Peace, Perfect Peace!
1 there is in these words! The very mention of them fills the heart with longings, which cry out for satisfaction, and will not be comforted. Sometimes, indeed, we may succeed in hushing them for a little, as a mother does a fretful child; but soon they will break out again with bitter and insatiable desire. Our nature sighs for rest, as the ocean shell when placed to the ear, seems to sigh for the untroubled depths of its native home.
There is peace in those silent depths of space, blue for very distance, which bend with such gentle tenderness over our fevered, troubled lives. There is peace in the repose of the unruffled waters of the mountain lake, sheltered from the winds by the giant cliffs around. There is peace at the heart of the whirlwind, which sweeps across the desert waste in whirling fury. The peace of a woodland dell, of a highland glen, of a summer landscape, all touch us. And is there none for us, whose
179 nature is so vast, so composite, so wonderful?
There is. As Jacob lay a-dying in his hieroglyphed chamber, not far from the Pyramids, his face shadowed by approaching death, but aglow with the light of the world to which he was going, he told how Shiloh, the Peaceful One, the Peace-giver, should come to give peace to men. Weary generations passed by and still he came not, until at length there stood among men One, whose outward life was full of sorrow and toil; but whose sweet calm face mirrored the unbroken peace that reigned within His breast. He was the promised Peace-giver. He had peace in Himself; for He said, “My peace.” He had the power of passing that peace on to others; for He said, “My peace I give unto you.” Why should not each reader of these lines receive the peace which Jesus had Himself, and which He waits to give to every longing and recipient heart?
A poor woman timidly asked the gardener of a gentleman’s hothouse, if he would sell her just one bunch of grapes for her dying child. He gruffly threatened to summon the police, unless she quickly left the place. But as she sadly turned away, she was recalled by a girlish voice, bidding her stay, asking her story, and insisting on her having as many bunches as she could carry with her. And when she offered her few half-pence in return, she was met by the sweet, laughing answer, “Nay, my poor woman, this is my father’s hothouse; we don’t sell grapes here, but we are very pleased to give them; take them and welcome, for your dying child.” It is so that Jesus gives His peace to all weary tired ones. Why not to you?
His peace is perfect (Isa. xxvi. 3). Unbroken by tor ms. Uninvaded by the rabble rout of fcare. Unreached by the highest surges of sorrow. Unstained by the contaminating touch of sin. The very same peace that reigns in Heaven, where all is perfect and complete.
His peace is as a river (Isa. xlviii. 18). The dweller on its banks, in time of drought, is well supplied with water. It is flowing at early dawn, as he goes to his daily toil. It is there in the scorching noon. It is there when the stars shine, hushing him to sleep with the melody of its waves. When he was a child, he plucked the flowerets on its banks; and when his foot shall tread its banks nevermore, his children’s children shall come to drink its streams. Think, too, how it broadens and deepens and fills up, in its pm ward journey, and from its source to the boundless, infinite sea. So may our peace be, abiding and growing with our years.
His peace is great (Isa. liv. 13). The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, yet shall it abide. Its music is louder than the tumult of the storm. Learn the lesson of the Lake of Galilee; that the peace which is in the heart of Jesus, and which He gives to His own, can quell the greatest hurricane that ever swept down the mountain ravine and spent itself on the writhing waters benth. For when the Master arose and ffebuked the wind and said unto the sea, “Peace, be still,” the winds ceased and there was a great calm. “Great peace have they which love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.”
His peace is compatible with much tribulation (John xvi. 33). If we never find our path dipping down into the sunless valley, we may seriously question whether we have not missed our way to the Celestial City. The road to the Mount of Ascension invariably passes through the shadowed Garden of Gethsemane, and over the steep ascent of Calvary, and then down into the Garden of the Grave. “We must, through much tribulation, enter the Kingdom of God.” But amidst it all, it is possible to be kept in unbroken peace, like that which possessed the heart of Jesus, enabling Him calmly to work a miracle of healing amid the tumult of His arrest.
