John 6 - Jesus Walks on Water
Have you ever felt overwhelmed with life? Have you ever felt like you were getting hit with one thing after the other after the other and found yourself struggling to cope? Have you ever felt like circumstances had thrown your life completely out of order? In those moments have you felt like you were approaching the limit of what you could handle?
That was David’s experience in Psalm 69.
Psalm 69:1-36 ¶ To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David. Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. 3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. 4 More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore? 5 O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you. 6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. 7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons. 9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. 10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. 11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. 12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
13 ¶ But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Yahweh. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. 14 Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. 15 Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me. 16 Answer me, O Yahweh, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me. 17 Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me. 18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies! 19 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you. 20 Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
22 ¶ Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. 24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. 25 May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents. 26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded. 27 Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you. 28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous. 29 But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
30 ¶ I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. 31 This will please Yahweh more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. 32 When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive. 33 For Yahweh hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners. 34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. 35 For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; 36 the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
In this Psalm we find David suffering greatly. He feels surrounded by his enemies, alienated from his friends and family, and ridiculed by the world. All of this suffering had worked together to make David feel hopeless. He felt overwhelmed. He felt like he was in utter despair, and on the brink of collapse.
How do we know he felt this way? Because throughout this Psalm David tapped into a frequently used biblical metaphor for suffering:
Psalm 69:2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
Psalm 69:14 Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
Apply it…
Have you ever felt like trouble has come into your life like one wave crashing upon you after another?
In your suffering have you ever felt like you were sinking deeper and deeper into the mire?
Have you ever felt like circumstances all around you were raging like a powerful river?
Have you ever felt so overwhelmed with difficulty that you felt like you were drowning?
… then you get the idea.
David here is not merely making a poetic choice to use this metaphor, but he is purposefully tapping into an ever-present biblical motif. All the way back in Genesis we read that before God brought forth life and order, there existed "the deep." The deep consisted of the chaotic waters which were yet unrestrained and unordered.
Genesis 1:1-2 ¶ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
So, in the creation account we see the chaotic deep contrasted with the created order. There existed only the deep until God's Spirit moved upon the waters and God said, "let there be light." With that, God brought light into darkness and began establishing order in chaos.
It's not that "the deep" in the beginning was inherently evil but it was unordered. It was "without form and void". God would not declare it good until his Spirit moved upon it, he brought light into the darkness, and set the boundaries of the waters - bringing order to the chaos.
Proverbs 8 speaks of this as Wisdom Personified speaks of being with God in the beginning:
Proverbs 8:27-30 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
Or, as God said to Job:
Job 38:4-11 ¶ “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9 when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’? [CF. Jeremiah 5:22]
So, God set the boundaries of the deep. He separated light from darkness and land from the sea. The dry land appeared; God created life, and, in the midst, he created a perfect paradise he called "Eden." If "the deep" was representative of disorder, formlessness, uncreation and the lack of life, Eden was the exact opposite. It was the epitome of creation. An ordered garden, full of life and order where mankind would live in worshipful relationship to God. God further designed that this life, order and worship would press outward from Eden and spread throughout the entire earth.
“The deep” then became the metaphor for chaos, disorder, and “uncreation” in contrast to God’s well-ordered, and good creation. Eventually it would take on a moral component and the forces of evil which sought to bring disorder where God brought design, and corruption where God had created, came to be referred to with the vocabulary of the deep, the abyss, or otherwise overwhelming waters.
In Genesis 3 we read that although God created Eden so that life, created order and genuine worship might push outward, filling the earth, the forces of chaos and uncreation would also be attempting to push in.
In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve were confronted by Satan, the personification of evil. He tempted them to disobey God by calling into question his goodness and truthfulness. They complied, and they spiritually died. Although God designed Eden so that order, creation, and worship would press outward into the world, Adam and Eve had allowed the forces of chaos and uncreation to press into Eden. From that point on, God's perfect garden paradise would give way to a chaotic wilderness.
Genesis 3:17-19 ¶ And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
It was at this point that the entire created order shifted due to sin. Sickness, disease, chaos, disorder and death would intrude upon God's creation and seek to dominate. The human experience would be one marked in part by suffering and distress. It’s as if the formless void of the deep had prevailed against God’s ordered design. Consequently, all of creation from that point on would long for the day when God's perfect order would be restored, and the agents of chaos might be defeated.
Romans 8:18-23 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Sin entered the world and has continually worked as a force of destruction. Everywhere God has design, man, driven by his sinfulness seeks to distort it. Everywhere God has a law, mankind in his sin, seeks to break it. Everywhere God has established order for the good of humanity, mankind in his sin imposes disorder. Sin, Satan and their effects have wreaked havoc upon God’s good creation like the destructive waves of the ocean might ravage the earth.
