God's Perfect Peace

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ... Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ... And the God of peace will be with you.

In this passage we are introduced to the Peace of God as well as to the God of Peace. And this is amazing! – a miracle. For if there is peace now, there must have been war. You see, peace only comes after a war is over and a victory is declared.

Let’s look at this Peace of God in the past, in the present and in the future:

In the past—there was war.

We were God’s enemies.

Our sin was a declaration of war against God. We rebelled and did not obey Him. In fact, we didn’t like anything He likes. We all like sheep went astray.

So how can this be fixed? How could we be made at peace with God? How can all this hate and war be smoothed over and put aside?

It didn’t start with us.

No, it started with God. Jesus, who is our Peace, destroyed the wall of hostility.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He came to love us and Jesus the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, came to be punished in our place. This is why cane now have Peace.

In the present—we are promised peace

Notice that it says: “the peace of God” and then it also says “the God of peace will be with you.”

—O blessed thought, O happy and great comfort! God with us, not to condemn us, not to harm us, but to help us and to give us peace! Elsewhere it is written that “we have peace with God.” This is a certainty. This is settled. If we are truly His children and if we truly love Him and make Him our Lord, we have peace!

But we also have a job to do in the present:

We are told not to be anxious

but to pray and to give thanks.

We are also told to think about whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, lovely and excellent, whatever is praiseworthy.

And what is more noble than God’s love for us?

Who is more excellent than Jesus?

Who is more pure, more lovely, more worthy of praise than Jesus Christ?

You see, we are to fill our minds with Christ

Then we have peace, sweet peace, blessed peace of God.

Then we are given a promise for the future:

A promise for the future—

This peace of God will guard our hearts and our minds.

He will protect us with His peace.

His peace will not suddenly go away.

No! The God of Peace Himself is here with us.

God will not change His mind

God cannot be moved

Therefore I know that His Peace will and will continue to guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus.

And I know that His Peace will guard your hearts and minds

if you have trusted Him

if Jesus is your Lord and Savior

Think on these things and His Peace will be with you; and the God of Peace Himself will be with you.

"The LORD bless you
and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace."

Rake the Coals of Thy Fire....

"...rake the coals of thy fire so that it will start, burst into flame more easily upon the morrow...."

 

This quote from an old, Puritan write has intrigued me. What's more, it has challenged me to greater discipline. Few of us understand the urgency behind this analogy: To someone in the 17th Century, the fire was the heat and source of cooking power. Much of the life in the house revolved around using and tending to the fire. The fire was life-giving and essential. For it to go out was a serious problem! So what about our Christian life? While we would most all readily admit that the Spirit's fire is essential, do we really order our day so that we can tend this fire and quench it not?

So then, what is this tending of the fire, this "raking the coals"? In my limited knowledge of fires I see several points of interest: 

1) First, to rake the coals there had to be a fire there already. Are you saved? Does your heart grow warm when His kingdom is mentioned? Do you thrill at the reading of His Word as with a great glowing ardor? Then God has placed His fire in your heart. Some would say, "but my fire has gone out!" No! If you are truly saved, He will not allow that to happen. Dig around in the ashes of your heart to find those live embers and then fan them into flame. If your fire is truly out, then you never had His life-giving fire in your heart in the first place! This can only be remedied by humbly repenting and petitioning Him for Salvation. You cannot start your own fire. Remember Nadab and Abihu and their unauthorized fire! (See Lev 10.) 

2) For there to be a fire there, there must be work and planning. These are coals that we are to rake. Coals are the long-lasting hot-points of a fire. When something else comes next to the coals, it too catches fire. How do you get long-lasting coals? Not from paper. That's a flash and it is gone. Nor from small kindling. No, the best coals come from the densest, hard-wood logs. Oak and maple fires will have many hot, glowing embers eight or more hours later. In our Christian life, with what sort of things are we stoking our fire? Light reading? Current events? Sensational stories? Emotionally appealing tripe? If that is all, we will not have many if any coals in the evening, much less the morning! No, we need to feed our soul's fire with God's Word itself: with great logs of doctrine that we ponder and marvel on all day long. Second we feed our soul's fire with writings of those who likewise ponder these deep and marvelous doctrines from God's Word. Puritan writers, D. Lloyd-Jones, P. G. Mathew among others. Do this and you will have hot coals to rake. 

3) Where there is fire there will be ash also. Some of this raking involves the removing of the dead fire, the debris of our own wood, hay and stubble that God's mercy ignited. Perhaps that is why we don't like keeping the fire burning hot so that it is useful. For while it is hot, it also burns our ambitions and self-esteem and worldly pleasures. The dross is purged. Note also that paper and things like it produce much more ash then do hard-wood logs. So also we will have less ash -- less carnal pleasures to repent of if we feed our soul's fire with doctrine instead of sensational, feel-good readings. But forget all these little trinkets of wood, hay and stubble. Look at the great treasure which He is giving -- and has given already--to us! Note also that this ash removal needs to be done at least morning and evening. That sounds like repentance, doesn't it? Never done with it in this life. Repentance is not a once for all, done with it sort of thing. It is daily, on-going. The Puritans said that the two wings by which we fly to heaven are Repentance and Faith. Don't hobble your flight to God. Repent! Clear out the ashes of your soul's fire regularly.

