A Miracle Swarm

Turn to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. We are in the midst of that study,
that incredible chapter, which we read in full last week. We
do not have that liberty this Lord’s Day. We began this study of John chapter
6 in considering the feeding of the 5,000. A very dynamic
scene. Many people gathered. And through
almost, from a human standpoint, impossible means, Jesus blessed
the bread and the fish, it was multiplied, and everyone ate
to the full. And even after that, the apostles
were able, each one, to gather up a basket, 12 in all, of the
fragments that were left over. Well, that leads naturally into
a, quite an enthusiastic response by the crowd, so much so that
they wanted to make Jesus the king. Well, Jesus would have
none of that, and so there is an episode that flows out from
that feeding of the 5,000 that we would take in this Lord’s
Day. If you would, I want to just
pick up, and we’ll take a running flow, beginning in verse 15,
And I want to look all the way down through verse 25. We refer
to this often as the passage called the walking on water by
Jesus. And many people over the centuries,
and really over millennia, have been slow to receive this miraculous
account. When I say they’ve been slow
to receive it, they’ve outright rejected this idea that Jesus
actually walked on water. Even you have some liberal, professing
Christians who say that Jesus walked, as it were, on a sandbar,
and so it appeared that he was walking on water. Or that he
walked along the shore and chatted with the disciples as they were
on the boat. As a result, there have been
many who speak of this miraculous episode in less than reverent
terms. One popular way of discrediting
both Jesus and His miracles is to reduce them to stories, legends,
myths. This is what one writer said.
The gospel stories of walking on the water and stealing the
tempest, if not legends of a purely mythological character, may have
grown out of certain parables and allegorical sayings of Jesus.”
You hear what he says? He says that all this is is a
story that mirrors the lessons that Jesus was trying to teach.
And you hear it in so many pulpits that attempt to preach this passage. that even though the storms and
the tempests of life come, you know, if we only would walk with
Jesus as He walks on the water, whatever that means. He goes
on. They are intended to illustrate
the truth that man can overcome obstacles and difficulties as
long as he is sustained by the courage which constant faith
bestows. One famed writer, whose name
doesn’t deserve mention from this pulpit, a poet, a novelist,
a playwright, assigns these stories a place of highest honor among
legends. Here’s how he said it. He expressed
his fondness for the legend which Jesus tells of walking on the
water. This is one of the most beautiful
legends, and I love it best of all. as if Jesus needed his stamp
of approval. In it is contained the great
lesson that man, through faith and fresh courage, will come
off victorious in the most difficult undertaking. You can hear just
the icky, sweet, smarmy attitude towards the scriptures, as if
he needs to lend his hand to what God has done. The sad thing
is, as I hinted, Many expositors have used this passage as well.
They see in it no more than parables that were appended to the many
things that Jesus taught. But that kind of an approach
to Scripture is not exegesis. It isn’t digging into the Scriptures
and extracting from the Scriptures what the Bible teaches. It is
applying our ideas to the Scriptures. When I was in seminary, I can
remember one seminary prof said, studying the Bible ruins more
sermons. What he meant by that is, if
you start with a preconceived idea and come humbly to Scripture,
that Scripture will not only inform, it will correct your
preconceived ideas. We come to the Scriptures to
mine out what the Scriptures say, not to bring to the Scriptures
what we think the Scriptures say. And so, as I said, it’s
so common to simply spiritualize this account. Here’s one attempt
at it. At a time of perplexity because
of the roaring of the sea and the billows, when the coming
of Christ seemed very far off, perhaps an illusion, men’s hearts
failing them for fear, they would learn the story that it is through
such a tempest, at the darkest hour before the day breaks, that
Christ comes to his disciples. And haven’t we all had that experience? No? But not all have so easily brushed
aside this incredible miracle. One faithful shepherd, who humbly
comes to the passage, comes away with this overview. He said, what absolute dominion
our Savior has over all created things. We see Him walking on
the sea as if it was dry land. Those angry waves which toss
the ships and His disciples to and fro obey the Son of God. and they become a solid floor
for His feet. That liquid surface, which was
agitated by the least breath of wind, bears up the feet of
our Redeemer like a rock. To our poor, weak minds, the
whole event is utterly incomprehensible. The picture of two feet walking
on the sea is said to have been the Egyptian emblem of an impossible
thing. Enough for us to remember that
to Him who created the seas at the beginning, it must have been
perfectly easy to walk over their waves when He pleased. And it was. John addresses what Paul spoke
