A Newsletter of weekly meditations on Biblical Theology and curated resources from The Carson Center

April 8, 2026

“Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.” Job 9:11 (ESV)

“And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them.” Mark 6:48 (ESV)

Genesis 35-36; Mark 6; Job 2; Romans 6

Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in the U.S. after Christmas. Many homes are decorated with pumpkins, skeletons, and ghosts, and children wearing silly and scary costumes walk door to door asking for treats.

Mark 6 recounts a truly scary situation for Jesus’s disciples. These experienced fishermen are rowing hard to navigate their boat during a windstorm, and they cry out when they think they’ve seen a ghost walking on the water. Then the mysterious figure reveals himself: “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” (6:50). When the Lord gets in the boat, the wind ceases and the fearful disciples are amazed.

Look more closely at verse 48: Jesus sees his disciples at sea struggling against the wind, so he comes to them during the fourth watch (between 3 and 6 AM), “walking on the sea.” Mark adds, “He meant to pass by them.” What does this mean?

This curious detail recalls two Old Testament passages. First, in Exodus 34:5–6 Yahweh descends in a cloud after Moses asks him to reveal his glory. He passes by Moses and proclaims his name: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious.” Second, Job responds to Bildad’s accusations by asking, “How can a man be in the right before God?” (Job 9:2). Surely no one could contend with the God who does marvelous things, “who alone stretched out the heavens / and trampled the waves of the sea” (9:8). Job continues, “Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; / he moves on, but I do not perceive him” (9:11).

These biblical-theological links help us grasp that Jesus intends to manifest his glory to his distressed disciples. He walks on the water not as a ghost but as God in the flesh, since only Yahweh tramples the waves. Further, Christ’s statement “It is I” could be translated “I am,” recalling Yahweh’s revelation to Moses at the burning bush: “I am who I am” (Exod 3:14). Jesus does not attempt to hide himself from his troubled friends but to reveal that he is truly the Lord of glory, worthy of their trust and worship. – Brian Tabb

Response: How might this story of Christ coming to his friends, the Lord of glory trampling the waves, give you courage to face your fears? How does God uniquely reveal himself in the midst of trials?

“Don’t Overlook Lamentations at the Cross” by Benjamin Gladd

The book of Lamentations isn’t at the top of most people’s favorite books of the Bible. It’s not often taught or preached, and we typically only encounter it in our Bible reading plans. The apostles rarely refer to Lamentations, too, at least at a textual level. That is, they don’t often explicitly invoke the book. Compare, for example, the apostles’ use of Isaiah: they quote and allude to it more than 800 times. Eight hundred!

How many times do the apostles refer to Lamentations? Three times: Matthew 27:39 and Mark 15:29 allude to Lamentations 2:15, while Matthew 23:35 alludes to Lamentations 4:13.

The use of Lamentations 2:15 in Matthew 27:39 is significant to Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus’s death. Let’s consider the First Gospel’s use of the verse and draw out a few important reflections for our faith. As we do, we’ll discover that Jesus undergoes his own exile on the cross, just as the Israelites endured their exile in Babylon.

READ MORE ABOUT THE CROSS AS EXILE

In this episode of The Biblical Theology Briefing, Jen Wilkin joins Matt Harmon and Ben Gladd to explain why Christians should read Revelation as a symbolic, Old-Testament-saturated book that trains believers for endurance—not escapism—and why repeated, whole-book reading is essential for understanding it.

In this essay, Benjamin Gladd helps us to untangle the way the Bible presents the two ages, their overlap and distinction, and how understanding their relationship better helps us to read the whole Bible. Biblical history is divided up into two distinct ages: the age of promise, when God promises to make all things right by establishing his kingdom and rule through his Messiah, and the age of fulfillment, which is the age when God’s promises are fulfilled, in which Christians are now living, and which will continue on forever.

READ “The Two Ages” by Benjamin Gladd

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