Messianic Viewpoint

Guest (Female): Shalom and welcome to Shalom Ariel and to this, the 43rd sermon in our Gospel of Mark series with Messianic leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon. There is something that we will look at that is both amazing and encouraging. It's about Yeshua's disappearances. We learn that when Yeshua needed to, he disappeared from the scene.

When haven't we felt that we needed to just disappear from some place? Maybe from the crowd in the midst of a party, maybe from a very uncomfortable or embarrassing moment, or maybe when we are going through a tough season in life, and we feel like we just need to disappear, step off the planet Earth.

We would, by the way, be in good company with the likes of Elijah, who asked the Lord to take his life, or Jonah, who asked the sailors to throw him overboard. If you ever felt like disappearing, you are not alone. But for Yeshua, things were different. His disappearances were always related to keeping a certain time schedule.

Because it was not the right time for his going to the cross, to the tav, or because it was not the right time for him to be crowned king, he needed to disappear from the scene. Or because he did not want to cause a ruckus with the crowd and defeat the purpose of what he was attempting to achieve at that very time. Each time Yeshua disappears, there is good reason.

But let's keep in mind one very important reality. While Yeshua does disappear from the scene, it doesn't mean that he is absent from among us. Let's go back for a minute and consider when they wanted to send him over the cliff back at Nazareth. Look what Yeshua does right after he passes by and disappears.

In the very next verse, we find him in Capernaum, going to teach, preach, and minister. He's not absent. He's there and he continues to serve us. And look what happened to the story of Yeshua's healing of the blind man. After being healed, they asked the man, "Where is this Jesus?"

But Yeshua is gone, only for a short time, though. Once all the arguments between the healed blind man and the Pharisees have ended, once the healed man was expelled from the religious community, Yeshua shows up again. Yeshua now comes back to ask the healed man if he believes that he is the son of God, to which the man agrees and finally worships him.

Yeshua's disappearances and reappearances always have a purpose with precision timing, which means he is never absent. He is waiting. Welcome to today's program and be blessed as you listen in. Shalom, shalom.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: Shalom, shalom. Shalom, Beth Ariel. Friends of Beth Ariel, blessings to all of you. Once more, welcome to our Shabbat service. Are you ready to taste and see how great is our Lord? Amen.

Today, we will read about six powerful miracles Yeshua performed, ones which served to strengthen and affirm all believers. For these were done for his followers, and no one on the outside really knew about them or saw them.

The time was fast approaching for Yeshua to leave this earth, and so he demonstrates so much of his might so that we never feel alone but are always empowered by his presence. These miracles will remind us that he never slumbers nor sleeps, but his omniscient eye is over all of us, each one of us, every single moment, in joy or in a storm.

These miracles will also remind us that he is master over time, over space, and even over gravity. For it is in this section that he walks on the water, showing that he is Lord over all his creation, demonstrating how far he is willing to go even now to show his lambs how much he cares. After this text, one will surely feel his warmth and intimacy.

Before we open up the word, you can say it with me. This is an ancient prayer: Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has given us the word of truth and has planted everlasting life in our midst. Blessed are you, O Lord, who gives the scriptures. Amen and amen.

Let us open our scriptures to this powerful section of Mark chapter six, beginning with verse 45. Between verses 45 to 52 are contained four powerful miracles and even six when you include the Gospels of Matthew and John. Try to spot some of these miracles as we read the text. Let us begin with the first two verses, verses 45 to 46.

Immediately, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side to Bethsaida, while he himself was sending the crowd away. After bidding them farewell, he left for the mountain to pray. Reading these verses, one can feel an urgency, a pressing issue to deal with.

Why did Jesus immediately direct his disciples into the boat to send them away to the other side? He sent them, but he himself stays. Something was happening. What is it? To find out the answer, we need to go to the Gospel of John, which indicates to us that by this time, Jesus had reached a high point in his ministry.

After being miraculously fed, see what the people's reaction is, see what they want to do in John chapter 6, verse 15. It says, "So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come to take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone."

The people were trying to make Yeshua King of Israel and trying to do so by force. By force, the Greek word *harpazo* means to grab, to seize, with the purpose of controlling. They saw his powers. They understood who he was. But the timing was wrong. Yes, Yeshua will be king, but not at this time. He came to die for the sins of the people before that.

