Peace By Christ

“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;” (Eph 2:14 AV)

 

We understand here the peace of which Paul is writing is peace between the Gentiles and Jews.  The middle wall of partition is the wall that was erected by the customs of the two sides.  This is particularly evident in the letter to the Romans.  When one thinks about it, cultural differences had to be a major issue in the first-century church.  Changing from a Jewish system of laws to a universal system of faith that included everyone had to be a struggle.  When Jesus is the center of a church family, then all the non-biblical differences people have should dissolve.  The difference between the church at Ephesus and the church at Rome was the former really didn’t have an issue with this while the latter had a major problem with it.  Context aside, the first five words really spoke to me.  Jesus is our peace.  The more Jesus is a part of our lives, the more peaceful we will be.  This is not to be understood as a simple focus.  Rather, the entire life.  Jesus should be the center of our worship.  Jesus should be LORD as well as Savior.  Jesus should be the object of our devotions.  When we read His word, we should see Jesus all over the place.  Jesus should be our example.  He is our chief Shepard.  The more that Jesus is our life, the more peace we experience as a result.

It is interesting what happens to a large family of siblings when Dad is not around.  It is interesting what happens to individual siblings when Dad is near.  The absence of Dad always means more chaos and insecurity.  We used to joke that when my father came home from work, all the fun stopped.  From a child’s perspective, that was certainly true.  At least that is how it seemed.  But as we mature, we understand more and more just what his presence meant.  My father drove little quarter-ton pickup trucks for as long as I can remember.  I remember two in particular.  He drove a red one and a green one.  Datsun pickups, if memory serves me.  We knew his truck above all others.  He came home the same way each evening.  Someone would watch for him and warn the clan when he would be a few minutes out.  Then the house would dramatically calm down.  Siblings would stop their fighting.  Agitation seemed to mitigate.  Crying younger ones would stop their crying and those of us into mischief would cease.  His presence meant we would cease to be what we were without him.  Although we would lament that Dad was not a joking-and-laughing kind of man;  rather, he was intense and foreboding; at least when he came home, there was order and security throughout the house.  He may not have been our chum, but he was our peacemaker.

When we speak of Jesus as our peace, we can go much further than our earthly fathers.  Sure, He does all that.  He keeps the peace in the body of Christ as long as we all strive to follow Him.  But there is a greater peace to consider.  Jesus said,  “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (Joh 14:27 KJB)  When the Savior ascended into glory, He did not leave us to be in turmoil or troubled.  In fact, that is exactly what the LORD said not to do.  Do not be troubled.  Why?  Because He left His peace with us.  He is our peace.  We can try to find it in so many other ways.  We can seek it at the bottom of a bottle or at the end of a prescription.  We can try to find it by sleeping our lives away.  We can seek peace by escaping all that troubles us.  We can seek peace in so many ways but the truth of the matter is, that we will not find it.  Jesus is our peace.  We must go to Him and fellowship with Him in unbroken fellowship.  We must seek His ever-abiding presence.  We must go to Him in prayer and the Bible and seek His voice above all others.  Only when we have learned what it means to exclusively love Jesus, then we can learn what true peace is.