Time to Set Sail
Review from last week:
1) The Bible blurs the line between the physical and non-physical worlds.
2) Rich images from Biblical poetry are rooted in images from earlier Biblical narratives. That is how metaphor works in the Bible. You need the narratives to understand the poetic images and the images reveal deeper meaning in to those narratives. - Bible Project
Genesis 1:6-10 – God separates the waters above from the waters below and then brings land up out of the water.
Genesis 7:11-12 – Waters above and below again cover the land.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. - Jonah 2:1-3
Ezekiel 26:19-20, Psalms 18:4-5, 2 Peter 3:5-6
Going down into the waters is to go down into Sheol (i.e. the grave).
Because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, - I Peter 3:20-21
- Being brought up or through are equivalent. The important part is you are coming out of the water.
End of the flood is the start of a new creation.
Boat comes to rest on land that came out of the water, Dove is hovering over the water, Noah receives a blessing from God that looks very similar to Adam's (i.e. Be fruitful and multiply, etc.)
Being brought up or through the waters is a sign of new creation.
Moses and the 10 Plagues
10 Plagues are a De-Creation Event
Destruction of the three parts to Creation: Water, Land and Skies; Creatures don’t stay in their designated areas; Instead of creation of the firstborn human, there is death of the firstborn humans.
If there is a de-creation event, then what is the new creation event?
The Exodus story - New Creation Event - Moses brings Israel out of the waters
How does the Bible think about large bodies of water?
You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. - Psalms 89:9-10
Psalms 65:5-8, Psalms 18:16-17, Psalms 69:1-4, Isaiah 17:12-13, Isaiah 51:4-5, Psalms 74:12-14,
Isaiah 27:1, Jude 1:10-13
Large bodies of water from the Biblical View symbolize Chaos in bringing disorder through de-creation.
People can represent water in being opposed to God
God has power over the sea, people and death; all three images that are represented in chaotic waters.
The waters are divided as they were divided on the second day. The sea is separated from the dry ground as it was on the second day. Israel is the dry ground taken up out of the sea and the Egyptians are consigned to the abyss and the deep. The Egyptians and the Israelites, formerly mixed together, are going to be separated in YHWH’s new act of creation. - Alastair Roberts
Jesus and the Sea of Galilee
By the sea Jesus calls disciples – Mark 1:16, 19, 20; Teaches and heals the crowds – Mark 2:13; 3:7; 4:1; Jesus crosses the sea freely – Mark 4:35; 5:1, 18, 21; 6:53, 54; 8:10, 13; Commands his disciples to cross the sea before him- Mark 6:45
Jesus calms the sea - “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:35-41), Jesus heal a demon possessed man (Mark 5:1-20), Jesus raises Jairus's Daughter from the dead (Mark 5:21-43)
The manifestations of Jesus' power by the sea are to be interpreted in the light of the manifestations of Jesus on the sea, and vice versa. - Elizabeth Struthers Malbon
Jesus sends the disciples on to Bethsaida (Mark 6:45), Jesus is on land praying (Mark 6:47), Disciple’s were “making headway painfully” (Mark 6:48b), Jesus walks on the water to them (Mark 6:48c), Water is as land to Jesus, Jesus calms the storm again (Mark 6:51a)
Behind all of this emphasis on the sea and fish lurks the boat as an entity that mediates between the sea and the land, a small piece of the land afloat on the sea. – Alastair Roberts
The fact that Jesus teaches from a boat shoved out in the sea perhaps gives us an image of the church—the church is a little ark, a little bit of Israel, tossed about on the sea of nations. But there’s no danger, because the Lord of the church walks on the sea as on dry land. – Peter Leithart
Connie talked on June 22 about unhooking the boat and setting sail.
Jesus comes through the Chaotic Sea (Matthew 12:38-42 and Romans 6:9)
Paul comes through the Chaotic Sea (Acts 27:44b-28:1 and Acts 28:3-5)
Final Hope
And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. - Revelation 20:13
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. - Revelation 21:1
The gospel brings an overcoming of the opposition between the land and the sea. - Alastair Roberts
