“THIS MAN SHALL BE PEACE”

Jim Brown (Edinburgh)

Micah 5: 4 (from “And they shall …)-5 (… shall be Peace): Luke 7: 37-39, 47-50: 8: 43, 44, 47, 48

In 1938 a British Prime Minister returned from Munich flourishing a piece of paper and uttering the words, ‘I believe it is peace in our time’. He was sadly disillusioned because, just a year later, the Second World War broke out, with all its carnage and waste of human life. Since then, the aspirations of many have been for peace, but the reality is that the world remains, in many lands, divided and strife torn. The Lord Jesus Himself said, “Think ye that I have come to give peace in the earth? Nay, I say to you, but rather division”, Luke 12: 51. Remarkable words from the Lord Jesus, but the truth is that real peace on earth will never be known until He Himself returns to take up the reins of government. But the glory of the glad tidings is that whereas peace in this world will never be realised until the Lord Jesus comes again into hearts which are uneasy, distraught and distressed, the Lord Jesus is pouring peace. That “this man shall be Peace” could be said of no other. There have been leaders, who have acquired their powers, and territories by acts of war, or savagery, or deceit, but the scripture says about the Lord Jesus, “for now shall he be great even unto the ends of the earth, and this man shall be Peace”.

Just before He came into this world in Luke’s gospel, the angel said, “He shall be great, and shall be called Son of the Highest; the Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for the ages, and of his kingdom there shall not be an end”, (1: 32,33). Isaiah says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; 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”, (9: 6,7). Governments disintegrate and totter and eventually fall. His government is going to increase and that elusive commodity of peace is actually going to increase as well. How has such peace been made? Paul in writing to the Colossians says He has “made peace by the blood of his cross”, Col. 1: 20. If there is any expression calculated to draw emotion from the hearts of those who have experienced that divinely given peace, it is these words, “the blood of his cross”. On the cross of Calvary was shed the blood of the One “who shall be Peace”, having borne the awful onslaught of man’s hatred and violence and the whole weight of God’s wrath against sin. Isaiah says, “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed”, Isa 53: 5. Our peace is the result of God’s judicial chastisement falling upon the Lord Jesus. Have you thought of the Lord Jesus being chastised? He was chastised that the peace of God should flow towards you and me. Then there are the stripes. The precious Saviour took the stripes that we might be healed from the ravages of sin. Then too, it pleased Jehovah to bruise him. God’s only-begotten Son, the One who had discharged the divine will to the uttermost in the perfection of a humanity which could never be equalled and who was intrinsically holy, was bruised for our iniquities by the God who hated sin. He was also wounded for our transgressions. On account our offences, God wounded Him, so that peace might come to us. Can you say He was wounded for my transgressions? Did the Lord Jesus stand as your representative at Calvary? He was my representative there. He represented me, a guilty sinner without hope. He, the sinless one, was made sin for me. He died for my sins. Though never ceasing to be a divine Person, He suffered and died as a man for me. At Calvary Christ met God on account of the sin of the world. It says, “Jehovah hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all”, Isa 53: 6. Count down, if you could, through the generations, the sins of every man, woman, boy and girl. God laid all these sins on Jesus.

Luke describes the woman in chapter 7 of his gospel as a “sinner” (v 37). But the Lord Jesus is more precise and says, “Her many sins”. Her sins – like ours – had been counted. Not counted merely to condemn us (although of course, our sins do that), but so that they could be dealt with and removed, however few or many. They were laid upon Jesus at Calvary. God is proclaiming to the universe tonight that there is a righteous basis whereby He can save men, and redeem guilty sinners.

So this woman comes, a woman of the city. I do not think this was a chance encounter. Do not think, friend, that you have come to this meeting tonight simply by chance. God has foreseen it in His love, had anticipated it in His grace. This woman knew that Jesus was in Simon’s house. How did she know that? The Holy Spirit had been working in her heart. As she wandered down the alleyways of the city, as she went into its backyards engaged in her sinful pursuits, divine grace had followed her and brought her to this wonderful meeting with Jesus in Simon’s house, where she found peace. She stood behind Him weeping. Have you ever wept on account of your sins, about the way your own feet have taken you and how grace pursued you?

How vividly Luke reminds us of the feet of the Lord Jesus and how far in love He has gone to bring us to Himself. Read about the good Samaritan, “a certain Samaritan journeying”, Luke 10: 33. Friend, He will find you even if you try to thwart Him, even if you seek to shrug Him off. That certain Samaritan journeying came up to the man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; came to him in his hour of greatest need, when he was utterly helpless. Friend, you do not need to wait until you are helpless, shorn of respectability, of hope, of resource, you can come to Jesus now. The robbers left the man with nothing; they had left him half dead and, at that propitious moment, that certain Samaritan journeying came up and met him in his need. He poured in oil and wine. That is what He will do to the distressed spirit, to the suffering sinner. He will make you well. He will take you to the inn, take you where there is resource aplenty, where you will never want, and never lack again. What a friend we have in Jesus! That man found peace as did the woman in Simon’s house.

Men use the expression ‘peace at any price’, but before peace could be made for the sinner a price had to be paid which could never be reckoned in this world’s currency. It was paid by precious blood. “Ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver and gold … but by precious blood as of a Lamb without blemish without spot, the blood of Christ”, 1 Peter 1: 18,19. John, in his gospel, refers to that precious blood, shed on the cross of Calvary. The Lord Jesus was hanging on that cross and He was dead. He had borne the judgment of God in these three awful hours, His soul had been made an offering for sin, He had been bruised by God, He had been stricken by God, and then, in an act of callousness, a soldier pierced His side – the side of the Prince of Peace – with a spear, a fierce implement of war, and immediately there came out blood and water. God looks on that blood and says, that is the price with which atonement has been made, the price with which redemption has been accomplished and by which I can offer peace to men. Peace has been made by the blood of His cross and it is found in the blessed Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. “This man shall be Peace”, that is to say, He Himself is peace and He gives peace to us. He is the Prince of Peace and by and by, He will be known as the king of Peace. What a day that shall be! But now to know that as the One who is peace and the wonderful influence which that brings into our hearts is a cherished experience.

So this woman bends down to wash with her tears the feet of the Saviour who would wash her sins away in His blood at Calvary. Lovingly, she kisses the feet which would in love for her be nailed to the cross. Then her heart, pent up with affection, breaks out in overflowing appreciation of such a love that would cause her Redeemer to suffer and die. So she anoints His feet with myrrh. What personal, loving tribute to the One who would go the whole way to give her peace and relief from her sins.

Solemn consideration it is that, wicked men nailed these same feet to the cross as if in vengeance, and hatred for the way they had carried the Saviour, and to seek to arrest Him from His blessed pathway in grace and love and mercy to men. What a glorious contemplation the cross is. Down through the generations it has never lost its effect, its appeal, or its meaning. There my Saviour bore the judgment of God against sin. Not only did He bear the wrath of God, He was made a curse in order that the curse of the law should be taken away from those who were under it. He has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. “Cursed is every one hanged upon a tree”, Gal 3: 13.

This woman was told by the Lord Jesus to “go in peace”. What hurtful words would have been cast in the direction as she engaged in her sinful pursuits. But now to hear such blissful words as these uttered from the Saviour of sinners Himself was joy indeed. Little wonder that she wept; she had found the One who alone could give her peace and salvation. How the Lord Jesus would value these tears. Psalm 56 contemplates such tears being put in God’s bottle (see v 8). The Lord Jesus Himself wept. He did not weep in Pilate’s judgment hall, despite false accusation and abuse. But He wept at seeing the power of death on men and their incapacity to deliver themselves, right down through the generations from that time when “by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; and thus death has passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”, Rom 5: 12. But then He wept too over Jerusalem for having rejected Him. He knew therefore what it was to weep. Never, of course, did He in the perfection of His humanity, need to weep tears of repentance. He was sin apart. But He appreciates the tears of repentance from guilty sinners. The Lord Jesus will never forget that transaction with Him as you come to Him and prove His saving grace. No. These tears will never be lost but treasured in the divine bottle. That woman’s tears are in His bottle, never to be forgotten, but her sins were borne away at Calvary never to be remembered. She will take her place among the myriads of the redeemed, “for which cause I say to thee, Her many sins are forgiven; for she loved much; but he to whom little is forgiven loves little”. The glad tidings of peace, preached to those who were afar off as well as to those that were nigh, had reached her and given her peace. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that announceth glad tidings and publisheth peace (see Isa 52: 7). God is proclaiming to the universe that peace is available to men on the basis of the blood of Christ shed on the cross at Calvary. Open your heart and let the peace of Christ flood into it.

