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Keep Your Eyes on the One
Who Walked on Water
Thru the Bible
Dr. J. Vernon McGee
“. . . we are in the fourth
watch of the night.”
“And straightway Jesus
constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the
other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the
multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening
was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea,
tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.” (Matthew 14:22-24)
The Lord is in the mountains, in the place of
prayer. The disciples are down on the Sea of Galilee in a storm and in
darkness; they are in the place of peril.
What a picture this is of our own day. Our
Lord has gone on to the Father and is seated at the Father’s right hand.
We today are down here on a storm-tossed sea
in the place of peril.
I love this next verse:
“And in the fourth watch of the
night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.” (verse 25)
The fourth watch is the morning watch, from
three in the morning until daylight. This is the time the Lord walked on the
sea, going to His disciples.
And I think that will be the watch in which He
will come for us at the Rapture.
Christ is the bright and morning star for the
church, and He will take the church out of the world.
We don’t know the date of His coming. There
are men who would have us believe that they know the time, but they don’t know.
However, I believe that we are in the fourth
watch of the night.
“And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried
out for fear.” (verse 26)
This is the picture: Our Lord is up there on
the mountain, and He sees the disciples in the storm, toiling and rowing, as
Mark’s record has it.
Then He comes to them in
the fourth watch. When they see Him, they say, “It is a spirit; and they
cried out for fear.”
Somebody is going to say, “Well, they were
superstitious.”
Yes, there may have been a certain amount of
superstition in them, but what would you think if a man came to you walking on
the water?
Many years ago, over in
Tennessee a fellow said, “I didn’t believe in ghosts either until I saw
one!”
And that is the position of the disciples.
They had never seen a spirit before, but they think they are seeing one now!
“But straightway Jesus
spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid” (verse 25).
Immediately He reassured them that He was no
ghost!
“And Peter answered him and
said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” (verse 28)
Peter has certainly been criticized for this.
They say that he should not have asked to walk on water.
Well, I rather admire the
man. William Carey said, “Expect great things of God, and attempt great
things for God.”
Certainly, Peter did that! I am afraid that
most of us are satisfied with little things from God. Notice that Jesus did not
rebuke Peter for asking:
“And he said, Come. And when
Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” (verse 29)
I hear people say that Peter failed to walk on
the water, but that is not the way my Bible reads.
My Bible says that Peter walked on the water
to go to Jesus. This is not failure!
Peter asked a tremendous thing of God. No
wonder God used him in such a wonderful way during the days that followed.
No wonder he was chosen to preach the sermon
on the Day of Pentecost.
“But when he saw the wind
boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save
me.” (verse 30)
Peter took his eyes off the Lord Jesus while
he was walking on the water.
When he began to sink, he
prayed the shortest prayer in the Bible, “Lord, save me”!
If Simon Peter had prayed
this prayer like some of us preachers pray, “Lord, Thou who are omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent…”
Peter would have been twenty-nine feet under
water before he would have gotten to his request. Peter got right down to
business, and you and I need to pray like that.
“And immediately Jesus
stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (verse
31)
Peter’s problem was that he took his eyes off
Jesus and looked at the waves rolling.
You and I are in a world today where we see
the waves rolling, and this is the time when we need to keep our eyes on the
Lord Jesus Christ.
“And when they were come into
the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped
him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.” (verses 32, 33)
Our Lord performed this miracle for His own,
that they might be brought into the place of faith.
Even Simon Peter, who was
audacious enough to say, “Lord, bid me come unto thee on the water” and
actually walked on the water, which should have cemented his faith, got his
eyes off Jesus, and his faith failed.
I don’t want to criticize Peter because that
has been my problem, also.
I have stepped out on faith many times and
then have taken my eyes off Him. This is the tragedy of the hour for us in our
day.
But these things were done that the disciples
might worship Him and know that He was the Son of God.
—From Edited Messages on Matthew by J. Vernon McGee
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