THE PARABLE OF THE STORM
Mark 4:32 But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it. 33 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. 34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. 35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. 36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
In our last writing (“Without A Parable,” of May 18, 2014), we considered that the Lord suddenly begins to exclusively use parables to teach. And we learned that this came as a result of his not only beginning to be rejected as the very Son of God, but of his even being proclaimed to work miracles by the power of Satan! And that is the unforgivable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit! Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
And when once the true identity of Christ is denied, that closes up the scriptures to all who do not receive him. Whosoever hath not the true revelation of the Son of God shall have taken away from them even that revelation they thought they had! Matthew 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
For Christ is the key to all spiritual understanding! 1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Luke 24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? 45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, For it is as the woman at the well said, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. (John 4:25).
And now we are come to two teaching miracles. There is first this one of the storm and the next is that of the man in the tombs. May our dear Lord be pleased to open unto us these scriptures for his glory and our edification.
The key to both events is the setting forth of his sovereignty over all things. For it has been well said, “Jesus Christ is either sovereign over all things, or he is not sovereign over any thing.” Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: In his prayer to the Father just before his crucifixion he makes this statement which most religionists of our day will not admit. For he proclaims his absolute sovereignty over all the human race! John 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Dear Reader, the scriptures proclaim that when Jesus Christ accomplished eternal redemption at the cross to the satisfaction of the Father, he then sat down in the seat of sovereign authority! Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 1 Peter 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
And our two teaching miracles were set forth to show his absolute authority over all things. For God has given him a name above every name! Philippians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Jesus Christ is presently reigning Lord! 1 Corinthians 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. This verse does not state, “He shall reign WHEN!” It clearly states, “he must reign, TILL!” That is, he must continue to reign as Mediatorial Lord now, UNTIL the last enemy, death, is subdued by him at the resurrection, accomplished by his coming in his final glorification as God all in all. (1 Corin. 15:28).
Now, let us look at our parabolic miracle of the storm. It states in verse thirty nine of our Mark four passage that the Lord Jesus arose, and rebuked the wind. Remember, this is at the time when the satanic forces have risen up against him, displaying themselves through the religious gang of that day, ascribing his power source to be that of the devil! Therefore, we begin to see the rising of the stormy winds, the same weapon which Satan used against Job, as the physical manifestation and picture of that swelling up of spiritual evil. Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. 19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
For is not Satan referred to as the prince of the power of the air? Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: For in this way Satan seeks to be known as the god of this world. 2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. And in his seeking these things he attempts to counterfeit the Person and working of the Holy Spirit; who Himself is that holy Wind of God! John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
But did you notice in that 2 Corinthians 4:4 verse, just listed, that the Lord God, in his infinite wisdom and power is pleased to use Satan and his insatiable appetite, (for Satan is a created being, and therefore the servant of God), to work with the gospel preacher to ‘immediately’ blind the minds of those, while hearing the gospel, choose not to believe it? Dear Soul, the Devil is God’s devil, and therefore does the bidding of God! Remember he had to come before God to seek permission to attack Job. Therefore he is also used of God upon those who do not believe, when they hear the gospel. Mark 4:4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
For the gospel ministry is set against the forces of the devil and his binding souls in darkness. Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 2 Timothy 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
You do understand that this refers to the true gospel, preached in the power of the Holy Spirit? 1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. For the legal content of the gospel set forth by intellectual energy only, tends to make counterfeits, and not true converts. 2 Corinthians 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Organized evangelism has done much to fill hell! Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
America has had some great and stirring religious ‘movements.’ But that is all they were. Some were just churched people striving against the sale of alcohol. Today the issues are different, but are still religions seeking to clean up the morals of the citizenship! The true ‘issue’ today is not abortion, nor homosexuality! It is, has always been, and ever more shall be, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!” (Acts 17:30). And religion promoted only to attain morality, fits souls for eternal damnation. It is Christ’s imputed righteousness, not man’s emotional persuasions, that saves the soul from Satan’s powers!
2 Peter 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. The Apostle Peter is here instructing us that a soul may truly escape the immoral ‘pollutions’ of the world, and that through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, only to have a worse ‘end’ than he had at the ‘beginning.’ Many men have gotten a case of the ‘do betters,’ from religion just to get their wife back, but have later returned to the bottle again!
For that soul who had one demon cast out by a case of the ‘gospel-do-betters’ wound up having seven more demons enter into him. He, like Peter’s dog vomited out all his immoral habits, but was then just a cleansed, but empty ‘house’ for the demons to reenter. So now, like the dog, – certainly not like a sheep – he is turned back and takes up his old sinful habits again, and is sealed in unbelief. And then it is impossible to renew him again and set him back as at the beginning, to have opportunity of repentance again! To do so would require Christ to die all over again, and that just isn’t going to happen! Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
And we cannot make too much of the wording of Christ rebuking the wind and immediately calming the sea. In Mark 4:39 it states, and he arose, and rebuked the wind. For it was at Calvary that the Lord Jesus defeated Satan, casting him out of the heavenly places. John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die. Notice that the Lord ties the “now” of satan’s being cast out to his death at Calvary! So “he arose” from death to rebuke the prince of the air, literally, just as he arose to rebuke the wind, typically!
Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Pastor Gene Breed, May 24, 2014