Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. Matthew 14:25

I’ve been waking up again during the night between 2:00 and 4:00. It happens more often than not. Something wakes me up around three a.m. and thereafter, unwanted thoughts start churning.  I’m unable to get back to sleep.  Too often  the rest of the night is spent  rumpling the bed sheets and sneaking looks at the nearest clock.   Sound familiar? It seems to be a pattern for many people. During one strange season of my life, I woke up at  1:11. 2:22. 3:33. 4:44 and 5:55 on successive nights and at one of those exact times for weeks.   Talk about weird!  Some believe that physiological changes in our bodies cause us to wake up during the darkest  hours of the night.  Others believe the hours are  strategic “thin times” when spiritual activity heightens and intrudes into the physical realm. 

Time was not precise in the ancient world.  Hours were roughly reckoned by the position of the sun (day) and stars (night). Though sundials were  used – but  obviously useless at night – clocks were unknown.  The idea of actually dividing time down to the second is a modern construct.  If the ancients were rather muddy about time,  they were blessedly freed from its  tyranny as we moderns are not.  During the night  the Jews  had three  “watches or vigils,   that is the time period for sentinels, the watchmen,  to be on active duty. Under the Romans, the empire  was governed by four military watches and  four hour shifts: even (6-9 p.m.); midnight (9-12 midnight);  cock’s crow (12-3 a.m.) and morning (3-6 a.m.)

In the Bible the night watches are often  times of powerful supernatural activity, both divine and demonic.  In the Old Testament,  Jacob wrestled with a divine being until daybreak. (Genesis 32:24). God struck Egypt’s first born at midnight (Exodus 12:29) and He “called for Moses and Aaron by night” to rouse the Jews to flee. (v.31)  David play music when the distressing spirit was upon Saul in what probably was night time.  In the New Testament, Jesus spent many night watches alone in prayer both before and after some of his greatest miracles.

Such is Matthew 14:25.  During the Fourth Watch of the night  Jesus, having prayed most of the night,  sees his disciple struggling for hours in a fierce storm and  defying all natural laws of the universe, He  walks out on the water toward them.  (How interesting that the Lord was praying all the while the  disciples were battling  the storm and sea.) The disciples are  terrified more of this Jesus than of the raging sea. Matthew gives a glimpse into  Jesus’ transcendent, terrifying, glorious  authority over creation, the Lord over many waters.  He is on the sea but not of the sea. 

Using the narrative of the Four Gospels , Jim Bishop,  a journalist,  wrote “The Day Christ Died” where he described the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life, hour by hour.  The book is  a fascinating portrayal of Christ’s last earthly hours. I highly recommend it if only for the detailed historical, political  and religious  background.    As one reads from “cock’s crow” to “morning” and into the daytime,  the level of  satanic activity against Christ increases  dramatically  even as Jesus  submits Himself  to  the Father’s will.  He suffers in the garden, asks the disciples to “watch and pray” for one single hour with Him, is betrayed  with a kiss by Judas  and begins the long hours of being  dragged from the temple to the Antonia fortress to Pilate, to be abused, vilified, tortured. And  utterly alone. Who can forget that Jesus prophesied Peter would deny Him three  times before  “cock’s crow”, the third watch – and Peter’s wretchedness when it was fulfilled? By morning , Jesus  was  already weakened but further trials ( all of them illegal),  scourging, condemnation and the cross  were still ahead of Him.   In darkness Satan  tried to claim a victory over Christ and failed miserably. The story doesn’t end in the blackness of a tomb, but in the glorious light of the Resurrection and Christ’s promised Second Coming.

Are we even now in the Third or Fourth Watch?  Good question with no definitive answer. We do know that Jesus warned repeatedly to “watch and pray.”  

Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. Revelation 3:2-3

Watching and praying are two sides of the same coin. Watch and be vigilant for the time is short. No one knows the day or the hour when Jesus will appear. Stay awake and alert to the signs around us.  Pray that we’re not led into temptation, lies and deceit.  The next time we are awakened  during the “thin times” of the night, it just might be Holy Spirit’s alarm clock telling us to pray just as Christ did.