31

John 6:14-21 THE MIRACULOUS WALKING ON WATER

Introduction:

In our previous text Jesus miraculously fed a multitude

with five loaves of bread and 2 fishes. In this text He

Performs a miracle which is just as spectacular. He walks

on water --- in a storm!

I. The desire of the multitude to crown Jesus as king

Both Matthew and Mark tell us that after the miraculous

feeding, Jesus sent His disciples away by boat. They were

to go in the general direction of Capernaum, but according

to Mark, they were to wait for Him at Bethsaida before going

on to Capernaum.

After Jesus sent the disciples away, He then sent the

multitude away. Then Jesus, Himself, went up into a

mountain to spend time alone with God the Father. He spent

this time in prayer to God The Father and in mourning for

John the Baptist who had been beheaded.

V. 14, "Then those men, when they had seen the miracle

that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that

should come into the world." The people were so impressed

with the great miracle which Jesus performed, feeding them

all with only five loaves of bread and two fish, that they

were all in agreement that Jesus is Great Prophet which God

had promised to send. That is, they declared Him to be the

Messiah.

There was a problem. They were not thinking in terms of

God sending them a Savior to save them from their sins.

They were thinking only of God sending them a king to save

them from Gentile rule. They desperately wanted somebody to

drive out the Romans, who ruled over them. They were

overjoyed at the prospect that Jesus just might be the man

who would save them from the Romans. So they were on the

verge of returning to Jesus and taking Him by force and

crowning Him as their king.

V. 15, "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." That is, Jesus went

away from everybody. We have noted that He went away to

spend time in prayer and mourning. But an additional reason

He went away was so that they could not come back and

attempt to make Him their king.

The people quite aware that Jesus was not trying to make

Himself a king. However, they had already decided that He

is the man whom God intended to be their king and to deliver

them from the Romans. They were so anxious for Him to

become king that they were not willing to wait for God to

make Him their king. They were discussing taking Him by

force and crowning Him as the King of Israel. They wanted

to forcefully take Him to the temple at Jerusalem where He

would be proclaimed to be the king of all the land of

Israel. They could envision Him using His miraculous powers

to rally all the nation of Israel behind Him. They were

also counting on Him to use those same miraculous powers to

make war against the Romans and drive them out.

II. The disciples caught in a storm

V. 16-17, "And when even was now come, his disciples

went down unto the sea, And entered into a ship, and went

over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and

Jesus was not come to them." These verses look back to the

disciples. They had been sent away by Jesus even before the

multitude left. They had gone down into the boat and

started back in the general direction of Capernaum. It was

probably getting dusky dark when they left, but it was

really dark now.

V. 18, "And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that

blew. It was quite common on the Sea of Galilee for sudden

storms to arise. The nearby mountains would hide the

approaching storm until it would suddenly make its

appearance and bear down upon them.

So there was a sudden wind and suddenly the waves began

to rise and toss. It can be a frightening experience even

for seasoned seamen.

III. Jesus coming to the disciples

V. 19, "So when they had rowed about five and twenty or

thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and

drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid." The

disciples were struggling desperately to row the boat toward

safety. They were still a great distance from land when

they saw someone walking toward them across the huge waves.

It looked like Jesus. It was Jesus although Matthew and

Mark inform us that they really ts really Jesus. He was there in flesh and

blood walking across the waves of the sea. The full weight

of His body was supported by the waves of the sea.

John does not mention what took place next. The Apostle

Peter cried out and said, "If it is really you, Lord, then

bid me to come to you. Let me walk on the water and come

out to you." Jesus said, "Come on! Come on out!" So the

Apostle Peter hopped over the side of that boat out onto

those waves and started out toward Jesus. The Lord enabled

even the Apostle Peter to walk on the water.

He must have walked a considerable distance. He walked

right on top of that water just like Jesus did until He got

within arm's reach of Jesus. Then he looked around him at

the stormy waters. That was a big mistake. He got

frightened and down he went into the water. Jesus had to re

rescue him. Jesus reached down and lifted him back up out

of the water.

By the time Jesus got Simon Peter back to the boat, the

disciples had decided that it really was Jesus and they were

overjoyed to see Him and to have Him in the boat with them.

IV. Jesus in the boat with the disciples

V. 21, "Then they willingly received him into the

ship..." They could remember a previous occasion when He was

with them in a boat and they were in grave danger in a

storm. On that occasion Jesus just spoke to the storm and

suddenly the winds and waves were calmed. So they were

exceptionally glad to see Him and have Him in the boat with

them. They felt safe with Jesus in the boat with them.

Their faith in Him was not in vain. Matthew and Mark

tell us that when Jesus got in the boat with them the winds

suddenly stopped and the waves suddenly calmed. He did not

even have to speak to the waves this time. They just

stopped. But there was no doubt in the minds of these

disciples that it was the miraculous power of Jesus that

calmed the storm.

The King James translation of the latter part of verse

21 could easily lead us to believe that another miracle took

place. (V. 21), "...and immediately the ship was at the

land whither they went." However, the Greek word which here

is translated "immediately" is usually translated "quickly."

It does not mean "instantly," but "quickly." That is, after

the winds and waves were calmed they very easily and quickly

made it to shore. They had struggled hard and long trying

to get to shore in the storm, but they made it without any

problem once Jesus stopped the storm. Please do not

misunderstand me. If the language used in the original

writing had indicated an instantaneous moving of the boat to

land, then that is what I would believe. I know that the

mighty power of Jesus which could feed a multitude with five

loaves and two fishes and which could walk on water and calm

the storm would have no problem whatsoever moving that boat

instantly to shore. It's just a matter of rightly dividing

the word of God and believing what it says.

V. Jesus, the Savior of man

What I want to point out to you is that Jesus is the

Savior of men. This is something which the multitude should

have recognized, but didn't. He has the power to save. He

had the power to feed the multitude and He did. He had the

power to walk on the water and He did. He had the power to

enable the Apostle Peter to walk on water and He did. He

had the power to calm the storm and He did. He has the

power to save the souls of lost sinners and He does. He

saves the souls of hell-bound sinners and takes them to

heaven.

The very reason that Jesus came into the world was to

save sinners. Jesus had saved all of the twelve apostles

except for Judas. And He would have saved Judas if Judas

had only trusted in Him. Even after Judas betrayed Jesus

and Jesus was crucified, if he had trusted in Jesus for

salvation, Jesus would have saved him. Jesus arose from the

grave and is able to save all who trust in Him. Back in

John 1:12 it was said that as many as received Him to them

gave He power to become the sons of God. He saved the

Lazarus and carried Him to heaven. He saved Saul of Tarsus,

who had persecuted the early Christians and made havoc of

the early church. He saved the publican who would not so

much as lift his eyes toward heaven, but cried out, "Lord,

be merciful to me, a sinner." He saved the thief on the

cross.

He saved me when I was sixteen years of age down in

Pensacola, Florida. Jesus has saved most of the people who

are here in this service today. Jesus will save you if you

will acknowledge to God that you are lost in your sins and

if you will call on Jesus and ask Him to save your soul.

Conclusion:

Will you come this morning and call on Jesus and trust

Him to save you and keep you out of hell-fire? We are going

to have an invitation hymn and extend to you an invitation

to come publicly and trust Jesus for salvation.

We also invite those of you who are Christians and who

wish to unite with this church to come and place your

membership here with us. While we sing, will you come.