mission, and explains why His work remained confined to the small circumference of the Jewish nation rather than extended to the surrounding heathen nations, who were not prepared for His work and whose conversion at that time would have closed the door for bearing His message to the Jews. He did not use His own divine power or work miracles to save Himself, because His mission was to bear human suffering and bring help and hope to others. Instead angels protected His life until the time came for Him to be betrayed and die on the cross.
His repeated escapes from attempts to seize or stone Him led Judas to think He would not allow Himself to be arrested. That earlier deliverance unharmed through the crowd that threatened to kill Him is why Judas expected Him to be released and protected by divine power when He later submitted to arrest and trial. The same angelic guarding that hid Him from sight, guarded Him, and bore Him to a place of safety through the middle of them at Nazareth, after plain cutting truth that reproved sin stirred unbelief, hate and scorn and the multitude laid hold of Him to cast Him down from the brow of the hill amid contention over what to do with Him, saved Him more than once when enraged hearers took up stones to cast at Him.
Unbelief Behind Rejection
At first all in the synagogue wondered at His gracious words and their hearts responded to the power of the Holy Spirit, so that they were nearly convinced He was the Son of God. Then they stumbled because He was Joseph's son, seeing Him only as a carpenter's son, and when He spoke words that cut across their ideas they admitted doubt and turned against Him. Satan took possession of them at that point, just as with those who first accept a testimony and then open their lips to utter falsehoods.
Satan and his angels stirred up and inspired doubt, unbelief, pride, prejudice, jealousy, self-righteousness, hate, and scorn until Jewish prejudice became so strong that the hearers were violently enraged. Plain, cutting truth that reproved sin was met with unbelief, hate, and scorn urged on by Satan, and the people were smitten with blindness, closing eyes and ears and darkening understanding against manifestations of the Spirit of God. They were driven to stop His voice entirely, pushing Him hither and thither while quarreling among themselves how to do it.
He had announced He came to comfort, bless, and save, then warned that Israel's unbelief and rebellion had led God to turn from Israel and show favor to people in heathen lands who had received heaven's light. The widow of Sarepta in Sidon and Naaman the Syrian had lived up to the light they received and were counted more righteous than backslidden Israel. Their reaction showed that pride and unbelief can blind people to His character and truth, and that professed zeal for God can coexist with opposition to His work.
It was His first public rejection, in which His own people refused His message about Himself, and their malice grew from His meek, plain explanation of the prophets. Though ever touched by human woe, He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, fed the hungry, comforted the sorrowful, walked upon the waves and by a word silenced their angry roaring and the storm, cast out devils who in departing acknowledged Him as the Son of God, broke the sleep of the dead, and held thousands entranced by words of wisdom. Yet He was driven from Bethlehem by a jealous king, rejected at Nazareth, condemned without cause to death at Jerusalem, driven from the people He had labored to save and withdrawing with His few faithful followers to find temporary asylum in a strange city, unable to reach hearts blinded by prejudice and insane hatred who resolutely and stubbornly rejected the light.
Its setting shows the danger facing a faithful messenger among a backslidden people, who may reject and fail to value him. Their leaders lead them away from obedience and leave them without God's defense.
Warning and Example
The passing through the midst at Nazareth took place amid unbelief that also kept Him from doing many mighty works there, and it warns that admitting doubt and unbelief can drive the Spirit of God from the heart and lead to rejection of light. Those who had been moved by His words turned from doubt to open unbelief until they were enraged and sought to kill Him, yet He went away unharmed, and their course stands as a warning that people may reject truth and His messengers through unbelief, prejudice and pride even when given another opportunity to accept the message that could save them. The escape came while the hostile crowd that had driven Him out to cast Him down the hill was arguing among themselves, showing how those once stirred could admit doubt and turn against Him.
It closes a willful rejection of light by those smitten with blindness who close eyes and ears and darken understanding against manifestations of the Spirit of God, and rejecting God's sent message and calling the work of the Spirit of God the work of Satan is no light and dangerous matter. In the synagogue they first wondered at His gracious words and then stumbled because He was Joseph's son and demanded miracles like those heard of in Capernaum, and when He answered that no prophet is accepted in his own country, showing from the time when heaven was shut three years and six months that God sent Elijah past Israel's widows to a widow at Sarepta in Sidon and from Elisha's time that none of Israel's lepers was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian, they were filled with wrath and thrust Him out and led Him to the brow of the hill to cast Him down headlong, but He went through their midst away. Their terrible blindness after hearts had responded to the Holy Spirit's power is to be kept as an exhibition of the result of hardening the heart in unbelief and pride. The danger is resisting truth because it comes in an unexpected way or in a way not preferred, and letting faultfinding and unbelief turn people against God's work. Pride, jealousy and self-righteousness kept them from admitting error even after they later saw His character and works, and their example shows that people reject Christ when they refuse the message He sends, choosing their own opinions over the truth and the messengers God uses to bring it.
In rejecting in pride and bitter enmity the One to whom all their sacrifices pointed and in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered, they unconsciously fulfilled the prophecies of the Messiah foretold by prophets and holy men moved by the Holy Ghost. The same spirit that led priests and rulers to forbid recognition of Christ as the Sent of God is alive today forbidding men to accept the Word of God just as it reads, making this history of the Jews a warning and the future history of the religious world.
Though all-powerful He refused to punish adversaries as their sins deserved and did not launch vengeance against them, but gave scathing rebukes for hypocrisy and corruption and then quietly passed to another place to keep speaking the words of life. Those with high pretensions to godliness followed Him as spies and tried with all their power to hedge up His way with slander, opposition, reproach and persecution though He was without fault. His escape illustrates that He sometimes left a place of labor to avoid those seeking His life, again and again leaving places where He was proclaiming the greatest truths that ever came from human lips, and quietly removed Himself from the midst of angry people when life was endangered. Believers and His servants must not be foolhardy or court needless danger but must follow His example, so that if persecuted in one place they flee to another where they can continue working perseveringly for the salvation of souls in the name of the Lord without being confused or hindered.
That rejection holds lessons for teachers that they must study and understand God's Word, or they may neglect truths of eternal importance in their own education and be unprepared to teach others. When plain declaration of the counsel of God with cutting truth that reproves sin kindles great rage so that opposers circulate falsehoods and lie in wait to take the messenger's life, angels of God are sent to preserve his life and lead him safely away from the angry mob because his work is not yet finished, as in the persecution and preservation of William Miller.
He passed unharmed through the midst of the hostile crowd at Nazareth that had thrust Him out to cast Him down from the brow of the hill, and went on His way to labor elsewhere. Angels who had been with Him in the synagogue surrounded Him, blinded the mob and hid Him from sight so they lost Him and could not find where He went. God by divine power thus preserved His life until His time came, for He did not use His own divine power to save Himself whose mission was to bear human suffering for others. At first all wondered at His gracious words in declaring Isaiah's prophecy of anointing fulfilled in Himself that day, but they stumbled at Him as Joseph's son, and Satan stirred pride, prejudice and unbelief until they were filled with wrath. His quiet withdrawal warns that cherishing doubt can drive the Spirit from the heart, and shows that His servants must not court needless danger but leave a place where life is endangered to work elsewhere.
Visit to Nazareth
This verse closes Christ's first public presentation of His ministry to His own people in the synagogue at Nazareth on the Sabbath. He read Isaiah's prophecy of anointing to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, liberty to the bruised, and the acceptable year of the Lord, and declared it fulfilled that day in Himself. In doing so He stood as the divine Interpreter of the Scripture He Himself had inspired and announced Himself as the Anointed One.
When they demanded miracles like those heard of in Capernaum, He answered that no prophet is accepted in his own country. He showed from the time when heaven was shut three years and six months that God sent Elijah past Israel's widows to the widow of Sarepta in Sidon. He showed from Elisha's time that none of Israel's lepers was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.
All in the synagogue were filled with wrath, rose up, tore Him from His elevated position as speaker, thrust Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built to cast Him down headlong. They hurried Him to the eminence on which their city was built for that deadly purpose.
Escape Through Crowd
Rejected by His own people at Nazareth, He passed through the midst of the hostile, murderous crowd that meant to kill Him and went on His way unharmed and safely, and continued on. They had driven Him out and led Him to a precipice intending to cast Him down headlong, yet He passed safely through them. His escape came amid their unbelief, which also kept Him from doing many mighty works there.
His deliverance came while the people were arguing and quarreling among themselves how to stop His voice entirely. They pushed Him hither and thither, contending over what to do with Him until they seized one another instead. Enraged by a single discourse, they would have killed Him to silence Him.
He was hidden from their sight and suddenly disappeared from their midst. He went away unseen through the middle of them so they could not find Him. They lost sight of Him and knew not whither He went, and those who meant to kill Him could not find Him.
He did not remain in Nazareth where He had spent His youth and early manhood but left after announcing Himself as the Anointed One to an unfavorable reception. He went to seek more fruitful fields, to preach where people would listen and receive His message, to ears that would listen and hearts that would receive. This is because a prophet has no honor in his own country, where people are reluctant to acknowledge wonderful development in one who lived unostentatiously among them and whom they have known intimately from childhood. Prejudice and hatred kept His own people from accepting the light or being reached by His ministry.
Heavenly Protection Given
Angels who had been with Him in the synagogue attended Him through the crisis at Nazareth, surrounding, guarding and preserving Him when the hostile crowd drove Him toward the precipice to kill Him. They blinded the furious mob, hid Him from their sight, made a way for Him through the throng, and led Him to safety and to a place of safety, so that He passed through unharmed and unseen and continued on His way and could not be found by those who meant to kill Him. The people had first been moved by His gracious words and were nearly convinced He was the Son of God, but doubt, unbelief and pride were stirred up until they became violently enraged and tried to kill Him, and angels intervened so that He passed safely through them.
By divine power God protected Him so they could not harm Him when they tried to throw Him from the precipice, and this miracle of protection preserved His life. After one discourse Jewish prejudice was so strong that the people were enraged and would have killed Him to stop His voice entirely, driving Him out of the synagogue and pushing Him hither and thither while quarreling among themselves how to do it, yet divine power and divine agencies saved Him so that He passed from their sight and went His way they knew not whither and presently they lost sight of Him and He was gone they knew not where. This preservation allowed Him to continue His work and fulfill His mission, and explains why His work remained confined to the small circumference of the Jewish nation rather than extended to the surrounding heathen nations, who were not prepared for His work and whose conversion at that time would have closed the door for bearing His message to the Jews. He did not use His own divine power or work miracles to save Himself, because His mission was to bear human suffering and bring help and hope to others. Instead angels protected His life until the time came for Him to be betrayed and die on the cross.
His repeated escapes from attempts to seize or stone Him led Judas to think He would not allow Himself to be arrested. That earlier deliverance unharmed through the crowd that threatened to kill Him is why Judas expected Him to be released and protected by divine power when He later submitted to arrest and trial. The same angelic guarding that hid Him from sight, guarded Him, and bore Him to a place of safety through the middle of them at Nazareth, after plain cutting truth that reproved sin stirred unbelief, hate and scorn and the multitude laid hold of Him to cast Him down from the brow of the hill amid contention over what to do with Him, saved Him more than once when enraged hearers took up stones to cast at Him.
Unbelief Behind Rejection
At first all in the synagogue wondered at His gracious words and their hearts responded to the power of the Holy Spirit, so that they were nearly convinced He was the Son of God. Then they stumbled because He was Joseph's son, seeing Him only as a carpenter's son, and when He spoke words that cut across their ideas they admitted doubt and turned against Him. Satan took possession of them at that point, just as with those who first accept a testimony and then open their lips to utter falsehoods.
Satan and his angels stirred up and inspired doubt, unbelief, pride, prejudice, jealousy, self-righteousness, hate, and scorn until Jewish prejudice became so strong that the hearers were violently enraged. Plain, cutting truth that reproved sin was met with unbelief, hate, and scorn urged on by Satan, and the people were smitten with blindness, closing eyes and ears and darkening understanding against manifestations of the Spirit of God. They were driven to stop His voice entirely, pushing Him hither and thither while quarreling among themselves how to do it.
He had announced He came to comfort, bless, and save, then warned that Israel's unbelief and rebellion had led God to turn from Israel and show favor to people in heathen lands who had received heaven's light. The widow of Sarepta in Sidon and Naaman the Syrian had lived up to the light they received and were counted more righteous than backslidden Israel. Their reaction showed that pride and unbelief can blind people to His character and truth, and that professed zeal for God can coexist with opposition to His work.
