stances or human understanding, yet it is the practical answer to our needs. Peace prevents worry from corroding the heart. It keeps un worthy thoughts from tearing up the mind. It enables us to enter the impregnable citadel from which no one can dislodge us for the fortress is Christ alone. Such is the peace for which men are seeking. The source of peace is Christ Himself. He is the origin which is divine (I Corinthians 14:33). Peace is the gift of God, given by Christ, through the Holy Spirit. I love the statement here, "My peace I give unto you." This is the same deep, rich tranquility that stilled His own heart in the midst of mockers, hat ers, murderers, and traitors. He re fers to the same serenity that kept Him in danger, the same calm in trouble, the same freedom from anxiety. Jesus was poor and could have resented the poverty. His motives were always suspected. The good He tried to do was perverted but He moved without discord through it all. This unruffled serenity was so obviously a characteristic of Christ that it completely baffled and perplexed His enemies. Pilate saw in the Saviour a peace unique from the calousness of a hardened criminal that he said in astonishment, "Don't you know I have the power to kill you or to release you?" 'The Lord simply re sponded, "Only if Cod gives you that power!" On one occasion Je sus commented, "Now is my soul troubled." That was when He con templated the damning influence of sin, knowing that He would have to bear it all. This peace is contrasted in verse 27 with the illusive peace of the Page 53
his own self. The Chole Indians of Mexico describe such peace as "a quiet heart." The Quechua Indians of Guatemala insist that peace is "quiet goodness." They are right because peace is, at its best, active. Over in West Africa the nationals there refer to it as "a song in the body." Biblical peace is like that. It is very positive. Peace can be un related to events. Paul describes it by saying, "In whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." James urges, "Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations (test ings)." Of the legacy Christ has left His believers one of the most blessed is that of supernatural peace (John 14:27). There are basically two kinds of peace in the New Testa ment. One is objective while the other is subjective. One has to do with our standing before Cod, while the other is concerned with experience. The objective peace is that of redemption (Romans 5:1-10). Man had been in open rebellion with God. Because of personal faith in Christ we have been brought into a loving relationship with the Lord and He has given us peace. Jesus in John 14 refers, however, to the perfect subjective tranquility of an individual's heart. What these dis ciples needed at this point was a supernatural, permanent, positive, peace. This is the inner tranquility discovered experientially (Philip- pians 4:7). The peace of God is what alone can maintain our san ity. And this type of life does not require any tranquilizers either. He who spared not His own Son will also, along with Him, give us all things. Such a peace may not make sense in view of difficult circum
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