Six Literal Days of Creation Demonstrate Salvation By Grace!

Exo 20:8  "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exo 20:9  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work…Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 

Okay, I know that is a strange title but let me explain.  As I am starting to preach through the book of Genesis, I spent a few weeks dealing with Scriptures that in one way or the other cannot be understood if evolution is true.  Along with that we have looked at some that are compromised if we try to make the six days of creation anything other than 24 hour periods.  The text above is one of those examples. 

For instance, it is undeniable that the Lord is establishing a 7 day week for Israel under the Old Covenant.  He uses the creation week as the blueprint for their six day work week where God rested or took a Sabbath after “working” for six days.  There is no way you can make “days” in verse 11 mean eons without suggesting that the Lord is completely misrepresenting the creation week to the Jews.  If they are six eons then this comparison makes no sense and there is nothing in the text that suggests that the days of one week are different than the days of the other. 

Besides this I think there is another reason why we have to understand that the Lord is referring to the creation week as six 24 hour periods in the Exodus text.  The subject here is not so much the 7 day week but the Sabbath and the reason for its observance.  The Lord rested on the seventh day because there was nothing left to create.  He had declared that every aspect of creation was good.  There was nothing left to perfect because it was just as God wanted it from the beginning.

Creation is not continuing to evolve because the Lord did it right from the beginning and he commanded all life to reproduce after its kind.  He established that no species can evolve into something else.  The Sabbath rest of God on day seven did two things; it declared that there was nothing left to be created or changed with creation and it pointed to the future fulfillment of the true rest of God.  This future rest in turn proves that the first creation was done immediately and not through gradual progression.  Let me try to prove this.

We find the writer of Hebrews bringing all this together especially in chapter 4.  He is warning those Jews who were being tempted to add the works of the Law to faith in the finished work of Christ.  As Paul does in Galatians, he says that if you do this you pervert the gospel and cannot be saved.  He points back to those Jews who died in the wilderness and did not enter the Promised Land or the “rest” because they did not have faith, Heb 3:17  And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

Heb 3:18  And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? Heb 3:19  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.  Rest is a good illustration of salvation because God has done a work in the cross that fully accomplished our salvation and through faith we can rest in Christ and stop trying to work our way to heaven which is impossible.

In chapter 4 he brings in the creation rest as an even better example of entering into God’s rest or salvation,  Heb 4:3  For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest,'" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. Heb 4:4  For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."  And here we see him making the point I made earlier that God resting on the creation Sabbath was to show that creation was done once for all and there was nothing left that needed to be finished, although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.  And then in vs. 10 we see it again, Heb 4:10  for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

And so my point in all this is not to show salvation through faith alone apart from works.  I imagine anyone reading this blog already understands that.  It is to show that if you buy into God creating the universe over time by a process you are undermining salvation by the finished work of Christ alone!  Christ didn’t begin the process of salvation on the cross and there are any number of steps after this that are necessary for our justification.  When he said, “It is finished” on the cross as he died it was an echo from the creation week when he said it the first time.  There is nothing left to be done!

I would say that if the creation week was a matter of age long time periods, that would fit better into Roman Catholic’s theology.  They believe the cross was only the beginning of our salvation but there are many other things we must add to it in order to be finally saved.  We might say they believe salvation is a process or something that must “evolve” before it is finished.

If our salvation rests fully on the finished work of Christ then creation took place in one week and then it stopped; it was never a process.

Jer 32:17  'Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. 

God's Strength in Our Weakness

2Co 11:18  Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast….2Co 11:30  If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

2Co 12:9  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2Co 12:10  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Chapters 11 and 12 of 2 Corinthians are some of the most important for the Christian’s ability to live godly and patiently in this life.  They pretty much sum up the book as Paul is defending himself against the “Super Apostles” who are trying to discredit him as a worthy servant of the Lord.  Their argument is one that we hear today in what we refer to as the “Health and Wealth Gospel”.   

