Mat 14:22-33 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord must force His disciples to go on board and go ahead of Him to the other side without Him. He Himself says goodbye to the crowds. After having given proof of His blessed presence in the miraculous feeding, now inevitably comes the moment that He must send the people away. It is a prophetic picture of what God had to do with His people because they rejected His Son. When the Lord has sent the mass of people away, He climbs the mountain to pray. His disciples are at sea. They do not see the Lord, but He sees them. He prays for them. He seeks fellowship with His Father in solitude and in the heights. While He prays, the disciples are in distress. There is a headwind. This is a picture of everyday life. He allows storms to test our faith. The disciples are worried. In them we can see a picture of the believing remnant of Israel among the hostile nations, of which the sea is a picture, in the time of the great tribulation. The disciples think that the Lord has forgotten them. The remnant during the great tribulation will think so too. In several psalms they state this ( ). But He does not forget them. He does not come to them until the night is darkest, in the fourth watch. That is also against the dawn of the day. It is also the time for the morning star to rise. Prophetically, we live in the end of the dispensation of the night, which is almost gone ( ). We also have arrived in the darkest period of the night. Especially at that point we can experience His closeness the most and we can see Him coming to us. However, we are often like the disciples who regard the Lord as a ghost. This happens when, in all adversity, we see only the devil, as if he makes life difficult for us, while we ignore the fact that our circumstances are in the hand of our loving Lord. Job saw it differently. He took everything from the Lord’s hand. He did not say, ‘The LORD gave and satan has taken away’, but, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” ( ). In our circumstances we must learn to discover the Lord, that He is close to us and has power over all circumstances. The Lord walks on the water as if on solid ground. He Who, as God, created the elements as they are, can, as the Son of Man, according to His pleasure, dispose of their properties and walk over them. He does not do His walking on the water for the crowds, for their appetite for sensation, but He does it for fearful disciples to convince them of His power. He is not yet calming the water. That comes at the end. When the disciples cry out in fear, He speaks to them reassuringly. First He says to them to take courage. He has already spoken this wonderful word of encouragement in this Gospel to people who need it so much ( ). Then, He refers to Himself “it is I”, for only through Him can there be taken courage. Finally, He says they should not be afraid. He wants to dispel their fear because it prevents them from taking courage.

‏ Matthew 14:22-33

In the Storm

The Lord must force His disciples to go on board and go ahead of Him to the other side without Him. He Himself says goodbye to the crowds. After having given proof of His blessed presence in the miraculous feeding, now inevitably comes the moment that He must send the people away. It is a prophetic picture of what God had to do with His people because they rejected His Son.

When the Lord has sent the mass of people away, He climbs the mountain to pray. His disciples are at sea. They do not see the Lord, but He sees them. He prays for them. He seeks fellowship with His Father in solitude and in the heights. While He prays, the disciples are in distress. There is a headwind. This is a picture of everyday life. He allows storms to test our faith. The disciples are worried. In them we can see a picture of the believing remnant of Israel among the hostile nations, of which the sea is a picture, in the time of the great tribulation.

The disciples think that the Lord has forgotten them. The remnant during the great tribulation will think so too. In several psalms they state this (Psa 10:11 ; Psa 13:1 ; Psa 77:9). But He does not forget them. He does not come to them until the night is darkest, in the fourth watch. That is also against the dawn of the day. It is also the time for the morning star to rise. Prophetically, we live in the end of the dispensation of the night, which is almost gone (Rom 13:12). We also have arrived in the darkest period of the night. Especially at that point we can experience His closeness the most and we can see Him coming to us.

However, we are often like the disciples who regard the Lord as a ghost. This happens when, in all adversity, we see only the devil, as if he makes life difficult for us, while we ignore the fact that our circumstances are in the hand of our loving Lord. Job saw it differently. He took everything from the Lord’s hand. He did not say, ‘The LORD gave and satan has taken away’, but, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21). In our circumstances we must learn to discover the Lord, that He is close to us and has power over all circumstances.

