My peace I give to you.

John 14:15-31 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

¹⁶ I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. ²¹ He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. ²⁴ He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. ²⁸ You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. ³⁰ I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; ³¹ but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

In today’s text Jesus says:  “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”  Philippians 4:7 says:   The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.     There are things which can give us peace and comfort, things which make us feel secure. When we have all that we need, food, shelter, protection, when we are satisfied in relationship, we are at peace; there is nothing to worry or trouble us. How often though does that happen in this world we live in? How many days go by without at least one thing and sometimes many things going very wrong? The life of a believer is not free from trouble. In John 16:33 Jesus Himself says:  “In the world you have tribulation.”   The entire verse says:     “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”    That’s the difference between the peace that the world gives and the peace that Jesus gives. His peace surpasses all comprehension because it is not based in the lack of trouble or difficulty. The peace of Christ is peace in the midst of trouble. The psalmist knew that peace. In Psalm 23:4 he says: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.    The peace that we have in Christ is not a lack of trouble. Rather, it is knowing that regardless what the trouble may be, even death, Jesus has already overcome it.

Jesus says:  “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”     The world views, comprehends peace as a thing which is seen or experienced. The peace of God is not a thing, it is a person. It is in fact three persons in one, God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit, living with us and in us. The peace of God is beyond comprehension because God Himself; Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not seen with physical eyes. Natural eyes cannot see, neither can the natural mind comprehend. We need a Helper, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, in order to see and know truth. Again the psalmist knew the way to the peace of God. Psalm 91 is a psalm declaring the protection and the security, the provision, the peace we have in the Lord. It begins saying:  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”   It is only by dwelling and abiding with and in the Father and the Son, through the Holy Spirit that we can know and have true peace.

Today’s text begins:  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  Later Jesus says again:  “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him…“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”     God loves us. Jesus loves us so much that He died for our sins. To love Jesus in return or response to His love, to abide in that love, Jesus says, if we love Him we will keep His commandments, His words. This too the psalmist declares in Psalm 119:  Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, And I shall observe it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law And keep it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. (33-35)  Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. You are good and do good (67-68) O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts.  I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, For You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! From Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path… (97-105…)

As previously mentioned, Philippians 4:7 says:  The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  To apply that peace in our lives let’s look at the context in which it was written. Philippians 4-9 says:  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.    Prayer is communication with God. It is a link between the natural and the spiritual. When we pray with both our mind and our spirit, we connect the things in the natural realm to the realities of heaven. The result is:     And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Again, to abide and dwell with Jesus we must keep His commandments. It begins as we heed the exhortation:      Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

To know the peace of God, we must also know the God of peace. We must dwell with Him, abide in Him; communicate and commune with Him.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You that I know peace. I have the thing called peace because of You, the God of peace.  Amen.