PEACE
[p. 186] PEACE
Ephesians 2:14 - 17; Luke 9:51 - 53; Luke 10:5 - 8; Luke 10:20; Luke 11:13
I believe it laid on my mind of the Lord to speak about peace, and to show that it is of heaven, and that its product, a son of peace, is consequently of heaven. You will remember that Luke in recording the circumstances of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ speaks about a multitude of the heavenly host; they were praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace” (Luke 2:14). They indicated that peace on earth was in the mind of God, and the Babe of whom they spoke and whose birth they celebrated was the guarantee of that peace. But later in his gospel as the Lord at the close of His life here was entering into Jerusalem, it was said, “Peace in heaven” (Luke 19:38). Peace on earth was therefore deferred, for, indeed, the Lord in the meantime had said that He was not come to give peace on earth but rather division; but His entrance into Jerusalem was accompanied by the prophetic statement, for such it was, “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest”. He had already said that He beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. His fall would not promote peace on earth, but it would make room for peace in heaven. Peace on earth is deferred. It will come about in due course, but the establishment of peace in heaven precedes it, for God operates out of heaven beginning thence. And so I read from Ephesians because it refers to the position in heaven. It contemplates Christ there and the assembly there.
This chapter speaks about the saints being quickened with Christ, raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. The position is therefore fixed; our place is assured,
[p. 187] and nothing steadies one more here than the sense of an assured place in heaven. From the standpoint of Ephesians our position is assured; it is not in prospect; it is accomplished. It is not that we shall be raised up together, but it is that He has raised us up together; so that our place is no longer in question, not even a matter of hope, it is already accomplished. And so the introduction, lower down in the chapter, of the idea of peace amongst us is the normal setting of the truth, for sons of peace are heavenly products. The Lord Himself, it says, is our peace, and He has established peace amongst His people by the making of twain one new man. He has brought down, in other words, what is established in heaven unalterably, and made it effective here. The Spirit shews that having done everything through redemption to accomplish it, He came Himself to preach peace. Note that, dear brethren. He came Himself and announced glad tidings of peace to us afar off, that is, Gentiles, and to those that were nigh. His thought was to bring in peace, to bring in here what was already established in heaven, and to cause a state of peace to be effective amongst His people on earth.
Now I wish to show how this truth in Ephesians is to work out in local companies of the people of God at the present time. So I read from that section in Luke because, as I hope we shall see, it treats of local furnishings, and local furnishings are of a piece with general furnishings, for the economy of the assembly requires that there be no variations, hence the word is, “Thus I ordain in all the assemblies”. One heard recently in visiting a certain place that there was a custom there, a very simple thing, a mere item, but it was a local custom, and a local custom is simply an innovation, and an innovation is foreign to the assembly. The assembly is out of heaven morally, its furnishings are out of heaven,
[p. 188] and uniformity and universality are what mark it; so that there is no idea of local customs. Whatever marks one locality should mark all, or in other words, all are to take character from heaven, and each local company should be in some sense a representation of what is in heaven, otherwise it can afford no congenial place for the Lord Jesus — for divine Persons. We must in some sense have in view that we are to have divine visitations, and in view of that, the local furnishings are to be out of heaven and therefore in accord with heaven.
A son of peace, as having received the gospel, is one who has an understanding of what is in heaven. He has received the gospel preached by the Lord Himself — glad tidings of peace. He is a son of peace, which means that he is developed in the idea of it; he will not give way to disturbance, but holds to that which rules in heaven and maintains it at all costs. The emissaries of Christ as entering into a town or place should look for such an one “If a son of peace be there”.
I pass on now to chapter 9 to show how the Lord had in view on His way to heaven (for He was about to be received up) that there should be suitable furnishings for Him in all places He would visit; He sent messengers “before his face”, we read. The time of His receiving up had come. I need not speak of the kind of reception He had in heaven — of the reception that awaited Him. At the end of this gospel He is said to be carried up into heaven. Not only was the Father Himself supremely interested, but in all the history of heaven there never had been such an event, so that as He was carried up all the intelligences in heaven would be interested; they would all, indeed, add to the glory and the splendour of the reception. He was received up “in glory”. One can understand how that all that God is in affection would shine upon Him, and the angels and archangels [p. 189] in that scene would add their part to the wonderful glory of that scene.
