THERE is not the slightest doubt that War is one of the most terrible scourges that can come upon the earth, and that peace between the nations is one of the most precious temporal blessings that can possibly be enjoyed. We earnestly hope that, in the good providence of God, a settled and lasting peace may soon be established, and that there may never be any recurrence to the end of time of such terrible scenes of carnage and destruction as have been witnessed during the recent awful struggle. The King eternal alone can so order international affairs to this happy result. We desire, however, at the present moment, to remind our readers of a more terrible war than any that may be waged between man and man, namely, that which proceeds on the part of rebellious sinners against God and His Christ, and of a more valuable and glorious peace than any that can subsist between nations, that is, peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is of the utmost importance, at the beginning of a new year, that we all examine ourselves as to whether we have ceased the warfare against God and have come to know anything of the peace with Him which “passeth understanding.” A few words on this subject.
1. Let us observe the war against God and His Christ.
This warfare began when man first ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. He disobeyed the commandment of his Maker, and became a rebel against the Divine Majesty. This spirit of opposition took possession of the race. The human mind became the slave of sin and Satan. The Apostle Paul, writing with the pen of inspiration, declares that “the carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither in deed can be” (Rom. viii. 7). He makes it plain elsewhere that it was due to this carnal mind that the Jews rejected Christ, and refused to submit to His righteousness as the ground of their acceptance with God. He wrote as one who was brought, by the teaching of God’s Spirit, to recognise with shame and sorrow this mind in himself. During the days of his spiritual ignorance he had fought with all his might against God (rightly viewed) and against Jesus Christ in His followers and His gospel. Now, what was true of the Jews in general and of Paul in particular, in the state of fallen nature, is true of every single individual of the human race. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. iii.) All are “alienated and enemies in their minds,” and make this manifest “by wicked works” (Coloss. i. 21).
As the result, then, of the enmity that sin has produced, we carry on a warfare against God and Christ in a two-fold way—by disobedience to His law and by disobedience to His gospel. It is plain to the most casual observer that there is wide-spread opposition in the world to the law of the ten commandments. Every form of vice that appears on the face of the earth—murder, drunkenness, uncleanness, etc.—is a standing proof of this. And if any are preserved from these open crimes, this is due to the preserving grace of God, not to any radical difference in their hearts naturally. Again, we cannot fail to see that there is general antagonism on the part of fallen men to the true gospel of Christ. This gospel proceeds upon the principle and fact that all are guilty rebels, under penalty of eternal death, and holds forth the truth that those who are saved must be debtors to the free grace and unmerited favour of God through Jesus Christ—doctrine that is not palatable to our inward pride and self-righteousness. Have we not had an extraordinary illustration on a national scale of this heart-opposition to God’s law and gospel in the case of the German rulers and people? There was bitter warfare going on in their hearts and lives for years against the most elementary principles of divine truth—a warfare fostered by men of evil genius, before it broke forth in cruel and bloody war against their fellow-creatures of other nations. The punishment has been the downfall of the German Empire.
Now, let us not forget that this inward warfare against God and His Christ brings dread punishment in the world to come. The sword of God’s infinite justice hangs over the head of every sinful rebel. “The wages of sin is death.” And this is the solemn circumstance that multitudes are daily fighting against God and His Christ, and rushing on heedlessly, to fall at last under the sword of eternal destruction.
2. Let us now notice “the peace of God” that has been procured by the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has “made peace through the blood of his cross.” God, in the riches of grace and love, sent His Son into the world to make peace between Himself and a countless multitude, chosen unto eternal life. The sword of justice hung over their heads as well as others, for there was no difference; all were rebels and enemies. The claims of justice must be satisfied. God is infinitely just as well as infinitely gracious, and so in righteousness as well as in love, He gave His only begotten Son to die for the ungodly. The Son also gave Himself, in the same spirit of righteousness and of love to suffer the penalty due to their unholy warfare, even the accursed death of the cross. “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.” The sword fell, and He cried, “It is finished,” and gave up the ghost.
This is the supreme sacrifice by which peace has been established on a righteous basis between a holy God and sinful rebels. No other sacrifice was sufficient for the task. All the imperfect and polluted sacrifices that the sinful children of men at best could offer were less than nothing and vanity in the scales of infinite purity and heart-searching justice. The Lord Jesus Christ is our only peace before God, and this peace is so perfect and enduring as between Him, the head of the Church, and the Father, that no power in earth or hell can make it void, or lessen it in the least degree. This supreme sacrifice is also the procuring cause of deliverance from sin itself as well as its penalty. The Lord Jesus saves from sin as well as wrath, and He is the original source of all freedom from injustice and cruelty that may exist among men. There would be no deliverance from war or pestilence, and there would be no peace of a Christian kind upon earth, if it were not for the one sacrifice He offered for sins for ever. The world would be a perpetual hell of wickedness and disorder if it were not for Christ’s supreme sacrifice.
3. Let us notice, lastly, the way in which we obtain the divine peace.
We must come, first, to recognise that we are rebels against God, and deserve eternal death. It is only those who recognise this by divine conviction in their consciences who feel their need of being reconciled to God, and of enjoying peace with Him. We must know ourselves to be in the dreadful state of alienation and enmity before we can value or seek the experimental enjoyment of the peace that Christ has procured by His precious blood. And so, secondly, it is when a poor sinner, by faith, falls in with God’s way of peace through Christ that he enters into the blessed state of justification and acceptance, and experiences a measure of peace in his conscience and heart. This is the peace that is of supreme and overwhelming importance to every one of us. To be without peace with God is to be under divine displeasure, liable to eternal death. What a dreadful position! May God in His infinite mercy awaken many to their guilt and danger during the coming year, and lead them to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel! “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John i. 7).
GOSPEL peace will not mingle with any other; thou must drink it unmixed, or have none at all. Cease, therefore, not from any duty, but from expecting thy comfort to grow from that root. “He is our peace.”—Gurnall.