Who walked on water, Jesus or Moses?

Verses 15-21. "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," etc. While He is praying on the mount, a figure of His heavenly place of intercession (a reality, of course), they are on the sea — it is a figure of the remnant. It is a beautiful picture of intercession in heaven. In Matthew 14 you get this scene developed. Why not here? I believe the reason is, because John's object is always to bring out the personal glory and greatness of Christ. "It is I;" that was enough to still every fear, for God Himself was in that I. They see Him walking on the sea. Who but God could do that? That is the thought of the Spirit here. It is a divine Person. The act reveals the Person. "Who is able to remit sins except God alone?" they say, in Mark 2. "But that ye may know that the Son of man has power on the earth to remit sins, he says to the paralytic, To thee I say, Arise, take up thy couch, and go to thine house. And he was raised up straightway, and, having taken up his couch, went out before them all; so that all were amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it thus." His words, we may add, equally revealed the Person who was there — He was morally that which He uttered. (John 8:25.) With Him thoughts, words, and acts had their common source in the infinite depths of the divine nature. John is always bringing in a divine Person. The Holy Ghost, as far as we have gone, knows no other object than His Person. As Jehovah He fed the multitude. He does not say, "I am Jehovah;" but who else could feed five thousand men out of a few loaves and fishes? Who but God, could walk upon the waters? Jehovah is a name of relationship. You do not say it is Jehovah that walked on the water — you say it is God.

In His answer to the terrified disciples the Lord said, "Be of good cheer, I am." It is well known that this is the right rendering of the words. We see Him thus a Man yet the great "I Am" in a scene that shows figuratively all the power of evil under His feet. He walks upon the sea as His by double right: in Godhead He created it and in Manhood it forms part of His vast domain and in a coming day when the universe, animate and inanimate, hymns forth His praises, the sea shall join with all other parts in that universal song. "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar and the fulness thereof, Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord" (Ps. 96:12-13).

The sea is often taken in Scripture to represent the restless forces of evil. At its creation He had shut it up within doors when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb. He had set bars and doors and said, Hitherto shalt thou come but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. Again it is said "The floods have lifted up, O Lord the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have lifted up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea" (Job 38:8-11; Ps. 93:34). Here in the double rights of His Divine-human Person the Lord Jesus Christ is seen with all the powers of evil figuratively underneath His feet. What a scene for our devout contemplation; well might we adoringly sing "Crown Him LORD of all."

For His great miracle had not brought peace to a troubled world, nor was it intended to do so. This is illustrated in the evening, when the disciples began the return journey across the sea of Galilee. The stormy sea is a picture of the world's unrest that will in fact only increase in the dark hours of the tribulation period. Could He not restrain the wind and the sea from such agitation? Certainly, but He did not do so until the morally appropriate time. Yet He walked on the sea when it was raging, the Lord of glory in perfect control of all the elements (v. 19). The disciples needed this manifestation, for in seeing Him they were afraid, rather than simply adoring Him. They must learn in experience that He is truly Lord of all.

It was the night after the feeding of the five thousand, and the disciples, by command of their Lord, were crossing the sea of Galilee in a fishing boat. The Lord mercifully sent them away before the multitude pressed upon Him the kingdom (John 6:15). Such were their carnal thoughts that such a temptation would almost certainly have carried the disciples along with it. This temporary separation of the Lord from His own is a picture of our circumstances at the present time. Even as He occupied Himself with prayer upon the mountain top then, so is He engaged in a ministry of intercession on our behalf at this moment on high. The disciples found their situation deeply trying without Him. Comparing John 6:19 with Matt. 14:25, they appear to have covered but little more than three miles after some nine hours' rowing. Their difficult voyage is strikingly suggestive of the stormy and toilsome passage of the Church during the entire period of her Lord's absence in heaven.

