And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
God sets an appointed boundary for the sea that its mighty and proud waves cannot pass, staying their advance at His command. The restless deep obeys its Creator's voice, held in its bed by His unseen grasp so that even when it tosses it can go no farther than He allows. The sea's prompt obedience stands in contrast to humanity's rebellion against His law, revealing infinite power over nature against the weakness of mortals who set themselves against Him. That same power sets a fixed limit to Satan's power to afflict and destroy, to the fury of rulers and oppressors, and to every threatening force against His people and His church. It also supplies the image for governing the heart, where reason and grace must tell hasty spirit, unlawful liberty and unbridled passion, thus far and no farther at the boundary of His righteous standard.
God's Limit to the Sea
God has power to set an appointed boundary for the sea that its mighty, proud, mountain-high rolling waves cannot pass, staying their advance at His command and determining how far they may come. He sets limits for the waters and keeps them within their appointed bounds, controlling the sea and restraining its powerful waves. Those appointed bounds do not limit His own power to act beyond the orderly course observed. The restless sea obeys its Creator's voice and stays within the boundaries He appointed for it. God alone keeps the waters in place with an unseen steady grasp, holding them as easily as in the hollow of His hand, setting their limits, balancing their waters, and marking their bed. Even when the waves toss about and seem wild, unmanageable and beyond control, they cannot pass the limit He set or go farther than He allows.
The command is part of a majestic description of God's ordering of creation, presenting His authority over creation in majestic poetic language. It displays divine power in nature, restraining the waves and allowing the proud waves to come only as far as He allows. Its question calls attention to the limits of human wisdom and to mysteries beyond human understanding, teaching faith in God.
God's Rule Over Nature
God is Lord of nature and not subject to it, for He Himself set a fixed decree and limit to the waters and by His own hand stays them from overflowing their banks and boundaries. That restraint directs rivers and brooks within their banks and carries their waters safely to the sea. Those fixed limits are not powers independent of Him, and the order of nature depends on Him, so He can direct it to serve His purpose and change its established course, as He did to bring the Flood. Before the Flood people failed to recognize God's hand in this restraint, mistaking the long-observed course of rivers and brooks and the absence of rain for an unchangeable law of nature. They felt secure in what they called fixed laws, reasoning that nature was above the God of nature and that God Himself would not or could not change her course. So they counted Noah's warning of a flood impossible because it would disturb the course of nature and claimed the orderly flow of rivers made it impossible.
Even the proud, mountain-high waves of the ocean obey His command and cannot pass the limit He appoints. Their prompt obedience and confinement within appointed bounds reveal the Creator's infinite power controlling the deep and His authority over creation. That obedience stands in contrast to humanity's rebellion against God's law and to the weakness and pride of mortals who set themselves against Him. The same power stopped the proud waves at the Red Sea to make a safe path for Israel while the waters overwhelmed the pursuing Egyptian army. Sea and winds remain under His rule, restrained from destroying as they otherwise would, and He can still hold them back for the safety of His people.
Even in a violent storm the waters obey His power and are stopped from going farther, so those who trust in Him can be protected and kept at peace in heart. Without His continual restraint and appointed bounds, storms could wreck ships and drown those aboard. The troubled, restless sea is also a picture of people who struggle in vain for happiness and find no rest. On Patmos the raging sea reminded John that nature's fury remains within bounds appointed by God and controlled by His infinite power, even in its fiercest commotion. It also represented the wrath of an offended God.
God's Restraint of Evil
God sets limits on the reach of earthly powers and cruel oppressors. His power restrains evil and works among people for their correction and preservation, preventing their destruction. As He sets a limit to the force of the sea, so He puts an invisible limit to raging human fury. This restraint held back the rulers' rage against Jesus, so that although they wanted to seize, silence, and kill Him, they could go only so far and no farther until the appointed time. He stood calm before His enemies while declaring His mission and exposing the hidden sins and deadly designs of the Pharisees and rulers, and an invisible influence restrained their rage from sealing His lips and destroying Him where He stood.
Christ is greater than Satan and sets a fixed limit to Satan's power to afflict and destroy the human race. Satan knows he can go only so far before Christ, who stands opposed to him and fixes how far he may go, stops him there. The same limit holds in temptation, where the proud waves cannot pass. When tempted people depend on Christ rather than their own strength, heavenly agencies working for them restrain satanic powers and guard them, holding the enemy within the bounds God set and preventing him from going beyond that limit.
God also sets a limit to a threatening force that would overwhelm the church, declaring how far it may go and no farther before it is stopped and exposed. Influential and harmful opposition is held within that boundary, even when its capacity to harm is great, and God will make clear that He has spoken. Deceptive conduct and intrigue will be allowed to go only so far, and continued deception will meet its limit.
Restraining Human Passions
The command that halts the sea at its appointed limit supplies the image for commanding the passions of the heart, where reason and moral power must impose a strict stopping point upon a hasty, hurried spirit and upon unchecked desires. Under Christ's grace the soul that respects all of God's commandments restrains every species of unlawful liberty at the boundary of God's great moral standard of righteousness. That restraint is to be exercised with firmness and courtesy in curbing cherished sin, unwise courtship and marriage, unbridled passions, and self-willed desires.
With Jesus abiding within and directing the passions to that standard, the moral powers hold control over every thought, word, and action. The senses are guarded, no impure thought is indulged, no sensual word is spoken, no action with the least appearance of evil is done, and no guile is found in the lips. Christ's grace then surrounds and protects such a soul as a wall of fire. So guarded, the soul develops into true greatness.
Rebuking Human Boundaries
The words set against human barriers to advancing missionary work forbid putting up limits that stop workers from going forward. To restrain the advancing work is to take up God's language of boundary-setting for the sea and wrongly apply it to fellow laborers. The same words rebuke teachers who fix a limit to the heavenly Messenger's work with students by telling Him in effect how far He may go and no farther. That limit is set by refusing enthusiasm and excitement in the school, by being satisfied to work with students by human effort alone, and by repulsing His visits through half-hearted service that seeks only to escape punishment. Such boundary-setting casts aside the blessing God is most willing to give, which if received would bring all other blessings in its train, and does despite to His gracious Messenger.
The words also expose the error of restricting students' access to knowledge, as Dr. Kellogg was warned not to do by saying in effect thus far shalt thou go but no further. To say thus far shall you go and no further claims God's own authority to restrain what would otherwise advance and to stop a work, as He stays the proud waves. That claim is justified only by a direct message from God.
God sets an appointed boundary for the sea that its mighty and proud waves cannot pass, staying their advance at His command. The restless deep obeys its Creator's voice, held in its bed by His unseen grasp so that even when it tosses it can go no farther than He allows. The sea's prompt obedience stands in contrast to humanity's rebellion against His law, revealing infinite power over nature against the weakness of mortals who set themselves against Him. That same power sets a fixed limit to Satan's power to afflict and destroy, to the fury of rulers and oppressors, and to every threatening force against His people and His church. It also supplies the image for governing the heart, where reason and grace must tell hasty spirit, unlawful liberty and unbridled passion, thus far and no farther at the boundary of His righteous standard.
God's Limit to the Sea
God has power to set an appointed boundary for the sea that its mighty, proud, mountain-high rolling waves cannot pass, staying their advance at His command and determining how far they may come. He sets limits for the waters and keeps them within their appointed bounds, controlling the sea and restraining its powerful waves. Those appointed bounds do not limit His own power to act beyond the orderly course observed. The restless sea obeys its Creator's voice and stays within the boundaries He appointed for it. God alone keeps the waters in place with an unseen steady grasp, holding them as easily as in the hollow of His hand, setting their limits, balancing their waters, and marking their bed. Even when the waves toss about and seem wild, unmanageable and beyond control, they cannot pass the limit He set or go farther than He allows.
The command is part of a majestic description of God's ordering of creation, presenting His authority over creation in majestic poetic language. It displays divine power in nature, restraining the waves and allowing the proud waves to come only as far as He allows. Its question calls attention to the limits of human wisdom and to mysteries beyond human understanding, teaching faith in God.
God's Rule Over Nature
God is Lord of nature and not subject to it, for He Himself set a fixed decree and limit to the waters and by His own hand stays them from overflowing their banks and boundaries. That restraint directs rivers and brooks within their banks and carries their waters safely to the sea. Those fixed limits are not powers independent of Him, and the order of nature depends on Him, so He can direct it to serve His purpose and change its established course, as He did to bring the Flood. Before the Flood people failed to recognize God's hand in this restraint, mistaking the long-observed course of rivers and brooks and the absence of rain for an unchangeable law of nature. They felt secure in what they called fixed laws, reasoning that nature was above the God of nature and that God Himself would not or could not change her course. So they counted Noah's warning of a flood impossible because it would disturb the course of nature and claimed the orderly flow of rivers made it impossible.
