WALKING ACROSS THE SEA – John 6:15-21

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on September 26, 2012 under PM Bible Study |

PM Home Bible Study Group; September 26, 2012

John 6:15-21

Theme: In His miracle of walking upon the Sea of Galilee, our Lord proved Himself to be a King who does not need to be crowned by men.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

In our last study, we looked at the fourth of Jesus’ great miracles as they are recorded for us in John’s Gospel. So far, we’ve considered (1) the turning of water into wine at the wedding in Cana (2:1-11); (2) the healing of a nobleman’s sick son—also in Cana (4:46-54); (3) the healing of the infirmed man at the pool in Bethesda (5:1-9); and, in our last study, (4) the feeding of the five-thousand (6:1-14). And now, immediately after telling us of the fourth, John leads us to the fifth of those great miracles—the miracle of our Lord walking on the water.

Some who wish to remove the miraculous from this story have suggested that we should understand the phrase “they saw Jesus walking on the sea” to mean that He was simply walking along the shoreline; but this would hardly have caused the fear we read of in verse 19. Nor would it have explained Peter’s actions of walking toward Him in Matthew 14:28-33. Some have even tried to argue that Jesus simply walked out to the boat upon rocks that were just below the surface of the water (which would be quite a miracle in itself—being able to do that in the dark for three to four miles on a sea in the midst of a storm, all the way out to a boat occupied by experienced fishermen who would have known better than to row near rocks). No; there’s no question that what is being reported to us is a marvelous miracle—that the Lord Jesus actually walked upon the water.

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To appreciate the significance of this story, we need to remember what had been happening in the story just before it. Our Lord had fed a multitude of people—5,000 men; plus, we can assume, their wives and children—with just five small loaves of bread and two small fish. We’re told in verse 14 that “those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.’” They correctly recognized Him to be the prophet that was promised through Moses back in Deuteronomy 18:15-19. But the significance of the “men” being particularly mentioned is that they would have constituted a small army that was ready—then and there—to crown Him and declare Him to be the promised Messiah, and to follow Him in the hopes that He would be a mighty, conquering King who would overthrow their oppressors and restore Israel to its former glory.

But our Lord would have nothing to do with this. He came indeed as King; but not by the authority of men and the coronation of popular approval. He came as the Suffering Messiah, who would first secure His kingdom by dying on a despised cross as He bore the curse for our sin. The expectations of these men, and Jesus’ refusal of them, constitute much of the conflict we read of in the rest of chapter 6. But for now, we consider the story of this one great miracle—and of how it shows Jesus to be who He is apart from the effort and approval of men.

It’s interesting that this story happened in connection with a storm on the sea. In the Bible, the ungodly nations are typified as a raging sea. “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isaiah 57:20). In Daniel 7:2-3, the “four great beasts”—the four world powers of ancient times—where shown to come up from out of the stirring of the Great Sea. And the Gospel writer John—telling of his vision in Revelation—saw the Antichrist rising up “out of the sea” (Revelation 13:1). But here, we see our Lord showing His majesty—truly as King of kings and Lord of lords—walking above the thrashing waves of the sea. In the passage before us, Jesus shows Himself to be everything that He is said to be in Psalm 89:7-9; “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him. O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them.”

Notice, then . . .

I. THE TEMPTATION OF MAN’S APPROVAL (v. 15).

A. We’re told that, after Jesus had performed the miracle of the feeding—and after the men saw it and concluded that He truly must be the Prophet that was to come into the world— they began to demonstrate that they intended to make Him King—whether He wished them to or not. Some Bible teachers even suggest that Judas may have had something to do with initiating this. At the end of this division in John’s Gospel, we’re told—in 6:70- 71—that Jesus knew who His betrayer was from the beginning. And when it would later become apparent to Judas that Jesus would not take up the role of earthly Ruler, he went out to betray Him (Matthew 26:14-16). In any case, it’s interesting that we’re told that they intended to “make” Him King—as if their declaring Him to be King would make Him so. This, quite frankly, is typical of fallen man. They think something can only be so if they make it so—never mind what God Himself decrees apart from what men do. Our Lord is who He is—not because men have made Him so; but because that’s who He truly is! And He proved Himself to be who He is in a way that men never would have chosen—that is, by obeying the Father’s will and dying on the cross for our sins.

B. Jesus knew that they were seeking to make Him King by force. How did He know? We’re not given the details; but we’re told clearly in 2:25 that Jesus “had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” He made His knowledge of the condition of the heart of these men very plain in 6:26-27. They only wanted Him to be their King for what material “bread” He could provide to them. But He had been presenting Himself to them as the “Bread of Life”, who provided for them the salvation of their souls. So; we’re told, “Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone” (v. 15). At the moment when men could have made Him King—and indeed, at the moment when the temptation of Satan in the wilderness could have been fulfilled; that is, to give Him all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory (Luke 4:5-6)— He departed “again” (see 6:3) to the mountain where He had previously sat with His disciples.

C. And let’s not miss a wonderful lesson this teaches us about our Lord. He loves us so much that He would allow nothing to distract Him from His great work of dying on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our salvation. Ungodly men do not recognize or approve of this method of showing the reality of who He is. In the evaluation of fallen people, the cross is a despise and foolish thing (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). But it was by becoming “the Lamb who was slain” that He became worthy “to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5:12).

