THE WAY OF PEACE
A. B. Parker
Even the youngest will have caught the thread of thought that is in mind in that the word
“peace” occurs in each passage read. This world needs peace. It is a time when men are saying, “Peace, peace! when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6: 14) and we are affected by the current in the world more than we realise. Luke had a definite purpose in writing; he wrote to the “most excellent Theophilus” that he might know the certainty of the things in which he believed. The book is a wonderful exposition of grace. Think of one, as busy as Luke was, taking the time to write such a book to one man. But he wrote in such wise that something was accomplished, or reached, in Theophilus. The opening of his second treatise shows how well this was accomplished for, although he addresses the same person, the “most excellent” has disappeared. The grace of God alone can affect us so that things attaching to us that hinder us will disappear. Many things attach to us which require the grace of God to remove them, so that we may enter into the great thoughts of God.
Luke refers early to the way of peace. There is a way of peace. It is mentioned by Zacharias in his prophetic word to his son who was then but a babe. That opens up a very interesting line of thought as to parents being concerned as to their children and getting a word from God as to them. Zacharias says, “And thou, child …” Luke 1: 76. Think of the Spirit of God filling Zacharias and giving him a word to speak to his child about the part he would have in relation to the work of God in his day. One feature of John the baptist’s ministry was that he would “guide our feet into the way of peace”. The Lord had in mind the way of peace for He told these two women of whom we have read to “go in peace”. He was not only referring to a state of mind, but I think that He put their feet into the way of peace. I believe we can say that these women would find their place in the assembly, which is the sphere of peace; the sphere where the Lord Jesus says, “Peace be unto you”.
If you want to find peace today, you can find it in the acceptance of the Saviour, in your increasing knowledge of God, and in your enjoyment of the sphere where true peace is imparted by Christ. Think of the peace that He brings in John develops this more than Luke, for he tells us that the Lord Jesus spoke twice of peace when He came in amongst the disciples (see John 20). Also He spoke of peace before He went to the cross, saying to the disciples—“I give my peace to you”, John 14: 27. Think of the peace that He had as He moved through a world which was estranged from God, in which He was opposed, in which He had constant combat; yet, He had a peace which He would impart to His disciples ere He left them.
Then, when He came into the midst after His arising, He said, “Peace be to you”, John 20: 19. Peace had been achieved through the mighty conflict He had won and from which He had emerged in victorious love. He could speak peace! But again He said, “Peace be to you”, because He came in as the ascended Man, bringing peace from a sphere where peace has never been disturbed. This is the peace that He has in view for us as He brings us into blessing and brings us into the sphere of assembly privilege. We have the power in the Spirit to reach, in our spirits, the realm where peace has never been disturbed. Wonderful to know that the purposes of God are going through!
Nothing can prevent them from being accomplished in fulness in glory. “From eternity to eternity thou art God”, Psalm 90: 2
Well, we need peace. It may be that we do not have it. We may be restless; we may be dissatisfied; it may be that things are not just right with us and we cannot say that we really have peace with God. Perhaps that is why this meeting is being held, because there may be an uncertainty and a restlessness with some that the Lord wants to adjust. It may be that the Lord would present Himself to you in such wise that you can really get peace. But the preaching itself will accomplish nothing unless your soul is focussed on Christ. On the day of His arising the Lord Jesus walked with two discouraged disciples and opened up from the Scriptures “the things concerning Himself”. What a wonderful outline it would be if a brother spoke “from Moses and from all the prophets”, the things concerning Jesus. What effect did the Lord’s word have? It made their hearts burn, but there was no real change with them until Jesus manifested Himself to them. He was “made known to them in the breaking of bread”.
It was the manifestation that changed their outlook and caused them to return immediately to Jerusalem, to the sphere of peace. What is needed is a manifestation of the Person. Unless the Person comes in through what is being said, this preaching will not have any abiding effect.
But, dear brethren, the end of the dispensation is so near—time is so limited, that we dare not procrastinate; If, in His grace, God awakens our interest and brings in some sense of conviction so that instead of going along supposing that every thing is all right, we reach a conscious link with Jesus as Saviour and Lord and with God Himself, and get peace in our souls and assurance that we have the Spirit, then we will know that we have been brought into sonship. Let us settle for nothing less than this.
