New Thoughts (6/28/07-7/7/07)
It is only by comparing all three of the accounts of this crossing that we begin to get some sense for the sort of storm they faced as they crossed the lake. Matthew, writing of that great storm, writes of it as an earthquake, that being what his chosen term means. Wuest translates that as ‘an earthquake of the sea’. It is left to us to discern whether Matthew meant that in any literal, scientific way or whether he was simply groping for words to describe his experience. Remember that he was not a fisherman, but a tax collector, a landsman. He was not necessarily as familiar with the ways of a boat in heavy seas as some of the others.
Mark, whom we suppose to be writing Peter’s account, writes of a particular sort of storm, and his specifics reflect the background of his source. In the NASB, this comes across as ‘a fierce gale of wind’. The Amplified raises this up to something ‘of hurricane proportions’. That seems a bit extreme. A storm of hurricane proportions would cover all Israel, not just a portion of this northern lake. That said, the particular nature of this storm, as Mark specifies it, is something far stronger than merely a sudden, brief gust of wind, yet neither is it a steady wind, however strong. It is that particular sort of storm one might find as a front moves through: towering black thunder clouds loosing furious gusts of wind and great flooding sheets of rain. This is the sort of front which, in certain terrain, will produce tornados or perhaps whirlwinds, great spiraling columns of strong, powerful winds. Should such a column form over water, it will suck up the very surface of the water, lifting it into the sky to drop back once more to the sea.
The variable nature of the winds in such a storm would make any sail their boat had utterly useless. In fact, to have the sail out at that time would be downright dangerous. A steady wind, you might put to use to drive before the storm, but with winds going every which way, it would be more likely that any sail given to the wind would capsize the boat, if it was not torn to shreds first. Even without sail, that boat was, as Luke takes pains to say, in serious danger. Such winds would lash up waves upon the lake, and they, like the winds that drove them, would follow no clear pattern. One could not hope to keep the boat in proper alignment to every wave, for they were coming from all directions. Add to that the sheeting rain coming down on an open craft. Even without the waves, that boat would be taking on water at a rapid pace until the rains let up.
If it was, as one might assume, a fishing boat, then it was designed to carry a good deal of weight. However, much of that room was already taken up by the twelve and their Teacher. The rain would quickly begin to account for the remainder, and as the boat grew lower and lower to the water, the waves would add to their trouble at an increasing rate.
Whatever one might think of the disciples’ reaction to their situation, their assessment of it was quite accurate. “We are perishing!” Luke tells us the boat was near to swamped. Their may not have cleared the water by all that much in good weather, being a fishing boat, but now they were likely riding inches from the surface when they weren’t being overrun by the waves. It is the dark of night. The rain has reduced visibility to almost nothing. The boat is all but sunk already, water likely lapping at the seat upon which Jesus slept, and there is no sign of this storm letting up. You stand up to that situation, and then we can talk of the weakness of those disciples!
Rather than look at them, though, let me ask a simple question. Why? Why this storm as they crossed over? Some will insist it was the work of some opposing enemy, seeking to keep Jesus from His appointment on the other side. But, is that the case?
Whether my choice in arranging this material is accurate or not is questionable. However, if I look at the setting of this event, I think my own arrangements have little impact on the situation. Matthew says that this journey was taken in reaction to the crowds that had come to Him for healing (Mt 8:18). The others are not so concerned with setting the scene, although as I review that I notice that Mark does indeed have this occurring just as Jesus draws the Sermon by the Sea to a close. I guess I wasn’t so arbitrary after all, just short on memory. The thing that really catches me about Mark’s account, and also the thing that has caused me to pursue this digression, is his note that ‘other boats were with Him.’ Why does Mark bring this up?
Presumably, it was something Peter had told him. I am not clear, though, that Mark was taking dictation with this Gospel. It could also be that he was collecting his own memories of the things Peter had so often taught in his presence. This matter of the other boats have been there with them was something Peter specifically recalled to mind, perhaps noting it fairly often.
Well, let me try and put the picture together. Jesus was trying to get away from the crowds for a bit. He needed a recharge and He knew His disciples needed time as well. So, He had taken to a boat with them to go elsewhere. But, other boats were with Him. The crowds were not to be so easily shaken. Now we can turn to that storm that come down upon them. It would seem that such a storm as this must threaten all those boats as terribly as the one that Jesus was in. It would seem that with Peter, James, John and Andrew aboard, somebody would have noticed the signs of such a storm brewing. However, even a storm as powerful as this could come upon the boat so swiftly as to be unannounced, particularly if those in the boat are tired or lost in thought.
We must be discerning as to not only the strength of this storm, but as to its extent. Although the Amplified Bible refers to it as being like a hurricane, I have already pointed out that such an extent would have engulfed the whole land, not just the lake. The winds might have been strong enough, but the scope does not fit the scene. Having been caught up in reading rather a number of nautical tales of late, one thing that comes up again and again is this issue of the sudden squall, that comes upon the ship so quickly that it is all one can do to strike the sails before the winds tear them from the mast. The arrival of the storm may be quite sudden, but the boat that is caught in it will be caught in it perhaps for hours, perhaps for days, carried along by its winds and waves. At the same time, a ship that was in sight as that storm hit might be thoroughly unaffected by it.
All this leads me to the thought that this sudden storm that so tested the disciples was sent not only to test them or trouble them, if indeed it was sent to that purpose at all. It is quite possible that this was God’s gentle yet firm way of giving His Son some privacy. Those boats Peter mentions at the start are never mentioned again. There is no mention of them being likewise threatened by the storm, nor of there being cries for help from those in the other boats. Neither are they mentioned as being there when the storm cleared. I might suppose that those in the other boats, not being workers in the day’s events, were less exhausted, less distracted than the disciples. They may have noticed that brewing storm and turned back before they were caught in it. The Galilee fisheries were, after all, wary of the weather on that Lake, for it could change in a moment (as it appears to have done here).