As a result, our human experience is such that we at times feel like we are being pummeled with wave after wave of suffering. It's this type of struggle and longing that the Psalmist in Psalm 42 describes poetically when he says:
Psalm 42:7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.
He experienced one trial after the next after the next. And how did he describe it? "Deep calls to deep." That is, it's like the chaotic waters of the deep had risen up and brought chaos into his life. The forces of uncreation had wreaked havoc over the order in his life.
So, throughout scripture we find that forces of danger, evil, chaos, darkness, and disorder are often referred to metaphorically as “the deep," "the abyss," "raging waters," and "the seas."
So, David could say in Psalm 18:
Psalm 18:16-17 He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. 17 He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.
And again, in Psalm 32:
Psalm 32:6 Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
And God himself could assure his people through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 43:
Isaiah 43:1-2 ¶ But now thus says Yahweh, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
Is he talking about literal waters and literal rivers and literal fire here? No, these are metaphors for suffering, trials, hardships, opposition and specifically in their case - captivity. Now notice what he says there in Isaiah 43:2 - "when you pass through the waters." Here God is not assuring his people that he will save them from having to pass through the waters, but that when they do, he will be with them. He is not promising them that they won't be faced with raging rivers of suffering, but that he will not allow them to overwhelm.
This is essential to grasp as believers. If we are under the impression that trouble won’t come, that the forces of chaos won’t break out upon us, then when it does come, we will have a crisis of faith. The fact is, full and final deliverance from the sin, Satan and their effects is not promised until Jesus establishes a new heaven and a new earth.
So, we learn that as human beings we all share in a mutual human condition. We are all subject to suffering, trials, hardships and opposition. Ever since the forces of chaos and disorder invaded Eden and Adam submitted to them, we became subject to the same.
This is the nature of life in this sin-affected world. Although God is establishing his Kingdom, the forces of evil, chaos, darkness, and disorder are also always at work. It’s like the chaotic waters of the deep are always attempting to sweep away God’s good creation. They are always trying to bring chaos where God has created order. From the moment Adam and Eve rebelled we saw the rise of:
Conflict between nature and humans
Conflict between humans and humans
Conflict between God and man
Even conflict between our mind, soul and body
You and I feel this as we seek to live lives for God’s glory in the midst of our sinful world, and from within our sin-affected frames. And sometimes we even come near the brink of feeling entirely overwhelmed. Like David, we feel like crying out:
Psalm 69:1-3 ¶ Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. 3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
Now at this point you might be thinking, “This hasn’t been the most encouraging and uplifting sermon! We’ve learned about the sorry state of mankind and the fact that we are continually exposed to the forces of evil, chaos, darkness, and disorder and that these forces are so powerful and pervasive that scripture likens them to deep waters, or even a catastrophic flood!” This is all true, but now we turn to see some good news.
Multiple times within the Old Testament the Lord worked human events in such a way to signal to his people that in fact, he is in control of all things and that even “the deep, the abyss, and the raging waters.” Are subject to his voice.
He would have us know that despite sin which has ravished our world, He remains the creator. He who brought order to the chaos at creation is still at work. He who separated the land from the deep and created perfect Eden for his people is still in control.
A FEW EXAMPLES
THE FLOOD
In Genesis 6, we find God looking upon the earth and finding that mankind had given themselves entirely over to the forces of evil, chaos and corruption. It says:
Genesis 6:11-13 ¶ Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 ¶ And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Mankind aligned themselves with the forces of chaos and wreaked havoc upon God’s good creation. Violence, bloodshed and corruption of every sort. Instead of behaving like God’s image-bearers bringing the knowledge and worship of him throughout the earth, they behaved like spawns of the great deep bringing chaos and destruction.
So, what would God do? He would bring judgment. And how would he do it? He summoned the waters. Rain from above and rain from subterranean springs. He marshalled a flood. In doing so he signalled that despite man’s greatest efforts to overthrow him, he held sovereign power over the deep.
By flooding with water an earth which man had flooded with destruction, he answered chaos with chaos. Through the flood he uncreated what he had made and then made it again. Noah became a second Adam figure told to be fruitful and multiply and to replenish the now re-created earth.
The Lord was signalling that the forces of chaos were no match for his sovereign might and that he had the power to even turn them upon themselves in judgment.
Another example…
THE EXODUS
After 430 years of captivity in Egypt God’s people found themselves oppressed by Pharaoh. Pharaoh being that archetype of proud, rebellious, godless leaders and Egypt being the archetype of the corrupt world system.
The Lord sent Moses to lead his people out from Egypt and into freedom and of course you know the rest of the story. After 10 plagues which the Lord poured out upon Egypt, Pharaoh reluctantly let the people go only to immediately regret his decision and then pursue them.
