Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 152 (Walking on Water Part 3 - When You Walk on Water, Remember This) for week of 4 May, 2025

When You Walk on Water, Remember This Part Three In Walking on Water Part Two, we looked in depth at the Gospel of Matthew 14:22-33 account of Yeshua walking on water. The "fourth watch of the night" was our key phrase, helping us to understand the elation, terror, and sinking feeling Peter might have had as he processed:   a) Sababa! Yes! I can walk on water like it's dry land! It's like the Exodus! b) Oy vey! It's the last watch of the night, and the wind will allow the waters to return to normal at daybreak! I could be killed like Pharaoh's army!   Yeshua, however, had authority over the wind frightening Peter with its ability to destroy armies and pound them into the abyss of a watery grave. Yeshua’s authority over the angels of the four winds and all other principalities and powers is a second key to understanding why Peter might have had that sinking feeling that his solid footing in the water might collapse.   One example is the destruction of Sodom and three other cities of the valley at sunrise. Oddly, the text describes Lot and his daughters as arriving in Zoar when the sun came up, yet, this is when the angel took them by the hand to depart Sodom! How could they be in two places almost simultaneously? It was humanly impossible to escape to Zoar that fast unless there was a supernatural quality to the angel's "hand" that saved them.   Likewise, Yeshua took Peter's hand when Peter cried out, "Lord, save me!" Yeshua walked him to the boat, and John adds a detail: “So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going” even though the text states they were three or four miles along the water. (Jn 6:21)   This, too, would be impossible if Yeshua's hand of salvation weren't supernaturally fast transportation. A boat is a symbol in Scripture not only of international commerce, but of how nations and continents are connected and interconnected. The fact that walking on water occurs on the Galilee is also symbolic. Galilee came to be known as "Galilee of the Nations" not only because of the diverse people groups that lived there during epochs of history, but because of Isaiah's prophecy:   But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. (Is 9:1-2)   While Peter made the connection between the Exodus past and a prophesied Exodus of the future, the Book of Acts suggests he didn't completely internalize the commission to the Gentiles until much later. Perhaps he assumed that Isaiah's prophecy was intended only for the lost Israelites among the nations who were to be restored by Messiah.   Indeed, the deportation of many Israelites and Jews occurred from that very area, yet the Greater Exodus will also draw many from every nation, tribe, and tongue just as it did in the first Exodus. All those who call on the Name of YHVH will be saved then as Peter demonstrated.   In Part One, we parsed the Hebrew text of Exodus 14:21 to see that the English translations of how the water was swept back all night didn't do justice to the text:   “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back…”   But let’s read the literal words:   “And stretched Moshe his hand over the sea and will walk YHVH the sea…”   For modern English grammar purposes, let’s read: “and YHVH will walk the sea.”   It explained why Yeshua, the arm of YHVH, walked on water and why Peter believed it might be Yeshua instead of a "ghost"...and why he, too, might walk on water:   The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, וַיָּבֹאוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם בַּיַּבָּשָׁה   In Part