One of the most momentous questions which can be put to a human being is this, “Have you peace with God?” It is a question of the deepest solemnity, and it claims a direct and immediate answer from every heart. There is no reason why any truly anxious soul should continue for one hour, yea, for one moment, without settled peace with God. Christ has made peace by the blood of His cross. God is preaching peace by Jesus Christ; and here we have the solid foundation of the believer’s peace—Christ’s finished work received on the authority of God’s word by the power of the Holy Ghost.
This is the divine basis of peace; and the more simply we build thereon, the more solid our peace will be. The reason why so many are in a state of miserable uncertainty is because they do not rest, in artless faith, on God’s foundation. They are occupied with themselves, instead of building exclusively on Christ. They are looking to experience, in place of to a risen Savior. Frames, feelings, and attainments engage them, instead of Christ. They are vainly hoping to find some sort of improvement in themselves, and not finding it, to their satisfaction—for what honest soul ever does? —they are filed with gloomy doubts; the heart is oppressed with anxious fear; the spirit overcast with heavy clouds. They have no divine certainty; and they are trying to find comfort in the exercises of a religious life, and inasmuch as imperfection attaches to their very best and most pious exercises, they are ever kept in a condition of spiritual darkness and bondage. Neither in our inward frames and experiences, nor in our outward exercises—of what kind soever these may be—have we the true ground of our peace in the divine presence. God did not send to the children of Israel, nor does He now send to us Gentiles, preaching peace by spiritual experiences or by religious exercises, but simply by Jesus Christ.
The reader cannot be too simple in laying hold of this great truth. He may rest assured that it is God’s gracious desire that his soul should find peace. If not, why should God send, preaching—proclaiming—announcing peace. If God sends us a message of peace, He surely means that we should have it. He has provided it for us, by the precious atoning death of His Son, and He declares it unto us by His Spirit, in the holy scriptures. Thus it is all of God, from first to last; and hence it is called the peace of God. It comes forth from His heart. It bears the impress of His hand; and it is to the praise of His own eternal Name. We have nothing to do but to receive, with all thankfulness, this precious peace, and let it flow, like an even river, through our souls.
And here we would turn directly to the reader and press home upon his soul this grand question, “Hast thou peace with God?” Do not, we beseech thee, put it aside. It is a question of eternal importance—a question, in comparison with which all mere earthly questions dwindle into utter insignificance.
But it may be that someone whose eye scans these lines feels really anxious about this grand question, and would give worlds, if he possessed them, for a full, clear, and satisfactory answer. Such an one may feel disposed to ask, “What is the ground of this peace, and how may I have it for myself?” Two deeply important questions, most surely; and questions which we shall seek, by the grace of God, to answer.
And first, as to the real ground of the soul’s peace; if the reader will turn to the last verse of Rom. 4 he will find it set forth in two brief but weighty sentences. In this passage the inspired apostle, in speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, declares that “He was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.”
Here, we have the solid and imperishable foundation of the sinner’s peace—the divine ground on which God can preach peace. Jesus Christ was delivered for our offenses. Let this be carefully noted. Let us mark particularly who was delivered; who delivered Him; and for what He was delivered. All these are essential to our enjoyment of peace.
Who, then, was delivered? The Holy One, the spotless One, the Lamb, the Christ, the Son of God, that blessed One who lay in the bosom of the Father from all eternity, the object of the Father’s supreme delight from everlasting, the Eternal Son. This blessed One, who lay in the bosom, from before all worlds, lay in the womb of the virgin, in the manger of Bethlehem, was baptized in Jordan, was tempted in the wilderness, was transfigured on the Mount, was bowed down in the garden, was nailed to a tree, buried in the grave, raised from the dead, and is now seated on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.
This is He who was “delivered.” He stood charged with our offenses. He represented us on the cross. He stood in our stead, and received from the hand of Eternal Justice all that we deserved. There was a regular transfer of all our guilt, all our offenses, all our iniquities, all our transgressions to Him who knew no sin, who had no more to do with sin than we had to do with righteousness. He died in our stead. The One whose whole human life was a sweet odor ever ascending to the throne of God, was delivered up to death, charged with all our offenses.
But who delivered Him? This is a cardinal question. Who delivered Jesus up to the death of the cross? Isa. 53 and 2 Cor. 5 furnish the answer: “It pleased Jehovah to bruise him.” “Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Such is the language of the inspired prophet. And now hear the apostle: “God hath made him (Christ) to be sin for us.” God has done it. It will not do to say that “we lay our sins on Jesus.” We want much more than this. If it were merely a question of our laying our sins on Jesus, we could never have peace with God, seeing that we do not know the extent of our sin, the depth of our guilt, the true amount of our liabilities, as God knows it. In order to have peace with God, I must know that He is satisfied. God was the offended party, the aggrieved One, and He must be satisfied, Well, blessed be His name, He is satisfied, for He Himself has found the ransom. He has laid our sins, according to His estimate of them, on the head of the divine Sin-bearer. All that was needful, not merely to meet our condition, but to satisfy His claims, vindicate His majesty, and glorify His name, He Himself has provided in the atoning death of His own Son. Thus He is satisfied, and hence He can preach to us—peace by Jesus Christ, Lord of all. The spotless Christ was judged on the cross, in our stead. God bid His face from that blessed One—turned away His countenance—closed His ear—forsook Him for the moment. And why? Because He was delivered for our offenses. God forsook Him that He might receive us. He treated Him as we deserved, in order that He might treat us as He deserved. Jesus took our place in death and judgment, that we might take His place in life, righteousness, and everlasting glory.
And, now, let us ask—though we have in measure anticipated the question—for what was the precious Savior delivered? “For our offenses.” For how many? For all, most surely. When Jesus hung on the cross, all the believer’s offenses were laid upon and imputed to Him. Yes, all; for, albeit they were future, so far as he is concerned, when Christ bore them on the cross, yet is there no such distinction as past, present, or future with Him who spans eternity as a moment. All our sins were laid on Jesus; He answered for them and put them away forever, so that they are gone out of God’s sight, and instead of our sins, there is nothing before God save the Christ who bore them and blotted them forever, and was raised for our justification. Who raised Him? Even the same that delivered Him. And why did He raise Him? Because all was settled for which He had been delivered. Christ glorified God in the putting away of our sins; and God glorified Christ, by raising Him from the dead and crowning Him with glory and honor. Most marvelous, most precious truth! Christ forsaken on the cross, because our sins were laid on Him. Christ crowned on the throne, because our sins are put away. “He was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.” Such is the true, the solid, the everlasting ground of a sinner’s peace in the presence of God.
And now one word as to the question of how the sinner can have this peace for himself. The answer is as simple as God can make it. What is it? Has the sinner to do aught? Has he to be anything but what he is—a poor, lost, worthless, guilty creature? No. He has simply to believe God’s word—to receive into his heart, not merely into his head, the blessed message which God sends to him—to rest in Christ—to be satisfied with that which has satisfied God. God is satisfied with Christ, without anything else whatever. Is the reader satisfied? or is he waiting for something more—something of his own—his vows and resolutions—his frames, feelings, and experiences? If so, he cannot get peace. To be satisfied with Christ, is to have peace with Gad.
The Lord of Life in death hath lain,
To clear me from all charge of sin;
And, Lord, from guilt of crimson stain
Thy precious blood hath made me clean.