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Our text for consideration this morning, I believe, is quite familiar to many of us, mainly because of two amazing accounts: one, that of the Lord Jesus walking on water, and that of His stealing the storm. However, this morning we shall look at this passage of Scripture and consider another great and wonderful account of the Lord Jesus. It is as spectacular and amazing as that of the Lord walking on water and that of the Lord stealing the storm, but it may not be as familiar and popular to many of us.

Looking at verses 45 and 46, we read of how Jesus made His disciples get into the boat, commanding them, telling them to go to the other side while He is sending away the people. We know very well that prior to this passage of Scripture, the Lord had performed that miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, and the people were just so amazed and so overwhelmed with all that they had seen, with all that they had witnessed, and with all that they had received from the Lord having eaten of the loaves that the Lord has fed the 5,000.

So, as we look at verse 45, we find the Lord constraining His disciples to get into the ship and to go to the other side unto that place called Bethsaida while He sent away the people. After which, as we read in verse 46, when He had sent the people away, He departed into a mountain to pray. Then in verse 47, we read, “And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea and He alone on the land.”

Coming down to verse 48, I want us to notice something interesting— in fact, very interesting, if not amazing. For as you can see in verse 48, we read, “And He saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them.”

The first thing I'd like us to notice here is that Jesus saw His disciples. Jesus saw His disciples. Remember that the Lord, at this time, was on the mountain. As we read in verse 46, “He departed into a mountain to pray.” Yes, the Lord at this time was on the mountain while the disciples were in the midst of the lake.

So, as you can see, if we are to look at it in terms of their location as well as of direction, the Lord Jesus was on top of the mountain while the disciples were on board a ship in the midst of the Sea of Galilee, in the midst of the lake. And as we look at it, yes, we can think of the distance between them. While the Lord was up there on the mountain, the disciples of the ship were in the midst of the lake.

On average, the lake was 5 miles across and about 10 miles in the widest place. And as we can think of the Lord being on the mountain, for sure He can have a bird's eye view of the entire Sea of Galilee, and for sure He can see all the boats, the ships on the Sea of Galilee, granted that it is in the daytime, granted when there is brightness, granted that when the weather is clear. Yes, perhaps in the daytime, the Lord could see the entire surface of the water and even the boats on the water.

But as you can see, this incident took place in the evening. As you can see in verse 47, “And when even was come.” So, obviously, this account— this incident— took place at nighttime, at eventime. And that is somehow something worth considering in the sense that verse 48 tells us that Jesus saw them toiling in rowing.

And it was even described that they seemed to be struggling in rowing for the wind was contrary unto them. From this account, we can see that the Lord saw His disciples very clearly and particularly in such a difficult situation. To think that it was in the evening time, and to think that He was up in the mountain, to think that the disciples were on board the ship in the midst of the lake.

And yet it seems that Jesus saw His disciples up close, that He can see very clearly and particularly— can even describe the very detail of their condition, of their situation. As we can see in verse 48, that He saw them toiling in rowing for the wind was contrary.

It means that the Lord, while on the mountain at eventime, saw His disciples, how they were in serious trouble rowing hard and struggling against the winds and the waves. Jesus saw them in every detail of how they have struggled and how they have labored and how they have took effort to row.

Let us not forget that most of His disciples were seasoned fishermen, and yet we find them here in a very difficult situation, rowing hard and struggling, trying to make it to the other side against the winds and the waves.

There is something very interesting here. Like the disciples, the Lord may not be physically with us as we go through the storms of life. Yet one thing you can be sure of is that He knows our struggles. He knows our need; He knows even the danger that we are facing. Just as He saw His disciples toiling in rowing— as in the case of the disciples— the Lord is watching. His eyes are upon us.

Sometimes we wonder if the Lord really knows our situation. Like the disciples, we may be tempted to ask, “Master, carest Thou not that we perish?” Oh yes, He cares, for His eyes are always upon us. He sees us struggling; He sees us battling with the waves, beaten and distressed. Yes, just as the Lord saw His disciples, He also sees us in all our struggles. And not only that; He sees all our struggles. He has full sympathy with us in all our struggles.