And so in this chapter it is said the time of His receiving up had come, but what moral history entered in in the interim! He sends messengers before His face into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for Him. Heaven was quite well known to Him, as He says elsewhere, “The Son of man who is in heaven” (John 3:13), and again, “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” (John 6:62). Heaven was known to Him, and if He sent messengers before His face to make ready for Him, He would have in mind some heavenly condition. But what do we find in the village of the Samaritans? They did not receive Him. They were not in accord with heaven. Do you see what the position is? It is a question of being in accord with heaven. The Samaritans were entirely out of accord with heaven; they had pursued a national history of rivalry. Rivalry with Jerusalem was stamped on the national history of Samaria, and its village was of a piece with the nation; the character of the nation enters into the smallest village of it, and even characterises the most insignificant citizen of it. What is national is not heavenly, and any fostering of what is national is contrary to heaven. They did not receive Him because His face was set towards Jerusalem; it was set towards that city which was their rival. How can the son of peace be where national rivalry exists? Impossible! And so they did not receive Him. There could be no son of peace there. His face was set to go to Jerusalem, and Samaria, even the smallest village in it, would not receive One whose face was in that direction. There was no son of peace there.
But the Lord is not going to be diverted from His thought. If one village rejects Him, another would receive Him, and that is what He is doing now. He takes up seventy. The matter is of supreme importance.
[p. 190] Are there to be localities in which Christ is received? There are; and so the Lord appoints seventy. I wish we might take this in, for it is of immense importance. The seventy are sent “two and two before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to come”; and He directs them, for He is bent on the success of their service. He goes into details as to how they were to be governed in this mission; He says, “and into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace to this house. And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it”. The mission was to take account of houses, and as they enter into the house, they were to inquire if a son of peace were there.
Now this is a very practical matter. Are we sons of peace? If local meetings do not begin with sons of peace, trouble will soon arise; as the Psalmist says, “I am for peace; ... they are for war” (Psalm 120:7). So one must look into one’s heart and see if one is formed out of heaven — a son of peace. The son of peace corresponds with one of the assembly. “If two of you”; there it is two of the assembly, and what I would say about that passage in Matthew 18 is that administration is in the assembly. Heaven has committed itself to the assembly. Administration is not in the hands of the elders of the assembly, it is in the hands of the assembly. “Tell it to the assembly”, it says, not to the elders, “and if also he will not listen to the assembly, let him be to thee as one of the nations and a tax-gatherer”. And then later, “Again I say to you”, the Lord says, “If two of you”, that is, two of the assembly. That calls up the question of responsibility. In the Old Testament the idea of eldership is intended to convey the idea of responsibility. The types have their own language and they convey the idea of responsibility in those who are the elders, but to carry that out literally now, would be to set aside the assembly [p. 191] and to assume that all administration is in the hands of elders, which is not true; whereas the truth of the New Testament is that administration is in the hands of the assembly.
So the Lord in addressing the assemblies addresses the angel, not the angels. “To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write” (Revelation 2:1). That is not simply one person in Ephesus. It is spiritual language, for Scripture has its own vocabulary, and it means to convey that Ephesus had its own responsibility, and that that responsibility included every Christian in Ephesus. If any one disclaim it he is not of the assembly. He does not belong to “two of you”; but he who accepts it belongs to the assembly characteristically. He may say, I am very weak, but “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven”. The whole power of heaven is available to two of us, however weak; and again, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”. Is there not power for administration in such a company? It is not a question of elders there, but of those gathered to His name; He is there.
Hence, Peter, in order to make way for Paul’s ministry, in visiting Lydda, says to Æneas, “Jesus Christ maketh thee whole”. Jesus Christ is here to provide material for the assembly, “Rise up and make thy couch for thyself” (Acts 9:34). So Æneas is able to make his bed for himself, and that is the principle that underlies every local company. The Lord is with them; they face the problem; heaven is available to them; they can pray; and the Lord Jesus, in whose hands all power in heaven and on earth is vested, is with them. That is the position. That is the position of the assembly economy at the present time, and anything that sets that aside is against the truth. The Lord is with local companies, and He [p. 192] enables them to administer and to carry out the will of heaven upon earth. Any such local companies must be sons of peace. They must be formed of sons of peace, for the Lord is sure to come. He sends these seventy persons two and two into every place to which He intended to come; He is sure to come.