of so poignantly in Colossians when he said, He is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all
things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created
through Him and for Him.” Who’s to say that Jesus Christ can’t
walk on the water? John chapter 6, we pick it up
in verse 15. So Jesus, perceiving that they
were intending to come and take him by force to make him king,
withdrew again to the mountain by himself, alone. Now, when
evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, and after getting
into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It
had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. Then, when they had rowed about
three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and
drawing near to the boat, and they were frightened. But He
said to them, ìIt is I. Do not be afraid.î So they were
willing to receive Him into the boat. And immediately the boat
was at the land to which they were going. The next day the
crowd stood on the other side of the sea, saw that there was
no other small boat there except one, and that Jesus had not entered
with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone
away alone. There came other small boats
from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after
the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus
was not there, nor His disciples, They themselves got into the
small boats and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. When they found
Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi,
when did you get here? If God’s people would indulge
me, turn to Mark’s account of this same story, Mark chapter
6. Mark and Matthew both pull in
details. I’m going to read to you in its
entirety Mark’s account. I will refer to Matthew’s on
a number of different occasions, but I wanted to read to you Mark’s.
He brings in some very fascinating additional detail. Mark chapter
6, and look, if you would, at verse 45. Immediately Jesus made
His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other
side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. after
bidding them farewell, he left for the mountain to pray. When
it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and
he was alone on the land, seeing them straining at the oars, for
the wind was against them. At about the fourth watch of
the night, he came to them, walking on the sea, and he intended to
pass by them. But when they saw him walking
on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost and cried out,
but they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he
spoke with them and said to them, take courage, it is I, do not
be afraid. Then he got into the boat with
them, and the wind stopped, and they were utterly astonished,
for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves,
but their heart was hardened. Now we often will look at this
account of Jesus walking on the water. And even if we attribute
to this story, we receive it as a miraculous account, an account
where the gospel writers saw and reported a miraculous event
just as it happened. There is one thing that we as
believers tend to do with that. As Christians, When we approach
this passage, we tend to think of the account of Jesus walking
on the water as a single miracle. But if I may take a moment to
illustrate, based on our experiences in California, when the experts
speak of earthquakes, they often speak of a swarm of earthquakes. In other words, it’s not just
one earthquake. but many earthquakes, sometimes
hundreds. It’s an earthquake swarm, they
say. Now does that give you pause on your trip to Disneyland? Well,
using that same kind of language, what we have here in view is
not just one miracle. It’s a swarm of miracles. It’s
a multiplicity of miracles, and I count at least six. I want
to show you some miraculous proofs that Jesus offered to the 12
apostles. Go back, if you would, to John’s
Gospel, to verse 14. As I said, the miracle has context. And it’s all set up by this feeding
of the 5,000, which caused this huge, enthusiastic verse 14 says
that when the people saw the signs which he had performed,
they said, this is truly the prophet who is coming to the
world. Let’s hire him as our next king. Now, if you know the
history of Israel, I wouldn’t have wanted to serve as king
of Israel for all the money in the world. It usually didn’t
last long at the hands of the people. Verse 15, so Jesus perceiving
that they were intending to come and take him by force to make
him king. If he didn’t come willingly,
they were going to force him to be king. No wonder it says
that he withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone. He
couldn’t have been more solitary. Look at verse 16. Now when evening
came, his disciples went down to the sea. Now John says it
really delicately, doesn’t he? compared to what we just read
in Mark’s Gospel. His disciples didn’t just go
down to the sea. They were sent to the sea. Jesus
sent them. He instructed them. Can we even
say it? He commanded them to go. Mark
6.45 says immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat.
And you can almost picture some kind of a skirmish taking place.
I want you to take a boat. We don’t want to take a boat.
I want you to take a boat. We don’t want to go on a boat ride.