One of their basic arguments is that Paul’s life is so miserable and his preaching is so crude compared to their lives and their gifts of speaking that there is no way he can be in God’s will because the Lord would be blessing him if he was being faithful.  On the other hand, they had their act together; they were slick speakers, had letters of recommendation from the “right” people; they had money, gifts; it is clear that they had the Lord’s blessings and therefore the people should follow them and not Paul.

Paul has defended himself throughout the book but in these two chapters he basically says that the Super Apostles have it exactly backwards.  Notice in the above verse from ch. 11 that he will boast but not in the things they were boasting in but in the very things that they saw as weaknesses.  The false apostles thought that having a life without problems was a sign of God’s blessings and Paul says not so fast; in fact, in most cases the very opposite is true.

We fall into this trap today by referring the good things that happened to us as God’s blessings but the “good” things are always things that pamper the flesh.  And we thank God for his “blessings” at our testimony meetings.  For sure we should be thankful to the Lord when he supplies our needs but when we are only willing to define blessings as good things for our flesh and not also those things that build up my faith and ability to serve the Lord, then we fall into this very trap. 

Paul uses his weakness, his poverty, his inability to speak well, his constant persecution and scars on his body, etc. not as a sign that God is displeased with him but as proof that the Lord is using him.  This is why he sums it all up in chapter 12 with these words, 2Co 12:9  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2Co 12:10  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

When the Lord humbles us by taking away our money or health or just reduces us to a very humbling state, he is giving us the ability to display his glory more clearly than the one who has “it all together” in the flesh can display.  Paul had learned to serve during the good times, Php 4:11  Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. Php 4:12  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Php 4:13  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.  But he was aware that it is when we are the weakest that we have some of the best opportunities to magnify the glory of God in our lives.

The reason this is so fundamental to a Christian’s spiritual health is because it gives us the ability to be patient in trials and afflictions.  Instead of wasting time wondering why God is “punishing you” or complaining and being bitter and jealous of others, we can see our trials as unique opportunities to serve the Lord that ease can’t bring.  Yes, they still hurt and are no fun and we might pray for relief but in the meantime we serve!  In the meantime we are full of the joy of the Lord and so rejoice always because our names are written down in Heaven.

It is clear from 2 Cor. 12:9 that Paul didn’t give up because God didn’t answer his prayers the way he wanted.  And the reason is because God tells him that when he reduces us to weakness, when he humbles us so that others pity us, that he is going to display his glory through us provided, of course, that we are looking for ways to serve and not having a pity party.  

This takes a strong faith but the effect on our lives can’t be overstated.  If we are taking up our cross daily to follow the Lord, then we should expect suffering and not listen to those that tell us that God wants his children to have whatever they want and if we have enough faith he will give it to us.  The question is do we have enough faith to believe what the Lord says in his Word about our present condition and our future hope?

Learning to not be Tools of Satan

2Co 2:5  Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure--not to put it too severely--to all of you. 2Co 2:6  For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 2Co 2:7  so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 2Co 2:8  So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 2Co 2:9  For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 2Co 2:10  Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 2Co 2:11  so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Paul teaches us some needful things about having a forgiving spirit in this section of 2 Corinthians.  Let me mention a few of them.  He is encouraging the church to accept back someone who has sinned and probably has led the charge against Paul in some way.  Paul has forgiven him since this man has had a sorrow that has led to repentance and he is encouraging the rest to also forgive the man.  Evidently some have decided he needs some further punishment.  Like we all tend to do, they would like to hold it over his head for a while longer and use it to lord it over him in some way.  This, after all, is a great way to look more spiritual than the one who has been caught in a sin.  Never mind that the only difference many times is that they have been caught whereas we have not.  We never want to miss the opportunity to look more spiritual than someone else.  Please read that as being facetious. 

