This is one of the Bible’s best-loved stories, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s easy for us to visualize the disciples struggling to get their small ship across the stormy Sea of Galilee, and their astonishment when Jesus comes to them, strolling atop the waves as if the water was a Roman road. We can sympathize with Peter, who in the flush of amazement goes onto the water himself, only to be struck with fear. And we can draw a clear spiritual message of trusting the Lord and believing in His power.

(References: The Apocalypse Explained 514 [21])

But is that all there is? Did Jesus walk on water just to amaze the disciples and to amaze the reader? Or did it have some deeper meaning?

According to the Writings, what the story illustrates the fact that the new church being launched by Jesus would bring spiritual life to the wide world, not just the narrow group of specific believers – and that the Lord works the same way in the world today.

One of the key symbols here is the sea, which represents those in the outskirts of the church. They have some spiritual knowledge and a great deal of natural knowledge, all of it fluid and turbulent. Another is the ship, which represents the specific beliefs held by the disciples, their doctrine. They sail that ship, alone, into the turbulence of the beliefs of the outskirts of the church. The waves show that they were attacked by arguments from natural ideas; the wind shows that their doctrine was not elevated enough to be truly aligned with the Lord’s power.

So Jesus comes to them at dawn – which means the beginning of His new church – walking on the water. This shows that in His perfect love and goodness He brings life even to those in external beliefs. At first the disciples don’t recognize Him and are afraid – the reaction of those in a lower spiritual state to the advance of a higher one. But Jesus reassures them, and Peter – who represents true ideas which spring from the desire for good – dares to walk on the water himself.

For a moment, buoyed by the belief in Jesus, it works. True ideas based on the desire for good can work without the support of a specific doctrinal system, even in the hurly-burly of natural thinking. But the disciples are not ready for this yet; Peter’s confidence fails him and Jesus has to deliver him back to the ship. The end result, though, is a spiritual advance for the disciples. The fact that the wind stops when Jesus boards the ship shows an elevation in their doctrinal ideas; they are more in accord with the Lord’s power (represented by the wind). And what is this difference? That’s illustrated by the fact that they bow and worship Jesus, calling him the Son of God.

So what does this mean to us? We are (hopefully, anyway) essentially disciples – people with some knowledge of the Lord and the desire to be good. What we can learn, then, is that the Lord’s love is not restricted to us or to those who believe as we do – it is for everyone, everywhere, in every reach of the sea. And we might want to work on trusting the Lord and believing in His power if we want to get out on the water and help the world.

(References: The Apocalypse Explained 514 [21])

61. The destruction followed a visitation, for this always comes first. A visitation is an examination of people's character and a separation of the good from the wicked; the good are carried away from there and the wicked are left behind. When this was over, there were huge earthquakes, which served notice of the imminence of the Last Judgment; panic broke out universally. Those who lived in the southern quarter, especially in the large city there (mentioned above, 58), were then to be seen running hither and thither, some taking to their heels to escape, some hiding in crypts, some in the cells and pits where their treasures were, while others carried out of them anything they could lay their hands on. After the earthquakes a volcanic eruption burst up from below, overturning everything in the city and the surrounding district; and after the eruption came a gale from the east, which stripped bare, shattered and completely overturned everything. Then all the people there were brought out of every place where they had hidden and were thrown into a sea, the waters of which were black. The number of those thrown in amounted to many tens of thousands.

[2] Following this smoke, as after a fire, began to rise from the whole district, and finally thick dust; this was carried out to sea by the east wind and settled as a layer on it. All their treasuries were turned to dust, together with all the possessions they held sacred. The reason the dust was scattered on the sea was that such dust means that which is damned.

[3] Finally a black shape was seen flying over that whole district, which on closer view looked like a dragon - a sign that the whole of that great city and the district had become a desert. The reason it so appeared was that dragons mean the falsities of such a religion, and their home means a desert following overthrow (as in Jeremiah 9:12, 10:22, 49:33; Malachi 1:3).

[4] Some were also seen having what looked like a millstone round their left arm; this representation showed that they had proved their unspeakable dogmas from the Word. Such is the meaning of a millstone; so it was plain what these words in Revelation mean:

An angel picked up a stone like that of a large mill and threw it into the sea, saying, So shall Babylon, that great city, be sent hurtling down, and it shall be found no more. Revelation 18:21.

[5] However, as for those who were in the Council chamber, in the same quarter but further to the east, where debates were held about methods of extending their rule and of keeping the people in ignorance and so in blind obedience (on this Council chamber see 58 above), they were not thrown into the black sea, but into a chasm which opened up lengthwise and to a great depth beneath and around them. This is how the Last Judgment took place on the Babylonians in the southern quarter.

[6] The Last Judgment on those who lived forward in the western quarter and on those in the northern quarter, where the large city was, happened like this. After huge earthquakes which convulsed everything there to its foundations (these are the earthquakes meant in the Word, Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:11; and similar ones in Revelation 6:12; Revelation 8:5; Revelation 11:13; Revelation 16:18, and in the prophetic books of the Old Testament - not earthquakes on this earth), an east wind swept from the south through the west to the north, and stripped that whole region bare. It hit first the forward region in the western quarter, where those who had lived in the Dark Ages had their underground dwellings, and then the large city which extended from that quarter right through the north as far as the east. As they were laid bare all their contents were to be seen. But because there were not such large treasures stored there, there was no volcanic eruption with its sulphurous fire to burn up the treasures; there was only an overthrow and destruction, with everything finally going up in smoke. It was the east wind which swept to and fro, overthrowing, destroying and carrying everything away.

[7] The monks together with the common people were brought out in tens of thousands, and some were thrown into the black sea on the side facing west, some into the great southern rift (mentioned above), some into the western chasm, some into the hells of the heathen.

For some of the people from the Dark Ages were idolaters like the heathen. Smoke was seen rising from there, reaching as far as the sea and drifting over it, and forming a black coating on it. For the part of the sea into which they were thrown had a hard covering of dust and smoke, into which their dwellings and riches dissolved.

So the sea was no longer to be seen, and its place was taken by a piece of black ground, underneath which was their hell.

[8] The Last Judgment on those who lived on the mountains in the eastern quarter (on whom see above 58) took place like this. The mountains were seen to sink into the depths and all on them were swallowed up. The one who had been placed on one of the mountains and proclaimed to be God, turned black and then fiery, and he was hurled headlong into hell along with them. For the monks of various orders who were on those mountains claimed that he was God and they were themselves Christ; and wherever they went, they took with them the shocking persuasion that they were Christ.

[9] Finally a judgment took place on those who lived further out in the western quarter on the mountains there, the people meant by the woman mounted on the scarlet beast, having seven heads which are seven mountains (she was mentioned above, 58). Their mountains too were seen, some split open in the middle forming a huge chasm spiralling downwards, and those on the mountains were thrown into it. Some of the mountains were torn up by the roots and so turned upside down that their summits were at the bottom. The people from the plains there were deluged with a kind of flood and covered over. But those among them who were from other quarters were thrown into chasms. The present remarks are but a small part of all that I saw; more will be given in the explanation of Revelation. These events happened and were completed at the beginning of the year 1757.

[10] As for the chasms into which all were thrown except those who ended up in the black sea, there are many of them. Four were shown to me: a large one towards the east of the southern quarter; a second towards the south in the western quarter; a third towards the north in the western quarter; a fourth further out in the corner between west and north. The chasms and the sea are their hells. This much I saw, but there was much more which I did not see. The hells of the Babylonian people are kept apart to match the different ways in which they profane spiritual things, which relate to the church's good and truth.