The Peace of God
Part 1
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. (Titus 3:3)
But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, (Titus 3:4)
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)　
Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; (Titus 3:6)
The Origin and the End of World Peace
The continuous conquests of man leaves very little peace in this world as nations not only fight against nations, but internal upheaval within nations vividly prove that man in Adam has removed peace from this world. In Adam we have the founder of sin, thus sin coming into the world, and death by sin. Sin removed the peace of God from man. It is hard to find periods of physical (social) peace when all around is in turmoil. Man does not realize that there is also a psychological effect on him by the indwelling sin within him. Sin and the amount of sin brings on certain sensitivities. A man whose soul is in turmoil is quick to anger, and to commit atrocious sins. When a society is ruled and controlled by sin it is corrupt from within. This is because as we are descendants of Adam, therefore, Adam lives in the world. He never received divine forgiveness, Adam was a recipient of God’s judgment against him. His first born was a murderer, Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6) Cain never departed from who he was, he remained in darkness all the days of his life. In the creation of manmade cities more turmoil came between man and society. We have the tremendous judgment of Sodom and the cities of the plains for their wickedness which brought about the terms, sodomites and sodomy. Man was created for a garden. In the garden was one man and one woman, you cannot remove that from Scripture, nor that this was God’s plan, and through sin man has denied that plan of God. This is why man cannot find a place of peace. Sin brought death, war and ruin. Man was forcibly driven out of that garden of peace because of his sin against God. Cain was driven out into a wilderness of darkness that bound him to his sin and the darkness blinded him to his sin. Cain made this darkness for himself by murdering his brother. It did not take man long to fill up his cup with the most atrocious sins that was headed up by Cain. Abel, his brother, had found peace with God. This peace Cain would never acquire, and because Abel had found peace with God, Cain slew his brother; consequently, Abel’s death was the end of world peace in the physical sense. Cain exhibited his personal jealousy against his brother, and when corrected by God he exposed the enmity of his heart against his Creator through his reply. When Cain slew his brother Abel the spiritual war began between flesh and spirit; for Abel had found his peace with God, a peace that is beyond understanding. Cain could not, nor can man today, understand this peace. The world of Adam is all around us in turmoil. Abel had found his paradise in the Person of God. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)
Although Abel lived in the same cursed world that Cain lived in, a land of thorns and thistles, unlike Cain, Abel had approached God through a blood sacrifice, and thereby acquired God’s peace. He had entered in to God’s rest. (Hebrews 4) Cain was the opposite of Abel in that Cain brooded over the instruction that God had given to him. He brooded over what was taken away from man by a holy and righteous God. It would be sheer foolishness on our part if we ignored the fact that Adam and Eve would tell their children all the glories of the garden, and what man had lost because of sin. Although we only see the seed of sin in Adam, by God’s revelation to us, that seed has been planted throughout the field of the world; the greatest accumulative power over man in this world is sin. Adam had enmity against his Creator because of his own sin, and Adam’s first born followed in his footsteps. Adam became an enemy of God, so much so, that God had to bar his return to the garden by His angels with the flaming sword. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24) The flaming sword denotes the judgment of God upon man. The enmity against God was so great in Cain that it dictated the future of his entire life; thus, we can understand the result of the tree of good and evil, for Cain was the evil part of the tree. In Cain’s argument with God, we see the spirit of resentment for what was once theirs. All men, because of sin, have this enmity against God. It infuriated Cain that Abel worshiped God in God’s prescribed manner until that fury and hatred brought forth the death of Abel.
The Two Seeds — Spiritual and the Flesh
These were two brothers from the same womb. Eve had given birth to both promise in the seed Abel, and wickedness in the seed of Cain. Abel would be a type of the promised Redeemer who would deliver man from sin and death, and the works of Satan. This seed of promise was fulfilled in the Person of God’s dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have two examples of man, Abel is the forgiven man, but he is also a type or picture of the promised Redeemer, only in the blood sacrifice that he offered before God. Cain, however, was a product of Adam (his father) and remember that Adam was the author of both sin and death. Adam brought sin and death into the world, and so, his firstborn (Cain) walked in the footprints of his father Adam. In the brief record of Abel we have a man who found a way to approach God. It was God who gave him the light of a blood sacrifice. This took Abel into the presence of God. We have the opposite in Cain, he wanted to approach God in his own way, and without shedding the enmity of his heart, or repentance before God. Cain is distinguished by God as a man driven out into the further darkness of sin till there was no return. The conclusion is: Abel found spiritual peace with God, and we have the proof of this peace in Hebrews 11:4, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. With Cain, however, we have a man who spent his life in anguish of soul and spirit, and in enmity against God.