The main point he focuses on is that when it comes to our relationships with others, whether in the church or any other place, our first consideration must always be the Lord and how our actions affect his name and work.  We see this in vss. 9-10 where he sees whether they will forgive one who has confessed his sin or not as a test to see whether they will be obedient in all things and in vs. 10 where he reminds them that all this is being done in the presence of the Lord.  It is imperative that we not be guided by our emotions and pride in how we act toward others but instead what would bring honor to the Lord.

Joseph and is an example to us.  Can any of us image being sold into slavery by our own family members?  What was his motivation to forgive?  If he wasn’t a believer chances are his brothers would have been justified in their fear of being executed.  I believe Joseph knew the Lord and understood what no doubt he had been taught by his father about the Messiah coming through the twelve sons and he also knew from his dreams that they were going to serve him someday.  He forgave because he knew that there was a bigger picture to think about that was far more important than even the horrible injustice done to him and to be honest I doubt we think anything is worse than our feelings many times.  Probably, if we thought about it for a moment, we would have to admit that our words and attitude each day have more to do with how we are feeling than how much we are rejoicing in Christ at any given moment.

Joseph is a type of Christ and we learn that Jesus suffered unjustly for the joy that was set before him.  Part of our Christian duty that we do because we love our Savior is to cause ourselves to think biblically even in moments of anger and injustice to ourselves.  Gen 50:20  As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.  This is a look into Joseph’s thought process and should be our goal as well.  What we are not given liberty to do is to think and act out solely on emotions. 

So Christian forgiveness is a great way to show the love of God in our lives.  And one way we do this is formal, real closure.  We forgive as we have been forgiven by not holding it over someone’s head.  John tells us that displaying such love proves our faith in front of this world, Joh 13:34  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Joh 13:35  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."   Jesus said that love is the greatest commandment; therefore to not show love for each other in forgiving one another and putting forth a real effort to have a good relationship with each other must be considered one of the worst of sins.

Forgiveness proves our love because if we love him we will keep his commandments.  Are we willing to do the hard things?  Are we willing to swallow our pride and prove that we love Christ supremely?  Verse 9 reminds us that none of this is optional.  The Corinthians were to prove their love by disciplining and by forgiving and restoring.  Discipline alone might just be a display of our self-righteousness but if we forgive we show that we had the right motives.  If we are sitting there justifying why we won’t repent or forgive then that is sin; we can’t pick and choose when to be obedient. 

Finally, Paul backs up his words with actions that show his motivation in 10-11.  He knows that Christ is watching.  And then he gives one final reason why we must take these things so seriously, because this is one way that Satan can disrupt the Lord’s work.  Notice, this is done not so much by introducing sin in the church in this case but by the unforgiving attitude of those that “didn’t sin”!  When we are controlled by pride and emotions we have been outwitted and have become a tool of Satan.

The Power of the Resurrection

Php 3:10  that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

2Co 13:3  since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 2Co 13:4  For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

Since tomorrow is Resurrection Sunday let me remind us why this day is so important in the life of a Christian.  There are three main results of the resurrection spoken of in the Bible.  For many, one of the results is all but forgotten and ignored and even denied by some. 

Obviously the first one is that Jesus was raised for our justification.  His deliverance from death meant that the Father accepted his sacrifice as a suitable atonement for sin and thus he will save all who come to Christ by faith.  For this reason alone the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest news mankind has ever heard and for this reason we “celebrate” Christ’s resurrection every Sunday and proclaim this good news to all who will hear.

Later on in Phil. 3 Paul mentions another result of the resurrection, Php 3:21  who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.  He has already said that he wants to know or experience the power of the resurrection and as he taught in detail in 1 Cor. 15, Christ’s resurrection is proof that God will and can resurrect our bodies at the end of the age and we will live in glorious, sinless bliss forever with him in glory.

