15 ¶ When Jesus therefore perceived that they
would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a
mountain himself alone. 16 And when even
was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, 17 And entered into a ship, and went over the
sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.
18 And the sea arose by reason of a
great wind that blew. 19 So when they
had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on
the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. 20 But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid.
21 Then they willingly received him into
the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.
Many fundamentalist preachers make the nonsensical statement
that the Jews were saved in the Old Testament by looking forward to the Cross
as the Christian is saved in the New by looking backward to it. Here is one of
the many verses that show this is ridiculous. The Jews were looking for a
conqueror, a king to lead them out of domination by Rome and into the status
among the kingdoms of the world they had been promised. Here are Jesus’ own
disciples after His resurrection.
Acts 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they
asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
Israel?
Messianic fervor was rampant in first century Judea and
among the Jews everywhere. People calculated according to the popular
chronology of the day that the age was on the threshold of the appearance of
the Messiah. Later, it would be said
that a Messiah ben Joseph would appear and suffer and die for his people and
then a Messiah ben David would appear in victory and conquest. The Jews did not
see the appearance of the same Messiah to suffer and die, and then to return
from the dead in victory. They were not looking forward to the Cross at Jesus’
time but looking forward to Israel’s lost greatness to be restored and the
vindication of the people. This is clear by many statements of clueless
disciples when Jesus would predict His death. (11)
Later in John we will get into the declaration of Jesus’
kingship, probably sarcastically, by Pilate.
In this passage we see Jesus’ command over natural forces,
as well as time and distance itself, as He walks on water and immediately causes
the ship to arrive at its intended destination.
The disciples take a ship without Jesus and a just a great
wind or even a storm comes up. Wind and storm are synonymous.
Job 27:21 The east wind carrieth him away, and he
departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.
Mark 4:37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and
the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
Luke 8:23 But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there
came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and
were in jeopardy.
It is then they see Jesus walking on the water, which
terrified them. But Jesus says this wonderful statement to them that is the
source of great inspiration for the Christian, “It is I; be not afraid.”
Once he was received into the ship, the ship was immediately
at their destination. There are 8 furlongs in a mile so they had traveled less
than four miles while the Sea of Galilee is approximately 13 miles long and 8
miles wide, 33 miles in circumference. What is revealed to us is that God has power
over time and distance. Consider this when you read about the farthest reaches
of space appearing to be 45 billion light-years from earth, a light-year being
the time it takes light to travel in one year, as well as the ridiculous theory
that the universe is 15 billion years old.
(11) Rabbi Hillel Silver, A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel (New York: Macmillan
Co., 1927), 5&84.
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