This might explain why Jesus was so unconcerned. Whether or not He knew what was coming, He knew Who His Father was. He needed space, and those in the accompanying boats were crowding that space. But, Father would take care of Him. He always did. So, He sleeps unconcerned. The disciples don’t have the benefit of His understanding. They have the experience of fishermen, and of the frailness of these small boats before the forces of nature. They are concerned indeed; deeply concerned. If that storm had threatened those others who followed after Jesus, would He not have acted to save them as well? Would Peter not have mentioned the relief in all those other boats as well? That would seem to me to be true whether one credits the storm to God or Satan. If Satan were the author of this storm, then his nature would not lead him to be concerned with what happened to those other boats. If they were all lost due to his attempt on the Son, it wouldn’t bother him. If, on the other hand, God has sent this storm to give His Son some space, then His goodness would not allow that storm to destroy those in the other boats. Such an event would do nothing to manifest His glory. It displays no justice, no mercy, not even wrath.
However, if no harm comes to any of the occupants in any of the boats, and His Son is yet able to obtain a time alone with His chosen twelve, then is God’s glory made clear. Who else could so manage the winds? Who else can so marshal the power of the sea? Who else could so carefully target these wild, unpredictable forces that His purpose is served, and no harm is done? Truly, the God Who commands wind and sea is a God to be impressed with! To see that He does not use this power to threaten, intimidate and destroy, that He does not wield His power frivolously, but turns the most destructive of powers to His good purpose is to see the Truth of God.
Let us presume the opposite source for this storm. Let us presume the devil has chosen an opportune moment with this strike. Even so, it is God’s glory that is made manifest in the end. The truth of Scripture stands forth once more. “Even so, what you intended for evil, God has used for good.” That storm may very well have been sent to shut down this ministry in rather permanent fashion. Yet, Satan is not ultimately in control of the weather. God is. How we lose sight of this. How our minds reject any thought of destruction attached to our God. Yet, He has no such scruples about the subject. He tells us straight out that He is the Author of calamity as well as of blessing. If His children choose to be cursed rather than blessed, it is yet His hand which will deliver the chosen result. The simple truth is that although Satan is by far and away more powerful than our frail human capabilities and although his every thought is given over to opposing God’s purposes, yet his reins are in God’s hands. Like the sea, he must heed when God says, “Thus far you may go and no further.” He is as much a part of God’s creation as are we. He, too, is subject to the will of the Most High.
Whether or not this enemy of ours is capable of stirring up such a storm, whether he can sufficiently alter the currents of the air that hurricanes or tornados are thrown up, I cannot say. We are warned that he is the prince of the air, so perhaps he has this in his power. He cannot, however, create that storm from nothing. That is reserved to the Creator God. Neither can he, with absolute assurance and authority, command the storm to pursue his chosen course. There is always One Who may overrule him at will. This is our security. This is the reason for Jesus’ peace as He slept. Whatever His enemy might throw against Him, He knew His course followed the will of His Father, and He knew His Father’s will would be done. That which opposed Him must necessarily oppose the will of His Father, and as such, must necessarily fail. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” It is not that we will lack for opposition, it is that the opposition will lack for effectiveness.
When Jesus’ attention is turned to the storm, it does not cause Him any concern. He is not terribly moved by it. He simply turns and rebukes it. Our sense of rebuke tends to stick with the idea of criticism and accusation. “You ought not to act that way.” “You should respect your elders, young man.” Thus, when we read that Jesus rebuked the wind, we tend to think that He is accusing the wind of doing something other than what it ought to do. Perhaps there is truth to that. If we think of creation as it was intended, before the fall of man brought in sin and all its consequences, it is quite probable that wind and sea were never like this; that winds always blew fair, and the sea was ever a gentle mistress to those who sailed upon her. However, I take the point given in one of the dictionaries: rebuke may not bring on conviction, because there may be no fault to convict of. Rebuke is not always given in response to a wrong. It is not to be confused with delivering a sentence. It is simply a bringing up short. Webster’s offers a secondary meaning of turning back or keeping down, putting a check on the current course. That does not require that the current course is criminal, nor even that it is wrong. It only indicates a full stop.
That can be seen in the commands by which Jesus delivers His rebuke. “Peace.” It is hard to even think of peace being a command, yet here it is delivered with that purpose. In truth, it is not “peace”, that is commanded, at least not in terms we normally associate with peace. It is more, “Hush.” Indeed, were it not for the animosity we generally associate with the phrase, “shut up” might serve better. The point is an involuntary silence is commanded. The wind may wish to howl, but it is commanded to stop. This is followed by “Be still.” Again, we might hear it more accurately as, “put a muzzle on it!” Now, we begin to understand. This is not the mild and meek Jesus. This is not Francis of Assisi with birds gathered ‘round him. This is more like the father addressing his child, or the older sibling addressing those left in his charge. More accurately, this is the Master chiding His servants.
Thinking about this, it occurs to me that perhaps in considering either the Father or Satan as the perpetrator of this storm, I have missed a rather obvious alternative. Isn’t it entirely plausible that the same One Who commands the storm’s end is equally capable of commanding the storm’s beginning? Isn’t it entirely reasonable to think that He closed the curtain behind Himself to establish His own privacy? It was certainly within His authority to command, else the command to cease would have held no power.
With that, let me turn from the events described to the conversation recorded. For, that question Jesus throws at His disciples seems rather unfair on the face of it. “How is it that you have no faith? Where is it?” I for one should be taken aback by such an accusation under the circumstances we see here. If there were a complete absence of faith in these men, wherefore do they cry out to Jesus to save them? Or should we take that as nothing more than Matthew trying to save face? No, I don’t think that will answer at all. There is some modicum of faith to be seen in these men, however tried it may be by the events at hand.