The Lord walks on the water as if on solid ground. He Who, as God, created the elements as they are, can, as the Son of Man, according to His pleasure, dispose of their properties and walk over them. He does not do His walking on the water for the crowds, for their appetite for sensation, but He does it for fearful disciples to convince them of His power. He is not yet calming the water. That comes at the end.

When the disciples cry out in fear, He speaks to them reassuringly. First He says to them to take courage. He has already spoken this wonderful word of encouragement in this Gospel to people who need it so much (Mt 9:2 ; 22). Then, He refers to Himself “it is I”, for only through Him can there be taken courage. Finally, He says they should not be afraid. He wants to dispel their fear because it prevents them from taking courage.

Peter Walks on the Water

Peter is the first to answer to the words of the Lord. He wants assurance that it is the Lord. The event of Peter leaving the ship is only written in this Gospel. The disciples are afraid, but they are still in the boat. As long as it holds, it is well. This makes Peter’s act of faith so great. He also distances himself from this last safety and entrusts himself entirely to the Lord.

Also with us it is often the case that we trust the Lord, but we are also happy with the security of the boat. An application is that it is difficult for us to leave the security of Judaism or the security of a traditional Christian system. This applies to any form of being a church where the custom has become norm and the Spirit cannot work freely. Human forms and traditions give a sense of security, although we confess that the Holy Spirit must guide us. The Lord is outside both the Jewish and man-managed Christian systems and it is necessary to go out to be with Him (Heb 13:13).

The initiative comes from Peter. He sees the Lord and asks for His command. Peter doesn’t want to be the hero. He is the obedient believer who in faith gives up the safety of the boat to come to the Lord. Then he is not afraid of the waters. He really wants to be as the Master is. The Lord must have rejoiced greatly at this spontaneous wish.

The Lord speaks one word and Peter obeys. He comes to the act of faith by climbing out of the ship and to a walk of faith by walking over the water. Walking on the water is a risky venture. But if it is based on the Lord’s word “Come!”, it is also a certain venture. Its foundation lies in the words “Lord, if it is you”, that is to say the Lord Jesus Himself.

As long as Peter sees the Lord, things go well. Then comes the moment when his eyes wander away from Him and he sees the wind. At that moment fear strikes. It does not say that he sees the water he is walking on, but the wind that whips up the water. It doesn’t matter much either, because it’s just as impossible to walk on calm water as it is on rough waves. Faith is only strong when it sees only the Lord Jesus. When we look at the circumstances, faith becomes weak.

There is no support, no opportunity to walk if we lose sight of Christ. Everything depends on Him. The ship is a tried and tested aid to go over the sea, but only the faith that looks to the Lord Jesus can walk on water. Whoever walks on water once, as Peter does together with the Lord, is much better off than those who sit in a shaky boat that is about to collapse. For those who walk with the Lord on the water, it does not matter whether it is stormy or still.

When Peter begins to sink, he calls upon the Lord for help. The Lord responds directly to his cry of distress and saves him. He Who walks on water by His own power is there to support the faith and the wavering footsteps of the poor disciple. Faith has brought Peter so close to the Lord that His outstretched hand can lift him up. His cry for help sets the hand of the Lord in motion for his salvation, while his faith has previously set the hand of the Lord in motion for his support. Peter may have started to sink, but he has gained an experience that none of the others know.

The Lord’s question regarding Peter’s doubt is justified, for Peter’s sense of purpose began when he no longer looked upon Him. Peter did not reach the ship in the same power of faith that led him to leave the ship. He climbs aboard the ship together with the Lord. His falling short makes it clear that he reaches the goal only through the power of the Lord.

The outworking is, what it must always be, that the disciples honor the Lord. He is honored for His work of power over the elements and for His work of grace toward His beloved disciples.