His peace passeth all understanding (Phil, iv. 7). It cannot be put into words. It defies analysis. It must be felt to be understood. The thing most like it is the gladsomeness of a child in its father’s home, where wealth and love and wise nurture combine to supply all its need; but even that falls short of the glorious reality. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him; but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. We have the mind of Christ.” And (bringing out the deep meaning of the Greek), we may say, that this peace will sentinel our hearts and minds, going to and fro, like a sentry before a palace, to keep off the intruders that would break in upon the sacred enclosure. Oh that we might be ever protected by a guardianship, so benign and watchful and invulnerable to attack.
There are a few conditions, however, which demand our careful thought.
1. — The Basis of Peace is the Blood. “He made peace by the Blood of His Cross” (Col. i. 20). We sometimes hear men speak of making their peace with God.
But that is wholly needless. Peace has been made. When Jesus died on the Cross, He did all that needed to be done, and all that could be done, so far as God was concerned, in order to bring peace to men. Nothing more is requisite, save to lay aside fear and suspicion, and to accept the peace which He now sweetly and freely offers. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them... now be ye reconciled” (2 Cor. v. 19-20).
There were many obstacles to our peace, but they have been entirely met, and put out of the way. God’s Holy Justice, which would pursue us with its drawn sword, can say nothing against us, because it has been more vindicated in the death of the Son of God, than it could have been in the perdition of myriads of worlds. The broken law, which might press its claims, is silenced by the foil and complete satisfaction rendered it in the obedience and death of the Law-giver Himself. Conscience even, with its long and bitter record of repeated sin, feels able to appropriate forgiveness without scruple or alarm; because it understands that God can be just, and yet justify the believer in Jesus. “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ
PEACE, PERFECT PEACE /
that died; yea, rather that is risen again; who is even at the right hand of Qod; who also maketh intercession for ns.”
On the evening of His resurrection, our Lord entered through the unopened doors into the chamber where His disciples were cowering for fear of the Jews. His benediction, Peace be unto you, fell on their ears like the chime of belis amid the storm of Friburg’s organ. But He did not rest satisfied with this. Indeed, His words alone would have been in vain. But when He had so sald, He showed unto them His hands and His side, fresh from the Cross, with the marks of spear and nails, so that He stood amid them like a lamb, “as it had been slain.” Do you wonder that they were glad? The heart must always be glad when it learns the sure basis of Peace in the Blood shed on the Cross. Rest on that precious Blood; make much of it; remember that God sees it, even if you do not; be sure that it pleads through the ages, with undiminished efficacy; and be at peace.
2. — The Method op Peace is by Faith in God’s Word. How many Christians miss God’s peace because they look into their hearts to see how they feel. If they feel right and happy they are at peace. But if mists veil the inner sky, or the body is oat of health, or the temperature of the heart is low, they become sad and depressed, and ill at ease. Peace has taken its flight. This will never do. Life is one long torture thus. This is not the blessed life which Jesus came to give us. To live like this is indeed to miss the prize of our high calling and to cast discredit on His dear Name. If you seek peace through the medium of feeling you will seek it in vain. It may come as a wayfaring man for a night, but it will not tarry. It may visit you like a transient gleam over the hillside, but it will be only a tiny break between long leagues of cloud. There is a more excellent way. Take up the Bible, the Word of God to you. Turn to some of the texts, which shine in its firmament, as stars of the first magnitude in the midnight sky. Consider, for instance words like these. Ponder them well. Seek not for frames, or feelings, or even for fhith, but concentrate your mind and heart upon their mighty meaning.
“Whosoever believeth in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life” (John iii. 16).
“He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life” (John v. 24).
“By Him, all that believe are justified from all things 9 9 (Acts xiii. 39).
“The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin” (1 John i. 7).
What do these words mean? Can they mean one straw less than they say? And if they are as they seem, is it not clear, that directly you believe, you stand before God as a reconciled, accepted, and beloved child?
What is it to believe t It is to look up to Jesus, as a personal Saviour, handing over to Him the whole burden of your soul, for time and eternity; sure that He takes what you give, at the moment of your giving it, even though you feel no immediate peace or joy. Belief in the outset is trust.
u Your faith is so weak.” But that does not matter, because there is not a word said about the amount of faith. The greatest faith could not make you more secure. The smallest faith cannot put you outside the circle of blessing; because the word, believethj is so delightfully vague. Faith as a grain of mustard seed can move a mountain equally with faith as a walnut* shell. Faith that can only touch the gar* ment hem gets a blessing which those who press may lose.
