Posted on 10/21/2019 7:19:20 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.(Psalm 85)
The Psalmist speaks for all of the godly, those devoted to the LORD, those who know the God who is there, and that our God speaks. They know that God has “spoken through his Son” in these last days… .
He proclaims “I will hear…” , or ‘let me hear’, what God would say to his people.
What will God, the Creator Redeemer say to his people?
He will speak Peace. When God speaks, His Word results in peace to those who are his people. Even if it is a hard word or a correction, the result is always peace when it is truly God who is speaking.
By Peace , we mean much more than ‘absence of conflict or turmoil’. The biblical idea of Peace, Shalom, is fulness, completeness, satisfaction, rest, and reconciliation. He (the LORD) speaks ‘peace’ .
Sin has robbed the World of God’s peace, but because of the Son, the last word to God’s people is ‘Peace’. Sin bears twisted and deformed fruits such as anxiety, insecurity, fear, paranoia, remorse, regret and guilt. All of these and more perverse fruit set ups a constant inner dissonance to varying degrees in the hearts of men.
At the core is fear of death, in all of its thousands of forms. Men know deep inside that death is a penalty from God for sin.
Thus the ultimate ‘peace’ is “peace with God’, but how can it be regained?
The Word proclaims that by the cross of Jesus the long war is over and that which separates us from God, has been vanquished by the Savior.
We are told in the Word,
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. ( Collossians 1:20)
Also that when the Word came in the flesh,
“He came and preached Peace, to those who were near and those who are afar off…” ( Ephesians 2:17)
The sin and rebellion, of which we have all partaken of, brought us into conflict with our Creator, who hates and cannot accept sin or darkness in any form. A song we once sang in the Assembly of God , proclaimed,
“My heart was distressed neath Jehovah’s dread frown, and Lo in the pit where my sin brought me down…”
God hates sIn and evil and is at constant war with it in all of its forms. Men know this instinctively, and hate God for resisting their autonomy and pleasures. Men hate God.
But “He sent his Word and healed them(us) and delivered them from their destructions…” (Psalm 107:20)
The Word came, preaching peace,
“The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)” (Acts 10:37)
Jesus is the Word of God incarnate and the very peace of God. He is the Sar Shalom of Isaiah 9, the “Prince of Peace”, peace with God and man, “God and sinners reconciled” as the Christmas carol proclaims.
isaiah predicted the Peace that He would purchase and bring his people into in the beautiful fortieth chapter;
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. ( Isiah 40:1-2)
The message is that there has been a propitiation, that is a ‘satisfaction offering made’ that enables a holy God to righteously receive sinners.God himself shall come to Zion (the people of God) to make the propitiation, and to end the warfare.
God has come into the wilderness of this fallen world, to bring and accomplish a peace offering of himself. Those who allow him to be their sacrifice for sin, are cleansed from their sins and brought into sonship with God. God is speaking , and what He says, is the person of Jesus!
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. ( Isaiah 40;3-5)
In Christ the war is over; God is speaking peace, peace with himself, through forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to God, “in Him we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins”( Ephesians 1:7) Reconciliation with God is the core of peace, for if God be for us, who can be against us?
Thus the Savior , who “By himself purged our sins…Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
Good Read
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