The Bible portrays the battle between God and the forces of chaos as something that happens on an ongoing basis. In the Hebrew mind, Leviathan was the symbol of that. Every time the storm blew and the waves rose up and the sea manifested its awesome destructive power, the Israelites thought in terms of Leviathan, the mighty serpent of the great deep stirring. Rising up to challenge God and to overthrow the created order which God had established.
And the opposite is true. Every time the storm was calmed and the waves died down and the ocean was once again calm and peaceful, the Israelites saw in this a vindication of the power of the creator God who slays Leviathan and imposes order upon a fundamentally chaotic universe.
The calming of the storm, then, is testament to God’s authority over all things whether in heaven or on earth. Whether in the material realm or the spiritual realm.
And so to again indulge in a little aside, you can see why Jesus calming the storm was a very, very big deal. It presents Jesus as the creator who continually works to bring order out of chaos just as God did at the first moment of creation when his spirit hovered over the waters and just as God will do in the final judgement. And, as I’ve said, this not just a past event, and it’s not just a future event, it’s something that happens continually. Every moment of every day God holds in check the forces of chaos. It is a constant act of creation and recreation. Which is why Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Jesus “upholding all things by the word of his power.†Even today we can say that God does battle with Leviathan. He continually recreates the world which the forces of chaos seeks to destroy.”
Pastor Murray Hogg, From the sermon “They That Go Down To the Sea in Ships” on Psalm 107:23-31 (22 August, 2021)