It ought to be a great strength and comfort to us as we realize that just as the Lord saw His disciples in all their struggles, the Lord sees all our struggles, and thus He knows everything that we are going through in life.

Moving on, looking at verse 48, not only did Jesus see His disciples, for as we continue to look at verse 48, we also read of how Jesus came to His disciples. Look with me again in verse 48: “And He saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them, and about the fourth watch of the night, He cometh unto them walking upon the sea and would have passed by them.”

On this part of the verse, we find the Lord Jesus came to His disciples. Jesus saw His disciples, then Jesus came to His disciples. As you can see, you would notice that Jesus, having seen the struggles of the disciples, actually did not come immediately to watch them. In fact, it was almost morning when He came. For as we read in that portion of verse 48, “about the fourth watch.”

In Jewish measurement of time, nighttime is divided into four watches. The first watch would be the evening time, and that evening time would be that part of the night that

runs from 6:00 to 9:00 in the evening. And that is the first watch. And as you can see in verse 47, it mentions there that when even was come, that means this incident took place on the first watch in the evening time.

And that evening time is between 6:00 to 9:00 in the evening. But then, in verse 48, we read that it was only about the fourth watch when He came unto His disciples walking upon the sea. So that would tell us that there is a certain period of time between Jesus seeing His disciples struggling in the evening time, between 6:00 to 9:00 in the evening, and the actual time when He came to His disciples walking on water.

For verse 48 says that it was on the fourth watch of the night. And so, as we think about the fourth watch, it is the period that runs from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.— 3:00 to 6:00 in the morning, early hours of the morning. That is the fourth watch.

And so, as we think about it, you would notice that there's a time and a period of time between the Lord seeing His disciples and the time when Jesus actually came to His disciples. What I want us to see from here is that there are just times that the Lord, even when He knows our situation, even when He knows the difficulties that we are going through, there are just times that the Lord would allow us to go through it for a period of time.

Not that He is indifferent, as we know that He knows all of our situation, as His eyes are always upon His people. We read that He saw that they were in serious trouble— true indeed, He saw everything. And He knows that His disciples indeed were in serious trouble in all the dark night.

The Lord kept watch upon His disciples on that little boat in the middle of the sea or in the lake as they toil and labor, struggling to make it to shore. And as we think about this, it should encourage us that even when He may allow us to go through our struggles— allow us to go through times of difficulties— that even when He may not come quick, He surely will come on time.

He may not come quick, but He will surely come on time. To us humans, it may appear or seem to be a delay, but to Him, it is always the right time, even the perfect time.

And so it is, we read in the last part of verse 48, “And about the fourth watch of the night, He cometh unto them walking upon the sea, and they would have passed by them.” True, and this is what I mentioned earlier. This passage is more known because of this account of the Lord walking on water and also of the Lord stealing the storm.

But as you can see, here is another wonderful and amazing truth about the Lord. Here, while He was on the mountain and His disciples were in the middle of the sea, in the lake, He saw them. And that is something I'd like us to really realize and know by heart: that the Lord is watching. He sees us, and therefore He knows everything that is happening to us.

Jesus saw His disciples. Jesus came to His disciples. Moving on, Jesus comforts His disciples. Notice carefully how the disciples reacted in seeing the Lord. In the last part of verse 48, we have read of the Lord at the fourth watch, in the early hours of the morning. He came to His disciples as He walked on water.

Notice how the disciples reacted in seeing the Lord in verse 49: "But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out." What can we see in here? Firstly, it seems that they could not imagine that it was really the Lord coming towards them and walking on water. What else? It seems that they did not recognize the Lord. Not only that, they did not recognize the Lord; they even thought that it was a spirit.