Well, one interesting detail in these accounts is that Jesus rebuked the wind, but when He turns to the disciples, there is no rebuke in His words. Is it really in keeping with the character of Jesus to hear Him as one chiding these men in this moment? He sounds little different from the playground bully in that light. “What are you, chicken? Are you men or mice?” It seems more like Jesus that He would avail Himself of this moment to teach His disciples. His question, while still harsh, is designed to shock the mental faculties back into action. It is not that far different than the way we see Him encounter others along the course of ministry. His initial treatment of them seems callous, harsh, even rude. Yet, the end result of those conversations is a pronouncement of blessing and approval on the faith of those He has so challenged. This need not be so very different a case.
Another aspect of the scene that occurs to me this morning is the similarity to that time when Moses is brought up on the shore of the Red Sea with the armies of Egypt coming up fast behind him. He, too, is in a place of danger. To plunge headlong into the sea with the masses of Israel following (if indeed they would follow him on such a course) would be suicidal. To remain on shore would be certain death at the hands of that army. Pharaoh had reason to be angry and vengeful. In that moment of trial, Moses cried out to God to do something. Save us! We perish! It’s the same cry that is now arising in that little fishing boat. How did God react to Moses? You have the means in your own hands. Why are you bothering Me? Do what I have already empowered you to do.
This, it seems to me, is more the point of the current teachable moment. It is well and good to have faith in Jesus. It is necessary that we should understand that He is our salvation, and that apart from Him we can do nothing. However, we must also hold fast to the Truth that all things are possible to those who are working in His purpose. Why is that? It is for the very reason that those who work in His purpose are never apart from Him. If apart from Him we can do nothing, it is also true that with Him we, too, can do anything. Faith understands that He is always with us, never leaves or forsakes us. Faith understands that to be with Him in the fullest, most powerful sense, is not simply being in His vicinity, but being an integral part of what He is doing. This is the faith He sees missing from His disciples. “Don’t you understand yet, that as you are serving Me, as you are acting in perfect obedience to My commands, you have this same power at your disposal that you see in Me?” If He is all authority on heaven and earth – and He is – then it is fully in His power to delegate to His representatives whatever authority they may need to fulfill His purposes. If command of wind and sea is needful for His command to be fulfilled, then His representatives ought to know that this power of command is in their commission.
More is to be understood from the parallels of thought which Jesus expresses. “Why are you afraid? Where is your faith?” Granted, I paraphrase, but the parallel is there. Faith and fear are set side by side in His comment, but they are set there as opposites. Recall that these are disciples who have already heard that great teaching about God’s Providence that Jesus delivered from the Mount. Be anxious for nothing, for the same God who takes such perfect care for the least significant of birds takes care of you as well, and surely better. Why are you afraid? Be anxious for nothing. Fear is the great opposer of faith. It is not merely an attitude that trends in the opposite direction, it is an opposer. It battles against faith, seeking to cast it down. That is why we are warned that fear and anxiousness is a sin.
Let me put it plainly. Fear and anxiousness display a failure to believe that God means what He says. If He declares that He will take care of us, then our fear and anxiety in the face of that declaration declare that He is a liar. If He declares that the righteous have never been found forsaken by Him, then we call Him a liar if we cry out that He has forsaken us. This was the sin of Israel in the desert. Why have you brought us this far, God, just to kill us off with hunger and thirst? That is not the voice of faith. That is the voice of fear. The voice of faith declares, “You have brought us this far, my God, and You do not act in vain. Nor are Your promises empty, fleeting words. No, You have brought us this far, and You shall surely bring us through.”
Fear and faith stand opposed. They grapple one another like wrestlers, each seeking a hold by which it may throw down the other. Those who are honest with themselves will recognize that each has gained the upper hand at certain points in their lives. When fear has the upper hand, it is not terribly helpful to be told that fear is a sin. What is helpful is to be reminded of faith, to be reminded of faith’s foundation. When fear has taken hold, it is good to recall that if God is for us, who can stand against us? It is good to reflect on those angelic legions that came to guard Elisha against the hordes of Aram (2Ki 6:16). “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” This was not the report of the eyes, but of faith. This was the answer to fear.
In fairness, I don’t think it was the presence of fear in His disciples that concerned the Teacher, for fear is a natural function of the human being. It’s Creator certainly knew that He created that sense as a tool for man’s preservation. No, it was that fear had surmounted faith, wrestled it to the ground and pinned it. Faith should have risen up in that moment, throwing off the fear as unreasonable. Faith should have recalled that those who fear God have no need to fear any other – be it man or nature. It is only when the fear of God is forgotten that we find ourselves afraid of every shadow, fearful of every noise. “Why are you full of fear?” That is the way the Bible in Basic English puts it. It is one thing to have a twinge of fear, another to be overpowered by it.
Jesus, the diligent Teacher, combines His question with an example by which they may correct their current state. Again, whereas He has offered no rebuke to His own, simply the challenge to think Biblically, He does rebuke the weather, although not as if the weather were doing anything wrong. It was simply time to stop. The command that had brought on the storm was hereby countermanded, whether by the same or by a superior Authority. The lesson is being drawn to a close. If faith needed a reminder of its foundation, this display of Authority would provide it in full!
Before I turn to the response of the disciples to this lesson, though, let me look back on the issue of fear and faith just a bit longer. Looking back to that lesson Jesus delivered from the Mount, there is a particular verse which is brought to my attention. “If God is so careful of the grass, and grass exists such a brief time, will He not take much better care of you even though you are men of such little faith?” This is the lesson Jesus is trying to get them to remember. This is the foundation. Don’t you remember? Haven’t you laid hold of this concept yet? It’s like a geometry teacher discovering that his students still haven’t got their multiplication tables down. There’s no sense going on to the applications when the basic mechanics are still a mystery to the student.
It strikes me that the parallel here is actually quite strong. Math, at least in its algebraic, pre-calculus form, has always struck me as particularly neat and well organized. Each concept fits so snugly with what has come before. It is not unlike reconstructing a jigsaw puzzle. One starts to see the image forming, and as each new piece is considered it becomes easier and easier to see how it fits into the image. That is the way math concepts come together. As each new piece of information is added, we can, if we have been attentive or if we have it explained to us well, see how it fits with what has already been understood. Math (again, discounting the obtuseness of calculus) does not ask that we set aside what we thought we knew and throw it over for some new concept.
