By: Dale Weckbacher
John 6:16-21
Now when evening
came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into the boat, and went over
the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to
them. 18 Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. 19 So when they
had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and
drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. 20 But He said to them, "It
is I; do not be afraid." 21 Then
they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the
land where they were going.
NKJV
This story is probably one of the most well known accounts
of Jesus ministry recorded in the Bible.
We also find this account recorded in Luke 14:22-33 and Mark6:45-52. However, unlike the storm
recorded in Matthew 8:23-27 where Jesus was asleep in the boat with the
disciples, this time Jesus is high on a mountain top praying. However, even though Jesus is seemingly
separated from the Disciples, he is actually high on a mountain top where he
can see what is happening to his Disciples.
This provides a great lesson for us today for even though we may not see
Jesus with us physically, he is always with us seated high at the right hand of
the God the Father and aware of our every struggle.
Radical change is occurring in our world with the reversal
of institutions and traditions held by humanity for centuries and replaced with
perverted values that are a slap in the face of God. For example,
1) Marriage
– Traditionally marriage has been a union of one man and one woman. However, with the ruling by the U.S. Supreme
Court upholding Gay Marriage (1) and the
recent legalization of gay marriage by referendum of citizens in Ireland, (2) we are now asked to believe that these long
held traditions that have survived for centuries are somehow wrong. In reality, what is occurring here is a group
of individuals with no regard for God’s Word attempting to change it. What I have to say to them is good luck for
people have been attempting to change God’s Word for centuries and it has withstood
all of these efforts. This effort too
will fail.
2) Life
– God has a high esteem for life for when Adam and Eve sinned, the penalty for
their sin was death. However, instead of
just killing Adam and Eve for their disobedience, God gave them the promise of
a savior in Genesis 3:15 and allowed them to live banished from the Garden of
Eden. Instead of allowing humanity to
die in their sins, God sent his Son to take the death penalty in humanities
place (John 3:16). However, we are now
asked by society to condone the murder, not abortion, of the unborn and even
condone the selling of their body parts, in the interest of medical
research. (3) One of the 10
commandments says, “thou shalt not kill.”
(Exodus 20:13) The Hebrew word
translated kill in this verse is ratsach or to murder or slay. Murder’s legal definition is “the killing of
a human being by a sane person with intent, malice aforethought (prior
intention to kill the particular victim or anyone who gets in the way) and with
no legal excuse or authority. (4) Granted,
in the United States, Roe v. Wade provided legal precedent condoning
abortion. However, I believe the legal
excuse, authority in the definition of murder speaks of killing with the excuse
of self-defense, or the authority granted an individual in time of war and is
not condoning the killing of an unwanted unborn child for convenience. Therefore, abortion is murder and murder is something
most societies through the centuries have ruled illegal.
3) National
Security – The primary role of any government is the safety and security of its
citizens. However, the recent Iranian
deal (5) and the invasion of illegal
immigrants (6) into the United States
represent a national security threat.
Iran, along with working in developing a nuclear program, also possesses
Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles callable of delivering a nuclear warhead
to any part of the globe, (7) including
the United States. However, the wizards
of smart, or should I say idiocy, believe that the Iranian regime, a regime
that believes in death to America, is somehow not intending to use these
missiles to deliver a nuclear bomb to the United States. This is no different from Chamberlain
believing Hitler would honor the Munich Accord, However, this time with much
more serious consequences. (8) We
are also asked to believe that people illegally crossing the border intend no
harm and are beneficial to the economy of the United States when there are
evidence many, not all, of these individuals commit crimes, including murder,
against citizens of the United States (9)
and take jobs away from citizens who have dropped out of the U.S.
workforce. (10)
These political storms are dangerous and threaten the very
fabric of our civil society but we must have faith knowing that Jesus is seated
at the right hand of God the Father and totally aware of the situation. I encourage God’s people to pray earnestly
for our world and nation as it is in the middle of this storm, knowing that
Jesus will come to us at just the right time to calm the storm. This speaks of the return of Jesus to the
earth to establish His millennial kingdom but also speaks of Him coming to calm
the storms in each of our lives. However,
He will only calm the storm if we willing let him into the boat (John 6:21).
If you are experiencing storms in your life today or
troubled by the storms plaguing our society and want to experience relief, I
encourage you to invite Jesus into the boat of your life so he can calm these storms
for you. In addition, continue to pray
for our world and nations that God will reverse these ungodly and dangerous
trends in our society and calm the storms disrupting our civil societies.
1. Chappell, Bill.
Supreme Court Declares Same-Sex Marriage Legal in All 50 States. www.npr.org.
[Online] NPR, June 26, 2015. [Cited: August 2, 2015.]
www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/26/417717613/supreme-court-rules-all-states-must-allow-same-sex-marriages.
2. Hjelmgaard, Kim.
Ireland Legalizes Gay Marriage in Historic Vote. www.usatoday.com. [Online]
USA Today, May 24, 2015. [Cited: August 2, 2015.]
www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/05/23/ireland-gay-marriage-referendum/27833821/.
3. Whalen, Jeanne.
Use of Fetal tissue in Research Back in the Sporlight. www.wsj.com. [Online]
The Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2015. [Cited: August 2, 2015.]
www.wsj.com/articles/use-of-fetal-tissue-use-in-research-back-in-the-spotlight-1438382094.
4. Law.com. Murder.
dictionary.law.com. [Online] Law.com. [Cited: August 2, 2015.]
5. Krauthammer,
Charles. The fatal flaw in the Iran deal. www.washingtonpost.com. [Online]
The Washington Post, February 26, 2015. [Cited: March 7, 2015.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-fatal-flaw-in-the-iran-deal/2015/02/26/9186c70e-bde1-11e4-8668-4e7ba8439ca6_story.html.
6. Tenn), Rep. Phil Roe
(R -. Illegal Immigration is a Serious Threat to America's National
Security. thehill.com. [Online] The Hill, April 26, 2012. [Cited: August
2, 2015.]
7. Devaney, Jason.
Report: Iran Has Ballistic Missile That Poses Threat to United States. www.newsmax.com.
[Online] News Max, January 22, 2015. [Cited: August 2, 2015.]
www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/620245.
8. Wolfmanwill.
Neville Chamberlain - Peace in our Time. YouTube.com. [Online] YouTube,
November 15, 2010. [Cited: March 22, 2015.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO725Hbzfls.
9. Hoven, Randall.
Illegal Aliens Murder at a Much Higher Rate Than U.S. Citizens Do. www.americanthinker.com.
[Online] American Thinker, July 13, 2015. [Cited: August 2, 2015.]
www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/07/illegal_aliens_murder_at_a_much_higher_rate_than_us_citizens_do.html.
10. Greenberg, Jon.
Economist: Immigrants Have Taken All New Jobs Created Since 2000. www.politifact.com.
[Online] Tampa Bay Times, December 2, 2014. [Cited: August 2, 2015.]
www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/dec/02/peter-morici/economist-immigrants-have-taken-all-new-jobs-creat/.
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