Who is this Man?

Wednesday 2-25-15 (Home) 

Scripture reading: Num 17-18 Ps 29  Mark 4

S.  Mark 4:41  And they were filled with awe and said among themselves, "Who is this man, that even the wind and waves obey him?" NLT

O.  The disciples had left behind their trades to follow this unusual Rabbi called Jesus.  His miracles of healing astounded them and the public.  His teaching was not like the scribes and Pharisees.  There was a certain authority about His presentation.  He would teach about the Kingdom of God as though He had been there. 

But still He was a man.  There was no shining light around His face.  There was no physical attraction related to His looks. (Isaiah 53:2)  He did not dress in elegant clothing like a king.  He was so much a man that after teaching the crowds and healing the sick all day He needed to get away and rest.  So He requests that His disciples take Him in a boat to the other side.  He is so exhausted that He is not even awakened by the tossing boat, the howling wind and the crash of waves swamping the boat.  Finally the unusual storm has these sailor boys in a panic.  Peter, James and John had grown up fishing on this sea.  They knew how to handle a storm, but this time it was out of their control.  The water was flooding the boat.  They were all going to die.  But Jesus is still asleep with his head on a pillow.  “Jesus, how can you sleep?  Don’t you know that we are all about to drown?”  Jesus yawns and takes a look around.  “Where is your faith, boys?”  And then He stands and speaks to the wind and the waves.   Maybe he swings His arm pointing the direction from where the wind is coming. “Hush!”  Silence!  Calm!  You could hear a pin drop.  With jaws hanging wide open they whisper among themselves, “Did you see what I saw?!  Who is this man, anyway?!”

A.  The answer we give to that question will determine our eternal destiny.  Is He really Who He claimed to be?  Is He the Creator of the seas, the wind and the water?  Is He the Son of the Living God Jehovah?  Has God, His Father really cared enough about us to reveal Himself through His only Son?  Is He really: 

• The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world? (John 1:29)
• The Source of Living Water? (John 4:10)
•  The Bread of life? (John 6:35)
• The Light of the world? (John 8:12)
• The Gateway to salvation and to green pastures? (John 10:9)
• The Resurrection and the Life? (John 11:25)
• The Way, the Truth and the Life? (John 14:6)
• The True Vine (John 15:1)? 

Jesus blew the Jewish leaders into a fury when He identified Himself as the eternal “I AM” the very name that Jehovah God used to Moses at the burning bush.  "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" (John 8:58)  NIV. 

Some cults and religions, like the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons, want to reduce Him to an angel, a nice teacher, a gentle rabbi, even another god… but when He points to the wind and the waves in our lives… it is the Creator that says, “Hush!” and there is silence!  And our noisy world of surrounding confusion yields to His command.  We either brush it off as “natural causes” or we crash at His feet and humbly cry, “Master!”

P.  Master! Creator! Savior! Lover of my soul! Who are You anyway? You are God Who became a man.  You opened our eyes to be able to see the invisible Father.  You became vulnerable.  You let them call You a liar and a fake.  You let them tie You to a post and lay the flesh on Your back open with cruel whips.  You allowed the soldiers to press a crown of thorns down on your head.  You let them hit you and spit in Your face.  You placed Your hands on the cross bar for the spikes.  You became the sacrificial Lamb of God taking upon Yourself my sin and the sins of the whole world.  You suffered death that I might live.  And You rose from the grave victorious over death.  I know Who You are!  And today I fall face down at Your feet and worship You.   Amen.

Ralph