Faith follows this same principle. Indeed, all of God’s Truth, which we might refer to as doctrine, follows this same principle. God never asks us to throw out what He has taught us up to this point in order to understand what He is teaching now. Granted, there is a lot of baggage that we bring into the classroom that does need to be tossed out, but that is not anything He taught. It is only the misinformation we convinced ourselves was right without any basis. Truth builds upon truth, Precept upon precept (Isa 28:10). Foundational principles must be established in us before we can lay hold of deeper matters. If it were otherwise, those deeper matters would be as inclined to uproot us from faith as to establish us more solidly in our faith. Certainly, until we are fully confident in the Truth of God’s Providence, in the factual, trustworthy solidity of knowing that He cares so much for us, we cannot operate in the power of that faith.
If we are not solidly convinced that we are indeed His representatives, we cannot act as His representatives. Obviously, if we are convinced falsely, we still cannot so act, but that is rather beside the point. This conviction as to His Truth must be more than mere intellectual acknowledgement. It is not enough to agree that God exists. It is not enough to agree that He reigns. Rebels admit to the reign of the king they rebel against, but they do not heed the king. It must run deeper. It must become a part of us, an integral thread in the fabric of our character. It must become the blood in our veins, the breath in our lungs. Faith must run so deep in us that nothing short of death can stop its flow. Our understanding of our commission must be such that we can take our delegated authority in hand and use it with full and absolute confidence that He who delegated that authority to us will back us up.
In so doing, faith moves from some passive emotion to an active, manifest display of God’s power and purpose. See, those men in the boat had faith. They had the emotion of faith in God. They had a passive belief in this Teacher they were with, but it hadn’t moved beyond that as of yet. They didn’t really realize as yet what it was they were being taught. If they had, then they would not have felt it so necessary to call Jesus from His rest, for they would have known their own authority was already established in Him.
Does this suggest that we move beyond our dependence upon Jesus as we grow in faith? No way! It is ever and always in Him that we live and move and have any existence whatsoever. That Truth never changes. That balancing knowledge that apart from Him we can do nothing is never revoked. As I said, Truth never casts out what was already known to be True. It adds to and enhances our previous understanding. No, we do not ever grow to the point that we can set Jesus aside and move out on our own. To suggest such a thing would be to simultaneously suggest that His sacrifice was ultimately unnecessary for our salvation, that we could have managed on our own, which is patent falsehood. What I would suggest is fully upheld by this example, and by Scripture as a whole is that insomuch as we hang back waiting for Jesus to act in every situation, rather than taking up the authority He has placed in our own hands, we have failed our graduate studies. Like Moses beside the sea; like the disciples here in the teeth of the storm, we have still not understood Who we serve, and what He has imparted to us.
The mature man of God ought to know his Master well enough to know His purpose in pretty much any situation. If he is a true servant of the Most High, he ought to have trained himself to anticipate His Lord’s desires. He ought to be so well attuned to the Master’s ways that they are for all intents and purposes his own ways. He should be already moving to heed the command before the command has even come, never getting ahead of God’s plan, but always in tune with it.
I have been reading a number of books of late which pertain to a particular command in the British Navy back in the height of its powers. Repeatedly, the books comment on the qualities of the crew in this command. They have become so tuned to the ways of their captain, so tuned to one another, that every command is anticipated. Every man knows his place and his purpose under every circumstance. The worst situations, however unexpected, do not cast them into confusion. Even with the captain lost overboard, his ship and its crew carry on with the same precision as if he were still there. They know what he would do under the same circumstances. They know what commands they would have heard from the quarterdeck were he there, and they respond and act just as if those commands had been issued.
This ought to be the picture of Christian service. We have one Captain on the quarterdeck. We have been serving under His command for years, and by now, we really ought to know what He is likely to command in any situation. Indeed, we ought to be listening for any least hint of what He is planning, that we may be ready in our place to bring His plan about with the utmost possible speed. If men can serve under other men with such a high degree of discipline, ought we not to serve even more faithfully under such a commander as Jesus? He is, after all, the Lord of Hosts, the Commander in Chief.
It is in this regard that lack of faith becomes an issue. “Your lack of faith limits your effectiveness” (Mt 17:20). Faith is, of course, closely coupled with trust. If you don’t trust the wisdom of your commander, you may hesitate to do as he commands. He may well command something that goes against all your experience, seems downright foolhardy. Yet, where there is faith, there will be a certainty that His knowledge is greater than your own. “My ways are above your ways, My thoughts greater than your thoughts,” says the Lord. “My experience so far outstrips your own that you are rather like newborns by comparison.” The Commander has the experience of eternity by which to guide the ship of our lives and ministries. We have but the brief span of our own earthly life to draw upon. Where ought we to place our faith, then? In our own experience or in the experience of our Captain? His record, by the by, is perfect. He has lost no ship, nor even one hand which has served under His command in all that time. There is reason to study His ways. There is reason to heed His commands. There is reason to not only serve this Captain of our souls, but to love Him dearly.
Well, if the storm that had come upon them was cause for fear, I dare say the actions of their Teacher were even greater cause! Seeing the way that storm responded to His simple words, we read that they marveled, which would seem to be a bit of an understatement. We read that they were fearful and amazed, as Luke tells it, although I suspect Mark has the most accurate picture of their situation: They were very much afraid. Well, they certainly had good reason to be, didn’t they? It would be hard to measure just what these disciples really understood of Jesus up to this point. They certainly knew He was a Teacher like no other that Israel had known. They certainly knew He had some curative powers, powers that even extended over demons. They had seen His mastery over all things living and sentient, but this was something absolutely new to them.