‘ 1 You are not sure if you have the right faith.” But all faith, any faith, is the right faith. There are not many sorts of faith. The faith that can only lay down its weary weight on Jesus; the faith that tries to look to Him; the faith that staggers towards Him and drops -into His arms; the faith that cannot cling because its hands are so weak, but which calls to Him, believing that He can save, — That is all the faith you need, and having it you are saved.
“But you do not feel saved. 9 7 And who said that that was an essential condition of salvation? Remember that it is one thing to be saved, and quite another to feel it. The one may exist without the other; and there are no doubt very many, who are certainly the children of God, but who have never had the sweet assurance of salvation, which is the seal of the Spirit, the blossom of grace, the kiss of God. Directly you look to Jesm, you are saved, whether you feel it or not. Don’t think about your feelings; don’t think about your faith; look to Jesus; and reckon that God will keep His word, and save you.
The result of all this must inevitably be peace. Let Satan from without join with the timid heart within in threatening disaster; faith simply turns to the Word of God, and putting its finger on one of His exceeding great and precious promises, replies, “This must fail, ere I can perish; bat I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded He will keep His word, and that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.”
3. — The Secret of Peace is the Constant Reference of all to the Care of Qod. “Be anxious in nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (Phil. iv. 6-7). Acid dropped on steel, and allowed to remain there, will soon corrode It. And if we allow worries, anxieties, careworn questioning to brood in our hearts, they will soon break up our peace, as swarms of tiny gnats will make a paradise uninhabitable.
There is only one thing that we can do. We must hand them over to Jesus just as they occur. It will not do to wait until the day is done, but in the midst of its busy rush, whenever we are conscious of having lost our peace, we should stand still and ask the cause, and then lift up our hearts, and pass it off into the care of our loving and compassionate Lord. u ’Tis enough that * He should care, why should we the burden bear?”
Ah, what would not our days become, if only we could acquire this blessed habit?
We look so weighted, and lead such bar* dened lives, because we do not trust Jesus with all the little worries of daily life. There is nothing small to Him if it hinders our peace. And when once you have handed aught to him, refuse to take it back again, and treat the tendency to do so as a temptation to which you dare not give way, no, not for a moment.
Care comes from many sources. Our daily food, our dear ones, our worldly prospects, our Christian work, our pathway in life, our growth in the Divine Life — all these* contribute their quota to the total sum. Let us take them all, and lay them down at Jesus 1 feet, and leave them there; and then live looking to Him to do in us, with us, through us, for us, just as He will. And as we give Him our cares, He will give us His peace, and as He does so He will whisper, “My peace I give unto you, let not your heart he troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
There is a remarkable text in Isaiah y which teaches us that the Government should be upon the shoulders of Jesus Christ; and that when it is so, there is no end to the increase of Peace. “Of the increase of His government and peace there shad be no end (ix. 7). Surely these glorious words refer, not only to the government of a nation, butrof each individual life also, and they are very searching.
Where is the government of our lives? Is it in our own hands? Then we mast not be surprised, if our hearts are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest. We are out of harmony with God, and with His will, which must be done whether in us or in spite of us. There can be no Peace, because there is perpetual clashing, and rebellion.
But directly we put the government of our lives, down to their smallest details, into the hands of the Lord Jesus; then we enter into His own infinite Peace. And as His government is extended over our hearts and lives, so does our Peace extend, as when the blessed light of dawn spreads like a benediction through the world.
“In Me ye shall have peace.” ’Twas our Saviour who said those words. Let us abide in Him. Let us live in Him. Let us walk in Him. Let us make of Him the secret place unto which we may continually resort. And as we are joined to Him, in the intimacy of deepest union, the peace that fills His heart, like a Pacific ocean, shall begin to flow into ours, until they are filled with the very fullness of God; and the peace of God, like a dove, with fluttering wings, shall settle down upon our hearts, and make them its home forevermore.