But the third result of the resurrection that he mentioned in vs. 10 is that one that we don’t want to miss either.  Over and over again the NT teaches us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead works in us now to live in newness of life.  The above verse from 2 Cor. is a good example of this.  Let me cite two others, 2Co 4:10  always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

2Co 4:11  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  Gal 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

As I mentioned, the above verse in 2 Cor. 13:3 connects the power that we are to live by with the power of the resurrection of Christ.  Perhaps Col. 2 says it as plainly as anywhere, Col 2:12  having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. Col 2:13  And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.  This is said in the context of the Colossians being exhorted to walk in a godly fashion, Col 2:6  Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, Col 2:7  rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

The fact of the matter is that each and every one who is truly saved by God has been transformed by being given a new heart and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit to live for Christ, not as they did before they were saved.  The classic Arminian says that salvation is simply a matter of us choosing to believe that Jesus died for our sins as if believing in some fact is all God cares about.  But the truth of the matter is that God does the converting and when he does, it comes with the very power that raised Jesus from the dead; we are no longer the same. 

This power is seen to varying degrees in all of us, and as John says and what we will be has not yet appeared  but he also says the each one of us purifies himself with this truth.  

So the power of the resurrection is a justifying power, and it is a glorifying power and praise God it doesn’t leave us where God found us but it is also a transforming power that has already begun its work.

Idolatry by Any Other Name is Still Idolatry

Dan 4:34  At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; Dan 4:35  all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?"

We all know that we were created to honor God and to love him supremely and find all that he is to be our fulfillment in life.  Idolatry is putting anything before our worship and love for the Lord.  Idolatry was rampant in the OT and God deals with it as much as anything and that was this that led to Israel’s downfall as much as any other sin.  Often the commentators speak of how the Babylonian captivity cured Israel of idolatry once and for all. 

If we think of idolatry in general terms that might be so as they no longer overtly worshipped gods other than Yahweh.  But if we think of idolatry as putting your own desires above the Lord then we find idolatry to be a sin that all struggle with as did the Jews of Jesus’s day.  I think of the Pharisee who prayed in a self-righteous way, boasting that he wasn’t as bad as the poor tax collector next to him and went home as sinful and unjustified as he came.

His main problem was that he had a view of God that was skewed.  He thought that the God he worshipped was the kind of God that would gladly accept his miserable works as good enough to get on God’s good side.  Because he had in a sense redefined God he committed idolatry and he did so to his own damnation.

Thus defined, we see that idolatry is rampant today and this is true even in many churches and hearts of saints.  We can illustrate this by the example of the young man who writes a love letter to a young woman he loves.  In it he describes her beautiful blond hair and lovely blue eyes and all the things about her that he loves.  But the problem is that she is a brunette with brown eyes and he is describing someone who isn’t anything like the woman he supposedly loves.  We all know that this woman would not find this to be acceptable.  It is like him saying I love you but I wish you looked like your sister! 

It is very easy to fall into this trap when it comes to God and this is why theology is of the utmost importance.  Many people read the Bible not so they can get to know God and find out all the reasons he is to be loved and worshipped but to find something helpful for some problem they are going through or how to succeed in life or some such self-centered thing.  Very often we come to the Scriptures with preconceived notions that we hold to and have no plans of letting go of regardless of what we find in the Bible.

This is especially problematic when it comes to how we understand God.  How many people do you know who refuse to acknowledge that God is sovereign over all things or that he is a holy God who will punish sin eternally in Hell?  Instead they want to think of God as a loving softy who only wants us to be happy, wealthy, healthy and successful.  So they ignore those attributes of God that they don’t like and concentrate on the ones they like and necessarily make up ones that don’t exist.  Like the man in our example, they extol things about God that are not true or are so one sided that they end up describing some other god; the one that exists in their minds.  This is idolatry. 

These thoughts came to me as I am preaching through 2 Cor. 1 and in particular where it describes God as the God of all comfort.  The Lord comforts us by the truth of the gospel and by explaining to us why afflictions come and our duty in them and that being in Christ will one day bring them to an end; in others words primarily through thinking through truth. 