Let me be as clear as I can on this point: The disciples had some understanding of Jesus as Messiah, probably even as Son of God. We are not yet at that point where Peter makes his famous confession of this understanding, but even from the start, we hear them speaking to one another, “We have found the Messiah, come and meet Him!” They are not completely unaware of Who He is, and yet they do not fully grasp Who He is. They have witnessed what He can do, and yet, what they have witnessed in Him is not so entirely new to them. Exorcists and healers have been through Israel before Him. What He does in their presence is different only in scale up to this point, not in kind. It is unusual but not unknown to them. It is better, more effective than what they have known before, but that is not surprising in this One whose teaching also surpassed what they had known before. What they are witness to now, though… This is beyond all experience. No man, not even the most arcane magicians that have visited the lands, has had this sort of power at his disposal.
Again, I am drawn to the parallel with Moses. As Moses performed those God-ordained signs before Pharaoh, Pharaoh was not as impressed as one might have hoped. Why? Because the things Moses was doing were not so very different from what his own magicians could do. Granted, to the discerning eye Moses’ results were always superior, but the fact that his magicians could reproduce much the same effect lessened the power of the sign for him. After all, he knew these court magicians, and he knew that their power was not some matter of the gods. He had to know, for he, too, was assigned the power of the gods, and he knew himself well enough to know that this was only a front, a trick for controlling the masses. What he saw, then, reduced Moses to his own level. He was understandable by Pharaoh’s own example. He was just putting on a show, like Pharaoh or his magicians would. He was only playing on the emotions of the people, displaying his ‘god-like’ powers to keep them cowed before him.
Do you not suppose that this was part of the issue for the Sanhedrin and for the rest of the ruling hierarchy in Israel? They looked at Jesus and saw only variations on what they already knew. They knew healers. Fine, He was doing a more thoroughgoing job of it, but it was nothing new. They knew rabbis. His teaching might have more flair, more style; they might not recognize the sources from which He drew, but He was nothing new. They saw nothing they had not seen before and so they attributed to Him nothing more than what they saw in themselves. He was angling for power, seeking to impress the people so as to build up His base. He was, they presumed, after their own jobs. Of course He was a threat to them! Because they had not broken through to see the reality of His great difference from all that went before, they could only analyze Him by their own example. What would they be doing in this case? They would be seeking power. Therefore He must be seeking power. They failed to recognize that He already had a greater power than they could ever attain to. They saw only a challenger, another candidate seeking their own position.
Now, the disciples did not suffer from such a cynical blindness. Yet, they had never witnessed anything to prepare them for what had just happened. Again, this was power on a whole new scale. This was not just a new, improved approach to known art. It was utterly beyond experience. Sure, they had read of such things in the Scriptures. Elijah, of course, had commanded the weather before this, but even he did not do so with such immediacy, and besides, these were things only heard in stories. No man could recall a time when God still moved in such fashion. Surely, that was something that only happened back then, during that time!
Here, I hear an echo of the current disagreement between the Classicist and the Charismatic. The Classicist, careful to preserve heritage (and rightfully so), cannot deny the active presence of the Spiritual gifts in the historical Scriptural record. They would not have us remove the book of Acts from Holy Writ, would not insist on redacting Paul’s writings to remove all reference to such matters. Yet, they cannot bring themselves to accept such activities in our own day. After all, so many hundreds of years have passed since then. Granted, they put forth stronger arguments than the mere passage of time to defend their position. But, I wonder if that isn’t what lays beneath. If we are to hold to the established order of faith, then we must surely question even the reappearance of what once was common to the faith when it has been absent so long. This is not unreasonable. There is good cause to be skeptical of new things in the ancient faith. There is, however, the companion danger of once more promoting Tradition over Truth.
At any rate, the disciples are faced with the sort of thing not seen since the earliest prophets. These sorts of things didn’t even happen consistently in that class. I don’t recall reading of Isaiah or Ezekiel or even Daniel having done this sort of thing. It was reserved for those at the start. Now, isn’t that interesting? That’s much the same as is said against the gifts in our own day. They were something reserved for the establishing of the Church. Well, by that argument, what the disciples were witnessing was something reserved for the establishing of Israel. And, perhaps there is some truth to that. But, one must recognize that this was the establishing of the real Israel of God. What, then, ought we to think if the gifts are once more active in our own day? Do we simply write them off as counterfeit? Or, do we look to see what it is God is doing in our midst? Do we seek to ignore it, or seek to understand it?
The disciples, faced with this display of power so utterly beyond their experience, are of course gripped with fear. They had been all but overcome by the power of that storm, and now they find they are in the boat with Somebody who is more powerful than that storm! Whoa! If they were in danger before, what now? If they thought they understood who Jesus was before, they have just discovered their own ignorance. I would expect that every man in that boat was now undergoing a moment not unlike Isaiah’s experience upon seeing into the throne room of heaven. If He is He Who Is and I am as I am, woe is me! And yet they live. No man may see the face of God and live. They have known this from their youth, and yet here they are, face to face with the Son of Man, manifestly the Son of God, and their lives are not forfeit. Who is this man?
We might ask whether the fear they express here is the abject fear of raw power, the fear of recognizing that they stand before One with the power of life and death over themselves, or whether it is the reverence of knowing they stand before the God of all Creation. I’m going to venture to say it was both. I don’t honestly see how it could be otherwise.
You can hear the shock in their reaction. Who is this man we’ve been following? Never mind who, what sort of man is able to do what we’ve just seen? Jesus, we hardly knew You. Why look what He has done! Even wind and sea obey when He commands!
Listen, when once we lay hold of Who this Man is, when it begins to sink in just Whom we have to do with, it’s going to be very difficult to talk about how we’re His friends. It will remain true, yet it will no longer come natural to us to speak in such terms. It is no light matter to be in the presence of Authority such as this. It is no light matter that Authority such as this looks upon us as any different than wind or sea. He has the absolute right of command over us and yet He gives us our rope, as it were. He declares that we are different than all that by His treatment of us. If we truly know Who He Is, we are bound to fall down like David did in wonder. Who am I, Lord, that You are so mindful of me? This is a thing to wonderful for me. If You should treat me as my sins deserve, Lord, how could I stand? What hope would I have? Yet, I find that You, You who command the universe, by whose word the universe was created, and by whose continued attentions the universe continues; You have come seeking me. You have called me friend. More, You have called me brother, fellow son of the Father. You have commanded me a heir to all that is Yours, and by what right could I have laid claim to the least part of it? There is only Your command, Your authorization by which I stand.