And so we're told in John, even before it happened, that he perceived that they were intending to anoint him king, and Mark follows and tells us that he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him. But looking at these two verses, we find our first miracle.

If so many people, that is somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000 people, because there were 5,000 men only, plus women and children, if this amount of people were coming to him to make him king by force, the question then is: How in the world could one stop such a crowd?

Yeshua could not hide from the eyes of so many people. Or did he? Just as he did in other instances when he seems to have simply disappeared from some scenes. Many times in the Gospels, he did just this when they tried to kill him before the appointed time on the cross.

John 8:59 is such an example. It's probably the most powerful example. It says, "Then they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus concealed," that is, he hid "himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so he passed by."

What we read here is that they took up stones to lapidate Yeshua. Since it was not the time for his death, nor the method of his death, because it says in Psalm 22:16 that they shall pierce his hand and feet, Yeshua just hid and then walked through the midst of them.

He did even though there were so many eyes on him. He just appeared to fade away. The same thing must have happened in Mark 6, for there is no other way to avoid such a crowd who came by force to make him king. This then would be our first miracle, done so that he would do what he came for, that is to die for our sins.

After this, we learned that he left for the mountain to pray. That is the second time, by the way, he went alone to pray and surely pray for these people who desire to have salvation from oppression. He surely prayed for their spiritual salvation.

And one more thing here which attracts the attention of the reader, it is speaking of the mountain with a definite article. But which mountain can this be? We know of no particular mountain at this time. However, and perhaps the definite article is inserted to suggest the symbolic importance of Mount Sinai, which was called the mountain of God. Many times in the Torah, it was just called "the mountain."

"The mountain" reminding us that this theme of a new exodus we have seen with the feeding of the 5,000 is keeping its course here. The mountain of Sinai marked Israel's new journey, and so when we read that Yeshua went up the mountain, we're reminded as well that the disciples were beginning a new journey in the history of Israel, that of preaching the world to the nations.

And what happened in the mountain with Moses is about to be reacted here, as we'll see later on. Let's keep on reading the text. Now, while on the mountain and while he prayed, something drew his attention. See what happens, verses 47 to 48.

"Then it was evening. The boat was in the middle of the sea, and he, Yeshua, was alone on the land. Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night, he comes to them walking on the sea, and he intended to pass by them."

There are two great miracles here, by the way. One is quite obvious, of course. But do you see the other one? Notice that while he was on the mountain and while the boat was in the middle of the sea—as Matthew tells us, being three or four miles away from the shore as John tells us—and in the darkness, for it was the fourth watch, that is between 3:00 to 6:00 AM, Yeshua saw them.

How could he see them from so far? He saw them straining at the oars, for they were working hard trying to save their lives in a storm. This then is the second miracle in the text, showing us that the Lord is always on the lookout for us, for his own, for his lambs, forever looking over us.

He is in heaven, but he is also present even in the storm with us. And here again, we are reminded of an important theme when it comes to storms and trials. The Lord will often save his people when they are in the storm, not always from the storm.

But we ought to be sure that he is there in the storm, always to show us the way out. Remember Daniel's three friends. The Lord did not save them out of the fiery oven, but he was in the oven with them to save them. Here we see that Yeshua saw them and he went to them. Now, see how he went to them.

Here is actually a third miracle. He comes to them walking on the water. That is so wonderful that he even is willing to curb the laws of nature to demonstrate his willingness to help us. He really did not have to go that far, really, but this is how much he wants to assure us of his great love and concern for us.

It is such an extraordinary miracle that many cannot believe it, and many have tried to explain it away. Some have tried to rationalize it by saying that Jesus was actually walking on the sand by the shore, so the disciples thought that he was walking on the water.

But we're told many times that it was dark and windy. We're told in John that he was walking near the boat or on the water that is towards the boat itself. Others say that Jesus was floating on a large beam doing this among the high waves and the strong wind. That would have been impressive as well if he did this.

But why are they trying to explain away the miracles of the Bible? I find it strange that so many are studying and even writing commentaries on the Bible without faith, without believing. What drives them to try and try to find faults and to justify or excuse what is meant to be a supernatural event? How can you read the Bible without believing in miracles?

I understand that the Bible is an important historical document, but the word is clear. No one can fully appreciate the scriptures if faith is not present. One must believe, otherwise it will not make sense at all. It seems that the Bible itself was designed in such a way as not to make sense for the unbelievers, for there are a multitude of apparent contradictions.

