" H E A R, O E A R T H ! "

Natural Manifestations of Spiritual Phenomena

Some of the times, the things that seem to us as natural phenomena are actually supernatural interventions in the natural affairs of men.  As Jesus hung on the cross, the heavens and the earth mourned His pains.  For three hours  the sun would not shine, and there was blackness.  A sackcloth or black cloth of mourning was thus cast over the land.  There were terrifying earth quakes which could have swallowed up all the Pharisees and Sadducees plus the  Roman soldiers who had been working with them.   But Jesus had prayed for mercy, asking the Father to forgive the wicked men because they did not know what they were doing.  To the natural man, however, those phenomena in the heavens and on the earth would simply have passed as coincidental natural phenomena; an eclipse of the sun and an earthquake.  But you and I know that the earth was trembling as the powerful blood of Jesus dropped on it, and it was ready to revolt against man.  And the heavens also mourned.

Can the heavens mourn?  Are the elements capable of emotions, or feelings, or of sensing things?  Jeremiah 4;28 would answer that question:

For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black [mourning] because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back.

In Daniel 10:5-9, we have another instance where what several persons, without the benefit of a spiritual insight, took for a natural phenomenon, was actually a spiritual situation expressing itself in terms of what men would naturally and generally describe as a ‘natural phenomenon.’  One of the mighty archangels (probably Angel Gabriel) visited Daniel.  The angel was so awesome that his presence caused an earthquake.  Only Daniel saw the angel, but the rest of the people with him felt only the earthquake which announced his presence.  They observed only the natural phenomenon of the earth’s reaction to or report of the angel’s awesome presence.  The Bible described this as a vision, since it was a spiritual experience, and only one man with spiritual insight could see the angel; but the rest of the people, being in the physical, could not see him, although they felt the earthquake.  To the people, there was an earthquake, or a tremor; but to Daniel, a great angel of the Lord was on the scene.  This makes one wonder if some of the earth tremors which we have experienced at various times in various places in the world were not actually the physical sensations of a spiritual event, an angelic visitation.  Maybe the tremors were the result of the angel stepping on the land.  In the same light, one may now see that the earthquake which shook the Phillipian prison to its foundations, breaking fetters and shackles and setting Paul and Silas as well as all the other prisoners free, was the physical consequence of a spiritual situation: an angelic visitation, as in Acts 5:19 and Acts 12:7 when God, in response to prayers, sent angels to deliver His people out of prison to go on preaching His Word.

One more example from the ministry of Jesus:  Once upon a time He had finished a glorious programme in the land of Capernaum.  He had multiplied bread and fish and fed several hungry thousands.  By evening, it was time to go over the sea to the other side.  He had worked so much during the day that by that time He was almost fagged out.  So, as soon as He got into the boat, He fell asleep.  His  disciples began to row the boat across, but as they got to about the middle of the sea, something strange began to happen.  The sea which had all the while been calm, began to be agitated.  And the breeze which had been soft, was growing into a stormy wind.  Some of the disciples did all they knew to do in the natural, as very experienced fishermen.

Before long, they discovered that this was no ordinary storm which their natural experience as fishermen could handle.  Things were getting out of hand.  The boat was getting full with water.  Soon they’ll all be in the bottom of the sea, unless something happened, and that quickly.  They had to wake up the sleeping Master desperately.  They could not afford the luxury of not ‘disturbing’ Him because He was ‘resting,’ having worked so much during the day.  They woke Him up.  And He did not get annoyed with them for interrupting His very needful ‘rest.’

When Jesus woke up, He did something which only recently made more sense to me.  It says He “rebuked the wind,” then He spoke to the sea, saying to it, “Peace be still”. (Mark 4:39). Why would Jesus have to rebuke the wind?.  Was the wind a demon?  It is demons we usually find being rebuked in the Bible.  For instance, Jesus rebuked a devil out of the boy who had been cast in and out of fire (Matthew 17:18); the angel of the Lord rebuked Satan over Joshua the high priest (Zachariah 3:2); Michael the archangel said to the devil in disputing with him over the body of Moses, “The Lord rebuke thee” (Jude 9).  And so on.  

Of all the approaches that Jesus could have adopted against the situation, why did He choose to rebuke the wind?  Then to only speak to the sea?  The answer is obvious now to me.  Satan was using the powers of the atmosphere - the wind - to stir the sea into a storm against the Lord and His disciples and their mission.  The disciples could only see the sea and feel the wind.  That was why their initial approach to the situation was only natural.  But Jesus saw Satan in the wind.  What appeared to the disciples to be a natural penomenon was actually a spiritual situation.  In other words, the natural or physical elements were being manipulated by spiritual forces against the welfare of the Lord and His people.  That was why Jesus had to rebuke the unseen powers of the wind which were behind the physical situation of the stormy sea which  could be seen.  After the devil had been cast out of the wind, it ceased.  When the wind which had been stirring the sea into a storm was dealt with, the sea became ‘its normal self.’ Then Jesus spoke to it to remain calm and respond no more to the voice of Satan which had been summoning it through the wind to arise against the Lord.  Satan was using the elements against the Master.  But when the Master spoke, they heard His voice and would no more serve the demonic purpose for which the winds, at Satan’s instance, had been stirred up.  What was the comment of the disciples about the situation?  Very interesting:  “Even the wind and the sea obey him” (v.4).

What do you think is the meaning or significance of this declaration of Jesus after His resurrection: “All power is given unto me in heaven and  earth” (Matthew 28:18)?  It seems He was announcing to heaven and earth: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth.  I am now the Governor in charge of your realms.  The powers that ruled you before, have been overthrown.  I rule now, with my children.”  Even before His death, He was Master over the wind and the seas and the sky.  How much more after His resurrection!

Can the wind hear? Can the sea obey or disobey?  These are deep questions to ask.  Thank God for the example of our Master.  He spoke to trees (Mark 11:12-21), to the wind, and the sea (Mark 4: 35-4), and told His disciples that they could speak to mountains (Mark 11:23), and could also do greater than whatever they had seen Him do (John 14:12).