This is the realization that is dawning upon the disciples. This Man is beyond Teacher, beyond Prophet. He has commanded wind and sea, and they have listened to Him. You want revelation knowledge? Here it is! These men, we should recall, are not theologians, not trained churchmen. They are simple, faithful laymen. This experience is so far beyond them, this sudden insight into the Man with whom they have been traveling is seemingly so at odds with what they thought they knew that it is going to take some time for them to find the fit. The first reaction is going to be that what they thought they knew of this Man must be wrong, given this new piece of information. But, that impression will pass. They will begin to recognize that no, although this new revelation is True, what has been revealed up to that point is also True. He is Who He Is even as He Is I AM.
More than they find they must reassess their sense of Jesus they must reassess their response to Jesus. What sort of man can command wind and sea and be obeyed? The short answer is, this One. The follow up to that question is, how then ought we to respond to Him. If wind and sea respond like soldiers under command when He speaks, what should our response be like? If dumb creation is smart enough to heed His voice, what of us? If He is the sort to command creation then He has already answered our question. He Who can command creation must needs be the Lord of creation. Is it not so with any soldier, any student, any slave? The one they obey is their master, their lord. Here, then, is the Lord of all creation. If He is Lord of all creation, then certainly I must be included under His reign.
That matter of obedience: it is not a value judgment on the part of the one who obeys. The way the word is defined leaves matters of judgment behind. The obedience we look at here is the obedience, as I have said, of the soldier, of the slave. It is also the obedience expected of the student in ages past, but alas, in our day that concept would be all but meaningless. Leave it with the slave and the soldier then. These are not men who are going to first weigh the commands given them and then decide whether or not to do as they have been told. Remember that centurion that Jesus met? “I am a man under authority. I say, ‘go’, and the man I speak to goes.” The military depends on instant obedience to be effective. It depends on the unquestioned authority of command. What sort of battle is going to be fought if every least foot soldier feels he has to have his say in the planning? What utter chaos and slaughter will engulf a battalion that cannot or will not respond to command?
Yet, in many of our churches, this is the way things operate. In much of our own Christian life, this is the way we operate. We hear the pastor’s words, but we feel we must assess them before we heed them. There is truth in that, for the pastor is a man just as we are, and he is as capable of error as we. Of course, the flip side of that is that we are as capable of error as he, but we never think about that part. What’s far worse is that we play the same games with God. Face it, when it comes to hearing God, we don’t really have a hearing problem. We hear just fine. We have just gotten it into our minds that we have the right to think about it. Yeah, God, I hear you. If I’m not busy tomorrow maybe I’ll go ahead and do that. I’ll get back to You. We have lost sight of our calling.
Paul, called to be the apostle to the Gentiles, operating with authority above all but eleven others in the Church, yet looked at himself and declared himself but a servant, a slave. “I am the bondman of Christ.” I am His to command, and as His slave bought and paid for, His property, His command is my action. When He says, ‘go,’ I do not ask why, I do not ask if I must. I go. Indeed, when I am not under immediate command, I am doing my utmost to anticipate the command that will come. I make it my study to know the Christ I serve, to discern what makes Him tick, how He thinks, what He likes and what He does under every circumstance. I make this my study that I may better prepare for His command that my satisfaction of His command may be the quicker. I make this my study so that in whatever I do, I may not cause Him shame or offense.
He Who holds the power over wind and sea holds the power over me. He holds it with benevolence beyond my worth, but He holds it. He holds it in such a way that I might never notice the bonds, might never feel my freedom restricted. But, He holds it, and thanks be to Him that He does! Because He holds power over me, I know myself secure in Him. He has paid such great price for me, will He easily toss me aside? He has paid in His own blood to make me His own (not that I was ever otherwise, but there was another slaver...). He paid in His own blood to own me, that I might serve Him, and shall I not serve with all that is in me? His yoke is easy. I don’t even notice it upon me. His burden is light. As I go about the work to which He commands me, I often don’t even realize I am working. Oh, there are times, to be sure, when the burden seems anything but light, when the yoke seems anything but easy. But, the larger part of my days, it is as if I am my own man, free of every care. Yet I know He is with me. Yet I know that He may call at any moment, and require a shift of my schedule. And, shall I complain of it? How shall I? I have given myself to be marked as a lifetime member of His household, and the lifetime for which I have been marked is one that ends in eternity! No, I shall not walk away from my Lord, nor shall He walk away from me. This is my story and my song. This is my blessed assurance, the Rock on which I stand.
This matter of obedience and lordship goes right to the heart of things discussed at home group last night. One of our members is struggling through the whole issue of God’s sovereignty and man’s free will, the great struggle of coming to grips with predestination. It is difficult, needless to say; certainly not a matter to be settled in an evening, rarely even in a lifetime. However, as I pick up my studies this morning, I see that I am looking at issues that are integral to understanding and accepting the concept. It begins with what Jesus is making manifestly evident to His disciples here. God is the Lord of creation – all creation. Because He is the Lord of creation, creation obeys Him. As I have said already, He is obeyed not only in the calming of that storm, but also in its coming. Simply, if He is truly Lord of all, then all is by His command and for His purpose.
That is a concept that troubles us, for there are any number of events happening in the world that we are unwilling to ascribe to Gods’ provenance. We are not willing that He should be behind wars or disasters. We only want Him in charge of the fair weather and the declarations of peace. He’s a good God, after all. Yet, His own statements put the lie to such an improper understanding. “I send calamity as well as bounty, cursing as well as blessing.” In a nutshell, whatever comes, it is in accord with His orders. Yet, in all this, He is never the author of evil. It is, perhaps, a mystery, an enigma we may never resolve to our satisfaction. But, it is the Truth God proclaims. Even Satan, who is the chief of evils, can only operate within proscribed limits, and those limits are declared by a good God.