If we refuse to acknowledge that God sends trials for our good and that they are part of the Christian’s duty in life to endure hardships as a good soldier of Jesus Christ and instead we spend all our time praying for him to take them away and are discontent and bitter when he doesn’t then we have reformulated God into something he is not.  We have made him there for us and not us there for him; we have rejected his sovereign rule over all things and have rejected his explanation and commit idolatry.  We say we love him but when he tells us what pleases him we have no desire to prove our love by obeying.

Properly responding to affliction by being faithful and patient in a God honoring way is worshipping God as he is.  And therefore, responding to affliction in an unbiblical way is to worship the God of our imagination.  We have looked at God’s picture as seen in the Bible and we don’t like what we see and so we “tweak” God to make him a little more to our liking.  And then we go to church and sing praises to him while all along thinking about his “sister” so to speak.  

I know that we will spend our entire lives studying God’s attributes and trying to better understand what he “looks” like and we will always have a somewhat defective understanding until we stand before him some day.  But to deliberately reject what is plainly taught in the Bible is a dangerous game because God doesn’t change; he is what he is and we had better get used to it because he is righteous and we are not.  If there is something about God that is uncomfortable to us then we have a problem and we need to ask God to give us a love for who he is not for who we wish he was.  

Living For Others

Est 5:1 On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, in front of the king's quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. Est 5:2 And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight…

Rom 14:7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.

As I am going through Esther right now, I actually made a connection between these two passages.  Let me try to explain.  Esther needed something very important from her husband the king.  In this case it was the deliverance of the Jewish people throughout his kingdom who were about to be slaughtered.  So she dresses up in such a way that would hopefully gain his favor so he would let her approach him.  We might say she knew how to work him to get what she wants which can have a bad connotation.

We call this manipulation and as a husband I am all too familiar with it.  Not because my wife does it but because of my own sinful tendency to be especially nice to her when I want something from her.  We are all born quite adept at doing this and children exhibit it at an extremely early age.  When our interactions with others are mostly defined by what we can get from them and not what we can do for them, this is manipulation and it is sin.

I think we can say that what Esther is doing is a form of manipulation but the circumstances are dire and so she does whatever she can to gain access to the king and I certainly wouldn’t see this as sinful.  But what it did make me think of was that there is a sense in which we are to do what we can to please each other and it isn’t manipulation.  If I dress in such a way that pleases my wife, or go shopping with her when I would rather do something else, it doesn’t have to be because she is manipulating me or that I am manipulating her.  It could be and should be that I love her and so I do what I can to please her with no thoughts of getting something in return.  In fact, that is the very definition of love. 

As Americans we sometimes buy into the idea that I do what I want, when I want; I dress how I want, eat what I want because no one can tell me what to do.  It is my right to not be controlled by someone else’s desires for me; no one can tell me what to do and on and on it goes.  The times when we stop and consider what someone might want us to do are rare and usually we consider it only if we want something from them.

But if you think about it, this is starting to get us to the point of Romans 14:7.  As Christians we are given life not to just use others for our ends but we are here to live for others and this begins with Christ.  So not only is there nothing wrong with me doing things to please my wife just because it pleases her or helps her out; this is actually what I have been called to do.  It is good for us to consider how others think about us; what are the things they think I should do because I have been put here on the same earth or in the same church or family and so I have to get along with them and work with them.  I cannot go around seeking only those things I want.  And letting others sometimes influence the things I do is not being manipulated; it is working together to build relationships and be profitable in the Kingdom of God.

When Esther got up that morning she had a plan and she dressed in such a way that would aid her in carrying out that plan.  She could have thought like we tend to and say, “I am going to dress how I want to because it shouldn’t matter how I dress. He should listen to what I have to say because it is important.”  She could have rushed into the throne room rashly but instead she thought things through and used her God given wisdom to figure out how best to work with her husband.

It was an important plan that would affect the people of God and her own future.  And this is my point.  As Christians we cannot afford to waltz through life without a plan.  There should be a reason for everything we do.  We have a purpose for life and so we are to figure out the best way to fulfill that purpose according to the Word of God. 

