God's Peace
Christ's Peace
Your Peace
1. "Peace with God" is that which you, the sinner, possess and enjoy in believing. You are justified by God on the ground of the shed blood of Christ, who has "made peace through the blood of His cross." Col. 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20).
Faith lays hold of and believes in an already completed work, which has answered for the sinner, and has satisfied the claims of God. Thus he has peace—cloudless, never-ending, unalterable peace. This peace does not depend on the enjoyment of its possessor, but on the work of Christ who made peace by the blood of His cross. A God of judgment went into the entire question of sin to its very depths with Christ on the cross. It was the God of peace who brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant (Heb. 13:2020Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, (Hebrews 13:20)). A risen Christ is our peace in the presence of God (Eph. 2:1414For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; (Ephesians 2:14)).
Now all this is true for the believer, without his feelings or his enjoyment of it entering into the matter. Apart from all these things, he possesses this unalterable peace with God.
It depends, not on his enjoyment of it, but on its reality before God. It was the parting gift of Christ to His people. "Peace I leave with you." "Peace be unto you." John 14:27; 20:1927Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)
19Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (John 20:19). He had made peace by His blood. The God of peace had brought Him again from the dead, and He had nothing but peace to leave them.
2. The "peace of God" is God's own peace in which He dwells. It is the peace of the God whom nothing can change, who knows the end from the beginning, and has ordained everything from the beginning to the end. Though man may strive and hinder His purposes for a while, all will eventually be brought to pass.
Can we not for a moment contemplate the perfect, unruffled, conscious peace in which God dwells? And this peace is promised to keep the hearts and minds of the believers who have committed all their anxieties, all their cares by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to God. "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Phil. 4:66Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (Philippians 4:6).
Then what is promised? "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." God's own peace in which He dwells keeps guard over the heart, and the heart rests in the midst of every trial and every difficulty. The mind is not on the rack of anxiety, but is filled with God's peace when all has been laid out before Him and committed to Him.
3. The "peace of Christ" is another thing. To be sure, Christ is God, but still, God's peace and Christ's peace are not the same.
Therefore there is a difference in John 14:2727Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27) between "Peace I leave with you" and "My peace I give unto you." Christ did not need peace with God as we do as sinners. He "knew no sin." He gives us this through His precious blood. He did not need this for Himself. The spotless Lamb of God "did no sin." He was separate from sinners while among them. We receive the changeless portion, peace with God through His precious blood.
But as a Son with His Father, He passed through the world in the conscious communion of perfect peace ("My peace") in every step of His way. His was a life of sorrow here below, but there never was a cloud between Him and His Father during His whole pathway. It was a life of perfect unity of thought and object, as He lived by His Father: "I live by the Father." John 6:5757As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57). There was one solemn moment when the three hours' darkness and sin bearing and judgment on the cross shut this out, when He was atoning for our sins. It was but for that moment, for all the rest was unvarying peace—"My peace." This, then, is the peace of Christ.
Summary
The first, peace with God, then, is the portion of the sinner who believes: his unalterable portion.
The second, God's peace, is that which the Christian has when he has unburdened his heart of every care, and committed every thought to Him who knows the end from the beginning.
The third, Christ's peace, is what we enjoy when living by Him, even as He enjoyed when living by the Father. "I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." John 6:5757As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57). Communion is with Him and with the Father who has been revealed in the Son. Also, when we are thus enjoying Christ's peace, we have the enjoyment, too, of that peace with God, which as saved sinners we possess through His work on the cross. Words of Truth
“Now the God of Hope flit you
with all joy and peace in believing,
that ye may abound in hope,
through the power of the
Holy Ghost.”