It is written in Hebrews 11:6 that he who comes to God must believe that he is. It is the same way when one opens up the scriptures to believe and comprehend its spiritual message. In order to do that, one must believe.

When Yeshua walked on the sea, this miracle was for the believers only. For there was nobody else there. And there is something really great in this miracle and an important statement is made because you know that the only one in the Hebrew Scriptures who walks on the sea, on the water, is God himself.

We see him many times doing this, and here Yeshua was demonstrating to his disciples and to us his full divinity. See, for instance, Job chapter 9, verse 8, where we read: "Who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of the sea."

The word trample, *darakh*, means to march, to walk, but mightily so, to indicate a heavy, even a heavenly presence. Here we see the Lord treading down the waves of the sea as Yeshua walked on the water. This word also describes the second coming of the Messiah.

When it says in Numbers 24:17, "A star shall come forth from Jacob." The word come is the same word as trample down, as to march, as when the Messiah will come at his second coming. Here in Mark, we see him marching to save. This is a mighty testimony of love to us and to the disciples.

But see what else we're told. The miracle does not end here. See the last words. It says like this: He comes to them walking on the sea and he intended to pass by them. What could this mean, that he intended to pass by them? The way it is written, it is as if he was just passing by, going on the other side and passing by them and saluting them, "I'll see you on the other side." It didn't happen this way.

Matthew tells us that he walked to the boat, and John adds that he was drawing near the boat. He was not just passing by them, as we may first understand these words, because there's much depth in these words as they are enhancing a great theophany.

Mark really goes a step further. First, the word intended means that he willed, he wanted, he desired. And this last word, "pass by them," reminds us of two other theophanies in the scriptures. Theophany means a revelation of God, a physical revelation of God.

The same Greek words are used in the Septuagint to describe how God passed by Moses to show him his divine presence in Exodus. And here he passes by the disciples to show them his glory. We read in Exodus 33:19 when Moses had a theophany, which is again a revelation from the presence of God.

God said, "I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you." The Septuagint translates the words "pass before you" with the same Greek words we have in Mark. If we paraphrase the words in Mark, we can say and Yeshua comes to them walking on the sea, he was willing to show them his glory.

While walking, he showed them that he's divine, for only God was expected and could, according to the scriptures, walk on the water. Elijah also experienced a theophany in a very similar way. Remember Elijah in 1 Kings 19. And he said, "There shall go forth tomorrow and shall stand before the Lord on the mountain. Behold, the Lord will pass by."

This is when Elijah experienced a theophany, but this time it was in a still, small voice. We can experience God in many ways. These words in Mark recall God's physical manifestation to man and reminding us of Moses and Elijah in a most powerful way, because both Moses and Elijah each marked a new era in the revelation in the Hebrew Scriptures.

The disciples in Mark offer a third era. There's a connection. Both Moses and Elijah were present on the Mount of Transfiguration along with the disciples as witnesses to stamp this new, third biblical era. We'll learn more about that when we get to chapter nine.

The walking on the water, the use of this familiar term "to pass by" as the Lord did with Moses and Elijah, is yet confirmed in the way Yeshua spoke his first words to the disciples. What did he tell them? Verse 50, Mark 6:50. "Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid." The words "It is I" in the Greek, *ego eimi*, mean "I am."

Don't be afraid. This is how the Lord identified himself in the Hebrew Scriptures. This is a divine title. I am means I was, I am, I will be. In this title, "I am," are comprised the truth about God that he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. God never changes. Why? Because he's perfect.

This is how the Lord identified himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14. God says, "I am who I am." This is how Yeshua identifies himself to the disciples. He did not say, "I am Jesus. I am your Messiah." "I am" only, indicating his divinity. Yeshua used the same name to also show his eternity when he said in John 8:58, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." The same word he used here, indicating that he's eternal, even the Creator himself.

We can further paraphrase this great third miracle in this section by saying, and Yeshua comes to them walking on the sea, he was willing to show them his glory, for he is the "I am." This is who Yeshua is. As one commentator on Mark wrote, Joel Marcus, a Jewish believer, said, "This was the most divine moment in Mark."

Here we have such a demonstration of Yeshua's insuperable might. This is when we can sing "The Lord is my rock and my salvation" for no one is stronger, no one is more loving than the God that we believe in. Amen.