And what else can we learn in verse 49? They even cried. Obviously, the word "cry" there indicates that they screamed, they screamed and shouted out of fear because they thought that it was a ghost or a spirit. So you can just imagine that in the midst of all their toiling, rowing, and struggling, they also had to deal with their fear. For them, seeing the Lord Jesus walking on water—water in which they failed to recognize—was indeed a very distressing time.

While they were struggling to row or make it to the other side, they also had to deal with their fear. There are just times that, like the disciples, we can be so overwhelmed by the situation we are facing. It can be very disturbing, very distressing, and at times very depressing, that even when the Lord would comfort us in His words and even by His presence, somehow we just could not recognize it because we have been so overwhelmed by the situation.

But then, again, in the midst of such a distressful situation, notice what we read in verse 50: "For they all saw Him and were troubled." True, they were all terrified. They were all troubled; they were all fearful. It was then that they heard of the Lord saying, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." It must have brought them much comfort and assurance when they heard the Lord saying, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid."

My dear brothers and sisters, we may not have the Lord Jesus coming towards us, drawing near to us physically, literally, and visibly. One thing you can be sure of is that the Lord would always, always comfort us, His people. And how would the Lord go about it? He would comfort us, His people, through His words, through His breath, and through His promises: "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid."

Whatever it may be that we are facing, whether it be literal storms or the proverbial storm of life, the Lord Jesus said, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." What comforting words from the Lord Himself!

Not only that, the Lord comforted His people with His word; notice also how He comforted them with His presence. Look with me now at verse 51: "And He went up unto them into the ship." And what happens next? Look on: "And the wind ceased."

Earlier, I said that this passage has been known to many because of these two accounts: Jesus walking on water and Jesus stilling or calming the storm. But here is a third comforting and assuring truth about the Lord. As we think of Him seeing His disciples, coming to His disciples, comforting His disciples—indeed, as Jesus went up unto them on board the ship, they noticed that the wind ceased.

And what happened to them? The last part and the second half of verse 51 says, "And they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure and wonder." Yes, it is always amazing; it is always wonderful when Jesus does things according to His will and according to His purpose. There is that line of the hymn that we love to sing: "For I know what e'er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well."

Yes, it must have been a comfort to His disciples, for the Lord indeed has done all things well. They were sore amazed in themselves, beyond measure and wonder. In another incident where the disciples find themselves in a great storm—in an earlier chapter in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 4—we read of how the Lord arose from sleep and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, "Peace, be still." And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

If the words of the Lord are able to calm the wind and the sea, much more are they able to calm our troubled and restless hearts. We just have to trust Him; we just have to listen to Him; we just have to obey Him: "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid."

Living here in the Philippines, where we average at least 20 storms coming our way every year, we know what it is like to go through every storm. And by the grace and mercies of God, we make it through. Yes, we made it through each one of these storms that come our way. So it is with our storms of life. By the grace and mercies of God, we are able to make it through each one of them.

And you know why? Because Jesus sees and knows our struggle. He walks with us through our struggle and He comforts us in all our struggles. Just as we have gone through this passage this morning—how the Lord Jesus saw His disciples, how the Lord Jesus came to His disciples, and how the Lord Jesus comforted His—going through the many storms of life, take comfort, for Jesus sees it all.

Jesus knows it all, and He will always come. He will not fail to come to comfort us, either through His word, through His promises, and more so with His abiding presence through the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray. Lord, we thank You for the comfort that You have given us through Your word. Even so, as we anticipate storms of life to come our way, we are thankful for Thou art faithful, O Lord, to see us through as You would walk through with us and comfort us, even strengthen us and preserve us for Your glory and honor.

Lord, have mercy, for there are just times when our faith begins to waver, when our faith would falter, when our faith would fail us. We can only praise You and thank You, for even when our faith will fail, You will hold us fast.

O Lord, thank You for Your word this morning. We pray that all this truth that we have considered would be settled in each and every heart and would continue to fill our minds, that we can carry on and rise up victorious in all the storms of life that we face and encounter by Your grace and by Your mercies. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.