I want you to get in the boat. That’s about how it went. The verb that is used there and
its form indicate a sense of urgency. This wasn’t just a sunset
boat ride that Jesus was encouraging. Go take a quick sail, you know. It wasn’t a suggestion. It was a command. Jesus compelled
them to go. There is a sense of urgency here.
There is pressure. Jesus, for whatever reason, and
we haven’t discovered it yet, found it necessary to use this
gentle but firm insistence that the disciples get on the boat
and go to the other side. He has a purpose for all of us.
And so to them, They don’t have it figured out. It seems odd,
strange, that suddenly after, you know, here we are, ministry
is at its peak. We’ve got 5,000 people. We just
had this great service. Let’s reap a harvest. And Jesus
says, get on the boat. And so it’s absolutely vital
that we pause to consider for a moment the purpose. Why would
Jesus send these men away at what seems to be the peak, ministry? Many. I started to say some. My notes say some. Some said,
many commentators said. Many commentators said that Jesus
didn’t want his disciples caught up in this frenzied excitement
of the crowd and their half-baked idea to make Jesus king. Here’s
how one said it. Clearly, he preferred to deal
with the would-be kingmakers without the presence of his own
close followers. Another one said it this way,
to defeat this intention, the intention to make him king, the
savior bade his apostles take ship and cross the lake. He didn’t
ask them, he told them. And my question of that statement
is, how does this defeat the plan? to send your own closest
disciples, the apostles, away in a boat, how does that defeat
the plan of this great crowd to make him king? If anything,
wouldn’t the disciples have been somewhat of a safety to Christ? Still another said it this way,
Jesus hustled the disciples away to prevent them from adding a
spark to the tinder by revealing to the crowd the meals miraculous According to him, 5,000 people,
not counting the women and children, 5,000 people sat and watched
themselves eat to the full of two tiny little fish and five
small loaves and somehow didn’t recognize it as a miracle. He
entirely misses the fact that it was that very reason why they
sought to make him king. Still another said this. You
see what kind of fun I have all week long reading commentaries
and stories on silly things that people come up with? Still another. This was evidently
the reason that he packed the disciples off straightway and
sent them away. It was most important that the 12 not be involved in
kingmaking. And so he’s wanting to protect
them. That’s the final theory. of why he sent them away. But
if you begin to consider the synoptic accounts as well, you
begin to see a divine design. Why is Jesus sending them away?
It’s very simple. Listen to Mark. We’ve already
read it, so just listen in your mind’s eye. He got into the boat
with them. The wind stopped. This is near
the end. The wind stopped. The disciples
were utterly astonished. for they have not gained any
insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was
hardened. Jesus is dealing here in this particular scene with
those who are most closely associated with him, his disciples, his
apostles. He knows their heart. He’s concerned
about their heart. He knows that at very best, they’re
wishy-washy. And I would also say, that Jesus’
intentions in creating this scene where he comes walking on the
water has its intended effect. Mark’s gospel records this. In
chapter 14, verse 33, those who are with him in the boat worshiped
him. We’ll come back to that. Saying
you are certainly God’s son. We’ll come back to that. Jesus
does have a purpose. It isn’t to get rid of the apostles. It isn’t to keep them from getting
caught up in the crowd’s enthusiasm. Instead, He wants to cultivate
their faith, and He intends to do so by performing one of His
most stupendous miracles, that of walking on water. The trip,
therefore, is absolutely necessary. If the disciples refused to get
in the boat, there would be no walking on the water scene. Jesus’
initial absence is absolutely necessary. It would make no sense
for Jesus to arrive at the middle of the lake, I suppose, get out
of the boat, and walk back to shore, or walk the rest of the
way. The boat is necessary. The waves and the wind are necessary. The struggle is necessary. All
of it is absolutely necessary to God’s design in this particular
scene. Jesus walking on the water is
not merely in view. It’s the center of the purpose
of this whole evening. It is set up by divine design. One pastor said it this way,
the miraculous walking of Jesus on the water, the stilling of
the storm, were events witnessed only by the disciples. That’s
key. It’s for them. This action was
meant to reassure them that their acceptance of Jesus as Messiah
was not mistaken. He was the sovereign over all
the material world. Now, let’s just pause there. Jesus sends his apostles on a
boat. It’s for their own design. Can we even begin to conceive
of the calamitous situation, horrible drowning of all of these
twelve? The very chosen disciples of
Christ? Inconceivable. Chosen, and need
I mention, by Jesus Christ Himself? Is Jesus going to let them drown? Well, let’s pick up the story. At once, this Disciples are dispatched. Jesus turns now to the crowd,
and He wants to send them away as well. Mark’s Gospel, we read
it immediately. Jesus made His disciples get
in the boat, go ahead of Him to the other side of the Seirah,
while He Himself was sending the crowd away. And you hear
it in those words. It was a process. I want you
to go home. No, no, no, no. No more food,
no more fish. I want you to go home. It was
a process, and it was probably a lengthy process. Each person
had, I just have one more question. Yeah, I know. We’ll talk about
it tomorrow. I want you to go home. Why was Jesus so eager
to disperse this crowd? Many people evidently went without
reading ahead. All kinds of proposed suggestions. It was getting late. People were
far from home. They wouldn’t leave on their
own, so Jesus had to help them out. The idea to make Jesus king
didn’t sit well with Jesus. He was angry with them. But the
amazing thing about God’s word, it tells us exactly why Jesus
wanted them to lead. Listen again to the passage.
