“And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea” (v. 25). According to the Roman guards, there were four night watches, each of three hours, from sunset to sunrise. The first watch was the evening watch; the second, the midnight watch; the third, the cock-crowing watch; and the fourth, the morning watch (Mark 13:35). The fourth watch was probably from three to six o’clock in the morning.
Verse 25 says that the Lord came to His disciples, walking on the sea. While His disciples were distressed by the waves, the Lord walked on them. This testifies that He is the Creator and the Ruler of the universe (Job 9:8).
Thinking that the Lord was a phantom, the disciples cried out for fear (v. 26). “But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Have courage; It is I; do not fear” (v. 27). The heavenly King brought courage to the disciples by His presence. When they mistook Him for a phantom, a ghost, He encouraged them by saying, “It is I.”
Verse 28 says, “And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the waters.” When the Lord said, “Come,” Peter stepped out of the boat, “walked on the waters and came toward Jesus” (v. 29). Only Peter was bold enough to do this. I doubt that any of us would have been as bold as Peter. It was a miracle that Peter could walk on the waters. He walked on the waves by faith. Faith is our action upon the word of the Lord. To have faith does not mean that we are able to do things; neither does it mean that we make up our mind to go in a certain direction. Faith simply means that, although we may be very weak, we dare to act upon the Lord’s word. The Lord said to Peter, “Come,” and Peter took that word, acted upon it, and walked on the waves. Do not examine whether or not you have faith. If you examine yourself, your faith will disappear immediately. Do not ask yourself, “Am I strong in faith? Is my faith adequate?” If you question yourself like this, you will immediately sink beneath the waves.
Verse 30 says of Peter: “But seeing the strong wind, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me!” Peter came down from the boat and walked on the waves by faith in the Lord’s word (v. 29); however, when he saw the strong wind, his faith vanished. He should have walked only by faith in the Lord’s word, not by the sight of the circumstances (2 Cor. 5:7). When Peter cried out for help, “Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him and said to him, You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (v. 31). Since the Lord said to Peter, “Come” (v. 29), Peter should have stood on that word and not doubted. Hence, the Lord rebuked him. Faith comes from the Lord’s word and stands on the Lord’s word. As long as we have the Lord’s word, we should simply believe in His word and not doubt.
Do not be troubled by any storms, for we are in the boat, the Lord’s church. Even if we cannot see the Lord or feel that He is with us, we may be assured that He is on the mountain interceding for us. Perhaps He is even on the way to the boat. Whether He is on the mountain interceding or on the waves walking toward us, we should not be disturbed. At times we may not only have peace inwardly, but even receive a word from Him to walk on the waves. When we receive such a word, we should simply walk on the stormy sea. Do not be bothered by the opposition and persecution. With the Lord’s word we may walk to meet Him, even walking through all the opposition and upon it. This is faith.
We should not blame Peter for having little faith. Among all the disciples in the boat, Peter was the first to enjoy the Lord’s presence. Some of us are too slow and too timid. Do not criticize others for being too quick. You need to be quick yourself sometimes. Which do you prefer—to be like Peter or to be like Thomas? Peter was bold, but Thomas was timid and cautious. In the churches there are many careful, cautious ones. But Peter was not cautious. As soon as he heard a word from the Lord, he stepped out of the boat and onto the water. However, the cautious ones may say, “But Peter had to cry out to the Lord to save him. There is no need for us to cry for help. We are safe here in the boat.” Yes, you are safe in the boat, but you are not in the Lord’s presence. You are not like Peter who was the first to get back into the presence of the Lord.
Peter caused a great deal of trouble. The quick ones always make trouble, whereas the timid ones never cause problems. The timid ones do not cause trouble, but neither do they bring in the presence of the Lord. With the cautious ones, nothing seems to happen. Year after year goes by, and everything remains calm. But those who are like Peter are always stirring things up. They may cause trouble, but they are rescued by the Lord and thereby are brought into His presence. Some of you cautious ones need to stir up a little trouble, then cry out to the Lord to be saved, and get into His presence. Who do you think enjoys the Lord more—the cautious ones or the quick ones? The answer certainly is the quick ones. Nevertheless, the timid ones may say, “Let us sleep. Sooner or later, the Lord Jesus will come. We don’t need to jump in the water, cause trouble, and then cry out for rescue. We don’t need to be so quick to get into the presence of the Lord. If we take it easy and be calm, the Lord will come.” In one sense, the cautious ones are right and those like Peter are wrong. But the bold ones have more enjoyment of the Lord than the timid ones. Eventually, however, the Lord’s presence is not just with Peter, but with all the disciples in the boat.