“JESUS CHRIST - A MAN APPROVED OF GOD (Acts 2:22)”
  Miracle #22-   “THE DISCIPLES TRANSLATED”
John 6:16-19,20-21

Positive thinking, weather control, translation, the meaning of time

I mean, they’ve all just had a tiring night feeding the 5,000 … they should be home in bed … but Christ has urged them to row across the Sea of Galilee.  

“I’ll see you on the other side” he said. What’s going on? What is Christ trying to achieve?

Among many other lessons the following stand out: 

1. Positive thinking
The disciples rowing across the Sea of Galilee represent our salvation journey … will it be by the ‘impossibilities’ of positive thinking and hard physical yakka to get to the other side … or will we simply look unto Christ to get the job done (John 6:21)?

2. Weather control
In controlling the weather, Christ shows himself to be God (Matthew 14:33; Genesis 1:1).  

3. Translation
Those who like Sci-Fi movies, are familiar with the term “Beam me up Scotty.”  

A translation is to be bodily transported through space to another destination.

In the Old Testament, translations were common place with men appearing out of heaven (Joshua 5:13); Enoch (Genesis 5:24); Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) to name a few. Indeed, we have Philip (Acts 8:39) in the New Testament.

And so here we have the disciples being translated to their destination … “Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.” (John 6:21).

4. The meaning of time
Christ created time and therefore he is its master … he is before time, and will be, after it finishes. Christ is the was, the is, and the is to come (Revelation 1:4).

The fact is that the disciples had rowed half the journey across the Sea with much physical effort, but Christ completes the last half in an instant as follows …

“… immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.” (John 6:21).

A couple of points
Only when we receive Christ into our ‘ship’, can we be immediately put onto the other shore … and into heaven; and secondly, only Christ can restore the years the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25) in making up for lost time. 

The lesson is this … on earth a thousand years is one thousand years … and it drags on and on and on … but in heaven, it will seem like a day (2Peter 3:8). These disciples, in the presence of the Lord and with their eyes on him, time became irrelevant … and this is how it will be in heaven.

Funny isn’t it Dear Reader, when you’re bored and time drags, you are not thinking about the Lord. That’s why we fill up our time with the physical of the five senses …. entertainment, distractions, travel and so on.

It just proves, although we are new creatures, we are not as yet new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). Indeed Paul says that with his mind he loves the law of God but his body serves the law of sin (Romans 7:25).

God’s purposes
Knowing in advance what is good for us, but unbeknown to them, Christ constrains the disciples to go to sea (Matthew 14:22), that he might show himself as the Almighty God, through his control of the weather, translation and time … and truly, the I AM THAT I AM (Genesis 18:14; Matthew 14:33; Exodus 3:14).

Lastly …
He says to the disciples “It is I” (Mark 6:50). Why didn’t Christ say “It is me.”

Christ said “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58) not “Before Abraham was, it was me”

Christ is never the ‘secondary’ object pronoun of “me”, but always the ‘primary’ subject pronoun of “I”.

Indeed Dear Reader, let us all be of good cheer that the “I”, and not the “me” is present (Matthew 14:27).

Harley Hitchcock
May 2023
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com

“JESUS CHRIST - A MAN APPROVED OF GOD (Acts 2:22)”
  Miracle #23-   “DOGS AND CRUMBS”
The Syrophoenician woman has a daughter with a devil
Matthew 15:22-25,26-28; Mark 7:25-28,29-30

Among many others, this miracle raises four points as follows:

“CONTACT US”