There’s the occupational hazard of being in essentially three
different passages at once. Listen to what Mark says. Mark
6, 46. After bidding them farewell, he left for the mountain to pray. Jesus had a design. He wanted
to spend some time with his heavenly father. Jesus is alone according
to his own desires, and it’s for a specific purpose, and the
purpose is to pray. And note even the characterization
that Mark gives to this party. bidding them farewell, parting
with them in a friendly way. It’s translated in several different
places. Saying goodbye, Luke 9, 61. Taking leave of them, Acts 18,
21. The dismissal of the crowd was
a very friendly occasion. Jesus wasn’t hostile or angry
towards them. And then he goes to the mountain
for the purpose of prayer. And the word here is just very
general. He went, really, to commune with
his Heavenly Father. It’s a beautiful scene. Finally,
one other little detail that Matthew adds here in this particular
setting, Matthew 14, 23. When it was evening, he was there
alone. And in Matthew’s account, it
says it basically twice, by himself, alone. That was the design. That’s the whole purpose. To
send the disciples away, that has a purpose all its own. To
send the crowd away, that has the purpose of allowing him to
remain completely by himself with his heavenly Father. And
so Jesus is enjoying some communion time with his heavenly Father,
alone in prayer, on the mountain, the mountain where just hours
ago there had been this clamor and excitement, the feeding of
the 5,000, same place. Those times are all behind them
now, and feeding quickly, not only from the crowd’s mind, but
from the apostles’ minds. Glance down at your Bible, and
look at verse 17. When evening came, his disciples
went down to the sea, verse 17, After getting into a boat, they
started to cross Capernaum. So much for the smooth evening
boat ride. They might have pushed out from
shore to a beautiful sunset, calm seas, but it’s not gonna
last. Mark’s Gospel adds several important
things that while it was evening and Jesus was alone on land,
it had already become dark. Jesus had not yet come to them.
And then in verse 18 of John’s Gospel, it says, the sea began
to be stirred up. The sea began to be stirred up
because a strong wind was blowing. Then look at verse 19. Then,
when they had rowed about three or four miles, we know from this
particular body of water that it’s about six to seven miles
across, given the water level. about six to seven miles across,
which basically has them about halfway. And things are getting
just very exciting. And it’s an exciting boat ride.
You likely would have been, wanted to be on that. Regarding the
location of the boat, Matthew and Mark had a few little tidbits.
Mark 6, 47, the boat was in the middle of the sea. Matthew’s
gospel says they were a long distance from shore. rowing under
these particular circumstances, as the headwind is starting to
pick up, and as the wind is beginning to make the seas choppier, this
was nothing short of hard work for these apostles. And we come
to the first miracle. I told you that I see six. If
you find another, you can let me know. If it’s really good,
I’ll give you a Sunday to preach. The first miraculous proof in
this series of six is Jesus’ view of the disciples’ circumstances. If you keep a finger in John’s
Gospel, I want you to turn back to Mark chapter 6. We’ll be back
and forth from Mark. I’ll refer to Matthew on a number
of occasions. We may even turn there on one.
