Anybody Got a Light?

John 6:16-21

16  When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17  got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18  The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19  When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20  But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21  Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

Unless the Lord reveals Himself, a man cannot know Him.  In human relationships, we can only know someone as far as they are willing to reveal themselves.  When we fathom the great distance between the Creator and the sinful creature of humankind, we see the vast impossibility of knowing God apart from His revealing Himself to us (1 Cor. 2:14).  As Romans tells us, “Our foolish hearts are darkened” against God (Rom. 1:21).  

The effective manner in which God has chosen to reveal Himself to us is in the God-man of Jesus Christ.  “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9).  But even seeing Jesus is impossible apart from a heart changed by God Himself.  The initiation must be from God to man.  It could never be (because of the great chasm between the nature of man and the nature of God) man initiating with God (John 14:6).  

Darkness, in the Scriptures, often represents this great separation from God.  This is so in our present passage.  It was dark while the disciples were away from Jesus four miles out on the troubled waters of the Sea of Galilee.  It was not until Jesus chose to reveal Himself to the disciples that they were calmed in their fears.  The Light shone in the darkness.

Our fears will never be abated until we are settled in Christ.  Our sins will speak guilt and punishment into our consciences.  Our circumstances will drive us to anxiousness.  Our relationships will enrage and frighten us.  It is only when Jesus enters and reveals and convinces and applies that He is our rescuer from darkness and sin that light penetrates through darkness and tells us that it is well with our souls.  

Isa 51:10, 12

10  “Was it not you who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep,

who made the depths of the sea a way

for the redeemed to pass over?

12  “‘I, I am he who comforts you . . .’”