Consider the things said of this God of ours. David, in particular, seems to have been in tune with the ultimate royalty of God, the unbreakable nature of His rule over all things. “You covered the lands in garments of oceans. So deep were the waters that even the mountains were covered, but at Your rebuke they fled. They ran from the sound of Your thundering” (Ps 104:6-7). More than the earliest days of creation, it seems to me David is looking back upon the flood through which Noah came. Surely, from the perspective of mankind, those flood waters were no blessing. They were a calamity of the first order, a destructive force not seen since. Katrina was nothing compared to this! Yet, He is also the One who called that destruction to an end. No more than a word of command, and those waters receded, leaving a clean land for Noah to resettle. In retrospect, we see that the calamity was indeed a blessing, at least viewed in light of the overall progress of mankind. We can never, I suppose, make it look a blessing for those caught in the waters, but we can see the grand design of our God in what He has done. We can see His justice, and we can see His mercy in preserving a remnant through it all. Still, it is hard to keep that perspective when matters are closer to our own time.
There is also God’s discussion with Job to consider. There, He reminds Job of Who He is, much as Jesus has just made plain to the disciples Who He is. “I told the seas, ‘Here is your boundary. You shall come up to this point and not one step further. This is where your waves shall cease’” (Job 38:11). Who else shall make that claim? Hear it again: “God stills the roaring seas, calms the violent waves [even as He has just done in that boat. But look what follows on that.] He also stills the roaring of the people” (Ps 65:7). Do you see what David is saying here? Yes, God is God of creation. Yes, He has the absolute rule over nature. That being true, it necessarily follows that God has absolute rule over man, for man is of a piece with nature. God stills the roaring of the people as easily as He stills the sea. His command is just as effective in either case. His Word is just as incapable of coming back to Him void whether He addresses the animate or the inanimate.
Again, David looks to this God who rules the unruly. “You, God, rule the seas” (Ps 89:9). Consider, that to this people in that time the sea was the ultimate in uncontrollability. One might learn to cope with the sea, but never to control it. To be upon the sea is to be at its mercy. When waves rise up in storm-tossed fury, there is nothing you are going to do to change it. You can only seek to survive it. But, hear the conclusion: “When waves rise up, it is You, God, Who stills them!” Men survive the storms and trials of life. God commands them, and He commands them to our benefit. “God stills the storms and hushes the waves [we have just had the benefit of watching Him do just that – “Hush, be still!”]. Through it all, He guides His people to their desired haven, and they are glad for the quiet” (Ps 107:29-30). Well, they certainly aren’t glad for the storms! Sometimes we think that we are supposed to be, but I really don’t think God requires insanity of us, only faith. If we rejoice during the storms, it is not because the storms have come, but because God has not left.
One more passage in this regard, this one from Job: “God commands the morning” (Job 38:12-14). OK, stop there for a moment. If the seas are beyond our control, time is even more assuredly beyond us. Shall we alter the course of sun and stars, put the brakes on the earth, perhaps, to gain a bit of extra daylight? We play at it by adjusting our clocks this way and that to follow the seasons, but we have changed nothing. God commands the morning, and no other. Back to that passage, then: “God calls the dawn to come lay hold of the earth and shake the wicked out of it.” Well, we are certainly gone beyond the basics of day and night, here. This is a dawn of a particular sort, a dawn unlike the rest. This is dawn with a purpose, with a vengeance. So, not only is God the One who controls the regulated, orderly progression of days, He is also the only One Who can disrupt that order, and He will do so when such disruption serves His purpose. Continue. “The earth changes like clay under the seal at His command.” Wow! What is more solid than a mountain? What is more unchanging? Yet, they do change, and sometimes with amazing rapidity. Consider the Old Man of the Mountain, a fixture in New Hampshire year after year until one day the Old Man was gone. That solid mass of granite was no more solid than watery clay in the hands of the Potter.
All of these declarations show us a God in control. They show us a God whose power of command surpasses all bounds. Again, I have to ask, if the stolid strength of the mountain is not in a position to refuse Him, if the magnificent scale of the universe is not so magnificent that it may ignore His commands, if the unruly and unpredictable forces of ocean and sky must come to order at His call, who are we to think we need not do likewise? None of these things are things we have even the least bit of control over. But, He does. Any one of these forces could destroy us without effort. We are nothing by comparison. Yet, God can and does bend every one of those forces to His purpose. Can we really think that we shall not likewise bend and accede to His purposes? In that promised day when every knee bends and every tongue confesses the reality of His Lordship, it’s not a matter of everybody suddenly deciding they want Him as Lord after all. No, the bending of the knee will come regardless of a man’s preferences. The confession of the Lord will come whether the confessor is pleased or dismayed to acknowledge that Truth. We might as well proclaim that God says to the will of man, “thus far you may choose, and no farther. Here is the boundary of your freedom, and here your proud self-determination ceases.”
If there is a lesson for us to take from this passage beyond recognizing God’s sovereignty more clearly, it is this: God delivers not from the storms of life, but through them. Again, I look at that detail Mark mentions of the other boats that were with them. The storm delivered them from the crowds that were still following. If the storm had not come, the crowds would not have left. By their presence in the storm, and particularly in that moment when Jesus quiets the storm, they are delivered into a greater understanding of Who He Is. If they had not witnessed this, their certainty of His being the Son of God would not have been so complete. No other act prior to His resurrection would make this as clear, not even bringing Lazarus back to life.