As Israel fled, they suddenly found themselves in an impossible situation. Behind them were Pharaoh and his army and before them was the impassable Red Sea. It’s as if they found themselves pressed between two forms of the forces of chaos, Pharaoh and Egypt behind them and the raging sea in front of them. This was the perfect moment, orchestrated by God to demonstrate his power over both.
God miraculously divided the Red Sea, led his people through on dry land and then drown Pharaoh’s army in the sea. Again, he turned the forces of chaos upon themselves and delivered his people. Moses and his people sang of this deliverance in Exodus 15:
Exodus 15:1-21 ¶ Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, saying, “I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 Yahweh is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 Yahweh is a man of war; Yahweh is his name. 4 “Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, O Yahweh, glorious in power, your right hand, O Yahweh, shatters the enemy. 7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. 8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ 10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 “Who is like you, O Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
…
19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
The conclusion is clear – God possesses sovereign power over the forces of chaos.
Another example…
THE CAPTIVITY
Where was there water or a flood in the captivity? Read what God said through Isaiah about the Assyrian army:
Isaiah 17:12-14 ¶ Ah, the thunder of many peoples; they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations; they roar like the roaring of mighty waters! 13 The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm. 14 At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us, and the lot of those who plunder us.
Here God presents the Assyrian army as agents of evil, chaos and destruction. How so? He uses the motif of the destructive sea. They will seek to wipe away God’s people and bring utter ruin but, it says in verse 13, “he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away.” Just like he rebuked the Red Sea, at the first Exodus so he would rebuke this thundering sea of evil men to prepare for a second Exodus. God is the one with the power to rebuke the agents of chaos.
Through these and many other events, Yahweh established himself in the minds of his people as sovereign over the forces of chaos. Just as he brought creative order out of the deep in the beginning, just like he controlled the waters of the flood, just like he divided the Red Sea, so too he maintains sovereign control over the forces of evil, chaos, darkness, and disorder. He has the power to turn back the forces of suffering which threaten to overwhelm us.
[TRANSITION]
So then, why hasn’t he?
If he is sovereign over the forces of evil, chaos, darkness and disorder and has the power to deliver us from them, then why hasn’t he once and for all vanquished them? Why hasn’t he eradicated sin? Why hasn’t he defeated Satan? Why hasn’t he eliminated suffering? Why hasn’t he removed death?
The answers is - He has.
Jesus Conquers Chaos
When God’s perfect timing had arrived, he sent his Son, Jesus Christ. In the gospel of Mark, we read a very interesting account of Jesus’ temptation. He says:
Mark 1:9-13 ¶ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
Immediately after Jesus’ baptism, he was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness. Wilderness in the Bible can be added to our vocabulary of words depicting chaos, death, and even uncreation. It is frequently a place of desolation, despair, temptation and rebellion. The wilderness stands opposed to Eden, or the promised land. We could say that after Adam and Eve sinned, they forfeited the perfect garden of God and plunged the earth into hostile wilderness.
So here Jesus is driven to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Why? Because he came to undo through his righteousness, all that Adam did through his sin.
Whereas Adam gave into the forces of chaos, forfeiting the perfect garden and ushering in a harsh wilderness, Jesus would resist the forces of chaos, from within the wilderness and usher in a new Eden.
Whereas Adam doubted the word of God and accepted the words of Satan, Jesus would rebuke the words of Satan by quoting the word of God.
Whereas Adam gave into Satan’s plan for exaltation, and therefore found himself humbled, Jesus humbly submitted himself to God, and found himself exalted.
At every point, Jesus came as the greater Adam. Whereas the first Adam plunged God’s perfect creation into chaos, this Last Adam would bring forth a perfect new creation out of chaos.
Jesus’ entire earthly ministry proved that he was the one sent by the Father to once and for all destroy the agents of chaos.
He proved he had power over sickness and disease by healing.
He proved he had power over demons by casting them out.
He proved he had power over physical death by raising the dead.
He proved he had power over spiritual death by bringing in the new birth.
[TRANSITION TO JOHN 6]
Now, based upon all that we’ve learned in the Old Testament regarding God’s chosen metaphor for the forces of evil, chaos, darkness, and disorder, I wonder how he might, in the life of Jesus illustrate for us that he has come with sovereign power over those forces? If God has established the metaphor of “the deep,” “the sea,” and the “raging waters” as representative of the trials and suffering experienced by men, then how do you expect that he might reveal this in the earthly ministry of Jesus?
