The Wednesday Word ~ 07 August, 2024 A.D.

Storms, Sinking Ships and the Sleeping Saviour, Part II

 

by D.G. Miles McKee

 

Just to recap on our story, the disciples have followed Jesus straight into a storm and has gone to sleep (see Mark 4). The disciples start to panic and they waken Jesus with the cruelest of words, “Don’t you care that we are about to perish?” Then, in one of the great biblical scenes, the creator of the universe arises from His sleep, stretches Himself to His full height and rebukes the storm by calling out “Peace be still” or in one word “HUSH!”  Suddenly, the wind got quiet, the waves got quiet and even big Peter got quiet.  The disciples knew they were in the presence of majesty.  It’s no wonder they asked, “Behold what manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey Him?”  It’s no wonder they were amazed; Jesus had just given them a revelation of His deity!

There are so many applications that can be made from this passage of scripture but for our purposes we must confine ourselves to but one.  When Jesus calmed the storm he was demonstrating that He was the Lord, the almighty Yahweh of Psalms 107.  Here’s what the Psalmist says,

“Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses.

He makes the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He brings them unto their desired haven." (Psalm 107:23-30)

In Mark 4 we are faced once more with undeniable proof that the Jesus of the New Testament is the Yahweh of the Old.  In the Old Testament it is Yahweh to whom the people cry in the midst of the storm, but to whom did they cry in the New?  They cried to Jesus!  It was Yahweh who calmed to storm in the Old Testament, but who calmed the storm in the New?  It was Jesus!

Jesus did many wonderful things simply to demonstrate that He was God in flesh appearing!  In addition to calming storms, Jesus walked on water (see Matthew 14:22-25). When we study the scriptures, we discover that to walk on water is the divine prerogative of Yahweh. Think about it, when’s the last time you saw anyone walk on water that wasn’t frozen?  Indeed, the possibility of such a thing as a person walking on waster is non-existent.  According to Jamieson-Fausset and Brown commentaries, the Egyptian hieroglyphic for impossibility is that of a man walking on waves. Even Neptune, the Roman God of the Sea, was never depicted as walking on water …instead of walking, he swam.

Then Job, when reflecting on the mightiness of God declares, “He alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea" (Job 9:8).

Also, consider this, when it came to crossing the Red Sea, God opened the water for Moses. When it came to crossing the Jordan, God opened the waters for Joshua and the waters opened for Elijah (2 Kings 2:8).  But when it came to Himself, Yahweh just walked over it like it was a highway. If Jesus had split the water, we would have seen that He was a great prophet but since He walked on water we see He is God.

And that´s the Gospel Truth!

Til He Comes...