John’s fifth sign (Jhn. 6:15-25) follows directly from and concludes the fourth sign’s feeding of the five thousand (Jhn. 6:1-14). The crowd perceived Yeshua as like Moses, who freed them from oppression, fed them in the wilderness, and taught them YHWH statutes and judgments at Mount Sinai. Yearning to be free from Roman domination, the people began putting hope in Yeshua to rescue them. The fifth sign is the consequence of Israel recognizing Yeshua as the Prophet who was to come into the world and exerting their will to manipulate Him instead of humbling to God’s will.

Seeing His disciples’ susceptibility to the crowd’s mood to make Him king forcefully, Yeshua sent the multitudes away and went up on the mountain alone to pray (Mat. 14:22–23, Mar. 6:45–46, Luk. 9:10). Because it was night and Yeshua did not return, His disciples felt compelled to take a boat beyond Bethsaida (Strong’s G996, House of Fishing) to Capernaum (Strong’s H5162, city of comfort, field of repentance) on the other side of the sea. A sudden fierce storm arose against them, an unpredictable tempest precipitated by converging winds from all four directions, trapping them in the angry Sea of Galilee. After straining against the contrary winds for about three and a half miles¹ on the Sea of Galilee, they had made little progress toward their destination. Mark’s account noted that Jesus watched them from the mountain, and then at the fourth watch², the darkest time, He came near walking on water, but weak in faith, they cried out in fear, supposing He was a sea demon. Yeshua’s power over the swelling malicious wind and waves threatening the saints on the Sea of Galilee foreshadowed the era of His final coming.

The event’s profound symbolism is easily associated with the three and a half years of Jacob’s trouble (Jer. 30:7), Israel’s darkest hour, and YHWH’s rebuke of evil at His final coming. From all four directions of the earth, hostile spirits drove the squall on the Sea of Galilee, intending to force Yeshua’s disciples off course, weakening their faith and diverting them from their destination. The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery states, “The storm that comes from the sea is a product of their [God’s enemies] rebellious thrashing and raging against God and His order (Job 41:31). The stilling of the storm by the Lord’s rebuke (Psa. 18:15–16, 104:6–7, 106:9) has literary links to this ancient imagery (Mat. 8:26, Mar. 4:39, Luk. 8:24)” (DBI, p. 818). Psalm 93 relates YHWH’s everlasting, majestic throne to His Law’s superior strength, overpowering the sea’s mighty crushing waves roaring arrogantly against their Maker. Jude likewise compared the “raging waves of the sea” to deceiving doctrines of false ministers, causing tempests in the church (Jud. 13), storming against His new Israel with ungodly ideas and philosophies of specious doctrine.

The boat was “a life-saving shelter,” and “because the Bible uses the sea as an image of danger, chaos, and death, the boat portrays the safety God provides for His people from life’s most threatening evils” (DBI, p. 102). The most threatening evil to the churches is the flood of demonic philosophy and empty deceits rooted in traditions of men and basic principles of the world—not according to Christ (Col. 2:8). Beset with turbulent doubts of the gale, the disciples, tempest-tossed on the unstable sea and driven aimlessly by the wind, must have felt like Paul and Timothy when they were “burdened excessively, beyond their strength, so that they despaired even of life” (2Co. 1:8). But during evil’s raging work, God prepared His disciples’ minds through experiencing their own weakness and His powerful intervention. Equally, as Paul’s and Timothy’s faith grew in God, the severe distress that strengthened them was later called “light afflictions.” In the end, this harrowing experience of being blown about by the destructive doctrines of the times impressed upon the disciples’ minds that the Father’s appointed time for the King of Israel’s return and deliverance occurs at the darkest height of a distressingly deceived age, but it completes His work in Abraham’s children of walking in the Father’s will.

“Crossing over” has huge significance in Hebrew history. From “crossing over’s” root, abar, stems the words eber, “to cross over,” and ibri, meaning “Hebrew,” often translated as “one from afar” or “one from the other side.” It is the sense behind the name Abraham, the Hebrew (Gen. 14:13), who crossed over the Euphrates (east) to the land of Canaan (west), becoming a stranger to the world’s ways. After crossing over the Euphrates, returning to Canaan from Haran, Jacob also, (Gen. 31:21) at his time of repentance (signified by God striking his thigh), “crossed over” (abar) the Jabbok when he wrestled with God face-to-face in the night’s obscurity and received a blessing, a name change (Gen. 32:22–31). Obeying His command to “walk before Me and be you perfect” (Gen. 17:1), the Hebrew Father of the Faithful fellowshipped with YHWH in his sojourning, overcoming through faith and achieving the ultimate “crossing over” from death to life. Yeshua facilitated the disciples’ “crossing over to the other side,” from east to west, by coming near them and treading on the sea. Becoming a Hebrew, crossing over from death to life, demands closeness with God. The disciples crossed over from the crowd’s misguided desire to make Yeshua king to God’s timing and will through His intervention of coming to them on the sea. They lived the reality of being driven off course, hopelessly blown about by the vile winds of evil dogma, preventing them from crossing over. After Yeshua spoke³, “It is I; do not be afraid,” He stepped into the boat, and immediately they were at their destination in Gennesaret⁴, the Garden of the Prince.

Takeaway:
The fifth sign fully reveals what took place in the fourth, YHWH’s perfecting of holiness in His firstfruits. The sign’s setting indicates the end time of great tohu and bohu chaos, a moment when the convergence of malignant spirits from all four directions—north, south, east, and west—suddenly beset the Sea of Returning (Galilee). Like the disciples in the boat, Yeshua’s followers at the end of the age are hindered greatly from crossing over from death to life by a fierce squall of evil doctrine. The disciples were worn down and exhausted in their struggle with relentless wickedness. As their faith waned, they did not recognize their Savior. At precisely the right moment, Yeshua came to them, treading down the storm, and revealed Himself as the “I AM,” the One who had power over the great sea tyrant and his cohorts. The tempest ceased, triggering the disciples to worship YHWH, and immediately, they were at their destination in Gennesaret, completing their course.

Fun Factors:
The seven verses of John 6:15-21 have 537 letters (3 × 179; digit product = 105 and digit sum = 15; 179 = 41^st prime) in 106 words (2 × 53, 9² × 5², the 7^th centered pentagonal number and 6^th centered heptagonal number), totaling 54085, 5 × 29 × 373, 81² + 218² (218 = 13² + 7²), 373 is the 74^th (2 × 37) prime and 35^th Pythagorean prime. John 1:1’s Logos = 373 in reference to the light of life, and Puah and Shiphrah’s names totaled 2 × 373 in reference to saving baby’s lives, light, brightness, or shiny, reflecting light like the polished silver trumpets or the sparkling manna. The seven verse numbers focus on complete (7) restoration (105, 15), the tabernacle (41), priests (25), garden (53), and judgment (9, 81).