THE PEACE OF GOD
THE PEACE OF GOD
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 45:6-7)
The instructions on how to receive the “peace of God” are simple:
- 1 - Don’t worry or be anxious about anything!
- 2 - In every situation make your prayers and petitions with thanksgiving!
- 3 - Then the “peace of God” which transcends all understanding will guard your hears and minds in Christ Jesus.
The word translated as “guard” is “phroureo”. This is a military term. It is used in 2 Cor. 11:32 to describe a garrison of soldiers that “guarded” the city of Damascus. When God guards your heart and mind the peace you receive transcends all understanding.
THE PEACE OF GOD IS DIFFERENT
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (Jn 14:27).
“I have told you these things, so that in me you might have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33).
PAUL EXPERIENCED THE PEACE OF GOD IN PRISON
The letter to the Philippians was written from prison. Three other letters Paul wrote from prison are Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. These four are called his “prison letters”. His second letter to Timothy was also written from prison but is usually classified as a “pastoral letter”.
The letter to the Philippians is not discouraging, but is filled with references to “joy” and “rejoicing”.
•
The Bible word for “joy” is “chara”. It is found 5 times if this letter: (Phil. 1:4, 25; 2:2, 29; 4:1).
•
The Bible word for “rejoice” is “chairo”. It is found 11 times in this letter: (Phil. 1:18,18; 2:17,17, 18,18, 28; 3:1; 4:4, 4,10).
•
“Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4). This is a common theme throughout the whole letter!
•
Even though Paul was in chains he wrote: “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has served to advance the gospel” (Phil. 1:12).
•
The “peace of God” enabled Paul to be completely satisfied, even in prison: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength (Phil. 4:11-13).
THE WICKED ARE LIKE THE TOSSING SEA
“But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked." (Is. 57:20-21).
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan set out from Spain in 1519 with a fleet of five ships to discover a western sea route to the Spice Islands. En route he discovered what is now known as the Strait of Magellan and became the first European to see the “Pacific” Ocean. Magellan named that ocean “pacific” which means “peaceful”. While this ocean may seem peaceful from a distance, it is not peaceful at all. Just walk along the shore and you will see that the constant churning of the waves casting up mire and mud just like Isaiah said. This is an accurate picture of wicked people. They may look peaceful from a distance, but up close they have no rest.
Take, for example, Herod the Great. He was the King of Judea, as you know, when Jesus was born. While there are many in the Herod family who were prominent, Herod the Great was the most prominent and successful of them all. His achievements were spectacular. He constructed a new port called Sebastos, which was Greek for “Augustus.” The port was a competitor of the empire of Alexandria for providing better trade routes to the public. Some of Herod's other achievements include the development of water supplies for Jerusalem, building fortresses such as Masada, Herodium, Alexandrium, Hyrcania, and Machaerus. He also founding new cities such as Caesarea and began the reconstruction of the Jewish Temple. It was the largest and most elegant of the Jewish Temples. It had been under construction 46 years when Jesus drove animals out of the temple (Jn. 2:20). It would not be completed until A.D. 63. As you know it was completely destroyed in A.D. 70.
When viewed closely, however, Herod had a miserable life. He had 5 wives and his favorite was the beautiful Mariamne. One of his jealous wives accused Mariamne of being seen with Joseph. Without any evidence of doing anything wrong Herod immediately had Joseph killed. Then Mariamne was falsely accused of trying to poison him. She was then executed but Herod loved her so much that he had her body embalmed and kept her in the palace. He refused to bury her body for 7 years. In spite of his riches his life was filled with sadness and remorse. He tried to find peace by hunting and banqueting, but nothing helped. Herod was paranoid about someone taking his throne and killed anybody that he considered as a threat. This included Aristobulus, the high priest, his uncle Joseph, Alexandria his mother-in-law, his brother-in-law Cosobar, his sons Alexander, Aristobulus, and Antipater, all the boy babies in and around Bethlehem under two years of age, along with many others.
Herod died a painful death in Jericho. Josephus, the Jewish historian, states that the pain of his illness was so severe that Herod tried to commit suicide but was prevented from doing so by his cousin. Josephus also stated that Herod was so concerned that no one would mourn his death that he commanded a large group of distinguished Jews to come to Jericho and then placed them under arrest. Then he gave an order that they should all be killed at the time of his death. In this way he was sure that someone would be mourning at the time of his death. Fortunately, his son Archelaus and his sister Salome did not carry out this wish when Herod died.