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (1 John 3:10)
For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (1 John 3:11)
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. (1 John 3:12)
Examples of Flesh versus Spirit
These two examples of flesh and Spirit (Cain and Abel) are repeated throughout the Scriptures. I will give you a few examples. Isaac was born of the free woman in Sarah. He was both the seed of promise and an heir of God. He was born of the Spirit whereas, Ishmael was born of the bond woman (Hagar) and he is a type of the future deceiver the man of sin. He opposed and opposes all that is of God. Next we have Jacob and Esau: Jacob was the seed of promise, although he was the ‘supplanter.’ God said of Jacob that his elder brother Esau would serve him. It is also recorded in God’s word that God loved Jacob, but hated Esau.
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. (Romans 9:13)
The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. (Malachi 1:1)
I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, (Malachi 1:2)
And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. (Malachi 1:3)
But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. (Isaiah 41:8)
Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. (Isaiah 41:9)
We also have Joseph and his brethren. Joseph being chosen of God would be a wonderful type of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For through his faithfulness to God he was exalted to the second highest seat in Egypt and became both the savior of his brethren and the world; for there was a great famine upon the face of the earth. Although rejected by his brethren Joseph became their savior and provided them with food and a place in Egypt.
After Israel fled from Egypt and the commandments of God were given, the tabernacle was constructed, and after Moses sanctified the tabernacle the fire of God descended upon the sacrifice, then the tabernacle became the abiding place of God with man. We have two examples in Nadab, and Abihu; they offered strange fire to God, and God slew them for they had gone in the way of Cain. God, in turn, had Aaron anointed Eleazar (Aaron’s son) to minister in the place of Nadab and Abihu. We also have Saul and David: Saul was the man after the flesh, and walked in the ways of Cain. In David, we have man chosen by the Spirit of God in whom the Spirit dwelt. For David declared in the Psalms, Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (Psalm 51:11)
It is quite evident that God’s plan revolves around the divine seed that was fulfilled in the Person of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the New Testament we have the following verses to show us the fulfillment of the seed.
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: (Ephesians 2:12)
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; (Ephesians 2:14)
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (Ephesians 2:15)
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: (Ephesians 2:16)
And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. (Ephesians 2:17)
For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. (Ephesians 2:18)
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (Ephesians 2:19)
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. (Galatians 6:15)
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. (Galatians 4:28)
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. (Galatians 4:29)
Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.(Galatians 4:30)
So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.(Galatians 4:31)
Peace and the New Man
Through the Old Testament God has shown us how man can find peace with God. When we approach the New Testament, we have further revelation in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our peace must come from the divine seed which is Jesus Christ, and He alone can give peace to man. Our peace must come through the new man, Jesus Christ, in heaven. We do not approach God with Jesus Christ, we must approach God through Christ. We must leave Adam behind us in the dust. (Ephesians 2:18) It is through Christ that we have access by One Spirit which is the Spirit of Christ.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10)
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (John 10:9)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:2)
The Place Prepared
It is the work of the Spirit of Christ to bring us to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. The work of Christ on the cross is finished. He is at the right hand of God for us now; a glorified man in heaven. Those who still see Him on the cross have not laid hold of the fact that He is in heaven, and He has opened a door for us to follow Him by the faith that He gives to us. We are born into His body through His death upon the cross, and this gives us access to God the Father in Sonship. We, through the new birth, become joint heirs with Christ. This is the new man in heaven for us. We are partakers of Christ, and receive God’s grace through the new man who is Jesus Christ. With God’s grace we receive the peace of God which passeth all understanding. When the Lord Jesus was speaking to His disciples He declared that He was going to prepare a place for them.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.(John 14:1)
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)
