Mark 4:39

He spoke 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, for He made it," and He "rides on the wings of the wind." He stretched out no rod of delegated authority towards the troubled elements, as Moses did at the Red Sea. There was no striking of the waters with the prophet's mantle, as with Elijah at the Jordan. In the majesty of almighty power He gave His short, firm order — to the roaring hurricane, "Silence!" and to the surging waves, "Cease, be at rest!"

Both Matthew and Luke record what the Lord did in the storm, but Mark tells us what He said. He awoke, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Silence, be quiet." The word means to muzzle. And blessed be His name — He has not only silenced the storm on the sea, He has muzzled all the forces of evil. The world is judged, the devil defeated, death undone, and all the forces of hell laid low.

Look at Him again in the boat on the lake during the storm. He was there as a tired working man whose sleep was sweet. That was the form in which He appeared. But underneath lay "the form of God." He rose as the Lord who gathers the wind in His fists and binds the waters in a garment, and He rebuked the sea into a calm.

The gracious Master does not begin by rebuking His disciples, as we most likely would 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 lived among them full of grace and truth. So it ought to be with us.

The question is not "Which is correct?" but "What is the special significance intended by the change?" In Matthew's gospel, faith — or the lack of it — is more prominent than in the other gospels. The reason is that Matthew presents Christ as the Messiah, offered to the Jews for acceptance. So it suits that gospel to bring the disciples' unbelief into prominence. Mark, on the other hand, presents our blessed Lord as the servant prophet. There His tenderness in calming the fears of His terrified disciples comes before He stills the raging storm and the sea.

Many a wind has blown over the same water since the day of Mark 4. The heart of many an alarmed disciple has cried out again, but there has been no answer. Many a hard and terrible storm of affliction still sweeps across the path of God's people. He who still has the right and the power gives it no command. But we may learn this. Though there is "need of patience," and Jesus seems still to sleep, He is with us now as truly as He was with the disciples in the face of danger then.

We may not find our outward circumstances much altered. For instance, no one can avoid old age. But God can and will make a way of escape, so that we are able to bear the trial. A way of escape — not out of the trial, but in the trial — so that in our spirits we may rise above it and glorify God in it.

While on earth, He did not need to speak like thunder to subdue the raging sea. He said with calm simplicity, "Peace! Be still!" and there was a great calm. But the nations of earth will need a voice of thunder before they are ready to listen to the Lord Jesus.