FOLLOW OUR PODCAST ON (search opentheword):

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• IHeartRadio
• Listen Notes
• TuneIn
• Podchaser
• YouTube Music Podcasts (audio)
• Amazon podcasts

PODCAST NOTES:

One of the more notable stories in the Gospels is the time Jesus walked on water.

But it’s easy to miss the hidden message within this miracle.

According to Mark 6, after miraculously feeding 5,000 people, Jesus told His disciples to go by boat across the Sea of Galilee to Bethesda. Jesus remained behind to pray.

Because the Sea of Galilee is surrounded by mountains, storms pop up quickly when the cooler mountain air mixes with Galilee’s warm moist air.

As the disciples were crossing they were hit with a sudden storm. The wind was pushing against them and as the disciples struggled with the oars. Jesus suddenly appeared walking on the water.

Shocked, the disciples initially thought they were seeing a ghost.

While there is certainly the miraculous element to this story, many miss the bigger message. Without stating it outright, Jesus was demonstrating that He was Jehovah in the flesh.

This is seen from several passages throughout the Old Testament that speak of God walking on water.

It starts off with arguably the Bible’s oldest book, Job, which describes the power of God with these words:

He who commands the sun, and it does not shine
and seals up the stars,
⁸ he alone spreads out the heavens,
and treads on the waves of the sea. (Job 9:7-8) .

The idea of Jehovah walking on water is seen again in Psalm 77. This passage starts off in verse 11 attributing what follows to Jehovah (LORD in all caps).

You walked through the sea;
you passed through the surging waters,
but left no footprints. (Psalm 77:19)

Notice how the passage emphasizes, the miraculous nature of this because, Jehovah left no footprints.

The same idea is presented again in Isaiah 43:16.

Now Jesus was doing exactly the same thing.

But Mark alludes to Jesus being Jehovah with a second odd phrase, when he writes that Jesus ‘came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them” (Mark 6:48 ESV).

This phrase was significant and one Jews were very familiar with. This is because it connects back to Moses who desired to see God’s Glory in Exodus 33:18. However, Jehovah told Moses that if any man sees God’s face they would die.

Twice in verse 22, Jehovah said He would ‘pass by’ Moses allowing him to see God’s back:

Without saying it, Jesus was demonstrating to His disciples that He was the Son of God, Jehovah in the flesh.

Matthew adds:

And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are truly God’s Son!” (Matthew 14:33)

This is the same Greek word the writer of Hebrews used to describe angels worshiping God in Hebrews 1 verse 6.

It was the first time that the disciples worshiped Christ as they finally recognized they were seeing God in the flesh.