Steadily
Jesus’ expanded the visible perimeters of his authority. Animal life, spirit
beings, physical illness, and even death responded to his command. Then, on
two occasions, he demonstrated his power to command two of the four major
forces of nature: wind and water. Not long after that James and John were ready
to add a third when they requested permission
to call down fire on a Samaritan village. Jesus rebuked them
and subsequently left us to wonder: why is there no record of a summoned
splitting of the earth or explosion of a lightning bolt during his mission?
Some translations of Luke 9:55-56 give us what may have been the content of
Jesus’ rebuke. John 3:17 gives us an undisputed text:
Earthquake
and fire are especially the elements of judgment; and because Jesus’ first
visit to earth was not as Judge but as the seeking
and saving Shepherd, it is likely that is why they are absent from his
mighty works.
As
for water, while it
is associated with the first world-wide condemnation, it takes on a
symbolism of death, burial, and resurrection in the New Testament church; and
wind, while it plays some role in Old Testament prophecies of end time
judgment, is a minor player in the New Testament where its greater significance
is as a picture of the various works of the Holy Spirit such as the new
birth.
During Jesus’ earthly sojourn, it was in his preaching the gospel, where the fire of
future judgment played its greatest role;
and once the duties of Calvary were complete, the rumblings of Jesus’
future return as judge began. At his death and at his resurrection the
earth shifted beneath the feet of mankind.
SERIES
INDEX: The Mysterious Footprint of Godliness
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Wind, Water, Fire, and Quake
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