Matthew 14:22-36

Read Matthew 14:22-36!

 

Jesus constrained His disciples to get into the ship and to go to the other side.  The ship could represent the church, and going to the other side could represent the mission, or purpose of the church.  The church certainly has a purpose here on the earth.  It is to be more than merely a nice group of people that gets together on Sunday morning and has different programs through the week.  The church has a mandate, and that is to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom and to manifest the fullness of the Kingdom of God here on earth.  Her purpose goes far beyond that of only leading people to salvation so they too can go to heaven when they die.  That certainly is a big part of the Gospel of the Kingdom, but if that is all that the church focuses on, then she is very shortsighted and limited in fulfilling the purpose she is here for.  What the manifestation of the Kingdom of God would look like is another blog for another time.  For now, we need to see that all true believers are in this one ship (the church) with a purpose and moving in a specific direction.  Ephesians 3:10 comes to min.  Here it is in the AMP. Bible: (The purpose is) that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.

 

We next read that the ship (which is full of disciples) gets out into the middle of the sea and there is a storm and she is being tossed about with the winds being contrary to the direction the ship was going.  The sea and the many waters often are representative of the nations of the world.  (Rev. 13:1, 17:15, Psa. 107:23).  So, we could say that the church is thrust out into the middle of all nations of the earth.  Then storms arise against the church and the winds blow contrary, or against her.  We have seen this happen throughout the history of the church and we can even see it happening in our present time as well.  Jesus told us not to be surprised, if the world hated Him, it would hate us also. (John 15:18-19)

 

Then the disciples see Jesus walking to them on top of the water!  Why did He do this?  Was it merely to "wow" His disciples?  Or was there a message in this for them?  Was there something the Lord wanted to teach them?  I don't believe Jesus did things such as this for the purpose of showing off, or just to do something "cool".  He was demonstrating something to them about Kingdom living and what to do when the storms are raging and the wind is blowing against us.  I believe Peter perceived what was going on because he called out to the Lord and asked if He could come to Him on the water.  I like the Lord's answer to Him, "Come".

 

Peter gets out on top of the water and walks toward Jesus.  Although we see that Peter was not able to continue, I do believe the lesson for those disciples, and for us, is that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we too can walk with the Lord in a place and a fashion that will have us walking on top of life's storms.  This does not mean that storms will not come against us, and the church as a whole from time to time, but that through faith and by keeping our eyes on Christ Jesus, we can walk in victory through those storms.  We don't have to always be sinking and be overwhelmed by what comes against us.  There is that secret place of the Lord's presence where we can walk daily with Him and experience the fullness of a life of victory and triumph, even in the midst of the storms.  This is part of what it means to manifest the Kingdom of God and Kingdom living here on this earth, walking on water with Jesus!

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  BRO. FRAN GILMORE has been pastoring Abiding Word Church in Chaplin, Connecticut for 35 years! His precious wife, Sister Linda, has served alongside him in ministry.  They have been married for 39 years.  They have 2 adult children, Lukas and Naomi, and one beautiful granddaughter, Ruby.  Please visit their church website, abidingwordct.com, to read more about their wonderful ministry!