I want to look at these six miraculous episodes. six miraculous proofs that Jesus
provides, and the first of which is Jesus’ view of the disciples’
circumstances. Look at verse 48. Seeing them
straining at the oars. Now the natural mind is inclined
to either picture Jesus standing on the shore or up on the mountain
where he has a view of the sea, and to imagine that Jesus is
able to actually see the disciples and conclude what is taking place
on the boat. We’ve already determined. They’re
three to four miles from shore. It’s windy, which kicks up not
only humidity into the air, but significant dust. And did I mention,
as the Scriptures do, that it was night? It wouldn’t matter
if Jesus had a searchlight trained on the boat. A small boat and
a dark, stormy lake would hardly be visible to the naked eye.
No, indeed, this was a miracle. This was miraculous insight,
and that shouldn’t be shocking to us. One commentator very appropriately
said, even the full moon of the Passover season is not sufficient
to account for such seeing. Limited visibility is assumed
by the story, The disciples even mistook Jesus for a ghost when
they saw Him, and Jesus was much closer than three or four miles.
It shouldn’t catch us off guard that Jesus has this omniscience,
this supernatural ability to see. In Matthew’s Gospel, it
records one particular scene, remember, where Jesus says, go,
throw in a hook. You don’t even have to put bait
on it. The first fish you catch, take him out. When you open its
mouth, you’re gonna find a coin. How did Jesus know that? Mark chapter two, this is frequent
in the gospels. Jesus was aware that they were
reasoning, not murmuring among themselves, they were reasoning
that way in their hearts. John knew of Nathanael’s character. In fact, John knew of all men. Remember the end of John chapter
two? which leads in naturally into his awareness, his knowledge
of Nicodemus? Jesus knows exactly what the
disciples are experiencing. Matthew adds this one little
tidbit that they were being battered by the waves. Not only are they
struggling and even agonizing, the verb that Mark uses to describe
this predicament is amazingly detailed. He says the disciples
were being tormented by the wind and the waves. That word is a
Gospel word. It occurs in the Gospels. And
it occurs, if you remember the Gerasene demoniac, remember him?
That when he came face to face with Jesus, what business do
we have with each other, Jesus, Son of God, Most High? I implore
you by God, do not torment me. That’s the same word. These guys
were in a very difficult strait. No longer a sunset boat ride.
They’re in the throes of agony, as one described it. And if you
think of it, they have been rowing now for at least three or four
hours. By now, it’s about 3 AM. The
storm is raging. The darkness has enveloped this
little group of men. There certainly were boatsmen. There were fishermen aboard.
Perhaps they were the ones in charge, saying, row, row, to
the others. but especially for those who
weren’t fishermen, they were probably absolutely panicked. Matthew and Mark add still more
color to John’s general description regarding the location of the
boat, regarding the nautical challenge, regarding the time
of Jesus’ arrival. Look at Mark, chapter six, verse
48. The second part of that, at about
the fourth watch of the night, he came to them. And I suppose the natural mind
would say that he came to them in another boat, perhaps one
with a motor on it to catch up. At the fourth watch of the night,
he came to them walking on the sea. The fourth watch was according
to Roman perspective as of about three, between three and six
a.m. in the morning. And Jesus came walking on the
water. That, of course, is the second miraculous proof in the
series of six, that Jesus Christ breaking what we call the laws
of nature by walking on the water. I had fun with this when I did
devotions for the kids at school. One day I referred to the miracles
of God as the laws God has broken. That’s what a miracle is, right?
Well, Jesus breaks one of the most basic. I don’t encourage
you to try this. Go up to Horsetooth and try.
Try your hand. There have been many people who
came up with cute things, paddles on their feet, big flat shoes,
thinking that, you know, that’s what Jesus used. Mark just says,
he came to them walking on the sea in the fourth watch of the
night. And there’s no possible way to
twist these words and shape them to say that Jesus walked on a
sandbar, or walked along the shore, or they thought that he
was on the sea, Jesus came walking on the water. It was a miracle.
