What Was the Peace Jesus Left With Us?
“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).
This peace Jesus leaves with us is so powerful He says it keeps our hearts from being troubled and will protect us from fear.
What was the peace Jesus had that He is leaving with us? One thing for sure is if Jesus is leaving us something, it is what we will need. Jesus points out that the peace He is leaving with us is not like the peace the world offers. Worldly peace is the promise of no more wars or conflicts. However, as we all know, those peace agreements are often broken because men are liars but God isn’t!
“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19).
The peace Jesus is leaving with us is for all those who place their trust in Him. This peace is so stabilizing to our lives it stops our hearts from being troubled, as well as keeps us safe from fear! So what exactly is this peace Jesus leaves with us? So glad you asked.
The peace of God that keeps our hearts from being troubled and our lives free of fear is twofold. First, it is knowing who God is as Jesus did and second, it is understanding that what Jesus accomplished for us in His death, burial, and resurrection provided us access to God’s peace 24/7.
Jesus walked confidently in the knowledge of who His Father was. In fact, Jesus boldly told His disciples that when you see me, you are seeing my Father. Every action and word spoken by Jesus was a mirror reflection of God’s heart for people. The only time you ever saw fear in Jesus’ presence was in demons who knew who He was and why He was there. Jesus told people to go in peace after they encountered Him for help whether it was for healing or deliverance. Why did He tell them that? He wanted their hearts to rest in His work for them. He wanted them to know what He did was eternal, not temporary. It was not something that might wear off or they could lose if they sin. The peace Jesus gives us is intended to keep our hearts from being troubled and our lives free from fear.
Knowing that Jesus reveals to us what God is like helps our hearts to stay in peace. But there is something else that helps establish His peace in our hearts, something that transforms and gives our lives a solid foundation to live in God’s peace every second of every day.
Isaiah Chapter 53 is a popular chapter in the Bible. It graphically describes Jesus and His suffering on the cross for us all. I would encourage everyone to read and meditate on it. It is eye-opening and will bring great revelation and insight into your heart. Unfortunately, for most people, their grasp and understanding of the cross stop at the end of Isaiah Chapter 53. But Chapter 54, the very next chapter, is liberating. It lays out what this new covenant Jesus bought with His blood is all about. We also get tremendous insight into the peace Jesus tells us He is leaving with us that will stabilize our hearts in times of trouble and enable us to live free of fear. I don’t have time in this brief email to go into detail about Isaiah Chapter 54, but I will dig into the promises God made us that guarantee our peace.
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. (Isaiah 54:9-10)
Notice, in verse 9, God compares the work of the cross to His promise to Noah to never judge the earth by a flood again. Most believers are reminded when they see a rainbow after rainfall it is a promise from God to never flood the earth again. Some believers have far more faith in a rainbow than they do the blood of Jesus. The exact confidence you place in seeing a rainbow knowing God isn’t going to judge the people on the earth with a catastrophic flood again is the same confidence you can have in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus that His peace will never be removed from you.
This doesn’t mean we won’t see or experience some things in life that could trouble our hearts. Notice verse 10, even if we see mountains depart or hills removed, our hearts should rest in knowing none of this means God is angry with us or is punishing us for our sins. Today, those mountains could just as easily be skyscrapers as happened on 911, or earthquakes and tsunamis that can flatten the earth. God never wants us to think these natural or manmade disasters are His judgment or punishment. They are also not indicators He is even angry with us. His anger and judgment for sin were satisfied at the cross. This is why we can know His peace 24/7 in our hearts.
Today, there is a lot of uncertainty about what the future holds. Violence has gripped the hearts of some thinking that is the only way to solve a problem or make their voices heard. We may be in for some difficult times ahead. However, as believers in Christ, we don’t have to let these strange times rob us of knowing and experiencing God’s peace in our hearts or to allow us to be controlled by fear. Jesus wanted us to walk in the reality of knowing His Father’s love and peace as He did.
No matter what happens, what we are faced with, or how difficult the situation may be, we can know God isn’t the author of the natural disaster or behind the manmade disaster. We need not fear at all because He is for us, not against us. We know that nothing can separate us from His love, and His love never fails. So as long as we keep ourselves in His love we will never fail!
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
“Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8).
“Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 21).
“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love” (John 15:9).
