A Word in Season: Christ’s Gift of Peace (John 14:27)

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The precious parting gift of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to his disciples was peace.

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In John's Gospel chapter 14 and verse 27, he told them, Peace I leave with you, my peace

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I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

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This is part of that last will and testament of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was a promise that he would seal with his blood.

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It was a gift that he would secure by the purchase of his own life, the ransom that he made for his people.

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It is peace that he gives, distinctly his peace. It is peace with God, because our sins are forgiven.

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Not just that God is no longer angry with us, but that in Christ he smiles upon us, as those who have been accepted in the beloved and embraced for his sake.

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It's peace in our own souls, the assurance that we have indeed had all our transgressions put away, that we no longer belong to this world, that we belong to God himself, and that we are right with him.

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It's the peace that we can and should have with one another as the blood -bought family of God, those who have been brought in, gathered together, shown love, and so showing love, learning from God in Christ what it means truly to lay down one's life for one another, and so living with holy peace between ourselves.

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And it's peace in the midst of trials and tribulations. It's the peace that we know in the worst times, the peace of knowing that God truly is

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God and our God, that Christ is our Redeemer, Christ is our

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Great Shepherd, that Christ has secured our salvation, and that we can no longer be lost, and that the worst that men can do to us cannot separate us from that love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our

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Lord. And that is the peace which Christ bestows. Matthew Henry, the older commentator, reminds us that Christ could leave very little behind when he died on the cross.

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His soul he committed into the hands of his father, his mother he put in the care of his beloved friend

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John, his body he left to be buried in a borrowed tomb, but his peace he leaves with his disciples.

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Christ had no silver or gold. Even his clothes were divided among the soldiers.

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But his precious gift of peace belongs to all his people. It's probably best to connect it with the ministry of the

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Holy Spirit, mentioned as the helper whom the Father will send in his name, who will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

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It is the gift of the Spirit that, by his operations, brings this peace into expression and experience in our needy souls.

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And the sweet consequence of this great gift, given not like the world, not as a mere intent, not as an empty promise, not as a raised hand and a be well or a safe home, however well -meaning those may be, but the real assurance of a peace that cannot be broken, heavenly, glorious, crafted by the

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Spirit in its substance and in its experience, means that our hearts need not be troubled, nor need we be afraid.

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Yes, Christ has given many instructions and many exhortations and many warnings to his disciples, even in this passage in John chapter 14.

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He's told them that they are going to face persecutions, that if the world hated him, then it's going to hate them also.

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He's told them that they're going to need to love one another as he has loved them. He's told them that he's going to go away, but not going to abandon them and leave them orphans.

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There are many things that are going to happen in their experience, even in the short term, that are going to shake them.

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And the same is true for us as we make our pilgrimage through this world. But because we have

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God's peace, Christ's peace, the Spirit's peace, the gift of our beloved

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Saviour, our hearts must not be troubled, not easily shaken, not quickly disturbed.

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We do not need to be afraid, for Christ has loved us, Christ has died for us, and Christ has deposited his peace upon us.

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He left it behind in order that we might always know that he is ours and we are his by the precious ministry of his