Walking on Water
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2013 · 18 August 2013
This is one of the most important and well known miracles in the life of our Lord, in the lives of His disciples and in our lives as well. To understand this marvelous event look first at Matthew 14:33, "Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Truly You are the Son of God.'”
Something just happened to convince them of that. What happened was so convincing that the next day Peter, speaking for the rest of the disciples said, "We believe and are sure that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." That is the greatest discovery you can make, that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God.
Verse 33 is the first time human beings have said that. God the Father said it at the baptism of Jesus; the demons said it on the eastern shore of the sea, but His disciples never said that before. They have seen miracle upon miracle, healings, raising the dead, casting out demons, they have heard preaching and teaching without equal, and they have been hearing it for two years.
But something very spectacular must have happened to give them such confidence as is indicated in verse 33 and the next day in John 6:69-70. That is the essential reality in the New Testament that He is equal with God. In the Old Testament, God alone was to be worshiped. The law began with, "You shall have no other gods." That was the monotheism of the Jewish religion that only the true Jehovah God is to be worshiped.
However, in the New Testament, again and again we learn that Jesus Christ also is to be worshiped. The conclusion is then that Jesus Christ is equal with God, and that is affirmed in the statement that He is the Son of God, He is of the same essence as God. If we look at the New Testament, we will see the worship of Christ planted everywhere.
In the gospels we see the wise men first worshiping Him in Matthew 2, the leper worshiping Him in Matthew 8, the Gentiles worshiping Him in John 12, a Canaanite woman worshiping Him in Matthew 15, a maniac out of the tombs worshiping Him in Mark 5, a blind man worshiping Him in John 9, the disciples worshiping Him at His resurrection and again in the mountain in Matthew 28 and then worshiping Him at His ascension in Luke 24.
In the epistles, Hebrews 1 says that all the angels of God worship Him. In Philippians, we find that God demands that every creature on the earth, over the earth, and under the earth bow the knee to worship Jesus Christ. If we go all the way to the book of Revelation, we find Him being worshiped by all those in glory, in chapters 4, 5, 11 and 19.
So for two years, His ministry had been on the rise and He had been proclaiming, healing and casting out demons. Then, in the later part, Jesus was joined by the disciples who also began to proclaim, and cast out demons, and to heal. The excitement grew and the multitude became convinced that Jesus should be their King.
But at that moment, Jesus sent the disciples away; He sent the crowd away and went into a mountain by Himself. In their little rowboat, as they were pushing their way out to sea, they must have been disappointed trying to figure out how He could spend two years getting to this point, but when it was imminent Jesus withdrew instead.
Jesus didn't want their shallow commitment, the crowd had political interest and self- indulgent interest; all they could think about was free food. The next morning, they showed up again for breakfast and Jesus said to them, "You seek Me not because you care about Me or what I say, but because you want another free meal." And they left. They were like thorny soil, only in it for what they could get out of it. When Jesus gave them a lecture on theology, they split. But His disciples didn't leave.
At that point, in John 6:67-69, Jesus said to them, "Will you also go away?" 68 Peter said, "To whom shall we go? Only You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we believe and are sure that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." The multitude left, but they stayed. They said, "We are sure." How did they get so sure? Because of what happened in this passage.
Look at Matthew 14:22-33, “Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
“28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
Please notice five aspects of the divine nature manifested in this event. They worshiped Him first, because they knew He was the Son of God on the basis His divine authority. It is just kind of implied there, but in verse 22, it tells us, "Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away." This shows that Jesus controls everything. He controlled those who were His own, and those who were not.
But He controls also the wind and the waves and the sea and their thinking and their faith and everything else that He controlled. Jesus had authority over everyone and everything, and it comes through to us clearly in this story. In John 5, He said that He had authority to judge all men, and that authority was given to Him by the Father. So He had authority over time and eternity, over life and death, over destiny.
In Mark 1:27, the people asked, "What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” Not only does He have authority over life and death, time and eternity, Heaven, Hell, and destiny, but He has authority over the supernatural world and over fallen angels.
He also can transmit that authority to others, according to Luke 9:1, to His disciples, “Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.” We see it in Acts 3 with Peter and John in the temple, when they healed the lame man who was begging there. "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." There Peter exercised that authority granted to him by Christ.
In Matthew 28:18, Jesus ultimately says, "All authority is given to Me in Heaven and in Earth." What is authority? It is defined as ruling, sovereign control. He is in control of everything. He controls nature. He creates whenever He will create; He stops the storm whenever He wants to, and causes the wind to cease. He can walk on water; He has authority.
Go back to verse 22. It says that immediately after they had wanted to make Him king after He had fed them, "Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side." The Lord knew this was difficult for them, so He just sent them away and removed the temptation. Fully aware of their weakness, and their susceptibility to the plans of the crowd, He said, "Go to the other side."
Mark tells us that they were headed to Bethsaida, John says that they were headed to Capernaum; they were both side by side, Bethsaida being a suburb of Capernaum. So it just means they were going in that general direction in a short trip across one little corner of the Sea of Galilee. It says later on, when they hit the storm, the wind was contrary to them.
