THE announcement the Lord made to His disciples of His immediate departure fell like a bombshell in their midst, exploding all their many notions of the kingdom which they thought Christ was about to establish on earth. But there was more felt by them than the loss of the good things of the kingdom. For it is an unquestionable fact, shown in the Gospel histories, that the hearts of the disciples were filled with a real love for the person of the Lord Himself. And when they learned that He Was about to leave them, they suddenly realized what a complete blank the world would become without Christ.
These men had given up all to follow the Lord. Their “all” may not have been great as men count things great; but at any rate they could give up no more than they did. Moreover they had continued with the Lord in His “temptations,” even when some turned back and walked no more with Him. But now they were brought face to face with the fact that He to Whom they turned in every trouble and on Whom they relied in every difficulty was going away, and they would see His face no more. Oh, what pangs of sorrow seized them!
They felt somewhat as did the weeping Magdalene, when she sobbed out, “They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.” Without Him they would be absolutely helpless; and their hearts were torn with dark apprehensions and gloomy forebodings for the future.
But this oppressive cloud the Lord lifts from their hearts by His words of solace and promise which we have in John 14:1-27. They open and close with those expressions of consolation we know and love so well: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
The Lord, however, gave his disciples much more than a vague exhortation, such as this might be supposed to be had it been His sole utterance. But He Who said “Be of good cheer” to the storm-tossed disciples, also caused the wind and waves to subside, and there was peace. He Who said “Weep not” to the widow of Nain, also raised the dead son to life and delivered him to his mother. And He Who said to the sorrowing disciples, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid,” also gave them assurances that His departure would be to their undoubted advantage.
The Lord was going away, but it was to prepare a place for them, and He would come again to receive them unto Himself. In His absence they might ask anything in His name and He would do it. The Spirit of truth should come to remain with them permanently. Moreover He and His Father would come to them and manifest themselves to them as they did not to the world. As a concluding word He says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you,” repeating then, in view of all the substantial provisions for them that He had just enumerated, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Evidently there are two kinds of peace alluded to by the Lord: ―
The peace He would leave;
The peace He would give.
And these two kinds provide exactly for the two directions from which they might expect to be disturbed, namely, (1) from above, and (2) from around them.
Let us consider the two points separately. First, there is nothing more disquieting than a guilty conscience apprehensive of the judgment of God. And supposing after the Lord’s departure Peter or John or any of them were to sin, what a terrible state of anxiety they would be in, if left to the accusations of their own consciences? They would feel they had incurred the displeasure of God, and as they looked above, their feelings would be those of dread rather than those of peace.
Now, the Lord provided against such feelings by the peace He was about to leave them. This peace, by the very phrase used, is associated with His death. It was in fact the peace He made “through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:20), and which is the undoubted possession of every justified one (Rom. 5:1). This state of peace is in distinct contrast with the former state of enmity, and directly results from the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, blessed provision for weak and erring saints! He Who had warned Simon Peter but a few moments previously that before cockcrowing he would have denied Him thrice, knew also the failings of them all and of us all. He was therefore about to be “delivered for our offenses,” and to sprinkle His blood on and before the mercy-throne, thus establishing for us an unchangeable standing of peace with God.
Has then the believer who has sinned peace with God? Assuredly, for it is the effect of Christ’s work here below; and it was the legacy to His own when He went on high. But does the believer who has sinned enjoy peace with God? Surely not, for that is a different matter. Even a person with a legacy of a thousand pounds may get but little comfort out of it though it be his own. When the sun is shining in the heavens, shedding warmth and radiance all around, a person may go into a dark cellar; but the sun shines all the same, and it is his own fault if he does not enjoy it. Similarly, the believer may through his own fault lose the joy of salvation; but peace with God is unaffected, that is Christ’s own imperishable bequest.
“Tis everlasting peace,
Sure as Jehovah’s name;
‘Tis stable as His steadfast throne,
For evermore the same.
My love is oft-times low,
My joy still ebbs and flows;
But peace with Him remains the same;
No change Jehovah knows.”
Let it therefore be clearly understood that we are brought into the unclouded sunshine of God’s face as our permanent standing before Him; and the Lord meant that the knowledge of this should preserve us from having troubled and terror-stricken hearts. “Peace I leave with you.”
But while this secures for us a cloudless sky above, the second secures us against disturbing elements around us. It was the Lord’s peace when here below as a man. All the forms and powers of evil in man and devil sought to the utmost to break in upon His peace without avail. “My peace,” said He, “I give unto you.
It was a part of that grace of His, which delighted to bring His own into the most intimate association with Himself. In these valedictory words we have: —
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My peace
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(14:27)
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My love
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(15:9)
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My joy
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(15:11; 17:13)
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My glory
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(17:22, 24)
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We see this peace to which the Lord now refers, pictured in that scene on the lake of Gennesaret. While the furious billows were threatening every moment to engulf the little boat, and the disciples were trembling in fear of a watery grave, the Lord was asleep. We see it also on that occasion when after contemplating the fruitlessness of His abundant labors in Capernaum and Chorazin and Bethsaida, He turned in the holy calm of His spirit to His Father, saying, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,” etc. And when He departed, He said to His disciples—and to us, “My peace I give unto you.”
Beloved of God, what do we know of this? Do we walk in the enjoyment of it? It is given to us. That is certain. But what is the secret of realizing it? See that high mountain peak; while fierce storms rage around its base, bright sunshine bathes its brow. See the inmates of that Philippian prison; the feet of Paul and Silas are fast in the dungeon-stocks, but their hearts and their heads are in the peaceful precincts of the sanctuary on high. As a consequence, they carol forth their hymns of praise, the joy of heaven triumphing over the pain of earth.
Oh, that the peace of Christ might thus rule in our hearts. He could defy every external power to mar His peace. He has given us to share this privilege. But to enjoy it we must grasp it by faith, knowing that “all things work together for good to them that love God.”
NEVER preach without praying, but always pray without preaching.