Jesus is God
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning
What is blue and doesn’t weigh much? Light blue
Today we are going to be in Mark 4: 35-41. We are finishing up chapter 4. Last week we talked about the power in the seed. We have nothing to do with weather or not the seed grows. All that is up to God. All we are to do is sow the seed and then get ready for the harvest.
We then saw how the Kingdom of God started out a small as a mustard seed, but has grown into something very large. We talked about how God’s love is so big that it overflows and even the unbelievers benefit from it. We should have so much love that ours overflows also. We are to care for our brothers and sisters and out of our love for them, we should overflow to the nonbelievers.
Today we are going to look at Jesus’ power and how the disciples reacted to His display of power. It had been a long day of teaching for Jesus and He decided that it was time for them to move locations, He had one more lesson for them. Let’s read our verses and see what God has for us today.
Mark 4:35–41 (NASB 2020)
35 On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 36 After dismissing the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. 37 And a fierce gale of wind developed, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling with water. 38 And yet Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.40 And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
Let’s pray
Let’s get a little back ground on the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is the lowest fresh water lake in the world, 700’ below sea level. The only lake lower is the Dead Sea, it is salt water. It has a maximum depth of 141’. It has 64 square miles of surface area. It is fed by the Jordan River. In 2016, the lake supplied about 10% of Israel’s drinking water needs. The Sea of Galilee is an important lake to Isreal. In 2005 270 tons of tilapia were caught by local fisherman. It is a major food source for the region. The lake is surrounded by mountains and hills. The tallest mountain Mt. Hermon reaches 10,000’ about the Sea of Galilee. The hills reach nearly 1,400’ above the Sea. The Mountains of Golan Heights reach more than 2500’. Because the mountains that surround it, it has the potential to produce very high winds. The winds from the West coming from the desert sweep down the mountains and into the lake. It is common for wind storms to happen. With the winds come waves. The waves can reach up to 10’ high. That is very rare for waves to get that high in a lake. The East winds blow in cold air and when it meets the warm air of the lake, storms pop up. Even today with all of our technology, people get caught in storms on the lake.
Because of the frequent chance of storms, most of the fishing of that time was done at night. It was not common for the storms to be a night. It was the heat of the day that caused most of the storms, so the cool of night was the safest time to be on the water in the boat.
Verse 35 tells us that they were crossing that evening. Jesus had just spent all day teaching to the crowds and the disciples. Jesus dismissed the crowd and then all the followers got in boats and they headed to the other side. It says that they took Jesus just as He was. How was He? He was already in a boat. He had gotten into the boat to teach to the crowd so that they could hear Him better. So they just got in the boat with Him. The boats that they used to fish with in that time were very similar in size to the boats we use today. They were not massive boats. They found one not to long ago that was mostly still in together. It was around 27’ long and 7’ wide. It would hold about 15 people. In Jesus’ boat it was probably the disciples. We don’t know this for sure, but from the size, it is a good estimate. It tells us that there were other boats in the group. Jesus would of had a large following at that time, so it is safe to say that there would have been a lot of boats making the journey across the lake. It wasn’t until later in His ministry that a lot of His followers left Him. We are told that when the storm started Jesus was in the stern of the boat, that is the back of the boat for all you land lovers. And that He was asleep. This is a sign of His humanity. Jesus had been teaching all day and was probably very tired. Have you ever been so tired that when you laid down you fell asleep and woke up thinking it had only been a few minutes but it actually had been hours. I was so tired once that I fell asleep at a Winter Jam concert. Jesus was fully man and fully God. We see here His human side, He got tired. It wasn’t His job to row or steer the boat, so He laid down in the back of the boat and put His head on a pillow. He was out. He was so out of that not even the waves coming over the side woke Him up.
At least 4 of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen, more than likely there were a few more who were fishermen also. But we know for sure of 4 of them, Peter, Andrew, James, and John. They would have been in storms on the lake before. They would have known what to do in situations like this. But this storm was worse than the other storms. It was a fierce gale. The winds could have been upwards of 70 mph. That boat would not have stood a chance in the storm, and the disciples knew it. This was probably worse than any storm that Peter, Andrew, James or John had been in. They were afraid. This storm was so bad that the waves were breaking over the bow of the boat and it was taking on water. They didn’t have electric bilge pumps back then. It says that the boat was filling with water. They could bail out the water faster than it was coming in. They finally got so worried that they woke Jesus and look at what they said to Him. Do you not care! Really, they had been watching Him teach, heal and cast out demons. That is the power of fear, it can cause us to forget the things that we know are true. It can cause us to lose are senses. There are 3 reasons that the disciples should have not been worried about dying.
