A TIME OF WAR AND A TIME OF PEACE

J. T. Brown

Ecclesiastes 3: 8 (second half of verse)

The short clause read marks a change from the pattern of the preceding verses, which in their application can be related to particular incidents in the lives of men and women: for example

“a time to weep, and a time to laugh”. But the sense of our clause is more what is ongoing and characteristic of the moment—“A time of war”, yet alongside it, “a time of peace”. Who could doubt that it is a time of war? Isaiah speaks about “the grievousness of war”, Isaiah 21: 15. How terrible the grief and destruction which war can bring. That section in Isaiah 21 is very interesting in the present context of things, referring as it does to the burden against Arabia, although it awaits a coming day for its fulfilment. It speaks about men fleeing from

“the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war”. That is the plight of many, literally, in the theatre of war. But the good news is that even into such circumstances, divine grace brings a wonderful message; it says, “Bring ye water to

meet the thirsty! The inhabitants of the land of Tema come forth with their bread for him that fleeth” (Isaiah 21: 14). Oh, what a God! To those fleeing from the awfulness of war, divine grace in all its blessedness is saying, ‘There is water to meet the thirsty, and bread to satisfy the hungry!’ Men and women, battle weary, distraught, under duress, yet to them all, God’s mercy is reaching out. Can we fail to sympathise with men and women at the battlefront? A time of war indeed!

But more solemn and arresting is the fact that there is a moral war going on in the soul of every man and woman and boy and girl, a moral war in which Satan is striving for dominion over human hearts. The other side of things is the striving of the Spirit of God with men.

What a conflict! A grievous war indeed, and who is going to win? What is going to have dominance in your life? Will it be the misery, pain and grief which are the consequences of sin, or will it be a “time of peace”? Paul says in Romans in respect of men away from God,

“Swift their feet to shed blood; ruin and misery are in their ways, and way of peace they have not known”, Romans 3: 15–17. What an accurate summary that is of the world tonight, as men go about their callous ways, indifferent to the pleading grace of a forgiving God, caring not that in the infinitude of His love. He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. So Jesus came and Luke tells us He came

“to guide our feet into the way of peace”, Luke 1: 79. He longs to guide these weary, wandering feet of yours into the way of peace. Are you on it, this way of joy, of stability, and security? If it is a time of war, then surely it is also a time of peace. Isaiah says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that announceth glad tidings, that publisheth peace ... that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!”, Isaiah 52: 7. If men have declared war, the glory of the day is that Christ is publishing peace. And He can do it righteously. Why?

Because He has made peace by the blood of His cross. He went into the battle. What a war was His! He fought the foe, He bore the wrath of a righteous God against sin, and He emerged victorious so that the way of peace might be opened up for sin—wearied hearts into the presence of God Himself.

Luke’s gospel is full of beautiful incidents in which the Lord Jesus points weary souls into the way of peace. There was that woman in Luke 8 who since twelve years had a flux of blood, and she was fighting a losing battle against the dreadful affliction. Her life and her resources were ebbing away in a remorseless conflict she could never hope to win. What could she do? In faith she stretched out her hand—not this time to pay off those who promised her false hope—but to touch the hem of the garment of the Saviour of sinners, the good Physician who could meet her every need. And she was immediately healed. How blessed these words, “Thy faith has healed thee; go in peace”, Luke 8: 48. These weary, feeble feet of hers now firmly on the way of peace, which leads by and by to heaven itself, the peace of Christ now presiding in her heart. Do you have the experience of the peace of Christ in your heart? Or is that consuming, searing conflict in your conscience still ongoing?

There is no more serious, no more awesome or vital conflict than that which goes on within human hearts as they seek to wrestle with the effects of sin, to sort out within themselves what is good and bad, and to come to a judgment of the awfulness of their state before a righteous, sin-hating God. Have you resolved it, friend? Maybe you are labouring under the promptings and prickings of a guilty conscience. Maybe the Holy Spirit is striving within your heart in new birth, stirring within you feelings and instincts Godward, while on the other hand these natural desires are pulling you another way until you are so depressed and miserable that you do not know what to do. What is the answer? Submitting to Christ, letting Christ come into your heart, falling down in His presence and saying, ‘I am just a guilty sinner. That precious blood shed at Calvary is my only recourse’.

