Jesus had been teaching a crowd of people. After He had sent them away, He and His disciples set off to sail across the Sea of Galilee. But a wind blew up, so strongly that the waves were coming over the side of the ship. It was nearly swamped, and the disciples were afraid, though at least some of them were experienced in handling boats. In reality, however, they were in no danger whatever, for Jesus was with them in the ship. Yet they did not understand that. Jesus later accused them of having “no faith” – no faith in His power to keep them safe in these particular circumstances – even although He was asleep at the boat’s stern. “What a picture of innocent Humanity!” David Brown exclaims, in his commentary on the Gospels, about Christ.
Unthinkingly, the disciples wakened Jesus. Unbelievingly, they asked, as Mark tells us, “Master, carest Thou not that we perish?” He did not quite then rebuke them, but “He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39). The disciples’ response was to ask each other: “What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:41).
And what kind of man was He? He was the God-man. He was Immanuel, as Isaiah prophesied; and Matthew translates it: “God with us” (1:23). David Dickson, commenting on this verse, asks, “Who can by His own merit and effectual power save from sin, except God?” And he answers his own question thus: “Only such a Jesus as is verily God, really Immanuel, God incarnate, the true reconciler of God and man”. Only One with the divine power He demonstrated on the Sea of Galilee could save from sin – could do all that was necessary to deliver a countless multitude of human beings from sin and from all its consequences, and to merit for them all the blessings of salvation in time and eternity.
At the very beginning of his Gospel, John focuses our attention on the Person he calls “the Word”, the One who conveys to mankind what is in the mind of God. “In the beginning was the Word,” says John; before anything had been created, the Word was already in existence. Indeed he makes the two statements: “The Word was God”, and, “The Word was with God”
—pointing to the facts that the Person he was describing was divine and that He was not the only divine Person. There is one God, but as we learn from other parts of Scripture, this one God exists in three Persons who are “the same in substance, equal in power and glory,” as The Shorter Catechism expresses this profound truth.
Almost immediately, John goes on to describe the Word as Creator: “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made”. And this divine Person came into the world that He had made, as John testifies further: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). John and the other disciples lived with Him and were conscious of His divine glory. So John describes the Word in terms that imply that He was the only begotten Son of God. The One who took human nature for the salvation of sinners was God the Son, who from all eternity had been with God the Father, and also with God the Holy Spirit. Thus the One who was recognised everywhere as Jesus of Nazareth was not only man but God – God with us. Accordingly there should have been no doubt about Jesus’ power; it should have been no surprise to find Him quieting the wind and the sea by merely uttering His few words of authoritative, divine command. His power is unlimited. Nothing is too hard for Him.
This is what Jesus showed again and again while He was in this world. Luke records a time when Jesus delivered a man in the synagogue from devil-possession: “They were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out” (Lk 4:36). No wonder they were amazed! This was what no mere man could do. It required divine power. And He had divine power, for He was and is God.
Human power was altogether insufficient to bring about instant healing. Jesus, God with us, performed many such miracles; they were intended to illustrate the power that was needed to bring about spiritual healing in fallen sinners: the power of Jesus to give them, for instance, spiritual eyesight and spiritual hearing – to make it possible for them to see Jesus by faith and to receive in their innermost souls the warnings of the law and the encouragements of the gospel. There is no limit to the power of this great Physician to do works of spiritual healing in the souls of sinners as they listen to the good news of salvation being preached, or as they read these truths for themselves in the Scriptures.
In particular, the miracle of casting out devils illustrates Jesus’ power to deliver sinners from the power of Satan, who holds them captive. Satan showed his power in the Garden of Eden when he snatched Adam and Eve out of
a state of perfect holiness and happiness and brought them, through his temptations, into his fallen kingdom. From that state they could not deliver themselves; nor could any of their descendants; nor could any angel. Divine power was needed, the power of Immanuel. So the angel told Joseph: “Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins” (Mt 1:21). Just as He had power to heal the sick and to cast out devils, so He had power and authority to save from sin and from the kingdom of darkness all whom the Father had given to Him in the covenant of grace.
Apart from divine power, sinners are unwilling to come to Christ; they need the Holy Spirit to work powerfully in their souls on the basis of what Immanuel has done. The Spirit creates new life in them so that they become willing to flee from sin and Satan, to Christ and forgiveness, purity and safety. Apart from this power, Saul of Tarsus would never have left his self-righteousness and his unbelieving rejection of the fact that the Messiah had come – and that He was indeed Jesus of Nazareth, who had come to save sinners like him from their sins. How quickly Saul submitted to the authority of Jesus of Nazareth, recognising Him as the Messiah! At once Saul was indicating his submission by asking Him: “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”
And when the time comes for the world to be brought to an end by divine power, the Lord Jesus will also show His power and authority by calling all from their graves and summoning them to judgement. However resistant sinners may be to the call of the gospel in this life, none of them will be able to resist the call to judgement. And none of those who are condemned will be able to resist Jesus’ powerful command to depart into everlasting fire.
In his account of Jesus quelling the storm, Mark says that the disciples “feared exceedingly”. But there was no need for terror, “for God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved” (Jn 3:17). Certainly those who do not believe in the Saviour are, even in this life, “condemned already” (Jn 3:18) but when they see evidence of the effects of divine power, they need not feel terrified. Rather they are to seek safety in Christ, sinners though they are, for His purpose in coming into the world was to save sinners from danger, particularly from the punishment of their sins. What evidence of supernatural power there was when the angel appeared over Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of the Son of God in human nature! He comforted the shepherds: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:10,11).
The power of that Saviour, Immanuel, who stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee, remains unchanged. From His glorious throne above, He exercises His power in drawing sinners to Himself. May we then trust in Him!