What did Jesus mean when He said, "Peace, be still"?

The first words of our Lord were a reproof to His disciples, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" (Matthew). He then arose, responsive to their cry of distress, and immediately alleviated their fears. Speaking in His own right as Lord of the sea and the land, He addressed both the winds and the waves; for "the sea is his, and he made it," and He "walks upon the wings of the wind." There was no rod of delegated authority stretched towards the troubled elements, as in the case of Moses at the Red Sea. Neither was there a smiting of the waters with the mantle of the prophet's office, as in the case of Elijah at the Jordan. In the majesty of omnipotence He issued His brief but peremptory mandate — to the roaring hurricane, "Silence!" to the surging billows, "Cease, be at rest!" The response of both wind and sea was immediate and perfect. Man, nominal head of the earthly creation, for the most part, had no "ears to hear" the voice of the Son of God, but the inanimate forces of nature yielded their instant and implicit obedience. The rushing storm-blast became the soft zephyr, the mountainous wave sank to a gentle ripple. In the simple but sublime words of Matthew and Mark, "there was a great calm."

Now observe what happens. (Of course I am taking the thing out of figure to press the great truth and reality upon you.) They crossed this lake, and as they crossed it a great storm arose. Mark how it found them; you get the contrast between Jesus and His disciples in a remarkable way here. There He is; it is a picture that causes the deepest homage and worship to spring up in the heart, to see that blessed, weary, lonely, perfect man asleep upon a pillow. Oh! to think of it, beloved friends, the perfection of the God-man in His manhood glory! He was asleep on a pillow in the hinder part of the ship; no storm could disturb Him, no waves and no wind could wake Him out of His sleep: He rested there in the perfection and blessedness of all He was. Now let us look at them! They were in a panic — that is the word I feel which describes them — a perfect panic. Of all the dreadful things in this world is a panic: may we be kept from panic. The panic that some people raise is ten thousand times worse than the trouble that caused it; the panic-stricken condition in which we find the children of God about things, is far worse than the danger which is dreaded as ahead. The disciples then are in a panic, and they come and rudely and roughly awake Him out of His sleep, and with what I believe must have touched and wounded His heart to its very depths, "Master" — (Luke repeats it in a very striking way, "Master, master") "Master, carest thou not that we perish? Then he arose, and rebuked the wind." Now look at the contrast, from a "great storm" there was a "great calm" you get the two "greats," a great storm and a great calm. "Peace, be still." Oh! dear brethren, do we not want Him to say that to our hearts often? Our hearts are at times far more perturbed than even this lake; waves and winds are often there. How we need that He should say that to our poor wretched, troubled hearts; "Peace, be still." "And there was a great calm." Now I tell you what comes before me very much in this; There is something so divine, and supernatural and blessed in the scene; because after a storm at sea, you do not get a great calm at once; you know very well that after a storm of great violence has swept over the sea or the ocean, it takes often days before the sea or the channel or the ocean returns to its usual serenity; the water has to go down, as it were. But there was nothing of that here; it was "a great calm" at once; "Peace, be still." The literal force of the word is, "Be muzzled;" the same word that is used in chapter 1 for what the Lord said to the demon, "Be muzzled, and come out of him." "Peace, be still; and there was a great calm."

Underneath this first recorded incident on the lake of Galilee there is a glorious pledge of divine victory at the cross. It was there the waves and billows of God's judgment passed over Him, but it was there He triumphed over all the power of evil. Both Matthew and Luke record what the Lord did in the storm but Mark tells us what He said. "And having been aroused He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Silence, be quiet" (Mark 4:19). The word means to muzzle, and blessed be His name He has not only silenced the storm on the sea but He has muzzled all the forces of evil. The world is judged, the devil defeated, death annulled, and all the forces of hell laid low." (See the Interlinear translation and Young's Concordance).