And it says in Mark’s Gospel that he was intending to pass
by them. Don’t be disturbed by that. It’s not like Jesus had
a change of land, a change of mind, and a change of plans.
the disciples’ perception was that he was going to pass them
by. And they were, I mean, let’s use our modern vernacular, they
were freaked out. They didn’t know what to think.
Here’s this person walking on the sea, and he’s going to walk
right by the boat. If you would, flip back to John’s
Gospel, verse 19. Keep your finger in
Mark. We’re not done yet. walking on the sea and drawing
near to the boat, and they were frightened. You think? Here they
are in the middle of the night, just fatigued to the core of
their being, really in a bit of trouble from a nautical standpoint. Especially the non-fishermen,
they don’t know what they’re up against. Both Matthew and
Mark report that the disciples see this being and they think
that it’s a ghost. Mark’s gospel says, they supposed
it was a ghost and cried out, there’s almost nothing more amusing
to me than watching a grown man shriek. And they all did it. They all
saw him and they were absolutely terrified. The word there for
ghost is the word where we get our word phantom. It was a being
and they really couldn’t even describe it in the shape of a
man. But why is he on the water and what does he want with us? They couldn’t believe that what
they were seeing was real. They couldn’t conceive of such
a thing. Man walking on the water. And
it was something that all of them saw. No debating this. There’s no way to brush this
as an event that one person conceived of. whole group saw this. It wasn’t
delusion. It wasn’t something subjective.
And as a result, they all cried out. And it means there that
they literally screamed in terror. One of the other places where
that word is used is of the demoniacs, where they shriek when they come
face-to-face with Christ. They were absolutely terror-stricken.
And the picture is one of grown men who were absolutely shaken
to the core. First the storm, and then the
darkness, and now this being coming alongside the boat. Maybe
they thought that it was the very angel of death himself.
Maybe they thought, given the culture, that it was Poseidon
himself, right? With his trident, the so-called
god of the sea come to claim these for their doom. Keep your finger in Mark and
look back at John chapter 6 verse 20. But Jesus, so gracious, Jesus
said to them, it is I, do not be afraid. Jesus immediately
tries to reassure them, comfort them, calm them. And they know
his voice, it’s a well-known voice. and He spoke to them in
such a way as a loving Savior could, so that they would immediately
recognize Him. Look, guys, it’s me. If you’re familiar with the study,
and it’s a great study, it’s two little words, I am. Jesus
comforts them by reminding them of His nature, that He is God
incarnate. He is the great I am. He is in
charge of the water, not just walking upon it. Matthew and Mark both have these
two little words, take courage. That command occurs only seven
times in the Gospels. Six of them come from the mouth
of Jesus himself. Jesus in the upper room, preparing
to be arrested and crucified. looked at these same group of
men and told them, in this world you will have tribulation, but
take courage. And those words, at that moment,
must have taken them back to the boat, right? Look, if Jesus
took us through that, if Jesus got us through that, take courage. I’ve overcome the world, I’ve
overcome the sea, I’ve overcome sinful men, take courage. Jesus doesn’t forget His own.
Jesus doesn’t leave us with any cause to panic. If we are obeying
the orders of Christ as the apostles were, we have no cause to fear. He would not have let them drown
after getting them placed in a boat. Matthew includes a rather lengthy
but fascinating episode that regards Peter. And I would have
the saints turn there for just a brief moment. I’m not gonna
elaborate much, but just to read what only Matthew includes, Matthew
chapter 14. And in this you’ll see so much of
Peter’s character. Jesus has confidence, utter confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ, The only problem is that he has utter
confidence in himself as well. He’s impulsive. He’s kind of
a risk taker, wanting to do something dangerous. And so, you almost see that this
could be a snapshot of almost any moment of Peter’s life, couldn’t
it? Matthew chapter 14, look at verse 28. Peter said to him,
Lord, if it’s you, And there is a little flavoring of doubt
in there, isn’t there? He sees Jesus walking on the
sea. Jesus has just identified himself, told him who he is.