Well now, if a son of peace be in the house into which ye enter, let your peace rest upon it. You have a house. Is it owned by a son of peace? If so, the peace of Christ, through His missionaries, will rest upon that house. We see thus that our houses have more to do with the peace or trouble of the assembly than we are apt to think, hence the importance of having peace reigning in our houses. The Lord is sure to come, and as He comes He finds not only a son of peace, but his house possessed of peace, and thus he represents the material for the local company.
But there is more that follows in the chapter to establish all this. As the seventy returned to Him and spoke of the power that was operative in them over what was evil, the Lord says, “In this rejoice not ... but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven”; He is dealing really with material for the local assemblies, and whilst the overthrow of Satanic power is of great importance, what is greater is that their names are written in heaven. In other words the idea is introduced that we really belong to heaven, and are thus ennobled and fitted to receive Christ as He visits us, “every city and place, whither he himself would come”.
Now I want to show, just in passing, a very practical illustration of all I am saying. In the end of the chapter the Lord visits a certain village. Its name is not given, but it was the village of Mary and Martha. Martha had a house and she received the Lord into it, but what was the state of her soul? It were well indeed to receive Him, but what was the state of her soul? Was she a son of peace?
[p. 193] Let the word itself answer. She complained about her sister; she complained that her sister was allowing her to serve alone. Who was her sister? She was a son of peace. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus. She knew how to sit. One of the greatest lessons to be learned by us is to learn how to sit. Many of us live in our service, others in the meetings, in the whirl of things; that is not sitting, beloved. If you were to enter into heaven, you would find no turmoil or disturbance there, no running hither and thither. Mary was one of those who had learned to sit at the feet of Jesus. We find her again in John sitting in the house. Martha ran out to meet Him, but Mary sat still in the house. Presently the Master calls and she moves at His call. She had learned to sit in the house; she had learned not to be governed by turmoil and excitement; she had learned to sit, and she sat still in the house until the Master came and called for her.
So Martha is complaining against a son of peace. I do not say Martha was not one at bottom, for she was; she was one whom the Lord could rebuke effectively, and He says, “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful” — and a son of peace knows what that is — “and Mary hath chosen that good part”. It was not a mere accident; she chose to sit at His feet. It is a fine tribute to Mary that she chose something which should not be taken away from her. She was in accord with heaven. Heaven was interested in Jesus and she was in accord with heaven. A son of peace is the product of heaven, maintaining heavenly conditions upon earth, conditions that Jesus appreciates. How He valued that son of peace as she sat at His feet. It was a genuine pleasure to Him — a delight to His heart.
Referring now to the next chapter, we find the Lord was praying in a certain place; “when he [p. 194] ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray ... and he said unto them, When ye pray, say”, meaning that He would teach the sons of peace. Not going into what follows, I just want to call attention to the reference to the Father as of heaven. If we are sons of peace on earth and desirous of having heavenly conditions for Christ in our localities, we may be sure that the Father who is of heaven (for that is how it ought to be read) will be with us. In Matthew 18:19 it is, “If two of you shall agree on the earth concerning any matter, whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens”. Matthew is “in heaven”, because it is a question of the Father’s administration in that gospel, but Luke is “of heaven”; it is the character. And so He says, “How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” The Father answers the prayers of the sons of peace. They wish heavenly conditions here, and they ask the Father, and He gives according to the wealth of heaven; He gives in no niggardly way, but according to the bounty of heaven. He is of heaven, and what He gives is heaven’s best gift, and it is only by the possession of the Spirit in our localities that we can have collective conditions according to heaven.
I do not add more, but I would urge the thought of sons of peace and the result of their desires — the Father acting with them to have conditions suitable to Christ. The conditions that are entirely suitable to Christ are in heaven; He is the Son of man which is in heaven. Paul brings out our correspondence with Him; “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:48). Our heavenly status is assured — an assured heavenly status — not a prospect, but a fact, so that we are in accord with heaven, and we seek conditions suitable to Christ in the meantime. The time of His receiving up is come, the Lord is [p. 195] moving on, and He would have conditions to which He can come. So, as in the possession of the Spirit from the Father who is of heaven, we have the means of providing, to some extent at least, these conditions for Christ; and that is the point of supreme importance in His mind at the present time.
Pages 196 - 226 — “How Living Conditions are Promoted..” Manchester, September, 1925. (Volume 76).