THE POSSESSORS OF PEACE
Isaiah 48:22. There is no peace, saith the Lord, to the wicked.
“There is a caveat put in against the wicked, that go on still in their trespasses. Let them not think they have any benefit amongst God’s people, though in show and profession they herd themselves among them—let them not expect to come in shares. What have they to do with peace that are enemies to God? Their false prophets cried peace to them to whom it did not belong; but God tells them that there shall be no peace to the wicked.”
Whatever the reason for its introduction here, this verse contains a most important truth which demands universal attention.
I. WHAT THE TEXT ASSERTS—that there is no peace to the wicked (H. E. I. 2296–2301).
1. Who are the wicked?
(1.) Enemies of God (Psalms 37:20; Psalms 87:1-5; Romans 1:30; James 4:4).
(2.) Enemies of the Cross of Christ (Philippians 3:18).
(3.) Evil-doers (Psalms 28:3; Psalms 36:12; Psalms 37:1; 1 Peter 2:14).
(4.) Men of the world (Psalms 17:14). The wicked are “not only all who think and feel and do wrong, but all who have not the right spirit within them—supreme sympathy with the supremely good. There are degrees in wickedness as well as in goodness. All bad men are not equally bad. Sin has its blade, its ear, its full corn in the ear.”
2. The wicked have no true peace. They may have the semblance, but even that is transient and vain (Job 20:6; Luke 12:20; Ecclesiastes 2:1; Ecclesiastes 7:6). They have no real peace—
(1.) In the act of wickedness. There can be no happiness in sin—simply the gratification of bad passions.
(2.) In the business or pleasures of life. The world in none of its forms or modifications can afford solid, substantial, elevated peace. “Pleasures pall upon the sense;” riches take wings; disappointment comes, and the highest earthly and sensual pleasure leaves a sad sense of want—a feeling that there is something in the capacities and wants of the undying mind which has not been filled (H. E. I. 4969–4974).
(3.) Of conscience—no conviction that they are right. Indeed there is often the reverse of peace—care, distress, alarm, apprehension. “They and their consciences are ever and anon at drawn daggers; … their consciences are still galling and terrifying them for imprisoning their convictions” (Flavel). This world can furnish nothing which will give peace to the heart that is agitated with a sense of unforgiven sin (Isaiah 57:20; H. E. I. 1321–1324).
(4.) In death. There may be callousness, insensibility, freedom from alarm, but that is not peace, any more than sterility is fruitfulness, &c. Often, however, the mind is filled with alarm, and the death-bed is a scene of blank despair (H. E. I. 1567, 1568, 1590–1593; P. D. 684).
(5.) Beyond the grave. “A sinner can have no peace at the judgment bar of God—no peace in hell. In all the future world there is no place where he can find repose.”
It is not man but GOD who says the wicked have no peace—God who made them, redeemed them, knows them; God who has no interest of His own to serve, who is “abundant in goodness and truth.”
The urgent necessity of repentance and faith. “The quarrel sinners have commenced with God, if not taken up in time by repentance, will be an everlasting quarrel.” Christ has procured peace. Realised by penitent faith in His all-meritorious atonement (Romans 5:1, &c.) How earnestly should all who have not this peace seek it, since the world can neither give it nor take it away. It is necessary to the enjoyment of life (Psalms 34:12; Psalms 34:14, with 1 Peter 3:10-11).
II. WHAT THE TEXT IMPLIES—that the godly have peace.
1. Who are the godly? They are frequently described in the Sacred Word (e.g., Isaiah 1:10). They fear the Lord, obey His commandments, and amid providential darkness they trust in Him.
2. The godly have peace. God’s word everywhere declares it, and Christian experience uniformly confirms its statements.
(1.) They are justified by faith in Christ, and have peace with God (Romans 5:1). Once at enmity with God, at war with the law and perfections of God, with all the truths of religion and with conscience; but now they are reconciled to God, and they acquiesce in all His claims.
(2.) They are Christ’s disciples, and the peace which He has left He gives—He breathes it into their hearts (John 14:27; P. D. 2666–2669). Peace such as Jesus only can impart. Not such as worldly objects, pursuits, and pleasures give. Not such as systems of philosophy and false religion give. But such as meets and satisfies the soul’s deepest needs, silences the alarms of conscience, abides amidst all the changing scenes and circumstances of human life, and in the hour of death and for ever.
(3.) They love God’s law, and have great peace (Psalms 119:156). They have great calmness of mind. They are not troubled and anxious. They believe and feel (Romans 8:28). Great because divine, satisfying, abiding (P. D. 2673, 2677). Great because powerful: “It keeps the heart and mind.” Great because incomprehensible. “It passeth all understanding.”
(4.) They cultivate the devotional spirit in relation to “everything,” and consequently have “the peace of God” (Philippians 4:6-7). How desirable in a world of anxiety and care to possess this peace—this rest from corroding care and distressing anxiety (Isaiah 26:3).—Alfred Tucker.