At the heart of the cyclone
tearing the sky
And flinging the clouds
and the towers by,
Is a place of central calm;
So here in the roar
of mortal things,
I have a place where my spirit sings,
In the hollow of God’s palm.
~Edwin Markham (1852-1940)
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
~ Ephesians 2:13-18
If you’ve ever experienced it, you know what this writer is talking about. Peace. Real peace. His peace… Jaw-dropping, quiet-spring-morning, the-air-is-so-clear-and-fresh, the-color-of- the-sky-is-a-different-shade-of-blue, PEACE. Actually, it goes beyond any understanding.
If you have not experienced it, you absolutely, positively can. See “Got Jesus?”
We can be in the middle of stuff that should be crushing us. Really, it should. The human frame is not designed to handle the stresses laid on it by a fallen world. Anyway, in the midst of trial and pain and loss and stress and strain and testing and suffering. He guards us like we are in a battle tank, in a bunker, in a mountain.
But why? i don’t know about you, gentle reader, but i – left to my own self – am naught but a really bad person. In my flesh, i’m not even that likable by other humans. Even now, on my very best days – fully manifesting His Spirit in and through me – some are repelled by parts of who i am.
Its just not even fair. We deserve nothing but death and destruction, and this Beautiful One pours out a stillness and tranquility on us that is, quite frankly, more pleasant than the most intense pleasures we have ever felt on this earth.
And then we come to the central gravitational body of the Gospel in Romans 3:21-28
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
G_d has simply expressed His wonderful Holiness and Goodness towards us through Jesus Christ. He is acting rightly and according to His nature by doing everything that is necessary to bring us into a right relationship with Himself. He doesn’t just pour out peace onto us, HE is our Peace.
He is touching us and infusing us with the goodness and tranquility that does, in fact, dwell within G_d Himself. No wonder it is beyond description. We are actually feeling that which is in the very heart of G_d. Peace. Infinite, eternal, unchanging Peace.
And all He wants us to do is trust Him alone for it. To yield fully to the truth that we cannot bring about any real peace of our own, and accept His Peace instead.
Like so many things about our Creator, this is really hard to understand with our brains, and for some of us, even harder to actually accept in our hearts (we would rather do it ourselves!). But, true it is. Let us tonight yield to His Peace. We can live forever in it, because He supplies it from Himself, and there is no end to Him!
Not all my prayers nor sighs nor tears,
Can ease my awful load.
Thy work alone, O Christ,
Can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
Can give me peace within.
~Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)