Be comforted. And Peter says, if it’s you,
command me to come to you on the water. I want to really go
all in with this faith thing. And Jesus says, come. And here
you have the third. miraculous proof in the series
of six, Peter’s faith to emulate his master. Peter got out of
the boat, walked on the water, came towards Jesus, but seeing
the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried
out, Lord, save me. Even while he’s sinking, he has
faith in Christ. Who does he call to, right? He
believes that Jesus Christ can save him. He hasn’t lost all
confidence. And immediately Jesus stretched
out his hand. What a gracious scene this is.
Jesus didn’t need to give him his hand. Not like he needed
a hand up from physical being. Jesus could have commanded him,
he could have commanded the lake to drain itself, right? But immediately
Jesus so graciously reaches out his hand, took hold of him and
said, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Back to John’s Gospel. John records there that they
were willing to receive him into the boat. They probably would
have picked up more had Jesus not identified himself. They
were going to defend themselves. They didn’t know who this was
or what. But their attitude now has completely changed. It’s
their Lord. It’s their Savior. And we come
to the fourth proof in the series of six. Jesus’ divine control
over the wind and the waves. Look at, did I take you to, where
did I take you, to John? Occupational hazard. John chapter,
Mark chapter six. Mark chapter six, look at verse
51. Then he got into the boat with
them and the wind stopped. The fourth miraculous proof in
the series of six is that Jesus had divine control over even
the wind and the waves. Matthew says it even more pointedly,
when they, that is Jesus and Peter, when they got into the
boat, the wind stopped. It was miraculous. While John
doesn’t record this separate incident, which all three of
the synoptic writers do record, Jesus had just recently stilled
the waters with a command of his voice. Remember that scene? They’re out in a very similar
situation. The men start to cry out, Master,
Master, we’re perishing. Jesus says, where is your faith?
And he rebuked the winds and the surging waves, and they stopped.
With a word, Jesus stopped them. And now, Jesus really gets in
the boat. He doesn’t even have to say a
thing. And the wind and the waves are stopped and calmed without
even a word. And it says that they were utterly
astonished at the end of verse 51, because they had not gained
any insight from the incident of the loaves. They still didn’t
know exactly who they were dealing with. They didn’t know exactly
the nature of this so-called Son of God. Because they failed to begin
to really, truly grasp the nature of Christ, how much in control
He was, what miracles were absolutely at His disposal, they stopped
short of a full and complete faith in Christ. They were still
learning and growing in their faith, weren’t they? And again, this is the very purpose
of this voyage. This is the purpose of the boat
ride. It didn’t happen by accident. This is the very purpose that
Jesus sent the crowd away. It’s the very purpose He went
out on the mountain to pray. It’s the very purpose He put
them in the boat. The very purpose of the wind. The purpose of the
waves. of walking in the water was to
augment their faith. There’s a fifth miracle in the
series of six, and the last two are very brief. The fifth miraculous
proof in the series of six is Jesus’ influence upon the hearts
of men. Remember that little tidbit I
shared with you at the outset? The very purpose of this boat
ride Matthew 14, 33, those who were in the boat worshipped Him. And I take it to mean, literally,
they fell down on their knees on this boat, saying, you are
certainly God’s Son. They knew before that He wasn’t
human. They knew, they thought that
they were probably dealing with a prophet. Then they began to
embrace this messianic figure. But they still had no idea. the
extent to which that covers. The verb that is used here points
to the kind of reverent activity that can only be offered to a
deity, only rightfully offered to a deity. And they all affirm
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. They’re placing Him,
at least verbally, in the very highest place. You are the Son
of God. As one said, never had the disciples
been so impressed by the majesty of Christ as they were now. Not
only did they approach Him with an outward gesture of worship,
but they avowed for the first time now here collectively. It’s what only Nathan, Nathaniel,
had said up to this point. You are the Son of God. And we close with the sixth. The sixth proof. The final miraculous
proof in the series of six is the Lord’s sovereign control
over time and space. If you glance all the way down
to verse 21, John’s Gospel. So they were willing to receive
him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which
they were going. Don’t miss that. This is a miracle. They were
about halfway across the lake when last we pictured them. And
immediately, by some miraculous agency, they arrived at the shore. And it clearly suggests to the
reader something supernatural happened. There were a swarm
