In our study of Mark we are in Mark 4:38; where we left the panicked disciples and the sleeping Jesus on the boat in the lake in the midst of the wind storm that has caused the waves to build to the point where they were crashing over and into the boat.
We saw that Jesus' sleeping during the storm in the boat represents the doctrine and promises of God's Word. He is the Word so he is completely safe. No matter how great the storm is, no matter how great the pressure, the only place of safety and stability is in the Word.
All the crises and storms and adversities of life must be seen in the context of the divine viewpoint that comes from metabolized doctrine. God's Word is the only safe place, and it is safe even when the waves are crashing over that boat.
Jesus himself demonstrated that it was safe because His humanity was sleeping during the storm. So to enjoy their safety all the disciples had to do is take a lesson from the Lord, relax and enjoy the ride.
Of course the only way to rest is to apply doctrine. Jesus Christ is in the boat with them and He is God and obviously nothing can hurt God because He controls the storm, the storm doesn't control Him
By sleeping in the storm Jesus taught the lesson of the faith rest drill and occupation with Christ. While the disciples had followed Jesus onto the boat they had not followed Him with sufficient faith rest, and we see their failure in their panic.
Sometimes we learn the best lessons in failure. Believers, who can learn from their failures instead of getting emotional, upset and discouraged become great believers. Isa 26:3; KJV Isa 28:16; Heb 10:38;
Mark 4:38;bThe panic-stricken disciples woke Jesus up because to the natural mind the conditions had become critical. But the Lord Jesus Christ kept on sleeping in peace as the storm raged.
They screamed at Him "don't you care that we are about to die". The disciples were upset at His seeming indifference to their situation in his sleeping but He was in the same situation.
Though they called Him teacher their panic reveals that they really did not completely understand His teaching because if they did they would have known that they were just as safe in the midst of a raging storm as in a dead calm when He was with them.
Mark 4:39; So Jesus got up and rebuked or ordered the wind to be silent and said to the waves, Be muzzled and remain so" The perfect tense of the Greek word "pephimoso"
The verb translated "be muzzled," "silence" or "shut up" is same word that He used when He forced the demons to be silent in Mark 1:25;
It may imply that Jesus recognized a demonic power behind the storm and at His command the wind stopped and the lake became a dead calm.
The fact that he could command the wind and the waves and have them obey clearly demonstrated His true identity. Net note 47
Mark 4:40; And He said to them why are you cowards. You don't have doctrine yet? They had enough doctrine to get in the boat not knowing where they were going so had they followed Jesus in faith. They just didn't have enough doctrine to remain calm in the storm.
Despite Jesus' teaching they still didn't understand that God's complete authority and power were present in Jesus. Remember He is undiminished deity and true humanity in one person. The fact that they did not fully comprehend this is what He meant by His second question "do you still have no faith (doctrine)"?
He had told them when they boarded the boat that they were going to cross over to the other side not be drowned in the lake. Their recall of His statement to them should have been enough to quell their fears during the storm, and would have been, if had they really thought about the implications of His identity in the storm. Psa 56:3; Psa 34:19;
All they had to do was to remember the essence of God rationale and apply it in their thinking to resolve their emotion of fear. His deity is omnipotent; He has power over nature. Why bother the humanity of Christ, He is resting. Just enjoy ride because everything going to be all right.
We see from this that it is much easier for us to react to potential disasters with the emotion of worry, fear and panic rather than respond with the recall of doctrinal rationales. It takes a lot of training and mental discipline to consistently recall and use the doctrinal rationales when under pressure.
Mark 4:41; Net note 49 In calming the storm Jesus displayed the authority exercised only by God in the Old Testament. That is why the disciples were terrified or literally they ("feared with great fear") when they saw that even the forces of nature obeyed Him.
The verb "terrified" is translated from the Greek word "phobeoma" that means to, "have awe; " this refers to the reverence that people often have in the presence of supernatural power.
Their question to each another, "Who is this?" also indicates that they did not fully comprehend the mystery of His true nature. The power he deployed clearly indicated that he was God incarnate.
A question that remains is who caused the storm? Was it simply a natural phenomenon, or was it of Satanic origin? It would seem that if it was an effort on the part of satan to destroy the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ before He could fulfill His mission on the earth it was foiled.
Just like when the people of Nazareth tried to shove Him over the cliff and kill Him but were unable to. Luke 4:28-29; We also see in this case that Satan unable to kill Him because he had no power to take the life of the Son of God.
Jesus life could only be laid down by Christ Himself, voluntarily, in accordance with the Father's will John 10:17,18;
Even though the disciples didn't know it at the time they were just as secure. Peter had figured it out before he wrote 1Pet 1:5; This is the security God gives every believer.
We see from this that Jesus Christ our Lord is Master of all circumstances and sufficient for every emergency. Winds and waves obey Him; demons flee before Him; disease and death are destroyed when He appears. Nothing can withstand His power.
He has all authority in heaven and on earth. and He is also our Savior and Lord. We who have believed in Him are therefore commanded to cast every care upon Him because He cares for us. 1Pet 5:7;
Our difficulties in life are simply opportunities for Him to display His power and Glorify God. Emergencies and disasters give us the privilege of proving His loving interest in us as we rest in His grace and count on His power.
In the storm Jesus' sleeping exhibited the fact that he was in the cognitive invincibility of spiritual maturity while the disciples' panic demonstrated that they had a way to go.
The difference between Jesus' and his disciples' response is related to their respective capacity to apply doctrine under pressure. Jesus could, His disciples couldn't.
The question is how do we do in similar situations in our life? Do we react in panic or do we respond with cool deliberate thoughtful faith rest under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit and trust in the Lord? Psa 56:3;
We always have to remember that the details of life don't matter what matters is our relationship with Jesus Christ and our mission because He is in the business of doing the "impossible" for those who love him by keeping his mandates. Rom 8:28; Eph 3:20;
This brings us to a discussion of the mechanics of applying doctrine to experience with a brief review of the doctrine of four spiritual mechanics.
A mechanic is the science of how things work or function it is the science of determining the way forces impact a system. It is a science that deals with the action of forces and their motion within a system. It is the science of how moving parts of a system function together in order to fulfill a specific objective.
It can also be used to describe the development of a skill or the ability to do something proficiently as a result of perception, practice and application. For example mechanics are part of the process of learning the skills that are necessary to play a musical instrument, drive a car or motorcycle or fly an airplane.
In our study, the term skill is used to describe how the three spiritual mechanics of the Christian way of life are developed in believers so they can participate in their role in glorifying God by executing God's plan, will, and purpose in the Church Age.
Mechanics can be used to describe God's grace system that creates the spiritual life of the believer, that is comprised of the assembly of the moving parts of the plan of God that He designed to accomplish His purpose, will and plan for the Church Age. Eph 2:10;