Given this understanding, I wonder if this shouldn’t be our lesson for the endtimes. There is an ever-present debate as to whether the great tribulations of the endtimes will come before or after the Rapture of the faithful. I don’t know that it is possible, really, to declare with certainty which way it will fall out, but it strikes me that the example of Church history and the picture we have from this episode from the lives of the disciples indicate a good likelihood that tribulation comes first. I know solid teachers of Christianity that would suggest that those tribulations have long since started, and they have good reason to say so. Indeed, there have been those since the first generation of the Church who have thought the tribulations were upon them, again with good reason. Those Christians who faced Rome’s persecution could certainly sense tribulation. Those who today dwell in lands where Muslim hostility runs unchecked can certainly sense tribulation. Even here, in a society that has lost its moral moorings, we begin to sense it, if in mild form. But, the promise remains to those who are faithful to the end.
The promise remains that He is faithful to the end. However rough the storms of this Christian life may become, whether we are merely driven into obscurity or we are materially threatened for our faith; whether we face no worse than the ridicule and unbelief of our fellow man or the end of a gun because of our belief in the Living Christ; whatever may come against us, He is yet with us. He is not pressed down and distraught because of these things. He does not feel His Godhood threatened. He is allowing us to temper our faith like steel. He is diligent to ensure that whatever we may face, it will not be our undoing. He will not allow us to be tested beyond our endurance. When the time is right, He will once again arise from His rest and still the raging of the nations that have arrayed against Him even as He stilled the raging storm. An odd battle it shall be, as ever His battles seem to man. For I rather doubt a shot will be fired. It will require nothing greater than His Word, “Be still!” All creation must bow to His command!
This is also the big moral application for the story of the storm rebuked. Whether we are facing Tribulation with a big T or trials so small as to be counted mere annoyances, we can – indeed we must – hold to this truth: Jesus accompanies us through these storms. This alone is reason enough for all fear to subside. The man who knows he wields unopposable power does not fear to walk through his enemy’s territory. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for Thou art with me! That’s the power of the Christ asleep in our stern seat! Because He lives all fear is gone. That is supposed to be our reality, although we forget that as swiftly as ever the disciples did. Perfect love, we are instructed, casts out all fear (1Jn 4:18). Fear, he points out, involves punishment. In other words, it is the punishment we fear. Even the natural disasters that we may face are recognized at some level as acts of God. Insurers are at least honest enough to call them what they are. We recognize at some level that these things which threaten our physical wellbeing are still acts of God, that they come either as tests or as punishments, and we know we have done plenty to deserve punishment. But, perfect love casts out all fear, and in the Christ we have found Perfect Love. God is Love! If He has taken up His dwelling place in us, then Perfect Love is in us. Faith recognizes this, remembers this as it faces the challenges of life. Faith knows that the One True God, the God who is the very embodiment of Love, is with us, in us, facing the storm beside us, and because He abides, all fear is gone. God is for us! Who can stand against us (Ro 8:31)?
Oh! Look forward from that point! Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation? Distress? Persecution? Can famine, nakedness, peril or even the sword separate us? Why! For His sake we are in constant danger of death, we are like sheep awaiting the slaughter. Yet, in all these things we are not just victorious in Him, we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loves us! Listen! I am absolutely convinced that nothing in death or life, nothing in the spirit realm, be it for good or evil, nothing that is now, nor anything that may yet come, no power, no distance, not anything in creation whatsoever or all combined is ever going to be able to separate us from the love of God, which love is ours in Jesus, the Christ, our Lord (Ro 8:35-39).
Why do you say that, Paul? It’s quite simple. He knows who has accompanied him through everything he has already faced. He knows Perfect Love abides in him. It is not Paul who knows how to love so perfectly, it is the Living Christ dwelling within. It is the One who accompanies him, Who holds the power to calm the storms, be they storms of wind and sea or be they storms of human emotions or be they the raging of demonic hordes. Perfect Love casts out all fear, in part because Perfect Love is also Perfect Power and Perfect Authority. He is able to keep us until the day of His returning, and He is not only able, He is willing. He has not lost a one yet whom the Father entrusted to His keeping, and He’s not about to start losing them now. No, nor ever!
Faith remembers all this. Faith remembers this in the face of the fears that come, for we are fools if we think we shall never again feel the touch of fear. Of course we will. We are still emotional beings. The question is whether we shall allow fear to master our faith, or faith to master our fears. When fears arise, we need to speak out in the power of our faith. God is with us! A mighty fortress is our God, a rampart never failing. God is with us, and who shall be against us? Against the Rock of Christ Jesus, the very gates of hell cannot prevail, even if they should be cast open and all the armies of the enemy poured forth. This is our story! This is our song!
Listen, the worst efforts of the Romans never broke the Christian faith. Though many died, they died rejoicing to be counted worthy of suffering alongside their Savior. Yes, there were those who faltered, whose fears overwhelmed their faith in that moment of trial. Yes, and the Church had a trial of its own when it came time for their restoration. How could those who had stood the test accept those who had not in their midst? Where was the fairness in that? In the end, God’s counsel reminded them that it was in the same Christ whose love had upheld those who stood. It was nothing in themselves that they should boast of, it was Christ and Christ alone. What, then, did they have that made them better than those who had succumbed to their fears? Nothing. There was no injustice in welcoming the lost back into the fold, only a manifest reflection of the Mercy that had held them through their own battles.
The same can be said today of those who suffer in places like Sudan and other strongholds of the enemy. They may die, yet they live. They may face horrible tortures and frankly, some may do what’s necessary to escape that torture. Should they survive and should they seek restoration to the Church, it behooves us to accept them as sheep rescued from great danger. It behooves us to recognize that until we face the same circumstances, we are surely in no position to judge. It behooves us, if we have faced the same circumstances, to recognize that we are still in no position to judge. Who are we to judge the slave of another? If he serves Jesus as his Master, then to Jesus he will answer and to no other. That is the Biblical mandate for us. It is for Christ and Christ alone to assess the worth of His own.
For our own part, let us strive to remember this One Who is in us, casting aside all cause for fear by His Perfect Love. Let us keep before our mind’s eye the Truth of His plans for us, plans to prosper and not to harm. Let us look forward through our lives to the day we meet Him face to face and see Him as He truly is, not in our imaginations, not distorted by our wrong opinions, but fully True and fully revealed.