One’s concern now is that we may get some impression of Christ personally. The woman in Luke, 7 is very well known to us, for she has been referred to in many preachings. I love this passage! I was converted in the atmosphere of Luke 7. The words that Jesus spoke of this woman—“Her many sins are forgiven”, are much the same as the words that He spoke to me.
He said, ‘Thy sins which are many are forgiven’. What a word it was—I am deeply thankful that He said, ‘Thy sins which are many are forgiven’. He knew every one, but He forgave all. He knew the ones that I had forgotten.
Do you have peace concerning your sins? Has the Lord forgiven you? Have you believed the report of the glad tidings but have not gotten to the Person? The queen of Sheba heard the report but she went to Solomon directly, and she said, “The half was not told me”, 1 Kings 10: 7. The Lord said about her, that “she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, more than Solomon is here”, Luke 11: 31.The One we present in the glad tidings is greater than Solomon. He can settle all your matters in perfect wisdom, in perfect righteousness, and give you peace.
You may say, ‘I believe’, but do you know the Saviour? Do you know Him personally? Do you commune with Him? Has He become known to you in such a way that you have your own personal impression of Him and of His love and of His readiness to be your Saviour every day? Was He your Saviour today? He is ready to be your Saviour every day—“to save completely those who approach by him to God”, Hebrews 7: 25.
Did you come to God by Him that day or night when you acknowledged to God that you were a sinner? Thank God for that, but that scripture does not mean that alone. It refers to those who characteristically come to God. Do you have access to God? Do you enter daily into God’s presence in holy liberty, knowing that it is through Christ that you have access there? He has made the way; He is the way. We need to know the Person.
The woman of Luke 7 had an impression of the Person, and the Lord had a personal link with her. When He said, “From the time I came in she has not ceased kissing my feet”, I believe He referred to His entrance into her heart. Luke is very accurate in the way he writes. He tells us that this woman knew that Jesus was sitting at meat in the house of the Pharisee. Evidently she was not there immediately, but Jesus said, “From the time I came in ...” It was not until that woman served Him that there was a resting place where He could rest in a heart that appreciated Him and was opened to Him. I trust that by the Spirit, the Lord is here now, with an interest in every soul in this room—but until He gets access into someone’s heart. He has not really entered. He finds His resting place, His point of contact, where there is faith.
This woman had heard of Him, and she came to Him. While her tears indicate how she felt her sinful state, that woman changed from thinking about herself to being absorbed with the feet of Jesus—indeed with Jesus Himself. Her tears now were the expression of her feelings that that One should not be extended the ordinary courtesy of the day. They were unwashed feet. These feet had brought the compassions of God within her range—yet they were unwashed, and she became a wellspring, a fountain, to supply what was needed. From her inward parts came a surge of feelings of attachment to Christ. She got an impression of Christ that she never lost. She was absorbed with Him the rest of her days. She probably is the woman who said, “If thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away”, John 20: 15. She must have Him! She could not live without Him.
If you get an impression of Christ it will never leave you. It may get covered up by other things, but it will never leave. The impressions you get in your own personal contacts with Jesus remain. Have you had them? Is Christ known to you only through what you have heard or read about Him? Have you never gone into His presence and received some touch from Himself? Has He never said, “Peace” to you? This woman would never forget the way the Lord Jesus said to her, “Go in peace”. She might wonder where she could go, but she would know that the way of peace would be to follow Him. I believe that the women who followed Jesus out of Galilee included this woman (Luke 8: 2); she probably was Mary of Magdala.
She got relief from her sins, but she got an Object for her love at the feet of Jesus! Think of the tenderness with which she would wash and wipe those feet and anoint them with myrrh! Think of the anointing of the feet of Jesus at Bethany. And then think of those feet being nailed to the cross! Do these things not move you?
