THE PEACE OF GOD
Isaiah 57:19-20. Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, &c.
There was a time when man’s religion was the religion of spontaneous innocence: the only religion open to him now is the religion of penitence. This makes the Gospel bear the character of a system of cure. It is not a work of improvement for a nature already good, but a remedy for a nature diseased. It is a healing process. There is one thing all want and seek—peace. The world has said “peace, peace!” and they find that there is “no peace.” There are two ways of seeking peace, two promises made to the craving heart, the same in words but opposed in meaning—the world’s and Christ’s. The world proposes to fulfil her promise by gratifying nature; the Gospel by expelling nature. The world’s method is: “Gratify your desires; indulge them.” If there were no other world, no conscience, this would be wise and well. The peace which Christ proclaims is different—the healing of a disordered heart; not giving the reins to desires, but mastering them; placing the whole soul under the discipline of the Cross.
In considering the promise which comes from the lips of God, we shall examine two connected subjects contained in these verses.
I. THE STRUGGLE OF AN EARNEST SOUL TOWARDS PEACE.
The first step is made by treading on the ruins of human pride. One source of restlessness is an overweening estimate of self. The Gospel crushes that spirit. At the foot of the Cross there is no room for pride. Merit is impossible before God. We are not claimants for reward, only suppliants for life, a life forfeited by guilt. Learn this first how much you deserve on God’s earth, and if it should turn out that you deserve nothing and have received little, then calculate whether you have been defrauded. When we have passed through the first humbling smart of that conviction, content to stand unclothed before God, without one claim except the righteousness of Christ, we have made one step toward peace.
The second step toward peace is the attainment of a spirit of reconciliation. If there were nothing else to make men wretched, uncertainty regarding their future destinies would be enough. There is no peace in prospect of eternity, unless there is something more than a guess that God is loving us. This peace is for two classes.
1. For those who have remained through life “near” to God. Such are spoken of as the ninety-nine just persons, and are represented by the Elder Son in the parable. Their religious growth has been quiet, regular, steady. Nurtured in religious families, they have imbibed the atmosphere of religion without knowing how, and so they go on loving God, till duty becomes a habit and religion the very element of life. The rapture that comes from pardoned guilt is like the fire-rocket, streaming and blazing; but the peace of him who has lived “near” to God is like the quiet steady lustre of the light-house lamp.
2. This peace is for those who are “far off,” who have lived long in the alienation of guilt. It seems as if the joy of returning to God had in it something richer than the peace which belongs to consistent obedience. There is the fatted calf, the robe, and the ring. After all, for most of us this is the only Gospel. One here and there has lived near to God from childhood, but the majority of us have lived far enough from Him at some period. We want a Gospel for the guilty. It is not the having been “far off” that makes peace impossible (Romans 5:1).
The last step toward peace is the attainment of a spirit of active obedience. It is not the dread of hell alone that makes men miserable. We cannot be happy except in keeping God’s commandments. Make a man sure of heaven, and leave him unhumbled, impure, selfish—he is a wretch still. Disobedience is misery. God’s remedy is to write His law on the heart, so that we love Christ, and love what Christ commands.
II. REASONS WHICH EXCLUDE THE GUILTY HEART FROM PEACE. Two are assigned.
1. The heart’s own inward restlessness. Man’s spirit is like a vast ocean. A pond may be without a ripple, but the sea cannot rest. So it is with the soul.
2. The influences acting on the soul. The sea rests not because of the attraction of the heavenly bodies. In us there is a tide of feeling (Galatians 5:17). Partly the impossibility of rest arises from outward circumstances. There are winds that sweep the ocean’s surface. So with man there are circumstances that fret and discompose. The man who has not peace in himself can never get it from circumstances. Place him where you will he carries an unquiet heart.
3. The power of memory to recall the past with remorse. “Its waters cast up mire and dirt” Memory brings to light what has been buried in it, as sea casts up wreck and broken rock. Navies may sink in it, but the planks stranded on the shore tell the tale of shipwreck So with deeds and thoughts. There are tempests that will bring them up some day. This is the worst torment of the impenitent.
CONCLUSION.—
1. Mark the connection between peace and cure. Only the blood of Christ can give the sinner peace.
2. No amount of sin bars the way to peace.—F. W. Robertson, M.A.: The Christian at Work, Feb. 1881.
I. The nature of the blessing which is proclaimed in the Gospel: “Peace, peace.”
1. There is war between God and man, but the Gospel proclaims peace.
2. There is war between the higher and lower principles of human nature. Appetite and passion against reason and conscience. A divided heart.
II. The persons to whom the blessings proclaimed in the Gospel is offered. “To him that is afar off and to him that is near.”
1. In respect of religious privileges. Gentiles and Jews.
2. In respect of social advantages. Members of worldly and of religious families.
3. In respect of moral character. The profligate and the respectable.
4. In respect of local distance. The field is the world.
III. The influence of the blessing proclaimed in the Gospel on its recipient.
1. It is beneficial in its operations. Not hurting, not deadening, not teaching or helping merely.
2. It is individual in its efficiency.
3. It is Divine in its agency.
IV. The practical issue.
1. The fruit of the lips is thanksgiving (Hebrews 13:15).
2. God creates the occasion and the disposition.—G. Brookes: Outlines, pp. 143, 144.