1. Jesus told them that they were going to the other side. He did say let’s go to the middle of the lake and die. Just like our life with Him, He doesn’t promise an easy trip, but He does promise that we will arrive at our final destination.
2. Jesus was with them. They had already witnessed His power over demons, and sickness. Jesus had performed many miracles, and they saw Him do them.
3. They knew that Jesus was asleep. If there would have been cause for concern, Jesus would have been awake. He would not let the people that He had just called to follow Him die in the lake.
That is what fear does to us though. We do the same thing, when times get bad, really bad, we cry out to Him and say are you there, do you see what I am going through, do you not care!
Of course He cares, we can see that by what He did next. He rebuked the wind and told the sea to hush and be still. It obeyed. Since Jesus created the wind and the sea, He has authority over it. Only God can command the wind and the sea. No one had ever do what Jesus just did! He displayed His true nature. He is God. Jonah, a prophet sent from God, did command the storm or the sea. Paul when he was in the terrible storm didn’t try to rebuke it. Only the one who created the wind and sea can tell it what to do. There are several Old Testament verses that speak to this fact.
5 By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, God of our salvation,
You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and the farthest sea;
6 Who establishes the mountains by His strength,
Who is encircled with might;
7 Who stills the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the turmoil of the nations.
8 They who dwell at the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;
You make the sunrise and the sunset shout for joy.
8 Lord God of armies, who is like You, mighty Lord?
Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
9 You rule the surging of the sea;
When its waves rise, You calm them.
Job 38 This is the were you there chapter. Where God is asking Job was he there when He created the Earth.
Psalm 18:15.
Psalm 104:7.
Psalm 106:9.
Isaiah 50:2.
Nahum 1:4.
Psalm 107:28-29.
After He had calmed the storm and the sea, Jesus turned to the disciples and asked them why they were afraid, Do you still have no faith? They had all see Jesus do many miracles and amazing things. They knew He had power, but they did not know He had all power. That was the lesson that He wanted to teach them. He was God. They would have know what the Old Testament said about God controlling the wind and the sea. No one had ever done that before. They were amazed.
We see that in their response. It says that they became very much afraid. They realized that God was with them in the boat. That made them even more scared than they were of the storm. For them to be in the presence of God was a dangerous thing. This is a different word in the Greek for fear. The first word used for fear, means cowardly, lack of courage. The word for fear used here is for reverence, intimidation. This is the natural response when sinful man encounters the Living God. John in Revelation 1:17 fell at Jesus’ feet like a dead man. Peter when Jesus told him to case the net on the other side of the boat and he filled the nets, told Jesus to depart from him because he was a sinful man. Any time someone encounter God in the Bible, they were afraid. Their fear was justified by what they had just witnessed.
So what do we do with this? Most commentators say it is about Jesus rescuing us from our trials. I believe that that is one thing we can take away from this, but I don’t believe that is the main point that the story was meant to tell us. I believe that main point of the story is that Jesus is God. Jesus was teaching them that He was in control of everything. Nothing was outside of His authority. They had no reason to fear again. There journey was not going to be easy or a smooth path, but there is nothing to worry about. Jesus would make sure that they made it to their destination.
We can have that same assurance today. Jesus is still just as much in control today as He was then. Jesus has not lost any of His power. When we repent, believe and surrender to Him, He is faithful to make sure that we persevere to the end. We will make it to our final destination. Our journey is not an easy one. It is filled with tests, trials and temptations. So we pass, so we fail. But take heart, He is still in control, He will make sure that He finishes what He has started in us. He is with us always. He lets us go through some things just so He can let us know He is in control. Just like in the story of Job, God was in control and Job’s faith was strong on the other side of his trial. Romans 8:28
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Sometimes His purpose is to reveal that He is God. Something that we forget sometimes.
He will remind us when we do. It may not be a fun lesson, but it is one that we need to have. Things can get so bad sometimes that we lose site of the fact that He is still God, He is still in control, and He does care about His children.
Let’s try to remember when the times are tuff, that He is still God and He will never leave us.
Let’s pray