In the fourth watch, somewhere between 3 and 6 a.m., the Lord came to His disciples, filling them for the moment with alarm as they beheld Him walking on the water. "It is a spirit," cried they in their terror, which was soon allayed by His comforting voice, saying, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." Why did He not at once still the raging of the sea, as in Matt. 8:26? Nay, who can interpret all His ways with His people? On the one occasion He stayed the tempest; this time He comforted them in it, and rendered them superior to it by His grace. In like manner, we have the apostles instantly released from prison in Acts 5:19, while Peter was suffered to remain in the hands of his persecutors until the last hour in Acts 12:6, and Paul and Silas at a later date were delivered only by an earthquake (16:26). Similar differences may be observed in the dealings of God with His people to-day. What we need is simple faith in His goodness that whatever form His dealings take all must be well. It is not always the best thing to be lifted entirely out of the circumstances which distress us, although frail flesh and blood would fain have it so.

(Vv. 47 - 52). The disciples find that not only are they bereft of the bodily presence of the Lord, but that they have to face the storms of life, and have to toil in rowing. Everything in this world is contrary to the Lord's people. But if the world is against us and the devil is opposed to us, the Lord on high is interceding for us. But if the Lord is absent, He is not indifferent to the storms and difficulties His people have to meet. "He saw them toiling," and He came to them. But He came in a way that set forth His superiority to all the circumstances they were in, for He came "walking on the water." The display of a power so far beyond that which is possible to man, filled the disciples with fear. "They were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered." But the One whose power is greater than all the storms that men or the devil can raise, is the One Who is for us. He had been praying for them on the mountain, He had seen them toiling, and now He comes to them. Nevertheless, He tries their faith, even as believers are often tested in our day, for we read, He "would have passed them by." His power, His intercession, His loving care, are all at their disposal, but have they the faith to avail themselves of His fulness? In their trouble they cry out, "and immediately He talked with them," saying, "It is I; be not afraid." He may come to them in the glory of His power, above all storms, but He assures them that it is Himself — Jesus, their Saviour, Shepherd, Friend. The One that a little while before men had rejected as only a Carpenter, is now seen to be the Creator who can walk upon the sea, and Whom the winds and the waves obey.

That is what introduces His departure in figure here; He sends His disciples, and He goes up into a mountain to pray; He goes on high, as it were — that is what is represented by His going up into the mountain — and the disciples cross the water in a boat, and you have their vicissitudes. O how blessed it is to think what it says here, "He saw them." Now I want my brothers in the Lord here tonight to share with me the comfort that passage brings; "He saw them toiling in rowing." Ah! brother, you are labouring, it may be in some sphere of service or work, and it is very uphill, very hard, and it takes a great deal out of you, and you are very often depressed. Now think of this, "He saw them toiling in rowing." Not the shades of night, nor the earnest vigil, which He kept in prayer on the mountain-top, nor the storm-lashed lake that they were crossing, none of these things had hidden His poor servants from the Master's eyes: "He saw them." O what a comfort that is! What a comfort for us all, whatever may be the character of the "rowing," whatever may be the character of the labour or danger as we sail over the sea of life, "He saw them." O what words these are! Those blessed eyes looked down in a tenderness which was all His own! And now mark this, in the darkest part of the night Jesus came to them. That is always the time Jesus comes. The fourth watch is just upon day dawn, and the dawn of day is, as we know, preceded by the darkest part of the night. Have you never watched by the bedside of some beloved one, and have you not witnessed (I know some here have) the struggle between darkness and dawn? There is a sort of struggle between night and day at the very moment just preceding day dawn. That is the time Jesus comes. And observe how beautiful it is; He came walking on the water. Let us delight in contemplating the majesty of His love!It is not only that I see His divine power as He steps the waves, but I see the majesty of His mighty love. They could not be upon the stormy sea without His walking those waves too; they could not be, as it were, in difficulty and in danger without His drawing near to them; they could not be surrounded by the fury and hurricane of the tempest that came down from the mountain side and threatened to destroy their little bark, without His going near to them too. He came to them walking upon the water. There is a little touch here of great beauty; have you ever thought of it? "He made as though he would have passed by them." What do you think the meaning of that was? Do you think it was a mere accident that this is recorded for us here? Do you think it is a mere little trifling circumstance in the history that the Spirit of God brings out? I believe it is exactly the same thing that you find in Luke 24, when He joined those two poor, heart-broken, weary ones upon the morning of His resurrection, as they walked and were sad, and had given up all hope in this world, and said, "This is the third day since these things were done;" it says, "He made as though he would have gone farther." It is the same kind of action here; He "would have passed by them." Why? To call out from them the faintest cry of want and need of Him; that is what it is. It was not that He was indifferent, that He did not feel; oh, assuredly, it was not that!