Even the proud, mountain-high waves of the ocean obey His command and cannot pass the limit He appoints. Their prompt obedience and confinement within appointed bounds reveal the Creator's infinite power controlling the deep and His authority over creation. That obedience stands in contrast to humanity's rebellion against God's law and to the weakness and pride of mortals who set themselves against Him. The same power stopped the proud waves at the Red Sea to make a safe path for Israel while the waters overwhelmed the pursuing Egyptian army. Sea and winds remain under His rule, restrained from destroying as they otherwise would, and He can still hold them back for the safety of His people.
Even in a violent storm the waters obey His power and are stopped from going farther, so those who trust in Him can be protected and kept at peace in heart. Without His continual restraint and appointed bounds, storms could wreck ships and drown those aboard. The troubled, restless sea is also a picture of people who struggle in vain for happiness and find no rest. On Patmos the raging sea reminded John that nature's fury remains within bounds appointed by God and controlled by His infinite power, even in its fiercest commotion. It also represented the wrath of an offended God.
God's Restraint of Evil
God sets limits on the reach of earthly powers and cruel oppressors. His power restrains evil and works among people for their correction and preservation, preventing their destruction. As He sets a limit to the force of the sea, so He puts an invisible limit to raging human fury. This restraint held back the rulers' rage against Jesus, so that although they wanted to seize, silence, and kill Him, they could go only so far and no farther until the appointed time. He stood calm before His enemies while declaring His mission and exposing the hidden sins and deadly designs of the Pharisees and rulers, and an invisible influence restrained their rage from sealing His lips and destroying Him where He stood.
Christ is greater than Satan and sets a fixed limit to Satan's power to afflict and destroy the human race. Satan knows he can go only so far before Christ, who stands opposed to him and fixes how far he may go, stops him there. The same limit holds in temptation, where the proud waves cannot pass. When tempted people depend on Christ rather than their own strength, heavenly agencies working for them restrain satanic powers and guard them, holding the enemy within the bounds God set and preventing him from going beyond that limit.
God also sets a limit to a threatening force that would overwhelm the church, declaring how far it may go and no farther before it is stopped and exposed. Influential and harmful opposition is held within that boundary, even when its capacity to harm is great, and God will make clear that He has spoken. Deceptive conduct and intrigue will be allowed to go only so far, and continued deception will meet its limit.
Restraining Human Passions
The command that halts the sea at its appointed limit supplies the image for commanding the passions of the heart, where reason and moral power must impose a strict stopping point upon a hasty, hurried spirit and upon unchecked desires. Under Christ's grace the soul that respects all of God's commandments restrains every species of unlawful liberty at the boundary of God's great moral standard of righteousness. That restraint is to be exercised with firmness and courtesy in curbing cherished sin, unwise courtship and marriage, unbridled passions, and self-willed desires.
With Jesus abiding within and directing the passions to that standard, the moral powers hold control over every thought, word, and action. The senses are guarded, no impure thought is indulged, no sensual word is spoken, no action with the least appearance of evil is done, and no guile is found in the lips. Christ's grace then surrounds and protects such a soul as a wall of fire. So guarded, the soul develops into true greatness.
Rebuking Human Boundaries
The words set against human barriers to advancing missionary work forbid putting up limits that stop workers from going forward. To restrain the advancing work is to take up God's language of boundary-setting for the sea and wrongly apply it to fellow laborers. The same words rebuke teachers who fix a limit to the heavenly Messenger's work with students by telling Him in effect how far He may go and no farther. That limit is set by refusing enthusiasm and excitement in the school, by being satisfied to work with students by human effort alone, and by repulsing His visits through half-hearted service that seeks only to escape punishment. Such boundary-setting casts aside the blessing God is most willing to give, which if received would bring all other blessings in its train, and does despite to His gracious Messenger.
The words also expose the error of restricting students' access to knowledge, as Dr. Kellogg was warned not to do by saying in effect thus far shalt thou go but no further. To say thus far shall you go and no further claims God's own authority to restrain what would otherwise advance and to stop a work, as He stays the proud waves. That claim is justified only by a direct message from God.