And this is up to now that it would have been *dayenu*, that is enough. But our Lord is very generous. See what happens next. As soon as Yeshua got into the boat, another miracle happened. Look at verse 51. "And he got into the boat with them and the wind stopped, and they were utterly astonished."

Just like it was before when they were in the same sea, suddenly the wind stopped. There must have been a deafening silence of awe there. This time, the "I am" did not say a word. The storm just subsided, perhaps through a thought. This is the fourth miracle. Here again, he is showing that he is Master over all his creation.

There is another miracle, a fifth one which occurred, which defies space and time. This one we have to go to John 6:21. This is what it says: "Then they willingly received him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going."

Did you see that? As soon as Yeshua got on the boat, we're told that immediately the boat was in the land. How did he do that? How did this happen? This is the type of question one will often ask when he or she is doing the work of the Lord. I heard these questions from these people. Have you asked this question lately?

After all, Yeshua is the same. He never changes and is ever willing to pass by anyone who sincerely calls upon him. Have you, for instance, yourself passed through the Philip experience? Do you know about it? One day when Philip was about his business, the Spirit spoke to him and brought him right next to a person who actually had a question about Isaiah 53.

The reader was wondering of whom the prophet actually is speaking in this chapter, of whom. Right there and then, Philip showed the eunuch that it spoke about Yeshua, and he accepted the Lord and was baptized. Have you lately been carried to reach such a person as we see in Acts chapter 8? The Philip experience will bring you to places you never dreamt to be before, and it will bring people to you you never expected to meet before. This is the way the Lord passes by.

Have you, for instance, enjoyed the Moses experience? It was after the third try that Moses was finally ready to do something in his life for the Lord. It took him 40 years in the comfort of the palace in Egypt to realize that he was called to deliver his people.

And when he understood his mission, he went about to do it in his own way. He went and killed an Egyptian, and so he had to flee for another 40 years. That wasn't the way to do it. Then, when he was 80 years old, he finally submitted to the Lord so that he was now ready to humbly lead the people.

Have you felt that you were lost in time, perhaps, or perhaps that you lost time, a lot of time? You feel perhaps that you missed the boat. With God, there should not be such a thing as resting on one's case. He is the healer, the health-giver. He empowers even the most feeble and brings him or her to produce great works. We need only to will and to see when he passes by.

Another one, have you ever been face to face with the Amos experience? Beautiful. You know, one day as a very rich man was going about his business, when the Lord put such a deep urge for justice and such a great love for his word and for his people, that this same businessman and prophet, Amos, went to confront the most powerful and wicked people in Israel, and he blessed so many.

Have you had this urge, this deep call to do something for God and his people? It was Amos who said, "Surely the Lord does nothing unless he reveals his secret counsel to his servants the prophets." God very often doesn't work alone. He loves to work with people. Let us open the door, allowing him, or allowing ourselves, to see him pass by.

The last verse of this account is, on the one hand, encouraging, yet on the other hand, very sad. Let's see what it says, verse 52. "For they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened."

That's the disciples, by the way. What is so encouraging about this verse? If it took so long for the disciples to realize such great miracles, then I'm not so bad. That's the idea. I love the way, by the way, the scriptures reveal the true nature of God.

This you will not find in other religious books, remember, where their leaders are always heroes and superhuman. The Bible shows how we, being so frail, so sinful, could be brought to such great things and do great things for God.

All men in the Bible begin low, at the bottom. No one was born an Isaiah or a Paul as we know them today. For some of us, we might just be starting out, but that too is okay, of course. The word to gain any insight is one word in the Greek, *synekan*, meaning to understand, to comprehend. It is not that they did not know or see, but they did not put things together. And when we don't exercise our ability to think, to meditate on these things, our heart hardens. Their heart was hardened, why? Because an lack of understanding.

This is not you, right? Same thing problem with Israel: my people perish because of a lack of knowledge. It was Peter himself who said to always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. 1 Peter 3:15.

Guest (Female): Shalom Ariel is a daily radio program emphasizing the Jewish perspective of scripture. God is not through dealing with Israel, nor will he renege any of the promises he has made to her. Our teacher for this program, Jacques Isaac Gabizon, is a Messianic Jewish believer and Messianic leader at Beth Ariel congregation right here in Montreal.

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