Peace is a word that gets thrown around a lot. Quite often when peace is discussed it is something that is phony, imagined or temporary. Peace between men, nations and even in our own mind usually seems to turn into something that is elusive or uncertain. So how can we experience real peace? It starts with understanding one of the most important declarations in the Bible which came prior to Christ's birth. Peace that the world offers will fail. But the peace that comes from God Himself is something constant that we can all enjoy... all the time.
God Has Declared Peace With Mankind (14 Min, 9.6 MB)
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This is a very encouraging and uplifting messages,He gave us his peace.
ReplyDeleteI do have a question, when Jesus says I give you peace and not as the world gives, can you explain what that means? I always thought it meant that when the world sends peace, it deflates when tribulation arises. But Jesus says in Him you have peace, so what does it mean when it says " Not as the world gives?" I have an idea what it means but I want to make sure.
Mike
While Jesus doesn't come right out and say it in John 14, I think you're right that the peace that He's talking about is different than the peace the world offers, when everything is just fine and dandy in life. Indeed, that type of peace deflates when tribulation comes along.
ReplyDeleteJust a little while later, in John 16, Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
So truly, He wasn't telling His disciples that His peace meant being free from troubles or tribulation, but rather a peace from Him that "surpasses all understanding," as Paul put it in Phil 4:7.
The things that Jesus was telling His disciples had to do with how He was going away to the Father. It was about how the Holy Spirit would come and guide them into all truth, and how the Spirit would testify of Jesus. It also had to do with how they would be persecuted.
So yeah, reading all the way through, we can see how it wasn't about worldly peace, but about a peace from the Father.