Countless lives have been ruined because they refused to take the time to consider the consequences of what they were about to do.  They were living in the moment -- what feels good now -- and didn’t think ahead.  They had no sense of purposeful living and they just did whatever they wanted to do that day with no thought of what Jesus wanted and no thought of how it might affect those around them.  This is pretty much living like an animal.

Oh, we have cleaned such living up by calling it, “being spontaneous”, “living in the moment”, “not getting tied down to routines”, etc.  But very often it is just masking the fact that we want to be free to live for ourselves and not be tied down to the responsibility that no one lives only to himself or dies only to himself.

I am all for spontaneity by the way.  But as Christians, life is too serious for us to be consumed with just living in the moment.  If you are saved you have a carefully laid out plan for your life and it is our duty to be students of the Word and figure out how to be wise as serpents in this present evil age.  Part of that is living to please and help each other.  It doesn’t mean we are to be controlled by others but that we are in the Lord’s army, we have common goals and no soldier can just decide he will fight the enemy on his own or in his own way.  We must live with others in mind.

We are to live with purpose, with planning and every decision we make must be made with more thought than just what happens to be in front of our noses at the time.  This is how a two year old lives, not mature adults.  This is why Paul could say, 1Co 9:26  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 1Co 9:27  But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. 

While some might want to think of this as hindering their lives, yet for the saint it is wonderful to know that we have purpose and meaning in everything we do.  And the little freedom we might give up in this life will give rise to unimaginable glory in the life to come.

Life's Lessons

Mar 6:48  And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, Mar 6:49  but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, Mar 6:50  for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." Mar 6:51  And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded.

The pericope of Jesus walking on the water is one of the most famous portions of Scripture there is.  Yet as in all accounts in the Bible it is related to us not that we can marvel at a really neat thing Jesus did but to teach us some extremely important life lessons; not the least of which is that we need to be astounded at God, not the creatures and forces he has made.

At the heart of this situation is that the disciples are in a trial, not because they were out of the Lord’s will, but precisely because they were being obedient.  This should stop us from assuming that when bad things happen to us either we are out of God’s will or it is his will that we not have difficulty; but for many these are the only two options they consider.  Neither was true in this case.

Paul Tripp makes a good point here when he says that as soon as Jesus stepped onto the water it was obvious that merely delivering the disciples from hardship was not important to him (my words).  If all Jesus was concerned about was helping the disciples escape tribulation he could have commanded the storm to stop from shore.  The above account helps us see what Jesus was really after. 

Their problem was not the storm; Jesus sent them straight into it.  Their problem was a heart problem; they feared the storm more than they feared and trusted in God.  What they needed and what we need is not to ignore the storms of life and act like they don’t exist but to be more astounded at Christ than the storms.  This is one reason why the Lord sends trials to begin with; to magnify himself in our eyes so that we stand in awe of him more than temporal things as he delivers us through them. 

While trials and hardships and sickness and such things are a result of the fall and shall one day be eradicated, we must be careful of seeing them as our enemies.  If Jesus can say to count it all joy when we meet various trials, then the effect they should have on our prayer life and on our emotional life and our spiritual life should be far different than they often are. 

David said it well, Psa 119:67  Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. Psa 119:71  It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.  I heard John Piper say that more lose their faith during good times than in difficult times.  The more we make life about Christ, the better we will be able to endure affliction because we understand that our comfort or lack thereof is not what we are to pursue.  In this we will find comfort and peace because to have Christ is enough no matter what we might not have in this life.  Having Christ is far more important than having comfort and outward peace. 

This use of difficulty is furthered illustrated in the text from Mark when we read that Jesus intended to pass their boat by and not even help them.  Again, the storm was the least of their real problems.  When the crowd needed to be fed earlier that day they wanted to send them away to fend for themselves when Christ was right there to help them.  So Christ gives them a taste of their own medicine and puts them in the people’s shoes.  How did they like the Lord of Glory strolling by them while they feared for their lives?  What a marvelous lesson of humility and compassion.  Without a storm such lessons would be lost.