Jesus: The 2 boat incidents

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by marilynbj

by marilynbj

Jesus: The 2 boat incidents

21/10/2016

Matthew 8:23-27 New King James Version (NKJV)

Wind and Wave Obey Jesus

23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

Note: The disciples were fearful and went to Jesus for help. Jesus was sleeping in the storm. He was not affected by the circumstances around Him. He is in control of it all for He has all the authority and He is sovereign.

26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Note: Jesus questioned their faith. They had already witnessed many miracles done by Him and still did not recognise who He was.

Just by His Words, the winds and the sea came to a great calm. There was a sudden and immediate great calm, i.e. it did not gradually stop in natural means but supernaturally miraculously.

Matthew 14:22-33 New King James Version (NKJV)

Jesus Walks on the Sea

22 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.

Note: This incident occurred after the feeding of the 5000 men (apart from women & children) with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. Jesus made the disciples get into the boat to go before Him to the other side while He sent the multitudes away. After that, Jesus went up on the mountain to be alone with the Father in prayer. He spent many hours there alone with God the Father in prayer.

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.

Note: After praying for many hours, Jesus walked on the tossing waves of the sea to the disciples in the middle of the sea late at night. The disciples were fearful when they saw Him.

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.”

Note: After Peter saw that Jesus was walking on the waves and heard Him identify Himself as Jesus, he asked Jesus to allow him to walk on the water to Jesus.

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.

Note: After hearing Jesus' command, he responded in faith and stepped out of the boat and walked on the tossing waves of the sea water towards Jesus. However, once he took his focus off from Jesus and onto the circumstances around him, he lost faith and began to sink. After he requested for help from Jesus, Jesus immediately helped him. (When we take our eyes and focus off from God, and onto the circumstances, we will fall. When we are in trouble, we need to pray to God for help, and He will help us.) Jesus questioned his faith. In the first boat incident, Jesus had already demonstrated His power and authority over the winds and seas. Yet, even so, Peter did not have enough faith to believe in the power and authority of Jesus over the situation. Seeing is believing? No, even though Peter had seen previously that Jesus could calm the wind and waves, he still did not have enough faith.

33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Note: In the first boat incident, the men marveled and questioned “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” For the 2nd boat incident, they recognised Him as the Son of God.

Matthew 10:1 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Twelve Apostles

10 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

Note: After the first boat incident in chapter 8, Jesus had given all the disciples power to do miraculous works in chapter 10. However, even so, in chapter 14, when the disciples saw Jesus walking on water, only Peter had a certain degree of faith to step out of the boat and walk on water. All the other 11 disciples did not get out of the boat even after they saw Peter walk on the water. Seeing is believing? No, faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. Even though Peter saw Jesus walking on water, he still needed to hear Jesus' single word of command "Come" before he could take that step of faith out of the boat. If you want to do supernatural things, step out of the boat. Step out of the natural into the spiritual, into the power and authority of Jesus. Jesus has all the authority.

Romans 10:17 New King James Version (NKJV)

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

2 Corinthians 5:7 New King James Version (NKJV)

7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Matthew 28:18-20 New King James Version (NKJV)

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.