It was His first public rejection, in which His own people refused His message about Himself, and their malice grew from His meek, plain explanation of the prophets. Though ever touched by human woe, He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, fed the hungry, comforted the sorrowful, walked upon the waves and by a word silenced their angry roaring and the storm, cast out devils who in departing acknowledged Him as the Son of God, broke the sleep of the dead, and held thousands entranced by words of wisdom. Yet He was driven from Bethlehem by a jealous king, rejected at Nazareth, condemned without cause to death at Jerusalem, driven from the people He had labored to save and withdrawing with His few faithful followers to find temporary asylum in a strange city, unable to reach hearts blinded by prejudice and insane hatred who resolutely and stubbornly rejected the light.
Its setting shows the danger facing a faithful messenger among a backslidden people, who may reject and fail to value him. Their leaders lead them away from obedience and leave them without God's defense.
Warning and Example
The passing through the midst at Nazareth took place amid unbelief that also kept Him from doing many mighty works there, and it warns that admitting doubt and unbelief can drive the Spirit of God from the heart and lead to rejection of light. Those who had been moved by His words turned from doubt to open unbelief until they were enraged and sought to kill Him, yet He went away unharmed, and their course stands as a warning that people may reject truth and His messengers through unbelief, prejudice and pride even when given another opportunity to accept the message that could save them. The escape came while the hostile crowd that had driven Him out to cast Him down the hill was arguing among themselves, showing how those once stirred could admit doubt and turn against Him.
It closes a willful rejection of light by those smitten with blindness who close eyes and ears and darken understanding against manifestations of the Spirit of God, and rejecting God's sent message and calling the work of the Spirit of God the work of Satan is no light and dangerous matter. In the synagogue they first wondered at His gracious words and then stumbled because He was Joseph's son and demanded miracles like those heard of in Capernaum, and when He answered that no prophet is accepted in his own country, showing from the time when heaven was shut three years and six months that God sent Elijah past Israel's widows to a widow at Sarepta in Sidon and from Elisha's time that none of Israel's lepers was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian, they were filled with wrath and thrust Him out and led Him to the brow of the hill to cast Him down headlong, but He went through their midst away. Their terrible blindness after hearts had responded to the Holy Spirit's power is to be kept as an exhibition of the result of hardening the heart in unbelief and pride. The danger is resisting truth because it comes in an unexpected way or in a way not preferred, and letting faultfinding and unbelief turn people against God's work. Pride, jealousy and self-righteousness kept them from admitting error even after they later saw His character and works, and their example shows that people reject Christ when they refuse the message He sends, choosing their own opinions over the truth and the messengers God uses to bring it.
In rejecting in pride and bitter enmity the One to whom all their sacrifices pointed and in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered, they unconsciously fulfilled the prophecies of the Messiah foretold by prophets and holy men moved by the Holy Ghost. The same spirit that led priests and rulers to forbid recognition of Christ as the Sent of God is alive today forbidding men to accept the Word of God just as it reads, making this history of the Jews a warning and the future history of the religious world.
Though all-powerful He refused to punish adversaries as their sins deserved and did not launch vengeance against them, but gave scathing rebukes for hypocrisy and corruption and then quietly passed to another place to keep speaking the words of life. Those with high pretensions to godliness followed Him as spies and tried with all their power to hedge up His way with slander, opposition, reproach and persecution though He was without fault. His escape illustrates that He sometimes left a place of labor to avoid those seeking His life, again and again leaving places where He was proclaiming the greatest truths that ever came from human lips, and quietly removed Himself from the midst of angry people when life was endangered. Believers and His servants must not be foolhardy or court needless danger but must follow His example, so that if persecuted in one place they flee to another where they can continue working perseveringly for the salvation of souls in the name of the Lord without being confused or hindered.
That rejection holds lessons for teachers that they must study and understand God's Word, or they may neglect truths of eternal importance in their own education and be unprepared to teach others. When plain declaration of the counsel of God with cutting truth that reproves sin kindles great rage so that opposers circulate falsehoods and lie in wait to take the messenger's life, angels of God are sent to preserve his life and lead him safely away from the angry mob because his work is not yet finished, as in the persecution and preservation of William Miller.