Christ: The Seafaring Conqueror
The Seafaring Christ:
Observations in the Gospel of Mark (Pt.1)
By CG Billiot
“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way,”
- John Paul Jones, father of the American Navy
Introduction:
Many fierce mariners have braved the high seas through the millennia for God, Gold, and Glory. Combatting foes or combatting torrential waves, no man has conquered that vast frontier which covers 80% of the world’s surface; that is, except one man: The God-man, Christ Jesus- Our King and Savior. As we shall see, He who walked on water is He who tramples on death; and He who tramples death is He who takes life to the nations; and He who provides this life is indeed the greater Moses, the greater Joshua, and none other than the Great I AM. The point? The bottom line? Take heart Christian, your seafaring King knew exactly what He was doing to reveal the Father to the nations- and that includes you. “The knowledge of Yahweh shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea,” says Isaiah 11:9- may we dare to trust the Lord’s claim to triumphant victory over the seas, that is, over the nations.
Approaching Mark
As we approach the Gospel of Mark, it should be noted that this account has been heralded as the “Die Hard” Gospel or the “Gospel of action.” Don’t expect to read any allusions to Bruce Willis among the verses, but do expect a high volume of narratives focusing on the work of the Son of God. In fact, this is Mark’s assertion from the first sentence saying, “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). He is saying, “listen here- I will tell of the Father’s anointed Messiah, who is One with Him.” He then proceeds to provide a plethora of examples attributing to this claim, even in chapter one (including winning a duel with Satan, healing dozens, and cleansing lepers and demoniacs). We immediately see the greater Moses proceeding towards the mountain, that is the mount where He will deliver the law to the people- the beatitudes in chapter four- having a baptism and wilderness experience of His own. Before we get ahead of ourselves, we must take time to consider the water language of scripture, though we will but scratch the tiniest tip on the highest point of the iceberg that is water typology in the Word of God.
A Primer on Water
As previously addressed, the exhaustive study of water in scripture is something I’d recommend to any believer seeking biblical maturity. Far-fetched? Maybe these considerations will gain your interest.
Consider that according to Genesis 1:2, “that Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” For simplicity's sake, we – in a sense- can say that water was pre-existent; at least in comparison to the rest of the creation week. We see from the preceding verse it was associated with chaos or disorder, “the earth was without form, void, and darkness covered the face of the deep.” Creation had no life; this water is associated with death. This association is seen throughout the scriptures (see ‘depths’ throughout the Psalms, Ps 88: 3-7,2 Kgs 2:21, 2 Kgs 5:13-15). Immediately, with His Word – Yahweh brings order to this disorder. He repurposes the water for His good purposes. In fact, we see water explicitly mentioned as a creational means on the second day, third, and fifth- though of course it was present every day of the week. We also see Adam was created hungry and thirsty, that He may always rely on the sovereign grace of the Father (see Genesis 1:29) Takeaways: through His Word, Yahweh conquered the seas- death and disorder made into order and life; remember this when we go back to Mark.
Other associations to note before going back to the gospel include the seas being tied to the world, that is, the heathen nations.
“Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.”- Revelation 17:15.
Or note the Hebaric parallelism in Psalm 144:7, “Stretch out your hand from above; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of foreigners.”
Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them, The waters of the River, strong and mighty—The king of Assyria and all his glory; He will go up over all his channels. And go over all his banks.He will pass through Judah, He will overflow and pass over,He will reach up to the neck; And the stretching out of his wings Will fill the breadth of Your land…Isaiah 8:7-8 or in 17:12,
“Woe to the multitude of many people, who make noise like the roar of the seas. And to the rushing of nations, that make rushing like the rushing of mighty waters.”
(see also Dan 7; 9:26; 11:10,40; Ps 65:7, 144:7,Isa 60:5; Jeremiah 46:7-8, 47:1-2; 51:55-56; Eze 26:3; Nah 1:8).
Lastly, at least for this survey, water is a nourishing or purifying means. This is closely tied with the sovereignty seen in Yahweh’s creation and in the ministry of His Christ. He gave life to the world by repurposing water to be a nourishing means. We see Jesus fulfill the role of the living water, from whom His people shall be eternally satisfied, and who taught the need for a washing of water and Spirit to enter His kingdom. These associations help us better understand Paul’s reminder, “that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death...that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we should walk in the newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4). When you entered into baptism, dear Christian, you entered death and came out alive. This is the declaration (I am speaking of typology, but I’m always up to debate baptism if you want to shoot me an email). I understand far more can be said on the use of water to describe death, the nations, purification, and parallel ideas but for the third time- I am not attempting to limit the symbolism of water in the scriptures (and yes, I counted the number of previously given disclaimers). Returning to Mark, we see a landscape that is in need of renewal, as there is death upon death. Demons possess the People of God, they need living water. The Seas, that is the nations, rage. What has Mark to say on the Messiah’s triumph over these things?