Usually men would say, "Let's not fight the wind. Let's turn around, and it will blow us back to the shore." But not them; when the Lord said, "Point your bow to Capernaum," they did it. They fought it all the way even though they weren't making much headway; they continued in their obedience to the authority of Christ.
Even the mob couldn't resist His authority; verse 23 says that after Jesus had sent the multitude away, He went to pray privately. He sent the whole crowd away! They were going to kidnap Him; but He had total control over them. "Where did they go?" They went to sleep, thousands of them, sleeping all over the grassy hillsides and wherever they could sleep.
How do we know where they went to sleep? Because when they woke up the next morning, they were all in the same vicinity according to John 6:22-65, and they said, "It's breakfast time. Where's Jesus?" But Jesus was not there, He was in Capernaum already. That's where He taught them unless they ate the flesh of the Son of Man and drank His blood they would have no life. They said, "Forget it," and from then on, many followers left Jesus and He spent more and more time with the disciples and less and less time with the crowds.
Notice it says in verse 23 that it was evening. This would be, by Jewish definition, the second evening. The first evening was from 3-6, and the second evening was from 6-9. From 3-6, the first evening, He had fed them. From 6-9, we're in the second evening, and it's coming toward darkness. As it grows dark, He is alone in the mountain, and He is praying. Always remember that if Jesus needed to pray, how much more do I need to pray!
In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus said to Peter, "Satan has desired to have you, Peter, but I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail." Isn't that a comforting thing? That is the High Priestly work of Christ. Right now, this moment, at the throne of the Father, He prays for you and for me and He prays with the authority of God. Doesn’t that give us great confidence?
Secondly, His divine knowledge. Verse 24, “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.” John's gospel says 25-30 stadia or furlongs, out into the sea, which is about 3-4 miles into the sea. Mark adds that they were distressed in their rowing. And John 6:18 says it was a fierce wind. It is dark and gloomy, the storm is violent, and worst of all, no Jesus.
The last time they got in a storm like this, Jesus was sleeping in the back of the boat and all they had to do was wake Him up and have Him stop the storm, which He did. But now He isn't here. To make it even worse, He can't get there because they took the only boat. John tells us in John 6 that the next morning when the multitude got up, they saw there was no other boat.
But all the while, they're in the middle of the sea going through all this trauma, and He's up on the hill praying for them. This is a wonderful picture of the High Priestly intercessory work of Christ, isn't it? They don't know it, but they're secure. For five or six hours, they have been at it, with no success. But isn't it comforting to know that Jesus knows that? And He knows your present situation too.
Verse 25, "In the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea." Nothing special, it just says He went walking on the sea, just like you would take a walk on the shore. It is described so naturally that it is really overpowering. He knew where to walk; He knew exactly where they were. It didn't matter that it was very dark. That is His divine knowledge - He knows everything.
Psalm 139 says that night and day are the same to Him. This happened during the fourth watch of the night. The first watch was 6-9 in the evening; the second watch was 9-12; the third watch was 12-3; and the fourth watch was 3-6 in the morning. They had been at this all night, and they are in great anxiety and fear.
He waits a long time before He comes; that is all part of the lesson. Do you realize that if you never have a storm, you would never know that He can handle a storm? We never really understand the power of God in your behalf until we are pushed to the extreme. That is part of the lesson. Why do you think our Lord didn't go to Martha and Mary until Lazarus was so dead that he smelled? Because only in the impossibility of that extreme situation that they would understand the extent of His power.
Jesus knows our sitting down and our rising up, - where we are, what our needs are. He has known us from your womb. If we ascend to heaven, He is there; if we make our bed in sheol, He is there. If we take dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, there will His hand lead us and His right hand will hold us up. It doesn't matter where we are, because He knows everything.
In fact, as He is walking on the water, the water will flatten out and becoming placid; He does not even get wet. It says He came toward them. Why? Because they had needs, and were at the end of their rope. He couldn't see them from the mountain, or in the dark in that stormy night, but He knew exactly where they were.
Thirdly, His divine protection or divine care. Verse 26, "When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!'" The Greek word means an apparition. "And they cried out in fear." Mark adds that they all saw Him; this isn't just one guy who thought he saw Jesus. Because there are those liberals who want to tell us that they just thought they saw Him.
Mark adds another interesting note, it appeared that Jesus would have passed by their boat. The Lord is always there, but He wants to hear the cry from the heart of the one in need. He always stops for the ones who call, and they screamed, "It is a ghost!" Matthew 14: 27 says, "But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.'"
'Be of good cheer' is an English colloquialism that means to take courage, take heart, don't be afraid. You see, God is the protector of His people; oh what a great truth! The storm never gets so extreme that He doesn't know where we are, or that He can't walk on the water. He will protect His own and He never comes too late.
This is not to teach the disciples how to walk on water; none of them ever did. After this incident, no one in the Bible ever walked on water. This is to teach people who are limited in what they can do that God is able and willing to help and do the impossible. It is to teach that in the extreme, we don't need to fear because He is there with us, and He will respond to our needs. Let us continue next week on what else God wants to teach us. Let us pray.