# The Markan Jesus – The Physical Embodiment and Visible Appearance of Israel’s God

- Link: https://lordjesuschristreigns.blog/2025/09/24/the-markan-jesus-the-physical-embodiment-and-visible-appearance-of-israels-god/
- Published: 2025-09-24T09:10:00-07:00
- Author: LordJesusChristReigns

In this short post, I will present evidence from the Gospel of Mark that clearly
identifies Jesus as none other than the God of Israel incarnate.

In Mark, Jesus performs two actions that the Hebrew Bible explicitly reserves for
YHWH alone: calming the wind and sea with a mere word, and walking on water.

## 1. Calming the Storm

> “That day, when evening came, he said to them, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’…
> A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly
> swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him
> and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’
> He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the
> wind died down and it was completely calm.
> He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’
> They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the 
> waves obey him!’”
>  Mark 4:35-41 NIV (cf. MEV)

## 2. Walking on the Water

> “Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him
> to Bethsaida… About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking
> on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the
> lake, they thought he was a ghost…
> Immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! **It is I** _(egō eimi)_.
> Don’t be afraid.’ Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down.
> They were completely amazed…”
>  Mark 6:45-52 NIV (cf. TLV)

Several details in the second episode are especially striking:

 * Jesus “was about to **pass by them**” (Mark 6:48) — deliberately echoing YHWH’s
   self-revelation when He “passes by” Moses and Elijah to display His glory (Exod
   33:18-23; 34:6; 1 Kgs 19:11).
 * Jesus identifies Himself with the divine words **egō eimi** (“I AM”) in the midst
   of a theophany on the sea — the same self-declaration repeatedly used by YHWH
   in Isaiah (e.g., Isa 41:4; 43:10-13, 25; 48:12).

These are not coincidences. The Old Testament repeatedly insists that only YHWH 
treads upon the waves, stills the raging sea, and saves His people from watery chaos:

 * “He alone… treads on the waves of the sea.” (Job 9:8)
 * “You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.” (Ps
   89:9; cf. Ps 65:7; 107:23-30)
 * “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you… Fear not, for I am with
   you… I am He.” (Isa 43:2, 5, 10-13)

By doing what Scripture says only YHWH can do — and by revealing Himself with the
divine name while doing it — Mark unmistakably presents Jesus as the visible, physical
embodiment of Israel’s God, yet personally distinct from the Father and the Spirit(
Mark 1:8-11; 9:7).

## Scholarly Confirmation

As New Testament scholar Michael F. Bird observes:

> “The narrative thus portrays Jesus behaving not like a devout human person but
> like God… While the Markan Jesus begins the scene as Jonah, the episode closes
> with him as Jonah’s God… For any reader versed in Israel’s Scripture there can
> be only one possible answer [to ‘Who is this?’]: it is the Lord God of Israel 
> who has the power to command wind and sea.”
>  Michael F. Bird, _Jesus the Eternal
> Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology_ (Eerdmans, 2017), 94–97

Bird, Collins, Marcus, Hays, and Whitenton all agree: these sea miracles are deliberate
scriptural allusions designed to portray Jesus as exercising divine prerogative 
and appearing in divine glory.

So much, then, for the claim that the Jesus of Mark is merely a supernaturally empowered
human agent and nothing more. Mark’s portrait is far higher: **Jesus is none other
than YHWH in the flesh.**

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