If the woman in Luke 7 found peace as saved from her sins in the power of His blood, so too this woman in chapter 8 obtained peace as healed from her incurable illness, “thy faith has healed thee; go in peace”. What a state of restless anxiety this woman represented. She had suffered from this flux of blood since twelve years and she had spent all her living on physicians, but could find no cure. Jeremiah says, “thy bruise is incurable, thy wound is grievous”, Jer 30: 12. No cure. How awful! You can see her as she went to this physician and that, prescriptions for medicine, but to no avail. It says, “there is none to plead thy cause, to bind up thy wound; thou has not healing medicines”, Jer 30: 13. Friend, there is no healing medicine save from Jesus Himself. What a Physician He is. The good Physician is dispensing peace and healing tonight. He is publishing peace to a distraught and conflict-torn world. So He says, “thy faith has healed thee; go in peace”. Healed! No trace of illness left. Not a scar, not a wound! Friend, Christ will make you whole. The good Samaritan poured in oil and wine to that man in a half dead state. The robbers had ‘roughed him up’ and viciously set upon him, but he would be healed without a scar and set up in all the favour and blessing of God. So, too, this woman was justified. Her sins had been dealt with righteously. She was fully healed and made fit for the presence of God, “having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God”, Rom 5: 1. Jesus says, “thy faith has healed thee”. Have you faith, friend, in the finished work of Christ? It is very difficult sometimes to put your faith in something that is seemingly intangible. We are all accustomed to what is materialistic, where you can readily appreciate that certain things will be for your benefit. For example, you can see that if you wear a seatbelt, that will give you some kind of protection. Then you might say, ‘I will take the precaution of putting locks on my doors’ or take some other tangible action to give you a feeling of peace and security of mind. But faith is somewhat different. You have to look outside yourself. You have to look towards someone else. What is needed is repentance towards God, faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ (see Acts 20: 21). The secret of the gospel and finding peace is in putting your faith in another Man in another place, in another world. Faith is the substantiating of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (see Heb 11: 1). Have you a hope or are you aimless? Have you faith in the finished work of Christ? “Thy faith has healed thee; go in peace”. What an outcome for this woman! One moment her life blood hopelessly ebbing away within her: the next she is completely cured. Ephesians speaks about people having no hope and without God in the world (see Eph 2: 12). What a state to be in. Could there be anything more awful than to be without hope, and without God in the world? Could there possibly be one such person here? Friend, the glad tidings of peace will not always go out. We sang at the outset:

God waits in grace with hands outstretched to bless (Hymn 123)

Some day these hands of blessing will be withdrawn. You may come next week to this room just as before perhaps and the door might be locked, the desk and chairs might be there but no preacher and no listeners. Why? Because the dispensation of grace will have ended and the gospel of peace will be proclaimed no more. Where will you be? ”If you have run with the footmen and they had wearied thee, how wilt thou then contend with horses? And if in a land of peace thou thinkest thyself in security, how wilt thou then do in the swelling of the Jordan?” Jer 12: 5. How will you fare when the end comes? Have you faith in the finished work of Christ? This woman had reached out in simple faith to the blessed Saviour. She said perhaps I will just try this, in my extremity, I will just touch the hem of His garment. Just a contact like that! And with that glimmer of faith in her heart that tremulous hand reached out, that hand from which life was slowly draining away, reached out and touched the hem of His garment. What was the consequence? Her flux of blood stopped instantly. No long period of recuperation. She was immediately healed. What a gospel. What a Saviour. What a work. What a redemption. He is available to you tonight. “This man shall be Peace”. He is coming again, this wonderful Saviour, and then He will take all who love Him, all in whom that peace of His has been instilled, to be with Himself and we will live in a peace into which evil or sin or distress can never intrude. We will live in that congenial atmosphere for eternity. Could there be a better prospect, to be forever with the One who is even now our peace (see Eph 2: 14)? He will come by and by as the Prince of Peace, to this unpeaceful world and He will have universal dominion. Then, too, He will be the King of Peace. All will need to submit to His authority then. All will need to own His sway – the true Melchisedec having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, “King of righteousness, and then also King of Salem, which is King of peace”, Heb 7: 2.

The scripture in Micah is wonderfully appealing. It says, “and he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God. And they shall abide”. David says to Abiathar, “abide with me … for with me thou art in safe keeping”, 1 Sam 23: 23. The flock shall abide in His keeping. We will be with Him forever, rejoicing in His greatness “for now shall He be great even unto the ends of the earth”. Psalm 72 speaks about that day. “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” (vv 6,7). This abundance of peace can be yours tonight. May it be so. For His Name’s sake.

GLASGOW

20 November 2004