Who is this?

Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side of the lake."  So they launched out.  But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger.  They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!"  And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm.  And He said to them, "Where is your faith?"  They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?"  --Luke 8:22-25 

In this passage we find Jesus doing a miraculous thing: calming the storm and stilling the waves!  Who wouldn't be in awe of this if we experience this firsthand.  But the disciples ask a question in response to this, saying, "Who is this man?"  There is an answer to this question.  Jesus tells the Pharisees, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me" (Jn 5:39).  So in searching the Scriptures, to my astonishment and sheer amazement, I found the answer to that question.

Psalm 89 is a deeply Messianic psalm discussing the Davidic Covenant and how the LORD God will establish the seed of David forever upon the throne, making him His firstborn and the highest of the kings of the earth (v27).  In the midst of this messianic psalm, we find these lines: "O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD?  Your faithfulness also surrounds You.  You rule the swelling of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them" (v8-9).  Since I use the NASB translation, I know that the capitalization of "LORD" is actually where the Hebrew uses YHWH, the personal, covenantal name of God given to the Jews.  So it is the covenantal God who calms the sea and stills the waves according to the psalmist. So when the disciples ask, "Who is this?!", the answer lies in the Scriptures--it is their covenantal God and He has come to them in human flesh!  It is Jesus the Messiah!  And it is interesting to note that it is not by the Old Covenant name, YHWH, we now call upon and trust, but it is by the New Covenant name which we place our hope and trust, Jesus Christ.  This equates Jesus with YHWH, hence showing the deity of our Lord and Savior.

In John 5:36, Jesus says, "But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish--the very works that I do--testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me."  The works that He accomplishes equates Him with God, which is the very reason why the Jews sought to kill Him, "For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God."  Many today (and throughout history) want to deny the deity of Christ, yet both His words and His works equate Him with God.  Any diligent study of the Scriptures will show this, and it was even foretold through such Messianic promises.

Oh how marvelous is the mystery and revelation of the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!