How affecting to consider what the Lord Jesus endured to make peace available to guilty sinners who confess their sins. How much He—the Creator—suffered at the hands of His creature. Luke tells us of Herod and his troops setting Him—the King of Glory—at nought, and the chief priests and the scribes accusing Him violently. He could have uttered one word and the whole throng would have been swept into oblivion. The One who had commanded the worlds into existence by a word, could have obliterated them by another. Instead He went through it all in the perfection of an incomparable humanity, endured the mockery and “when reviled, reviled not again”, 1 Peter 2: 23. Then on to Calvary to be crucified, man’s malice unabated even at such a time. The passers-by reviled Him, saying, “He saved others, himself he cannot save”, Matthew 27: 42. The truth is that if He had descended from the cross, His peace could never have extended to you and to me. He must suffer and He must die if a time of peace was to be experienced by you and me. More solemn, more agonising still, what He suffered at the hands of God, when the unsparing judgment of a holy God against sin was rolled in upon the precious Saviour at Calvary. No mortal could comprehend the intensity of the atoning sufferings, what it meant for the Lord Jesus to be forsaken of His God. The poet says—

I pause—for in Thy vision

The day is hastening now,

When for our lost condition

Thy holy head shall bow;

When, deep to deep still calling,

The waters reach Thy soul,

And—death and wrath appalling—

Their waves shall o’er Thee roll.

What a conflict! And He endured it to the utmost. The whole question of sin and sins was wholly resolved by what He accomplished. He exhausted the judgment. He

bore the penalty which should have fallen on you and me. His life was unimpeachable, sinless, perfect, immaculate. Yet such an One, who abhorred sin, was actually made the thing that He abhorred, “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us”, 2 Corinthians 5: 21. Why?

That there should be a time of peace for you and for me.

What conflicts, what battles were His, but from it all He emerged victorious. He has triumphed gloriously; He has suffered, died. His precious blood has been shed, and now He lives in perfect peace above. I wonder if you can take the language of the psalmist on your lips, “He hath redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me”, the battle of your conscience, the battle to win your heart, the battle to win your affections. Who is going to preside, who is going to have the first place? Can you say you are pinning your faith in the Victor of Calvary? Can you say He was your blessed Substitute, that He bore your sins in His own body on the tree? How fine to have the joy of a link with Him and to have the indescribable comfort that into your soul He has brought a peace that nothing can gainsay.

Peace is a wonderful thing and we have it because we have been justified. Romans tells us that, “Having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God”, Romans 5: 1. Those who believe have been justified because Christ is risen from the dead. He died and He went into the grave, but He is risen, “raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father”, Romans 6: 4. He “has been delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification”, Romans 4: 25. So we can go into the presence of God as if we had never sinned at all. But more than that, we are brought into the presence of God on the same basis as Christ is there. What perfect peace then fills our hearts as we rest with perfect assurance on the finished work of Christ. ‘Blessed assurance! Jesus is mine!’ Is that peace, which Christ alone can give, filling your heart? It is

available to you.

It is one of the many glories of the Lord Jesus that He is the Prince of Peace. How glorious a Person He is! “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder—and His name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end”, Isaiah 9: 6, 7. The Prince of Peace! He is up there in heaven, shortly to come and take up His rights in this poor benighted earth, and of peace there shall be no end. But He is not only the Prince of Peace—He is the King of Peace, “King of Salem, which is King of peace; without father, without mother, without genealogy ... but assimilated to the Son of God”, Hebrews 7: 2, 3. The Prince of Peace and the King of Peace! That is to say, He is able to command peace, it is His prerogative to command it. One day He is going to command it, and that will be a wonderful time. “He shall come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon be no more”, Psalm 72: 6, 7. As the Sun and Centre of the whole millennial scene, His radiancy and dominion will extend to every point; and as the true Solomon He will reign in equity and perfect peace. The wonderful prospect for every lover of His is that they are going to reign with the Prince of Peace.

Well, it is a time of war and it is a time of peace. The evidences of war are all foreshadowing, no doubt, the heading up of things in this world’s scene. But more vital, more important still is the war of your heart, the war of your conscience. What is going on there and what is going to be the outcome? Is it going to be peace with Christ? The basis is there in His precious blood shed at Calvary. Or is it going to be continuing strife and unhappiness in your conscience and heart? May you choose Christ and enter on the way of peace. Soon all conflict will be over for those who believe, and

they will reign with Him for a thousand years; then the great eternal day will be ushered in and we will dwell with Christ eternally and God will be all in all. May our hearts be freshly attracted to the One who has made peace by the blood of His cross. If it is a time of war, then surely it is also a time of peace. May we enjoy it. For His name’s sake. Amen.

Preaching at Kirkcaldy
20 January 1991