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WisconsinChristianNews.com
Volume 24, Issue 9
On the Sea With the Disciples, But Never Out of Jesus’ Sight (Part 2) By Dr. Mike Spaulding February 2024 This is Part 2. See the pre-
mountains to pray. BUT He saw them strain- ing at the oars. Jesus saw the disciples fight- ing against a tremendous storm from perhaps
— he will be brave, and he will be obedient. Matthew 14:28: “Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’”
v i o u s month’s edi- tion of WCN for Part 1. In this narrative,
Peter demonstrated wisdom here. He first asked Jesus to command him to come out of the boat and walk to Him. Peter wanted to know if Jesus was going to supernaturally enable him to do it. Once Peter understood that Jesus wanted him to walk to Him, he obeyed immediately. Obedience re- sponds to the leading of Yah- weh. There is another principle that I see here. That principle is that faith unleashes the su- pernatural. Faith in Jesus en-
Jesus was praying in large part for His disciples. He was praying for these men, that they would receive giant-sized faith. Think of this folks – the men that would turn the world up- side down by proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God were all in one little boat in the mid- dle of a raging sea. This was a
teaching moment for the disciples. Did Jesus know the storm was coming? Yes. Why did He wait until the disciples had been struggling for 7-8 hours against the waves? He waited so that the disciples would learn that circum- stances, even distressing circumstances, can- not defeat our Father’s plan. Matthew 14:25 says He came to them. Mark says something quite amazing. In Mark 6:47-48 we read: “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 in- tended to pass by them.” Let me emphasize something here, friends. You are never out of the sight of God. You are never in a situation that God does not see or know about. The boat the disciples were in was in the middle of the sea. The Sea of Galilee is about 7.5 miles across at its broadest point. For the sake of illustration, let’s say that the disciples were in the middle of the sea, about 3-4 miles away from their departure point on the shore. Jesus walked alone into the surrounding
4-5 miles away. You are never at a place where God cannot see you and will not help you. And so, Jesus comes to the aid of the disci- ples. And it freaked them out, Matthew 14:26: “When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear.” The word ‘ghost’ (in Mark 6:49 also) is the Greek word for ‘phantom’ – they thought it was an evil spirit bringing disaster upon them. Now, Matthew and Mark both record Jesus saying exactly the same thing, v27: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” What’s inter- esting here is that this word ‘courage’ is used by Jesus eight times in the New Testament. Jesus wants us to be brave because we know Him. “It is I.” It’s Me — be brave! Not brave based on our own resources, but brav- ery born from our trust and faith in Jesus. And folks, we will be brave when bravery is needed when we know Him, when we are walking in obedience to Him. Now we arrive at the part that Mark and John left out. Peter takes Jesus at His word
abled Peter to get out of the boat. That act of getting out of the boat, taking the first step, unleashed the supernatural upon Peter to en- able him to walk on the water. What a picture! The very thing that Jesus was likely praying for these men — courage and obedience, Peter asks for from Jesus. Open their hearts, Father! Do you spend time in your secret place? Your secret place is prayer. Have you come to a place in your spiritual walk that you long for time away with Him in your secret place, where only You and the Father commune? When you pray, do you pray with an expec- tation that God will give an answer? I think this is the point at which the disci- ples, at least eleven of them, came to the un- deniable conclusion that Jesus was the Messiah. Recall what we read in Mark 6:51-52: “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 inci- dent of the loaves, but their heart was hard- ened.” Continued on Page 19
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