4) Lastly, I want to point out just how much work there is involved in tending a fire. Yes. We all know that it is God who saves us. He reaches down monergistically and sets our hearts aflame. No human with any type of "strike anywhere" match could have ever lit the water-logged alter of our hearts. But just as for Elijah, fire came down from heaven and ignited our hearts. (See II Kings 18:30 - 38) But somehow, we in our fleshly, carnal wisdom want this to stay and to remain completely God's working. We want this sanctification process to be completely of God too. Face it. We' tend toward a certain amount of spiritual laziness. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Herein is another divine mystery! We work in partnership with God Himself! This is why the scripture implores us to "make every effort" and to "make sure" and "to guard your hearts"! Phil 2: 12, 13 says "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." We are to work our our salvation. Work it to the outside so that others may see it. God has placed it there on the inside, now we need to work it to the outside. In thoughts; in speech; and in actions. Raking the coals, and tending our fire will make our lives shine that much brighter for this King who has worked in us such a great salvation!

So, to what end now? What benefit is there in all this work? You will have a heart that is ready to spring forth in praises and supplication upon your waking! No need to spend extra hours trying to find the ember and coax it back to life. No need to start afresh with the paper and kindling of light, simplistic and trivial readings. The coals will already be hot --eager for another log of from God's Word. Notice that this fire will not automatically spring to life. It takes some attention in the morning too. But with the preparation from the night before, it is ready and will take little additional effort.


This Puritan writer adds yet one more incentive: "...for he that goes to sleep in the presence of the Lord, will surely wake in His Presence!"

- D. Benning

A King Will Reign in Righteousness!

Isa 32:1 - 8

A King will rule in righteousness.
Ah, now that sounds wonderful, doesn't it? It sounds like the promise of heaven, the promise of a new world and a new order--a world redeemed from the Fall and the corruption of sin. Some would even say that it is a little "pie-in-the-sky" too. Too far off to have much practical good for right now.

I don't think that the prophet Isaiah believed that. This is why he wrote in verse 9, "You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!"
No, the prophet thought that this King who will rule in righteousness should have a present effect on how we think and live our lives.

Who is this King?

Ps 24: 8 asks it this way? "Who is this King of Glory?"
That is, this King who will rule in righteousness is the King of Glory. It is God Himself. But here some would protest and say... "Hey! That's old testament. We're a new testament church. We don't have to worry about the old testament. Right?"

I would say that this King of Glory is none other than Jesus Himself. Jesus taught His disciples that all of scripture points to Him. (See Luke 24:27.) So I posit that this King who will rule in righteousness is Jesus Christ.

Any proof?

Yes. Isaiah gives us signs that would point to this King and His rule:
Isa 32:3 ... blind eye see; deaf ears hear;
Isa 32:4 ... the insane and rash now in their right mind; stammering, halt tongues talk clearly

That sounds like the miracles that Jesus did. He healed the blind and the deaf. He made the mute to talk. He made the demoniac with a legion of demons to be healed and "in his right mind."

But am I reading too much into this? What did Jesus Himself say? Matt 4:17, "From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." He said that the Kingdom of heaven is near. And this is not a picture of some sweet day in the bye-and-bye. No, Jesus in Matt 21:32 said to the Pharisees that "tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you." Are entering. That is, the Kingdom is so near that some are already going into it. This Kingdom is promised to have no end and to increase! (Isa 9:7)

So.... This King is Jesus. This Kingdom is near. This Kingdom keeps increasing--keeps expanding. That is: It wins!

But what of this for me?

If there is a Kingdom, there must be a King.
If there is a King and a Kingdom, there must be rules!
That is why it says "A King will rule in righteousness." He rules.

Let me repeat that. He will rule and because He has come and established His Kingdom, He is ruling now.

Of course, we don't see the full extent of His rule. There are still areas of rebellion. We only have to read the Book of Revelation to see that He will come again as a Conqueror to subdue all rebellion. (Read Rev 19, 20, 21, 22.)

But this Jesus is King. That is why the New Testament calls Him the Lord Jesus. A "LORD" is a King. That is what Caesar was called in the Greek. He was King and had absolute sway in his realm. How much more should the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Sovereign God and Creator of the whole universe have in His realm!

So what are we to do?

Live under His righteous rule.
That is, live righteously.
In other words, live by doing what is right.

What is right? Whatever will please the Lord. He established the Law not as a punishment, but because it is a reflection of His moral nature and character. That is, the Law is good because it reflects who God is.

Isa 32:8 say "But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands."

Are we being noble? Noble means "Of exalted rank; of or pertaining to the nobility." And if we are Christians, we are adopted into His family! That is a very, very high position indeed. We are to act worthy of that calling. He is our Father now. Children imitate their daddy. Are we imitating our Heavenly Father who said, "Be holy as I am holy!" It should be our desire, our hearts' cry, our longing and our daily yearning to be more like Him. To be more and more holy.

If so, we will have noble plans (that is, our thoughts and our goals). These will lead to noble deeds (our actions). And by these we will stand. That is, it will prove that we have had a radical change in our hearts. It will prove that God is our Father, that Jesus is our King and that the Kingdom of Heaven is among us--because we obey His law.

If this is not true of you, please ask this gracious King Jesus for repentance and a new heart. One that loves what He loves. Then you will be noble of thought and action. And in that Day of Judgment, you will be able to stand by His grace!

-Amen
Soli Deo Gloria