The Life of Christ

Mt. 8:26 And He said to them, “Why are you timid, you men of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became perfectly calm.

Before He rebukes the wind, He first rebukes His disciples for their lack of faith.

• They lacked faith because they failed to remember what Jesus said earlier recorded in Lk. 8:22 — ”Let us go over to the other side of the lake.”

• He didn't say, "Let us go into the middle of the lake and drown.”

Doubts most often result when we forget what the Lord has previously said to us.

• God promised Abraham he would have a son; the life of faith that followed illustrates the struggle to remember and keep hold of that promise.

• We see the value of remembering on Mt. Moriah. Because God had told Abraham that his promised son’s offspring would grow into a full nation (Gen. 17:16), Abraham therefore had the faith to offer Isaac as a burnt offering!

• “And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her” (Gen. 17:16).

When trials grip our lives, it becomes vital to stop and remember what God has promised earlier.

• When circumstances scream just the opposite, we must remember, “We’re going to the other side of the lake.”

The lake became perfectly calm (Mt. 8:26).

• It was one thing for the wind to stop blowing, but even a greater accomplishment for the waves to instantly abate.

• Normally, it takes hours for the rocking action of waves to eventually settle down; in this case, it happened instantly.

• The Greek reads, “a great calm occurred.”

• Mk. 4:39 says that Jesus told the sea to be still. The Greek word literally reads, “Be muzzled!”

Mt. 8:27 And the men marveled, saying, “ What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

The Old Testament contains nothing analogous to this event.

• All the more reason to ask who this man really is!

• By now they should have known He was the Christ; they had seen the miracles and heard His teaching.

• Nathaniel said it earlier: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God."

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