Returning to Mark
St. Mark leaves no room for doubt; He presents Christ as the great Seafarer-I.e. the conquerer of death, I.e. the conqueror of nations. The gospel writers were so convinced of this that they made special note to testify to the miracles that substantiate this claim: Christ calming the seas and walking on water.
At this we need to pause. A slow down if you will. If we’re not careful wandering through pieces like this one we will miss out on the glory of God’s word.
Alright here it is: Christ walked on water. On the surface of the water. No one else in scripture ever performed or was used by the Father to perform such a miracle. The same can be said for the calming of the seas.
Elijah was used to raise people from the dead like Jesus (compare 1Kings 17:17-24 with John 11), yet never walked on water nor calmed seas. Samuel called for rain, but did not cause it to cease (see 1 Sam. 12). We could go on and on, but truthfully no one ever did these things. Why? Because only Yahweh can.
Psalm 65:5-8 speaks so well to this and the typology saying, “O God of Our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off seas…you who still the noise of the seas, the noise of the waves, and the tumult of the peoples.”
As does Psalm 77:16-19, highlighting “Your way was in the sea, your path in the great waters, and your footsteps not known.” Yahweh is the one of Job 9 who has trampled on the seas.
The evidence implicates this reality: Only Jesus performed these miracles because only Yahweh can. Only Yahweh can tame the seas, only He can tame the nations. Only He conquers death.
Jesus called His disciples at the Sea of Galilee, the Galilee of nations according to Isaiah 9, where they are changed to become fishers of men-gatherers of the nations; the point of His miraculous catch demonstration.As He did, so they will do. Joining the great Seafarer, they add to their number at the seas (Mk 2:13), gather crowds at the seas (Mk 3:7), Christ conquers hearts with His teaching at the seas (Mk 4:1), combats demons alongside the seas (Mk 5:1 & 13), and purposes missions from the seas: whether they be of the healing variety (Mk 5:21) or in the style of amphibious warfare- that is the taking of foreign territory from the seas (Mk 7:31). The message is clear, the reason for St. Mark’s frequent emphasis on the seas: Christ goes to nations. He goes to them, victorious over death, and delivers life to weary souls - of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end (Isa 9:6).
From His crossing of the Jordan in Baptism , He wasn’t merely after Canaan like His predecessor Joshua- He was after the world. Like Elijah to Elisha, He has bequeathed unto His disciples the responsibility of being priest over the waters- the nations. We could go on and on, but why? Why was this the course of action from the living Word? So that He may reveal to the World the desires of the Father, the character of the Father, and the power of almighty God to save His people ( John 1:17-18, John 8:18).
The summation of these events in Mark? The water crossings, the walking on water, and the calming of the seas? Yahweh has conquered. Christ, the Seafarer, has conquered. He has walked on death, nations have been under His feet- and He’s not done (Ps 110:1). The waves of death will not swallow our Ark, our King Jesus. The oceans, the nations rage, yet His peace is the greater flood. He has brought and is bringing order where disorder has overwhelmed creation.
Application and Conclusion
More will be said on all these things in the next part- including more on baptism and application of these concepts from scripture. For now, grasp this:
Our ship, the Church is going into harms way but take heart- our Captain, our head, Christ, has already gone down for the ship (2 Cor 5:21, Eph 5:25). Does the crew share the same convictions as the Captain? Will we lay down our lives? He will lead us to Eden’s shore, and the nations will marvel. The application: stop living as if the ship is going down, we have done that for too long and look at what it’s done to our witness. The waves of death are in fact tall- surging higher and higher in a culture that glorifies sexual and societal destruction; a church that glorifies our destruction will be no help. Live in His victory, raise your children in His victory- the depths of death will not swallow us, the nations will not overthrow His kingdom.
CG Billiot runs the website repentforchristendom.org. He is also the host of the weekly podcast ChristusRex Blogcast. You can follow him on Instagram @rex.christus_