II. THE TURMOIL OF THE WAVES (vv. 16-18).

A. The situation, then, was becoming a dangerous one. It would have been very easy for the disciples themselves—who were eyewitnesses to the mysteries of the miracle of the feeding of the multitude, and who actually distributed the food to the people with their own hands—to themselves fall sway to the pressure of the moment and to join with others in “making” Jesus King. Wasn’t even Peter later subject to something of this temptation? Didn’t he later dare to rebuke the Lord for talking about the cross, and say, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”—and didn’t the Lord right then rebuke the work of Satan in him? (see Matthew 16:21-23). Jesus wanted to get His disciples out of that situation and away from such a powerful temptation. So, He “immediately made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida (Mark 6:45). The meaning of this in the original language is that He “strongly urged” them to do this; or as it is in the King James Version, He “straightway constrained” them. It’s apparent that they resisted this; because they didn’t do as He said right away. We’re told, “Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum” (v. 16-17a). According to the other Gospel accounts, the Lord remained to send the multitude away before He went up to the mountain. To leave the crowd in such a state could have caused a potentially dangerous political crisis to arise in the regions of Galilee; so, He brought the crowd out of their frenzied state about Him on the one hand, and got His disciples out of the danger of the crowd’s influence on the other. Who knows but that what sometimes seems like the disappointment of a success in our ministry to our view isn’t—in reality—a gracious act on the part of the Lord toward us? He knows what would be best for the protection and advancement of His work, and would would be bad for His workers to experience.

B. So, away the disciples finally and reluctantly went. We’re told, “And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them” (v. 17b). Matthew and Mark both tell us that the Lord had not begun to come out to them until the fourth watch of the night—which would have been around three in the morning. And sometime before that point, a storm arose. We’re told, “Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing” (v. 18). The Lord would have been able to see this from His vantage point on the mountain. Dare we suppose that He who could command storms to be still could also command calm seas to be stormy? Could it be that the sovereign God appointed a storm for His purposes? No wonder these experienced fishermen had rowed all this time and yet made very little progress—going not much further than a little under three to four miles (25 or 30 stradia) in over three to four hour’s time! But we should remember that those times that seem so frustrating and unproductive to us in our Lord’s service—those times in which everything seems to be against us—could in actuality be the means in His mighty hand of teaching us a great lesson about Himself.

III. THE TRIUMPH OF THE KING (vv. 19-21).

A. And what a picture it is that we’re given in the events that followed! We’re told, “So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat . . .” (v. 19a). This is, of course, isn’t stated to us in the text; but could we actually think that the Lord Jesus struggled in His walk across the waves?—as if He had to jump, and dodge, and weave, and balance Himself with difficulty over the water? Wouldn’t it be more likely that, in the midst of the turmoil around Him, He walked to the disciples with absolute calmness and control? We’re told that the disciples were terrified at what they saw. Matthew tells us that they cried out in fear—thinking that they were seeing a ghost (Matthew 14:26). John tells us, “. . . and they were afraid. But He said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid’” (vv. 19b-20). Those words must have had a great impact on the disciples; because they are found in the three Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John. And we shouldn’t miss the significance of them. Our Lord’s words, “It is I”, are a translation of the Greek “egō eimi“; which is also the translation of what God said to Moses at the burning bush—”I AM”. The Lord was declaring—and vividly illustrating—that He truly was the Son of God. And He did this without the declaration of the men who were intending to make Him into an earthly King by force!

B. We should note His mercy to His disciples in this. They were terrified. Their state of dread might have also been aggravated by their fatigue at the lateness of the hour, and from their hours of fruitless straining. But nevertheless, He truly was showing them that He was God in human flesh. The “I AM” Himself was walking on the waves to them. But He also told them, “do not be afraid”. And it must be that this spoke enough peace to their hearts that they welcomed Him into the boat with them. We’re told, “Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going” (v. 21). The long, laborious rowing of three to four hours—with little or no apparent progress—was suddenly brought to an end; and they instantly found themselves where He had told them to go. How quickly the frustrating “rowing against the wind” comes to an end when we invite Jesus into the boat with us!

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We tend to think of this as the story of one miracle. But really, it’s the story of four—each of which tells us something about our Lord. First, it’s the story of how our wise Master knows the hearts of those around Him—knowing with perfect accuracy what is in the hearts of men; and even that they were about to rise up and make Him King. Second, it’s the story of how a storm suddenly arose in the midst of Jesus’ command to His disciples—showing that our sovereign Lord sometimes allows trials and frustrating circumstances to come our way in order to bring us to the place where He can display the greatness of His glory. Third, it’s the story of how He walked on the water—showing forth His majesty and supremacy over all the trials and tribulations of this world; and even over those who would enthrone Him by earthly means for worldly political ends. And finally, it’s the story of how our Lord brought the boat to the shore instantly—showing Himself sufficient for the needs of all who trust Him and welcome Him into their times of trial.

May our hearts worship this wonderful Savior; and may we learn to trust Him in all our trials of life. Surely, Jesus does not need mere men to make Him the King that He is!