Preached at Kilmuir on 2nd July, 1864.
HERE Christ may be said to be making His last will and testament in behalf of His disciples, and in it there is an answer to Peter’s question who said at one time, “We have forsaken all things and followed thee, and what will thou give us? or what shall we receive?” With many other things that may be learned from the context, we have one of them in the passage read as a subject of meditation on peace, the nature of which peace is declared in the statement—“my peace.” Let us consider, first, this peace as explained by Christ; secondly, the manner in which it is given, “I give it you, not as the world;” and lastly, the fruits—freedom from trouble and fear.
I.—Let us consider the nature of the peace spoken of by Christ.
There is no peace, says God, to the wicked, that is, to the sinner as such, for with him God is at variance, because man has transgressed the law and continues to offend his Maker, and, by doing so, provokes Him more and more. We see, at times, among men, what may be taken as a faint illustration of this state of variance. There is a man of high rank, of great wealth and honour. A son of his commits some act or other that deeply offends his father. As it reflects on his rank and honour, or because it disgraces him in the eye of society, he banishes his son from his presence, disowns him as one of his family, disinherits him and suffers him not to come near his house, and denies him all access to his presence. This must be painful to the son; he feels that his father is displeased at him, and has no peace for the loss of his inheritance.
This grieves him and makes him unhappy, and leaves him to the upbraidings of his own conscience. But the state of man as a sinner is far worse than this, for it is God who is offended by him: He who has power over him in time and eternity; who has his life in His hands, and who can kill both soul and body in hell for ever. As much as God excels the creature, so much does peace with Him exceed in value peace with any man. As the wrath which sin has kindled in God cannot be appeased, but by a complete satisfaction being given to Him as a true righteous and holy God, man can never procure peace by anything he is able to do or suffer. This being foreseen and God having purposed to save many men, He laid the chastisement of their peace on His Son. He appointed Him to procure peace, and, therefore, Christ calls it here His peace. He came to the world to stand in their law room, and till He finished the work He had to do, this peace was not His in a certain sense. While on earth His feelings in general were of the nature that rendered Him “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” These are the results of sin. “In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” “In sorrow thou shalt eat bread.” Christ felt no sorrow, no grief on account of any sins of His own, but He was dealt with as if He were a sinner, and that because the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of all His people. He sinned not, but for the sins of His people He bore the curse and the punishment of sin, and in enduring this, He experienced what it is to have no peace with God; what it is to do with the anger and wrath due to sin. His state of feeling under these is indicated in what He said on several occasions. “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.” There never was such an appeal as this made to the mercy and love of God. A sinless Son, the object of eternal love, overwhelmed with trouble, appealing to one of infinite compassion and claiming Him as His Father, never thinking of anyone else, never looking in any other direction for help, nor expecting any from another quarter, and yet there could no relief be granted. In what striking light does the expression used by Him set the intensity of His feelings! “What shall I say?” He who knew all things, and who spake as never man spake; He who had a word of instruction to every one that applied to Him for information; He who could speak to the deepest yearnings of humanity; who could administer comfort to the sorrowful of every description; who could warn and exhort and unfold the treasures of divine wisdom and knowledge, and, with ease, lay bare the most hidden workings of a heart deceitful above all things; He seems here at a loss what to say in the circumstances in which He stood. He saw at a distance as if it were a dark cloud accumulating; He knew it was charged with divine wrath, even the wrath which His people deserved, and that it would have to burst forth with fury on Him as their substitute. At the contemplation thereof His holy soul was troubled, and cried out, “Father, save me from this hour.” “But it was for this I came unto the world. It was in order to stand in their room and bear this wrath and so turn it away from them forever.”
See Him again in the garden, stretched on the cold ground, under the chilling shades of night, and in a bloody sweat caused by the agony of soul into which He fell from the same cause. See Him at Pilate’s tribunal, where every indignity was done Him that cruel scorners could invent. See Him on the Cross, and hear Him cry out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”
In all these it is seen what it is to do with God angry at sin. Having finished the work, having died and risen from the dead, in possession of what peace is He seen? This is His peace; His purchased peace, His possessed peace, which is a part of the glory into which He entered after His sufferings, and in which He dwells forever. The darkness that hid His Father’s countenance passed away, and it now shines on Him in its full glory and sweetness and joy, never more to be obscured nor hidden from Him. With what joy He ascended into glory accompanied by the heavenly host! With what acclamations are the eternal gates of heaven called upon to open that the King of Glory may enter! With what welcome is He met there as the good and faithful servant! What must be His soul satisfaction now at the right hand of the Father! What peace is here! It is that which is His as the Head of His Church, and which He bestows on His people: this is part of the legacy that He has left to His Church on His departure from earth. It could not have been procured but by His leaving them and going to the Father in the manner He did. No wonder then though He said, “It is expedient for you that I go away.” It is not of their securing, nor does it depend on their merits. As enjoyed here it does depend on their walking with God or in the ways of His commandments, but, strictly speaking, Christ is their peace; its source is in Him, so it shall never fail.
II.—Let us consider the manner in which this peace is given. “Not as the world giveth.”
The world give to those whom they consider worthy of their bounty. They give sometimes in order to gain fame, and not with any desire to benefit those on whom they bestow. Christ no doubt gives to receive glory, but never without having the highest welfare of those on whom He bestows it on view. The world often give, and would afterwards deprive men of their gifts; but this never takes place with Him. The world sometimes in giving fail to accomplish their intentions in the least degree, or, instead of doing good, increase the evil they would remove; but He never fails to alleviate the miseries of those whom He succours. He upbraids not when He gives liberally. “According to the riches of His grace” He gives. But this is never done by men; they give but little to any according to their means, but He gives according to His riches in glory.
III.—Let us now consider the advantages flowing from Christ’s peace.
They are these—peace with God and peace of conscience. In consequence of these advantages, they have no cause to be troubled or to be afraid in want or sickness, in distress or in calamity, in the prospects of trials, in the expectation of death, in going through the dark valley of the shadow of death, or at the resurrection, when they shall be raised up from the long sleep of death, and see Christ coming in flaming fire to take vengeance on all the ignorant and unbelieving. For, though appearing in such glory and terrible majesty, yet He shall even then be their peace, so that they need not be in trouble or fear. No wonder then, though it is said to pass all knowledge, and that it is said of them whose it is, “Happy art thou, O Israel! who is a people like unto thee ; a people saved by the Lord ? ” Abide in Him, then, ye who have believed in Him, and follow peace with all men. Walk in His ways, and hear and obey His voice daily that “ your peace may flow as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.” Ye who are unbelievers, this peace is not yet yours. You may now think that you can easily do without it, but the day is coming that shall prove to you that there is nothing more dreadful than to be destitute of peace with God. May it be in mercy ! Amen.