of miracles that occurred on this incident. Now, the interesting thing is, This
very process, what so-called scientists, or at least science
fiction scientists, have referred to as teleportation. They just kind of zoom from one
location to the next. Now, if you’re a video game player,
and an older one, you remember the game Asteroids, right? Asteroids
had this really cool feature. You’re in the midst, you’re flying
around in your spaceship, or a little cursor that was supposed
to be called a spaceship. You’re flying around in your
cursor, and you can zoom through infinite space, and all of a
sudden, here comes an asteroid, and you don’t have time to destroy
it, and so you hit hyperspace, right? And you go from one place
to the next. Now in the game, you don’t know
where you’re gonna end up. The hypothetical, the theoretical,
the attempt to create this idea of being able to transport from
one place to another, it has a long standing tradition. It is the hypothetical
movement, said one, of material objects between one place and
another without physically transversing the distance between them. The
first time that idea was even proposed was 1878. This guy came
up with this idea that somehow you could disappear and reappear
in another place. And it was first called teleportation
in 1931. Now the idea was kind of out
there, but not really popularized until the 60s. And we had a show called Fireball
XL5. Now here we are in the midst
of the space race, in the post Flash Gordon era. And in this
one particular episode, you can go look it up, the Newtopians
have a matter transporter. And what they do is very similar
to what came out later in Star Trek, where you would vaporize
and then reappear in another location. Well, I pulled up this
episode. I call it research. And they refer to this as supermarionization. It’s puppets. Marionettes complete
with wires, set in the year 2062, featuring a square-jawed Steve
Zodiac and his beautiful sidekick Venus. They ride these transporter
bikes, which, interestingly, they have to start and drive.
They ride it to a spaceship. the rockets of which have to
be started, driven, mind you, down a track and up a ramp in
order to propel them into the sky. Warning for those pilots among
us. There is a, even back then, a co-pilot robot named Robert. Both pilot and co-pilot steer
the rocket ship with what look strangely familiar like bicycle
handles. Nevertheless, all of those absurd
things aside, they came up with this really fantastic idea, state
of the art, space age, cutting edge technology called a neutronium
transmitter, a travel transmitter. Let me tell you something of
what the last hundred years has figured out about neutronian transmitters. In order to dematerialize something,
in order to achieve matter teleportation, the binding energy of the atoms,
and probably that of all of its nuclei, would have to be overcome. You’re going to want to write
this down. He notes that the binding energy of the electrons
around the nuclei is minuscule relative to binding energy. He
notes that if we were to heat up the nuclei to about 1,000
billion degrees, you thought you were hot before, 1,000 billion
degrees, then not only would the quarks inside lose their
binding energies, but around this temperature would lose almost
all of its mass. matter would be turned into radiation,
would dematerialize. No problem. In energy units,
this implies providing about 10% of the rest of the mass of
protons and neutrons in the form of heat. To heat a sample using
the size of a human being to this level would require about
10% of the energy needed to annihilate the material, the energy equivalent
of 101 megaton hydrogen bombs. In other words, scientists have
figured out that this is absolutely impossible. And thus you are
the king of the universe. It was a miracle. It was an absolute
and astounding miracle, one that shouldn’t be overlooked. When we ponder Christ, our faith
as well is still developing, isn’t it? But the same Christ
that saw the disciples struggling on the sea. He sees our predicaments. He sees our wins and our losses. He sees our weaknesses and our
strengths. He sees our need for Christ.
He sees our need of growth and grace. Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. Our merciful God We rejoice that you are indeed
the king of the universe. We see your gentleness. We see
your humility in coming to these troubled men. We thank you for
your providential setup, not just for their sakes, but for
ours, to reveal to them who you really are, that you are the
king of the universe. You are the one for whom and
through whom everything was made. Lord God, if there are any who
still hedge against placing their faith, then much like the disciples,
at least one of them in the boat, even yet, doubting in his heart. Lord, bring these to repentance. Bring sinners to a realization
of who you are. Bring sinners to an understanding
that You are not only the God of the universe, but You are
the very One who paid for sinners’ sin with Your life on the cross. Bring them, we plead, to faith
in Christ, and we who walk with Him rejoice. If you would, take your hymnals
and we will close with a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. And
we’ll sing verses one and four. Let’s stand.