The Storm on the Lake. — Closely following that gracious announcement — for Mark tells that it was on the same day, though in the evening of it — the Lord embarked with His disciples to cross the lake. A new experience now awaited the latter. A storm arose, the vessel was filling with water, and they were in jeopardy, but He was asleep. His presence, then, with them did not ensure a calm passage. But His power could convert the storm into a calm, which was better. How often since have disciples experienced that following Christ does not ensure them against storms and troubles! He, however, who stills the noise of the seas, can still the tumult of the people (Psalm 65:7). Waking Him, in their terror they said, "Master, Master, we perish!" That could not be, with Christ in their midst. Death had no power, in the presence of Him, in whom is life (John 1:4). "He awoke [rather than, arose], and rebuked the wind, and the raging of the waters; and they ceased, and there was a calm" (8:24). The King of God's kingdom was the Creator and Controller of the elements. Two words from Him proved it: "Peace, be still." So writes Mark (4:39), to whom we are indebted for a knowledge of what it was that the Lord actually said. He rebuked the sea, but He also rebuked the disciples, saying, "Where is your faith?" And surely not to them only has He had need to put such a question.

While crossing over the lake they experienced a storm — evidently one of unusual severity. In all the Gospel history we read of just two storms on that lake. On this occasion the Lord was with them. On the other (Matt. 14:25), the Lord walked on the water to join them. With them, then, but asleep on a pillow in the stern of the vessel, Mark tells us, and the disciples awoke Him, fearing they would perish, for the waves beat into the ship. Their exclamation, "Master, carest Thou not that we perish?" (4:33) intimates that the storm was not a common one. His words addressed to the raging elements, "Peace, be still" — for the knowledge of which, also, we are indebted to our Evangelist — show the perfect command He had over the elements. He spake and it was done. It was the voice of the Creator, and there was instant obedience. The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. It was not a gradual subsidence, but evidently an immediate calm. Astonishment seized all and they said one to another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" (4:41).

That gracious Master, aroused from His sleep in so rough a manner, now arose in His quiet majesty and power, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, "Peace, be still." And the wind and the waves are calm, as savage dogs lie down at the bidding of their master. These words of the Lord appear to show clearly that this storm came not from God, but had been brought about by Satan, for in the former case Jesus would not have rebuked the wind. The cause as well as the intent why this storm was sent appears to be just the opposite to Jonah's case.

"And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it ye have no faith?" The gracious Master does not begin with rebuking His disciples, as we most likely should have done in a similar case. He first rebukes the winds, then His disciples. First He removes the cause of their unbelief, then He reproves their unbelief: first grace, then truth. He dwelt among them full of grace and truth. So it ought to be with us.*

His voice sufficed for the stilling of the elements. "Peace, be still." Long before this incarnation the Psalmist wrote of Him, "Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them" (Ps. 89:9). Not a single attribute of Deity did He lay aside on becoming man. Omnipotence and Omniscience shone forth in Him whenever occasion called for their display. Demons, disease, death, winds and waves all fled before His word. No human mind, however richly taught of God, can unravel the mystery of the union of the divine and the human natures in His Person. Reason has insoluble difficulties here; faith finds instead material for adoration and praise.

He arose at once in the majesty of His power. He rebuked the wind, which was the more direct instrument of Satan. He told the sea to be quiet and still, and it obeyed. Like a boisterous hound which lies down humbly at its master's voice, so the sea lay down at His feet. He was the complete Master of the situation.

Observe Him again in the vessel on the lake during the storm. He was there as a tired labouring man whose sleep was sweet. Such was His manifested form. But underneath lay "the form of God." He arose, and as the Lord who gathers the wind in His fists and binds the waters in a garment, He rebuked the sea into a calm (Prov. 30:4; Mark 4).

Then we see this wonderful Person arise from His sleep, and with all the power of the infinite Creator rebuke the winds and the waves so that there is an immediate calm. No mere man could do such a thing! This was the Person who had gathered the waters under the heaven unto one place (Genesis 1: 9); who had made the sea stand up as a solid wall to give the Israelites passage.