Why did the Lord Jesus go out? He had come to His people, Israel, according to the prophecies of the Old Testament. Many of God’s predictions were fulfilled, partly or entirely, when Christ came into this world and started His public ministry in the land of Israel. There are other prophecies that will be fulfilled in relation to His second coming.

Based on Scripture, the Jewish leaders had made a list of criteria in order to test anyone who would present himself as a possible Messiah. When Christ started His public ministry, He could be recognized as the true Messiah because He fulfilled those criteria: healing lepers, the blind, the lame, and people who were not able to speak, and such like. Matthew lists fourteen miracles that proved that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah who did indeed fulfill Scripture. The Jewish leaders, however, were not pleased with Him, the humble Servant predicted in Isaiah 42 and 53. They wanted a political Messiah who would free them from the Roman occupation, and who would give them bread and security (Jn. 6:14–15).

The Lord performed several healings on the Sabbath, and those leaders used this as a pretext to accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath, although He only broke their interpretations, not God’s Law. When a demon-possessed man was completely healed, the multitudes said that this must be the Messiah, the Son of David (Mt. 12:23). The leaders accused Him both of being Satan’s servant and of blasphemy. However, it was these men who were guilty of blasphemy, as the Lord demonstrated with powerful arguments (Mt. 12:22–45). From then on, the Lord pursued His ministry in a different way, drawing a remnant of true believers and committed followers to Himself. This is the turning-point in this Gospel, and it gives significance to Matthew’s statement: “Jesus went out.”