Ii) AN UNEXPECTED MOVEMENT
J.C.Evershed
I wanted to say a few words, dear brethren, about the unexpected movements of the Lord in the fourth watch of the night, that is, the time nearest to the morning.
It is not only in my mind that the Lord taking our brother was so unexpected to us. Maybe we have already some sense why the Lord has acted in this way, but it may be some time before we realise why the Lord has taken him. In any case, our prayers are for our beloved sister, that she should be sustained and the household and family learn the Lord's mind, it may be in recovery, or in furthering His work in one and another through the very departure of our brother. For ourselves in this place, I think we should look to the Lord to replace the mature moral and spiritual features that came out in him. We might wonder why the Lord should take him when he was in the prime of his usefulness to the Lord in the assembly, as we would say. However, the Lord has come in in this way, and I have read this scripture because it speaks of an unusual way in which the Lord came in, in the fourth watch of the night.
There had been a long night, as there has been already in the testimony, and I believe we are in the fourth watch when the Lord's coming to us is, imminent in the way in which we expect Him to come from heaven. We have heard the last trump but one, which is the one to get ready, and our brother, as I know from my long personal knowledge of him, has been one who has pre-eminently been ready for the Lord to come at any time. But here in this scripture there are these disciples together and I believe that is how we are now. A great feature is that they were compelled to go on board. To my mind that does not mean necessarily that they were unwilling to do so. It suggests to me that they would be able to say to themselves at all times, whatever storms might come – and they were for many hours toiling in the passage across the lake - that they were not there at their own charges but were there at the Lord's charges and He would care for them. They may have been surprised at the way in which He did actually come in, but as the evangelist tells us, the Lord Jesus was up in the mountain praying whilst they were out in the ship together. I feel, therefore, that we need to take this lesson, too, from our brother, that he was one who felt the Lord had laid hold in a definite way upon him, and he was not a volunteer in the things of the Lord, and he never drew back in whatever the testimony might require.
I know there is a dispensational side to this scripture which I do not propose to speak of, but I think the Lord presenting Himself to His disciples in this way was calculated to touch their affections, and that is what He did with Peter. There is a certain amount of question with him, but as soon as Peter locates where the Lord is he says 'Lord I must be with Thee, command me to come to Thee'. So that Peter was under the Lord's command to come to Him out of the ship. We can say that if the Lord calls us out to Himself, then He will be responsible for us in doing so, and Peter was so attracted to the Lord that he set out after Him. I think that this, too, has marked our brother, and the desire that others should be likewise in the path of truth and affection for the Lord where He is.
There is the side in which Peter felt a measure of failure when the time came, but I am not speaking of our brother in that connection. I would rather speak to ourselves, that if we find there is a weakness of faith with us the Lord is so close at hand to us that a short call upon Him for salvation (as it says, "Lord save me") is answered at once. The Lord laid hold of him. That feature, the fact that the Lord would lay hold of us, is again present there. If faith may fail then the Lord's hand is stretched out and He takes hold of his disciple. He may have to rebuke him - it is remarkable that the first of the apostles should be spoken of as being weak in faith - nevertheless the whole of those in the boat got the benefit of this experience. And the main point was not so much that Peter was able to walk on the water, for the Lord would not have him to be in any way proud of what he had done. He said that he had little faith: we might have said he had great faith. Peter does not bring this forward in his epistles relating to himself, but the result of it all is that there is a fresh appreciation of the greatness of the person of the Lord Jesus, and those who are in the boat say "Truly thou art God's Son".
Our beloved brother would have it, and we would all have it; that as a result of our consideration of the Lord's movements there should be a great accession of appreciation with us of the greatness of the Lord0's person as God's Son.
In the Name of the Lord Jesus.