The Lord Jesus has brought us into the presence of God the Father through His finished work on the cross, and He has prepared us a place in heaven with Himself. He has brought us into Himself, we are members of His body, bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3) He has brought us into the beloved for He in Himself is the beloved. We did not finish the work of redemption. We can only become partakers of redemption through Christ Himself. His death becomes our death, His resurrection becomes our life. In Him, and through Him we have a uniting of us through the Spirit of God to an ascended Christ at the right hand of God. He has taken His place upon His throne of righteousness. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. (Hebrews 1:8) This is the throne of God’s righteousness, this is where the Lord Jesus has sat down. His work is over. His work of redemption is over. This throne is the seal of all God’s love for us in Christ Jesus. For He has been given all authority in heaven, and on the earth. Although we do not see His work openly around us, He is working through the unseen. He is working through the Holy Spirit. I will remind you that the Holy Spirit has been sent to glorify Christ.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (John 16:13)
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (John 16:14)
All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (John 16:15)
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (John 15:26)
When you are born by the Spirit of God, and enter into Christ, the Spirit of God witnesses with our spirit that we are truly a child of the living God. We are born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. We have been brought into a remarkable relationship with God the Father by Jesus Christ, this relationship is for all eternity because we are in Christ. We are removed from the earth in our spirit to dwell with Christ in heaven. We live on this earth by the Spirit of Christ that dwells within us. The ministry of God’s Spirit is only for His beloved. The believer represents God and God’s Christ to the world. He lives not only by grace, but in that very grace. The believer is here to experience the same rejection of man that his Lord experienced. For Christ is still rejected by this world. There is more to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. (John 16:7)
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (John 16:8)
Of sin, because they believe not on me; (John 16:9)
Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; (John 16:10)
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. (John 16:11)
The Unthinkable and the Unspeakable — Judgment
The Holy Spirit will reprove or condemn the world for it’s sin. He, the Spirit of God, is the spirit of truth, for the truth is in Jesus. The Spirit of God will reveal God’s righteousness to the world for they are without excuse. (Romans 1) He will also judge the world. This judgment has come in many forms, and man continually denies it because of the blindness that sin has brought into his soul. The world does not even want to think about God’s judgment. Even when it is obvious they pass it off as though these things have always happened in the world.
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, (2 Peter 3:3)
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:4)
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: (2 Peter 3:5)
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:(2 Peter 3:6)
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.(2 Peter 3:7)
I want you to notice in verse 4 this phrase, for since the fathers fell asleep, remember, these people were denying the judgment of God. Isn’t it interesting that in this phrase, they substitute the word, ‘death’ by saying ‘the fathers fell asleep.’ We as Christians have the wonderful experience of falling asleep in Jesus Christ; the world knows not of this sleep. They hide themselves from death, but death always finds them. They refuse to face the judgment of God which (in Adam) is death. The law of sin and death has reigned since Adam’s transgression.
The world has removed God’s judgment from their vocabulary just as they have removed the word ‘sin’ and replaced it with the word ‘mistake.’ You do realize that you can rectify a mistake, but sin is a transgression against God, and man cannot rectify his sin by himself; it has to be through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way to escape God’s judgment is to be born of God through Jesus Christ. The world refuses to talk about the judgment of God. Deep inside they fear it, and will not speak of it. When anyone says to me, Have a nice day. I reply, Have a nice eternity. It shocks them, and they either jest or have a bewildered look on the face. This is how they are going to face the judgment of God. Their eternity will be a harsh reality of God’s judgment upon them. I blame the liberal preaching of the last one hundred years for if the Church does not believe in God’s judgment, how will the world see the condition of their own souls? Every day I see the hand of God’s judgment upon a world that has cast out Jesus Christ. I see the storms, the earthquakes, the volcanoes, the sickness, disease, deadly viruses, plagues, and cancers that eats up one life after another. God trying to turn society and the world from their wicked ways. (Deuteronomy 32:39) Men are judged because they do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are multitudes in Christendom who point to a Christ still on the cross. They wear a crucifix around their necks for they cannot see redemption, they only see a dead Savior. You must reach God through the risen man, the man Christ Jesus, in glory for you. The righteousness of God can only come to us through the Lord Jesus. He sits upon His throne, a throne of righteousness, and He holds the scepter of righteousness in His right hand. He is also the King of righteousness. He, the Lord Jesus, possesses all the righteousness of God.
