We now come to the second miracle in John 6: Jesus calming the storm. This also had a special emphasis on His disciples as they were the only ones to actually witness this miracle. Nevertheless, we will see that this miracle is also a call to believe in Jesus, the Son of God, that you might have life.
“Rough waters” are often a picture of
trials. Job said his trials were like “water
that wears away stones and torrents that wash away the soil” (Job
14:18-19). The Psalmist, speaking for
the Messiah, says “the waters have come up to my neck” (Ps. 69:1; see also Song
of Solomon 8:7, Lamentations 3:53-54).
The Bible often speaks of God helping us in “rough
waters.” David said the Lord drew me out
of deep waters (2 Sam. 22:17). Again in
Psalm 69, the Messiah calls out to God to deliver Him from deep waters (69:14-15). God the Redeemer promises Israel that when
they pass through the waters, “I will be with you” (Isaiah 43:1-3). All of this tells us that Jesus’ coming to
the aid of His disciples on a stormy night on the Sea of Galilee is a great
setting for Him to reveal His glory.
If you have ever been to Israel, you
undoubtedly know that the “Sea of Galilee” is not very big. It’s not a Sea. It is a good-sized lake. But regardless of the size, it still has a
reputation of being potentially treacherous at night. It sits 600 feet below sea level in a “cuplike
depression. When the sun sets, and the
air cools, and then the breeze from the west rushes down the hillside, it often
churns up the water. There is a sign on
the Promenade in Tiberias about a 1930’s storm on Galilee that destroyed the
promenade. Those are rough waters.
John tells us that Jesus had gone up on a
mountainside to pray. This was after the
crowd had tried to make Him their king.
It wasn’t time for that, so Jesus had gone off by Himself. At dark the disciples, several being experienced
fishermen, had boarded and started back to Capernaum. They were out in the middle of the lake when
the storm got rough, dangerously rough.
Then, what did they see but Jesus walking on the sea, coming near the
boat. John 6:19 says, “and they were
afraid.” Yes. That makes a lot of sense.
In John’s account, Jesus first calmed the
disciples, saying, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
Then He got in the boat and we are told, “immediately the boat was at
the land where they were going.” By the
way, if you have heard that Jesus enabled Peter to walk to Him on the water,
that’s in Matthew’s account (Matt. 14:22-29.)
The picture of salvation is not hard to see
here. Our lives are being battered by
the rough waters of sin. There is only
One who can save us, and that is Jesus.
The life He offers is one where there is calm in the midst of the storms
of life. And faith in Christ involves
receiving Him into the boat you are using to navigate life.
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