Mark 4:35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
This was no ordinary storm, it was sent by Satan to kill them and stop them getting to the other side when he would deliver the Gadarene demoniac (Mark 5:1). It is a picture of situations we face as we move forward in God’s will.
We may come against WAVES (obvious visible problems) but they are caused by the WINDS (invisible spiritual forces blowing against us).
The disciples would have tried to bail the water out of the boat – they were fighting the waves, but until the wind was dealt with they were bound to fail. Likewise there are times we have to deal with the spiritual forces causing the problem (however, not every problem is of this nature).
But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a pillow
(sometimes God seems to be asleep in a situation, when actually He is waiting for us to use our authority).
They awoke Him and said, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’
Then He arose and
- rebuked the wind,
- and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’
And (1) the wind ceased and (2) there was a great calm.
Notice He first SPOKE the COMMAND to the invisible WIND and then to the waves (the visible problem caused by the invisible forces).
Jesus was exercising the dominion that man was originally entrusted with. He rebuked His disciples because He expected that as men they should have been able to handle the situation with faith and authority as He did.
The basic reason why man could not exercise authority over Satan is that through sin he lost his position of RIGHTEOUSNESS with God. He was not in God’s Kingdom and so had no legal standing against Satan – in fact he was in Datan’s kingdom.
For this situation be changed, man needed to be FORGIVEN and JUSTIFIED (declared RIGHTEOUS WITH GOD). Only then could he stand against Satan and bind him.
Be established in the Righteousness of Christ. Have your Breastplate of Righteousness on.
Bibloscope 