Halloween ghost story?

WHO YA GONNA CALL?

Jesus walks on water...

Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here! ”

Matthew 14:22-27

DID THE DISCIPLES FEAR GHOSTS?

Okay, Lets strip this right back the original text reads the word "ghost" is φάντασμα(phantasma),

a noun which means "an appearance, an apparition."

The only reference of it being used in Scripture is here both in Mark's and Matthew's account of the event.

So let's find its source, it comes from the root word

φαντάζω (phantazo), a verb which means "to cause to appear, make visible, expose to view, show."

So the disciples feared an "unexplained appearance" of something.

Where else can the verb φαντάζω (phantazo) be found? I can find it in only one other scripture reference:

 

Moses himself was so frightened at the

sight φαντάζω

that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.” Hebrews 12:21

So what is the "sight" this ghost, this phantom? The author is writing to Jewish believers, who are intimately familiar with their Tanakh (the Old Testament). He is emphasising the inapproachability of God on Mount Sinai, something with which the readers were very familiar.

He is referring to Exodus ch 19 where Moses and the sons of Israel had arrived at Sinai after having escsped Egypt. 
  
THE LORD DESCENDED UPON IT IN FIRE 
  
"The LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever'"

Exodus ch 19v9

God warned him,

"You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, 'Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death'"

Exodus ch 19v12

And it was not just the people that would die, but "whether beast or man, he shall not live"

Exodus ch 19v13

  
Three days later, "Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently"

Exodus ch 19v20

God told Moses

"Go down, warn the people, so that they do not break through to the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish"

Exodus ch 19v21

And it was from within this terrifying smoke and blazing fire that the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments. 
  
We see then, that

φαντάζω (phantazo)

as we read in Hebrews was the "appearance"

of God in what he called

"blazing fire,"

which the people were not to approach or they would die.

(So the appearance, the phantom or "ghost" as we read was a death bringer?)

Moses recorded the event later quoting the fears of the people,

"this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, then we will die"

Deuteronomy ch 5v25

  
We see elsewhere in the bible;

The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah and he thought

"We will surely die, for we have seen God" Judges ch 13v21

He appeared also to Gideon who, upon realizing it, cried out,

"Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face," to which God replied, "do not fear; you shall not die"

Judges ch6v22-23

  
SO WHAT DID THE DISCIPLES FEAR?
  
What is it the disciples of Jesus feared, then?

Was it the "appearance" of a ghost,

a roaming, disembodied spirit of a dead person, a phantom, a banshee or other ghostly ghoul?

No...

The disciples feared for their lives!

They thought they were seeing an "appearance" of the Lord, the same  "appearance" they had heard read in the temple, the "appearance" that caused their ancestors to tremble with fear of death at Mount Sinai!

But Jesus comforted them, just as the angel of the Lord had done in the past, and said,

"Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid"

Mark ch6v50

The Bible teaches us ghosts don't exist.

Reflect and meditate on Jesus' response to His disciples:

"Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid."

"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel."

Hebrews ch 12v22-24

Through Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man, we can approach God! In the past God could not be approached, for anyone catching a glimpse of His glory would perish

but because of what Christ has done for us, we are welcome to draw near to God! We "have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear;" we "have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father'"

Romans ch8v15

The word "Abba" is the equivalent of our "Daddy." Almighty God appeared in the past in a death bringing blaze of fire.

We get to draw near and call Him, "Daddy."