The Gift of Peace - Day 6

The Gift of Peace

The Contrast of Peace

In verse 27, Jesus says, "Not as the world gives, do I give to you." In other words, His peace is not like the peace of the world. The world's peace is worthless. Since 36 B.C. there have been nearly 15,000 wars. Before World War II the world had an average of 2.61 new wars every year. But since World War II despite all of mankind's "enlightenment," and organized efforts for world peace, there have been an average of three new wars every year. The New York Times once observed that "peace is a fable."

The only peace this world can know is shallow and unfulfilling. Most people's pursuit of peace is only an attempt to get away from problems. That is why people seek peace through alcohol, drugs, or other forms of escapism. The fact is, apart from God, there is no real peace in this world. The peace of putting your blinders on, of going to bed and forgetting it, is fleeting and worthless. And yet people try desperately to hold on to this kind of mock peace.

It is futile pursuit. Godless individuals can never know true peace. They might know only a momentary tranquility--a shallow feeling, perhaps stimulated by positive circumstances mixed with a lot of ignorance. In fact, if unsaved people knew what destiny awaited them without God, the illusion of peace borne out of ignorance would evaporate instantly.

People today live in a form of existential shock. They don't understand their own being, they don't know who they are, where are going, or what they do when they get there--if they get there. I recently saw a sign on a man's desk that said, "I've got so many troubles that if anything else happens to me, it will be two weeks before I can even worry about it."

That is a commentary on the plight of modern man, but the truth is, the real reason a person can't find peace has nothing to do with emotions or environment. If you lack peace, it is not because of your mother, your father, your grandmother, the church you were reared in, or a bad experience when you were a child. The Bible tells us why people don't know peace. Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick." The King James Version says "desperately wicked." Isaiah 48:22 says, "There is no peace for the wicked." Man's heart is desperately wicked, and thus he cannot find peace.

Throughout the land of Judah in Jeremiah's day, problems were rising up fast. A great army was coming in to destroy Jerusalem and take the people into captivity, and they were frightened. Peace was being removed from the land, and there was destruction coming like they had never experienced.

Jeremiah 6:14 says, "They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, 'Peace, peace,' but there is no peace." In other words, they tried to patch up their evil ways and then said, "Peace, peace, everything is okay." There was a lot of talk about peace, but there was not genuine peace. In chapter 8, he says, "We waited for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror!" (v. 15).

A few chapters later, the prophet repeats the same observation: "Have You completely rejectedJudah? Or have You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We waited for peace, but nothing good came; and for a time of healing, but behold, terror!" (14:19). Then, Jeremiah put his finger on the source of the trouble: "'Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to lament or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people,' declares the Lord" (16:5). Where there was sin, there could be no peace.

We can expect nothing different in the end times. Revelation 6:4 says that when the Tribulation begins there will be a brief period of peace, but after about three and a half years, peace will be taken from the earth. Luke 21:26 says people's hearts will fail them for fear.

The world's peace doesn't exist. It is a lie and cannot exist. No individual without Jesus Christ can ever have peace, and no world without God can ever know peace. If a person has a moment of peace in this world, it is only a camouflage hiding the eternal pressure of God's judgment.