Well, last week we looked at Jesus’ feeding of the many thousands n John 6, and we skipped over a handful of verses. Between Jesus’ performing of the miracle and his interpretation of it, we find these events in John 6:15 and following:
John 6:15-21 ¶ Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. 16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
When Jesus healed diseases, cast out demons, and even raised the dead he was proving that the had the power over the agents of chaos. He was storming the gates of the kingdom of Satan and plundering his household.
Matthew 12:28-29 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.
Jesus came pushing back against the agents of chaos and would eventually totally vanquish them. Metaphorically we could say that he had the power over “the deep,” “the seas” or the “raging waters.” That is what is being illustrated for us here.
Whereas we might cry with David:
Psalm 69:1-2 ¶ Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
The reality is, Jesus has total control over it all. The waters that we fear might drown us, are entirely under his feet. That’s the idea. This is what he further illustrated in Matthew 8:
Matthew 8:23-27 ¶ And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
What kind of man indeed! We’ve already learned that it is God alone who has the power to rebuke the agents of chaos. He rebuked the Red Sea; he rebuked the raging waters that was the Assyrian army and here we have God the Son rebuking the winds and the sea. Jesus Christ is sovereign Lord.
Psalm 65:5-8 By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; 6 ¶ the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; 7 who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, 8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
David sings praises to the “God of our salvation” who stills roaring seas and silences the tumultuous nations. Well, Jesus came as “Yahweh saves” and here he stills the wind and sea, signalling that he possessed the same divine authority.
In Jesus, God the Son took on flesh and came with all divine power to vanquish sin, death, Satan, and all that harasses mankind - here illustrated by his power over the seas. This is what Paul expressed in Romans 8:
Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, violence? In other words – all the agents of chaos. In all these things we are more than conquerors through Jesus. Because he has overcome them, we have overcome them. None of these things can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Does that mean that those who belong to Jesus will never face difficulty? Will they never feel like David – like the anxieties of life are so great that it feels like you are drowning? No, it doesn’t mean that. What it means is that we can face the difficulties of life with the absolute confidence that God is with us, that he loves us, and that his loving purposes stand behind everything that we experience.
And, if we find ourselves at the end of our lives, we can have the absolute confidence that the one who conquered death, through his death on the cross, and then rose again has also provided resurrection for us. Just as he came into the wilderness to usher in Eden, so too he went into the grave to bring forth life.
Just like Jonah who spent three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish in the heart of the chaotic waters only to surface once again, so too the Son of God will descend into the chaos of death and rise three days later (cf. Matthew 12:39-40).
The point in Romans 8 is that for the Christian, the assurance of God’s love for us in Christ should enable us to face the difficulties of life. There is no promise that we won’t face persecution, famine, or danger. The promise is that through them all we can have the confidence that none of it can ever separate us from God. The key is in verse 38 where Paul includes among all the other trials, death.
All Christians, with Paul can say “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Death no longer has a sting for Christians. Why? Because we can be confident that if we belong to him, that we will have a place in the New Creation where the agents of chaos have no influence, and no place at all.
Jesus is re-creating Eden in a new heaven and a new earth in which all believers will have a part. This rock-solid assurance enables us to handle the difficulties of this life – knowing that it is only temporary. Sin, death and Satan have already been vanquished by him who controls the deep. It is just a matter of time until we experience the full bounty of that victory in a new heaven and a new earth.
And look how the Bible describes that new creation:
Revelation 21:1-8 ¶ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
When our health fails, or our lives otherwise come to an end, we are still more than conquerors. Death holds no power; it has no sting. Why? Because we belong to Jesus. Reserved for us is a New Creation in which there is no sea. No deep, no abyss, no raging waters. No threat of drowning under the trials, anxieties or turmoil of this life. We will forever dwell in God’s presence, fully accepted by him.
But notice, on the one hand “the sea was no more” but on the other he says, “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” No longer will we be tormented by the chaotic waters of sin, death, Satan and all their ill-effects but instead we will forever be sustained and satisfied by Jesus – the spring of life-giving water.
CONCLUSION
Jesus walked on water in John 6 and rebuked the waves in Mark 4 because he is God the Son, in the flesh. He came with all divine power over sin, death, Satan and every agent of chaos. Jesus came with power and authority over everything that renders man harassed and helpless.
But even now, full and final victory over these things is not experienced by us. Yes, we have an internal joy which sustains us since we know that no matter what we experience in this life, we can never be separated from God, yet we still suffer in this life.
However, as we consider Jesus standing upon the sea, we should be reminded that all human suffering is under his feet. Through his perfect life, sacrificial death and victorious resurrection, he has secured a New Creation for all who belong to him. The day is coming, for all of his followers, when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things [will] have passed away.”
So, although ultimate deliverance may be yet future, we can have the confidence that all has been overcome by Jesus and the worst that this world can do is hasten the day that we enter his New Creation where we will finally forever be with him.