It could not be as to Him of whom it is so sweetly said, "That tender heart that felt for all, For all its life-blood gave" — oh no; He was never insensible to the distresses of His poor servants in their vicissitudes; but He delights to draw out confidence. Oh! if there is the feeblest confiding of trust in any of your poor hearts here to-night, if nearly everything has fled but this one hope in Him, small though it be, be assured He wants that. That is the meaning of this action here; He would have passed them by; but only that He might awake up, and draw out, as it were, and minister to, the dying embers of that faith which was in the heart. Then they "cried out". How grateful to His heart that cry! Was not He attentive? Did He not delight in that confidence so expressed? Mark what He says; there are three words here, "Be of good cheer," "Be not afraid;" but note especially the words between them. Our beautiful old translation has it, "It is I;" but that in reality means "I am," ego eimi, the same as in John 8, "I am." Mark the connection, "Be of good cheer;" "I am;" "be not afraid." O beloved friends, what a trinity of blessedness there is in these three expressions! "Be of good cheer:" might not that well wipe away every tear from every eye? "I am:" the mighty God in the glory and dignity and majesty of His own person walking the waves and waters. "Be not afraid:" the very word He is saying to us to-night. Now, brother or sister (thank God we can all of us be engaged in work in different ways), you are "toiling in rowing:" God in His infinite grace give us that blessed confidence in Christ's care and love, that amid every wind and storm and our toiling through them, we may ever hear Him say, "Be of good cheer" — "I am" — "Be not afraid." Oh the luxury of being the means of blessing to some poor heart! The one who is so used knows its sweetness; but it must be tasted to be known and thus enjoyed. "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty." But remember, in all the vicissitudes of service, and in all the ups and downs so-called of life, whether it be at home or in the service of God, in the world or in the church, whether it be in the counting house or at the counter, wherever you are, remember this, there will be "toiling in rowing" while Jesus is absent; but in the darkest part of your night He is near, so we can sing, "In darkest shades, if He appear My morning is begun."

He trod upon the waves of the sea. That which had fled before the action of His mighty hand in days of old (Psalm 114), became a pavement for His feet, and to the anxious fears of His disciples said "Fear not, I am." When Peter would intrude with nature's best intention He said "Get thee behind Me, Satan." To them all, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?" and to Peter's question about John He answered, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?"

In this watch therefore Jesus walked on the sea to meet His disciples. The sight was of course astounding, and they cried out for fear, thinking Him to be a spirit. The miraculous character of this is intended to impress us with the greatness of His power over the Gentile sea Of nations, He being in sovereign control even while they are still raging, and eventually subduing all under Him, as Son of Man. For He is Man, not a spirit, and His voice calms their troubled hearts.

The Lord crossed the sea several times, and taught from a ship near the shore, and once He walked upon its waters. Storms often arise suddenly, as did the one when the Lord was asleep on a pillow. Mark 4:37-41; Luke 8:22-25.

Also in this chapter we have the fifth sign — Jesus walked upon the sea. Just as He came to His disciples in that day in the midst of the storm so will He come to His elect in the coming darkness and strong wind of the great tribulation day. He will bring the storm to an end by His glorious appearing and bring His own to their desired haven. He is the Master of the seas — the winds and the waves are under His control. He it is who said in Job 38:11, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed."