“Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to a mountain by Himself alone.” John 6:15.

“And when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.” John 6:16-18.

Verse 15 above has been added for context. Notice the emphasis on the Lord being on the mountain alone.

The reason the disciples left without the Lord is explained in the gospels of Matthew and Mark 6:45-52.

“Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on a mountain by Himself to pray. And when evening had come, He was alone there.” Matthew 14:22-23.

According to the Jews the evening could be broken up into two parts; it is by this that we can get a rough idea of the timing here.

Before leaving Egypt, Moses told the Israelites to sacrifice the Passover lamb in the following manner.

“And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” Exodus 12:6.

The marginal in my Bible says that the words “in the evening” are literally, between the two evenings, in the Hebrew.

Depending on who you hear the two evenings are either between 3 and 5 p.m. or 3 and 7 p.m. Three o’clock being the time of the daily evening sacrifice, and not surprisingly the same time Jesus died on the cross.

Having said all this, it is interesting to note that the multitude was fed at what was probably the first evening, three o’clock in the afternoon.

“When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.’” Matthew 14:15.

“And when the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late.’” Mark 6:35.

After having fed the five thousand and finding them intent on making Him king, the Lord sent His disciples to the boat and told them to depart. Possibly to prevent them from being caught up in the fervor of the multitude, and also because He wanted to be alone to pray.

Having done so He sent the crowd away and went up onto the mountain; it is described as evening when the disciples left, about six or seven o’clock. When they went to sea, Scripture says; “…it was now dark”.

“Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.” John 6:18.

Storms can arise very quickly in the Sea of Galilee, so there is little surprise that they left in the calm and now find themselves straining at the oars. The severity of this storm can be seen by the next verse.

“So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.” John 6:19.

The book of Matthew adds more information.

“But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.” Matthew 14:24-25.

The fourth watch of the night is between 3 and 6 a.m. These men had set out around 6 p.m. and had been struggling at the oars against a contrary sea for anywhere between 9 to 12 hours! With all that work, they had made a distance of only three or four miles.

Ungodly people like to look at Jesus and the disciples, and many others who have borne the cross over the centuries, characterizing them as a bunch of pansies.

But Jesus was a carpenter who worked long hours with the crudest of hand tools, then was unjustly put to death as a criminal. And these men with nerves of steel braving the sea to make a living gave their lives also.

Englishman George Whitfield, 1714-1770, preached around 18,000 times to about 10 million people. He made several trips to this country, and at one time he spoke to a record 23,000 people.

Before his tours here were complete he had been heard by virtually every man, woman, and child in the colonies (United States) at least once.

David Livingstone, 1813-1873, served as a missionary in Africa where he traveled over one third of the continent; from the Cape to near the Equator and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean.

On one trip he had 31 attacks of fever and was constantly wet from the rain. On another 1500 mile trek he waded through many swamps and thickets in water 3 or 4 feet deep, often with fever, raw hands and bloody knees protruding through torn pants.

He faced a number of lions, one even sank its teeth into his shoulder crushing the bones; just as it put its paw on his head, a native was able to distract the animal, and he survived the attack.

Many Christians sacrificed everything, often even their lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ. People like this are far too noble to be disparaged by armchair atheists who hate God and the gospel of Christ.

The disciples were fighting the sea while the Lord was on the mountain praying, was He unaware?

“Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.” Mark 6:47-48.

If it was between 3 and 6 a.m. and they were about three or four miles away, in the dark, how did He see them?

If it was dark enough upon His arrival for them to mistake Him for a ghost, how much darker it must have been when He first saw them from the mountain.

These things reinforce His deity. It was through His omniscience that He could see them struggling at the oars. It is God who walks on water. Job says this of Him.

“He alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea…” Job 9:8.

In the dark the Lord appears as a shadow gliding across the water, drawing closer and the disciples cry out in fear.

“But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.’” John 6:20.

No sooner are there gasps of fear when the Lord comforts them with “It is I do not be afraid.” Have you ever wondered if there was another way to approach them without scaring them?

Frankly, I do not believe it was possible, but notice He identifies Himself immediately. None of this “Ha, ha, I scared you; should have seen the look on your faces!”

Christ came not to frighten, mock, or jest, He is here to comfort and teach them how to comfort by example.

“Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.” John 6:21.

Do not miss what has just been said, the boat is described as being in the middle of the sea, and that the disciples had gone only three or four miles.

How is it suddenly at their destination? Once again we see the prerogatives of God; the boat was transported miraculously by the hand of God to its destination.

A deacon in the church (see Acts 6:1-7) named Philip was transported in the same manner. Having been told by an angel of the Lord to go to Gaza, Philip went and found himself near the chariot of an Ethiopian eunuch who had great authority under Queen Candace.

Being told by the Spirit to go near Philip found that the man was reading from Isaiah 53. Seeing that he was puzzled Philip offered to help him understand and was invited into the chariot.

He then preached Christ, beginning at the passage in Isaiah. Upon nearing a body of water the eunuch asked Philip to be baptized. We will pick up at that point.

“Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.” Acts 8:37-40.

Azotus is twenty miles north of Gaza. Do not let anyone tell you there is not going to be a rapture, there is enough here to show it is possible.

Many see this entire incident as a picture of Christ and the church. During this church period Jesus is in heaven and His followers have been told as follows.

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. ‘Amen.’” Matthew 29:18-20.

Having gone forth as we were told, the night closes in and the storms of life rage. Often these storms come because of our own willfulness, sometimes they come to soften us and turn us away from self-centeredness. We are:

“…predestined to be conformed to image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:29b.

What that means is that God wants to look into our eyes and see Jesus. Too often that comes through many trials, until our hard heart changes into His image.

Or we just mellow because we have learned that no matter what our circumstances Jesus is in it with us, great peace of mind comes with this knowledge.

“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” Psalm 17:15.

This life, whether calm or stormy is watched over by Jesus, just as He watched from that mountain top and His appearance and rescue is timed to bring us safely to port.

And soon we will see Him, not on water but in the air to take us away before the storm overwhelms the world and the darkness becomes suffocating.

“Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven.” Psalm 107:23-30.

Jesus warns us.

“And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” Mark 13:37.

Walk on Water, John 6:16-21 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 9-18-12, updated on 8-14-17.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.