16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16 (ESV)
The following sermon excerpt is by Pastor Charles H. Spurgeon entitled The Jewel of Peace. Spurgeon preached this on Sunday, March 18, 1877.
First, then, let us look at THE MANY-SIDED BLESSING, “The Lord of peace himself give you peace.”
Some have thought to restrict the expression to peace within the church, since disorderly members were evidently increasing among the Thessalonians. But that is a very straitened and niggardly interpretation, and it is never wise to narrow the meaning of God’s Word.
Indeed, such a contracted explanation cannot be borne, for it does not appear that the disorderly persons mentioned in the chapter had as yet created any special disturbance. They had been quietly fattening at the expense of their generous brethren, and would not be very eager to quarrel with the rack from which they fed.
Although no doubt church quiet is included as one variety of peace, yet it would be a sad dwarfing of the meaning of the Spirit to consider one phase of the blessing to the neglect of the rest. No, the peace here meant is “the deep tranquility of a soul resting on God,” the quiet restfulness of spirit which is the peculiar gift of God, and the choice privilege of the believer. “Great peace has all they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.”
The peace of the text is a gem with many facets, but in considering its many-sidedness we must remember that its main bearing is toward God. The deepest, best, and most worthy peace of the soul is its rest towards the Lord God Himself. I trust we know this, and are enjoying it at this moment.
We are no longer afraid of God—the sin which divided us from Him is blotted out, and the distance which it created has ceased to be. The atonement has wrought perfect reconciliation and established everlasting peace. The terrors of God’s law are effectually removed from us, and instead thereof we feel the drawings of His love.
Now, secondly, let us note THE SPECIAL DESIRABLENESS OF PEACE.
It is a very great thing for a soul to realize perfect peace, for if it does not do so, it must miss the joy, and comfort, and blessedness of the Christian life. God never meant His children to be like thistle-down, wafted about with every breath, nor as a football, hurled to and fro by every foot. He meant us to be a happy, restful, established people.
The cattle crop the grass, but they are not fattened till they lie down and ruminate in peace—the Lord makes His people to feed and to lie down in quietness. You do not know the Gospel, dear friends, if you have not obtained peace through it. Peace is the juice, the essence, the soul of the Gospel. Doctrines are clusters, but you have never trodden them in the wine vat, you have never quaffed the flowing juice of their grapes, if you have not peacefully considered divine truth in the quiet of your heart.
Without peace you cannot grow. A shepherd may find good pasture for his flock, but if his sheep are hunted about by wild dogs, so that they cannot rest, they will become mere skin and bone. The Lord’s lambs cannot grow if they are worried and harried—they must enjoy the rest wherewith the Lord makes the weary to rest. If your soul is always sighing, and moaning, and questioning its interest in Christ, if you are always in suspense as to what doctrine is true and what is false, if there is nothing established and settled about you, you will never come to the fullness of the stature of a man in Christ Jesus.
Neither without peace can you bear much fruit, if any. If a tree is frequently transplanted, you cannot reasonably look for many golden apples upon its boughs. The man who has no root-hold, who neither believes, nor grasps, nor enjoys the Gospel, can never know what it is to be steadfast, unmovable, neither will he be always abounding in the work of the Lord.
Now, thirdly, we shall get into the very heart of our text while we consider for a minute or two THE ONLY PERSON FROM WHOM THIS PEACE MUST COME,
“Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace.”
Who is this “Lord of peace” but the Lord Jesus, the Prince of peace, born into the world when there was peace all over the world? It was but a little interval in which the gates of the temple of war were closed, and lo, Jesus came to Bethlehem, and angels sang, “Peace on earth.” He came to establish an empire of peace which shall be universal, and under whose influence they shall hang the useless helmet high, and study war no more.
“The Prince of peace!” How blessed is the title! So was it written of old by Isaiah, and Paul, the true successor of Isaiah, changing but a word, now speaks of, “the Lord of peace.” This is He who, being in Himself essential peace, undertook to be the Father’s great Ambassador, and having made peace by the blood of His cross, ended the strife between man and his offended Maker.
This is He who is our peace—who has made Jew and Gentile one, and broken down the middle wall of partition which stood between us. This is the Lord who, when He stood in the midst of His disciples, gave them peace by saying, “Peace be unto you.”
And this is He, who in His departure made His last will and testament, and wrote therein this grand legacy, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto you.” This is that Lord of peace to whom it is part of His nature and office to give peace.
Now I must conclude with the fourth head, which is a consideration of THE SWEEP OF THE PRAYER,
“The Lord of peace himself give you peace always.” What! always at peace? Yes, that is what the apostle desires for you. May you have peace given you always. “Well, sir, I feel very happy on Sabbath days. I have such peace that I wish I could have a week of Sundays.” May the Lord Himself give you peace always, on all the weekdays as well as on the Lord’s days.
But there are some to whom this peace cannot come, some concerning whom the Lord says, “What hast thou to do with peace?” “There is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked.” Your works, your prayers, your repentances—none of these can bring you peace. As for the world and the pleasures thereof, they are destructive to all hope of peace.
Come you this day and believe in the great sacrifice which God Himself has prepared in the person of His crucified Son. Come look into Emanuel’s face and read where peace is to be found. Come to the great gash in Jesus’ side, and see the cleft of the rock where God’s elect abides in peace. Trust in Jesus, and you shall begin a peace which shall widen and deepen into the peace of God which passes all understanding, which shall keep your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus. Amen.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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