#DailyDevotion If Jesus Isn’t The LORD of The Old Testament, You Are Still In Your Sins
Mark 4:38-41 38Meanwhile, in the back of the boat, He was sleeping on the cushion. They woke Him up. “Teacher, we’re drowning,” they told Him. “Don’t You care?” 39He got up and ordered the wind to stop. “Hush!” He said to the sea. “Be still!” And the wind quieted down, and it became very calm. 40 “Why are you so afraid?” He asked them. “Haven’t you learned to trust yet?” 41Struck with awe, they asked one another, “Who is He? Even the wind and the sea obey Him.”
Yesterday we talked about how there are two major heresies, i.e. false teachings which normally attack Christianity. One is that Jesus is only human, the other is Jesus is only God. There are some that try to make him out to be some mixture but even they end up on one end of that spectrum. Today’s devotion focuses on how Jesus is truly God. Now the boat was filling up with water and Jesus was sleeping. They woke him up saying, “Teacher, we’re drowning. Don’t You care?” Now by their response to what Jesus does next, I think we can safely say they were not expecting him to do a miracle. No, they were expecting Jesus to pick up a bucket and start bailing out the boat with the rest of them.
But what does Jesus do? He orders the wind to be quiet and the sea to be still. Immediately everything becomes calm. This stikes awe into the disciples and has them asking, “Who is He? Even the wind and the sea obey Him.” Who is Jesus that the wind and sea obey him? That is a good question.
The introit for the Sunday this Gospel lesson appears is from Psalm 107 which says in part, 28“Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. 29 He made the storm calm down, and the waves around them were still. 30 They were glad it was quiet. So He brought them to the haven they longed for.” The disciples didn’t realize it yet but when they cried out to the LORD for help, he was asleep in the stern of the boat. Jesus is the LORD spoken of in Psalm 107. He is the God of Israel in the flesh. He is the LORD who spoke to Job out of the storm. He is the LORD who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. He is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father.
It is important we believe and confess that. Anyone who cannot and will not confess that does not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them and they are not in a state of salvation yet. It is important that Jesus is that LORD of the Old Testament because only one who is LORD could make his death the redemption price of the whole world and eveyone ever born into it. Jesus as man could die but his death at best could be exchange for the lift of another, if he were not truly God. But because Jesus is God, the LORD, his death is the ransom for all people, everywhere of every time and place. His death as the LORD brings us to the haven we long for, the kingdom of God, the new heavens and earth. Put your faith in this Jesus who can still the wind and the waves because he is the LORD and he will deliver you from death and the grave and give your eternal life.
Heavenly Father, you sent your son Jesus, begotten from eternity so that whoever calls on him may be saved. Give us your Holy Spirit that we may call upon the name of Jesus and be delivered from the storms of this fallen world. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.