The point is that wicked people do not have peace. Like the troubled sea they have no rest!
THE PEACE OF GOD CANNOT BE BOUGHT WITH MONEY
The late J. Paul Getty was a billionaire and at one time was the richest man in America. Sadly, however, he was not a happy man. He was married five different times but none of his marriages made him happy. His parents were not invited to any of his weddings. In 1958 when his son Timothy died of a brain tumor he didn’t even attend the funeral. He once kept his son George waiting for 8 days for a business appointment. A week before George committed suicide he wrote his mother saying that he “would see her in the hereafter and happier life”. Getty disinherited his son Paul Jr. for using drugs and never saw him again. When his grandson J. Paul III was kidnapped he refused to pay the ransom until they cut off the boy’s ear and mailed it to him.
Getty’s biographer, Robert Lenzer, said that after this kidnapping Getty became paranoid about his safety. He lived in a mansion with 500 windows and had all of them fitted with steel bars. His house was turned into a prison. The yard outside was surrounded by vicious Alsatian attack dogs. The door to his bedroom was embedded with steel and a guard stood by the door all night long. Five weapons for self defense were on a table beside his bed. Getty died in 1976 and the fighting of his family over his massive wealth led to the sale of Getty Oil Co. to Texaco.
Here is a list of 10 multi millionaires who died by suicide:
•
Jonathan Wraith – killed himself with a shotgun at age 35
•
Eli Black – jumped to his death from the 44th floor of his office building.
•
Huibert Broumeester – killed himself with a shotgun at age 49.
•
Christopher Foster – murdered his wife and daughter and burned himself to death in his own house at age 50.
•
John Lawrenson – after 47 years of marriage he and his wife committed suicide together with poison.
•
Wayne Pai – wealthy Taiwanese businessman killed himself by drowning in 2008.
•
Paul Castle – threw himself in front of an underground train in London at age 54.
•
Peter Smedley - suffered from motor neurone disease and died by assisted suicide at a clinic in Switzerland.
•
Howard Worthington - killed himself with a shotgun at age 52.
•
ReiJane Huai – killed himself with a gun on the front lawn of his $2.5 million dollar mansion. •
Truly, as Jesus said: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Lk. 12:15).
Jesus promised clearly: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (Jn 14:27).
The “peace of God” is not for sale. No amount of money can buy it. It is, however, a free gift to all believers who cast all of their cares upon Christ (1 Pet. 5:7). When you are not “anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 45:6-7)
PEACE IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLE
“I have told you these things, so that in me you might have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33).
•
Jesus
had the peace of God: “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mk. 4:35-40).
•
Stephen
had the peace of God: “When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:54-60) •
Peter
had the peace of God. James had just been beheaded and when Herod saw that it pleased the Jews he also arrested Peter. He intended to bring him to a public trial after the Passover. “The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.” (Acts 12:6-11).
•
Paul
had the peace of God: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:6-8)
•
You too
can have the peace of God: “You will be kept in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Is. 26:3).
•
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Ps. 20:7).
“BE STILL” AND KNOW THAT GOD CAN TAKE CARE OF YOU
The Hebrew people sometimes composed songs to commemorate times of great deliverance. Moses composed a song when God delivered His people from the Egyptians (Exodus 15). Deborah composed a song when God delivered His people from Sisera (Judges 5). The 46th Psalm is thought to have been composed to commemorate the deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrians. This remarkable story is found three times in the Bible (2 Ki. 18-19; 2 Chron. 32; and Isaiah 36 – 37).
Hezekiah was the king of Judea at this time. The Scriptures teach: “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him” (2 Ki. 18:5).
The Assyrians, however, vastly outnumbered the soldiers of Hezekiah. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, had captured all the fortified cities of Judah and then surrounded Jerusalem. His field commander taunted Hezekiah by saying: “Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses – if you can put riders on them” (2 Ki. 18:23).
Isaiah reassured Hezekiah with these words: “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:“He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city,” declares the Lord. “I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!” Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!
With this background please prayerfully read the 46th Psalm remembering that regardless of the problems you are facing, you need to “be still” and know that God will take care of you!
Psalm 46
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it” (1 Thess. 5:23).