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. (Hebrews 1:8)
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Hebrews 1:9)
For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; (Hebrews 7:1)
To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; (Hebrews 7:2)
Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. (Hebrews 7:3)
The Jewel of Peace
As Christians we are established in God’s righteousness by His righteous Son. This righteousness that we have is because we are within Him. It is His righteousness displayed through us. It is not something that we acquire, it is one of the jewels that comes with His free gift of grace. One of the other jewels is the peace of God that is beyond all understanding. No one can be called the King of righteousness except He that holds all righteousness in His righteous scepter. (Hebrews 1:8, 9) Only this one, the Lord Jesus, throughout all ages can bear this title. The Lord Jesus also bears the title King of peace. One can only have peace by being in Him. When Melchisedec met Abraham, after the defeat of the eastern kings, they sat and broke bread and wine. These were the elements of the Lord’s supper. Abraham understood and knew that this was the Son of God in His priestly display as the King of righteousness, and the King of peace. What confirms this? When Abraham faced the king of Sodom, he told the king of Sodom that he will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine.
And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. (Genesis 14:21)
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, (Genesis 14:22)
That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: (Genesis 14:23)
Notice that with Abraham he wanted nothing of the evil works of Sodom, nor of this world. He had lifted up his hand (which hand?— the right hand) to the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. I know a lot of professing Christians who refuse to believe what Abraham believed, and that the Lord Jesus referred to in John’s gospel.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.(John 8:56)
Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? (John 8:57)
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58)
Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. (John 8:59)
Just as the Jews refused to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, so in the Church today, they still deny what Abraham saw and believed — that this Melchisedec (who broke bread and wine with Abraham) was the incarnate Christ. When I read in the epistles that all things were made by Jesus Christ, and for Him, truly, He is the possessor of heaven and earth. And like Abraham, I have lifted up my right hand to the most high God. This gives Him the title King of peace, my peace.
Judgment in the Garden
Now let’s see the truth of John 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. The prince of this world is, of course, Satan. And when Satan would come while the Lord Jesus was being crucified, he would find nothing in the Lord Jesus to respond to his last temptation. Truly, the finality of Satan’s judgment will come in the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:10) And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. God set Satan’s judgment in the garden.
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: (Genesis 3:14)
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)
God established Satan’s judgment from the beginning of man’s sin. He established that Satan would be judged by the seed of the woman, and that seed would come in the fullness of time in the Person of Jesus Christ. In Genesis 3, we have the recorded fall of man in Adam. He became sin and from Adam death has reigned upon all man, for all have sinned, but Satan was judged as well. Like man his judgment was set in the garden, and will be fulfilled in the lake of fire, and he will be tormented forever. He that weakened the nations in sin (Isaiah 14), and the deceiver of man. (John 13:2) And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him;. Satan is the instigator of all man’s cruelty to man. The ultimate was his deception in the heart of Judas in betraying the Lord Jesus. Satan’s judgment as well as Adam’s was finished in the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. When the devil came at Calvary he came through the tormentors as they spewed out their venom against the Lord Jesus Christ.
Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, (Matthew 27:41)
He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. (Matthew 27:42)
He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. (Matthew 27:43)
This was the fulfillment of John, Chapter 14, verse 30, this was that ‘Hereafter’ of John14:30, Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. And the Lord’s reply to them was, It is finished. God’s love spoke loud and clear. The only begotten which is in the bosom of the Father declared in tears of grace, It is finished. At that moment, the Holy Spirit rent the veil in the temple from top to bottom, from heaven to earth. Jacob’s ladder was completed.
Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. (John 1:49)
And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.(John 1:51)
At this time Christ opened the door into the presence of God the Father. He opened the door for us, that through Him we might enter in. He is truly the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) When His work was finished, the Holy Spirit lifted the three hours of darkness that was upon the whole world. Now there was the light of redemption in Jesus Christ for the deceiver, the devil, had come once more and could find nothing in Christ to respond to his wickedness and sin. Christ is above, and above all.
Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. (John 12:31)
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (John 12:32)
This he said, signifying what death he should die. (John 12:33)
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: (Galatians 4:3)
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Galatians 4:4)
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:5)
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6)
The Lord Jesus loved us unto death even the death of the cross. He redeemed us and brought us into a relationship as sons and joint heirs. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7) Our relationship with God the Father is determined by God the Son. It is activated by God the Holy Spirit, however, it is the Son of God who gives us His peace. Peace 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) Once again we are reminded by Scripture that this is Christ’s personal peace that He has given unto us. This is the peace of God that the world can not take away, and we have the witness of the Spirit of God within ourselves of this peace. How wonderful, how marvelous is my Savior’s love to me.* To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. (Jude 25) Amen.
* This is a line from the hymn titled, My Savior’s Love, words and music by Charles H. Gabriel
© Copyright 2016, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)