What is the significance of the fourth watch

When we look off from Christ, and look at the greatness of opposing difficulties, we shall begin to fall; but when we call to him, he will stretch out his arm, and save us. Christ is the great Saviour; those who would be saved, must come to him, and cry to him, for salvation; we are never brought to this, till we find ourselves sinking: the sense of need drives us to him. He rebuked Peter.

Could we but believe more, we should suffer less. The weakness of faith, and the prevailing of our doubts, displease our Lord Jesus, for there is no good reason why Christ's disciples should be of a doubtful mind.

Even in a stormy day he is to them a very present help. None but the world's Creator could multiply the loaves, none but its Governor could tread upon the waters of the sea: the disciples yield to the evidence, and confess their faith. They were suitably affected, and worshipped Christ. He that comes to God, must believe; and he that believes in God, will come, Heb Barnes' Notes on the Bible And in the fourth watch of the night - The Jews anciently divided the night into three parts of four hours each, usually called watches.

The first of these watches is mentioned in Lamentations , the middle watch in Judges , and the morning watch in Exodus In the time of our Saviour they divided the night into four watches, the fourth having been introduced by the Romans. These watches consisted of three hours each. The first commenced at six and continued until nine; the second from nine to twelve; the third from twelve to three; and the fourth from three to six.

The first was called evening; the second midnight; the third cock-crowing; the fourth morning, Mark It is probable that the term watch was given to each of these divisions from the practice of placing sentinels around the camp in time of war, or in cities, to watch or guard the camp or city; and that they were at first relieved three times in the night, but under the Romans four times.

It was in the last of these watches, or between three and six in the morning, that Jesus appeared to the disciples, so that he had spent most of the night alone on the mountain in prayer. Walking on the sea - A manifest and wonderful miracle. It was a boisterous sea. It was in a dark night.

The little boat was 4 or 5 miles from the shore, tossed by the billows. For the exposition, see on []Joh Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible And in the fourth watch of the night, This is said, according to the division of the night into four watches, by the Jews; who o say, that "there are four watches in the night, and four watches in the day. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is. A good answer provides new insight and perspective.

Here are guidelines to help facilitate a meaningful learning experience for everyone. Follow Question. What was the "fourth watch"? Answers 4 Discuss.

Army The twelve hours of the night were divided into three-hour intervals, at the end of each of which sentries who had been assigned to keep watch from a city's observation posts for the presence or approach of threats during the preceding three hours were replaced with new personnel. The fourth watch of the night would thus have been the last such interval of that particular night, roughly corresponding to the period between AM and AM.

It is I—do not be afraid. It is, within this period, probably at the beginning of it, after three o'clock in the morning, Christ came to his disciples, when they had been almost all the night at sea, tossed with waves, and in great danger. The Hebrew watch was divided into three watches, the first, middle and morning watch. As the Roman influence and supremacy was established, the number of watches increased to four and were described in numerical order 1st 6 pm — 9 pm ; 2nd 9 pm — 12 am ; 3rd 12 am — 3 am ; 4th 3 am — 6 am.

Likewise the day watch starts from 6 am. Perhaps people like you and me were saying the same things that we say during these days of grief and loss. We are weary. We are waiting for the fourth watch. It is I. Reading Exodus 14, googled 4th watch.

Love how these stories encourage us in the same battle. God saved the Israelites in the 4th watch, from their enemy fear, lack of trusting the Father in both stories through water.

Waiting until our strength is gone shows us God will take care of us, not up to our own strength. Like Like. Man measures time in minutes, hours, days and months. God measures time in years, decades, centuries and millennia. We simply endure. All things will work out in the end, and we will have learned whatever it is we needed to learn. This is wholesome and very crucial time in walking with Christ…. The fourth watch is not for spiritual babies but for those live by faith and not sight..

I have been following Jesus for 23years now and our ministry is in the midst of a yearly prayer time, to seek God… I had came home and a mental battle had begun, but instead of going to my prayer closet, I gave into the temptation to eat. To God be all the glory!! Like Liked by 1 person. Through a series of circumstances due to the process of changes of Pastoral Leadership in our church, I was directed by The Holy Spirit to this Your site.

You have been very encouraging, and a Godsend for this what I think of as the Fourth Quarter, The Fourth Season of our lives, maybe the Winter of our lives.

CAme across a great video on this — why does God wait until the fourth watch before answering our prayers. It seems like God is taking a long time to intervene, to help, or to heal, but his timing is always perfect.

A day in eternity, where he lives, is as long as a thousand years but a thousand years is as short as a day. Such hard news to see all at once, and we do feel so helpless to do anything. So we cry out to the Lord, a God of mercy to be present in the midst of the pain and grief and suffering that seems so unending.

In the meantime we do what we can which for many of us is just to keep on praying. Beautiffully expressed scriptural lesson for these recent events and these times.

Uplifting, hopeful and Spirit-filled. Blessings and thanks. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account.