The test of every one is Christ. That those feet should be nailed to the cross is the exposure of what this world really is. That is why Paul could say, “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me”, Galatians 6: 14. The world was crucified to Paul. As he thought of Jesus being crucified, he saw that it was the exposure of the world—the world in that sense was exposed on that cross—crucified, put to a public shame in having done what it did with the Saviour of mankind. But as Paul looked long and pondered more, he says, “and I to the world”. Paul sees himself there—crucified with Christ—made a public shame to the world. Thoughts like these could only flow out of an appreciation of Christ, such as Paul had.
Oh, dear friends, an impression of Christ changes your outlook on everything, and we need such impressions if we are going to be qualified to move into the enjoyment of the purposes of God. We need impressions that grow and keep on growing, like the impression Simeon had when he held that Babe in his arms. Just a Babe, but what did he say?—“A light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel”, Luke 2: 32. Think of the expansion that took place in the mind of Simeon as he saw down through this present dispensation and the millennial day, and Christ filling both! Nebuchadnezzar saw a stone cut without hands which smote the feet of the image grinding it to powder, but the stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth, Daniel 2: 34, 35. Impressions of Christ will increase and continue to increase. If they are not increasing, there is something that has come in to hinder. John the baptist said, “He must increase”, John 3: 30.
We should go on to speak of the woman in Luke 8. With her it is not a question of her sins. You may say that the matter of your sins is all settled, you may have peace with God as to your sins and have some impression as to Christ, but this next case may have some bearing on you. That woman in Luke 7 was known publicly as a sinner. This woman was different. As far as we know nothing adverse was known about her publicly. Her matter was a secret one. It was uncleanness—and that brings in death. It is a timely word, dear brethren.
This world is becoming more and more unclean violence and corruption are characterising it and its influence affects the saints. Violence and corruption led God to cleanse the earth by the flood. Increasing violence and corruption in the world today are heading things up, making the foretold great tribulation and purgation necessary before the kingdom is set up. God is about to cleanse the earth and establish righteousness in it, but the present conditions through which the believer must pass in his ordinary walk in life are such that it is almost impossible to be kept from some contact with uncleanness. But there is more than that; there is a nature in us that has affinity with these things. Is there not a tendency with us in a secret way, to find enjoyment in the things which God hates? In the world today there is a casting aside of moral standards and the introduction of things which entice the mind to unclean thoughts and inward lust. It is so rampant that we may be getting hardened or accustomed to it, and in a sense becoming participant in it without a conscience.
Oh, dear brethren, let us realise that the provision which God has made to meet uncleanness involved equally the sufferings of Christ as the means by which our sins were dealt with. The burning outside the camp of those beasts whose blood was taken into the sanctuary on the day of atonement was no more severe than the burning of the red heifer to provide the means for cleansing, and the penalty in Numbers 19, for not using the means for cleansing, is that the tabernacle of Jehovah is defiled and the unclean person must be cut off from Israel.
Let us consider the seriousness of uncleanness. Our approach to God requires not only the settlement of our sins, but it involves cleansing from every pollution of flesh and spirit. Before the priest went into the sanctuary, he had to do with the altar and the laver. “Sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience”—relates to the blood; “Washed as to our body with pure water” (Hebrews 10: 22) is the cleansing efficacy of the water which came from the side of Jesus. We enter the presence of God in the appropriated efficacy of the death of Christ. We approach in the recognition of the blood, but also of the water.
The question of uncleanness is a very sobering matter, because like this woman’s state, it is something that works in us secretly. She was not enjoying it, and you may not enjoy it either; you may enjoy it at the moment, but then your conscience affects you and you feel very badly about it. We need to be very practical about this. Luke refers frequently to “unclean” spirits.
He would help us to see that Satan makes a direct effort to get in through our minds, to appeal to our natural tendencies and lusts, to engage us with things secretly, while we attempt to keep up a good appearance. This, if not judged, could become overt and bring in death, which the woman feared. We do not wish to be maintaining a religious front but have no vital link with God, but that is what the enemy is attempting to do and his weapon is uncleanness.
Thank God, this woman’s feet were guided into the way of peace; she was healed of her uncleanness. How was it done? She knew that if she could but touch the hem of the garment of Jesus she would be healed, and she touched it. What happened? The Lord did not ask, ‘Who touched my garment?’ He said, “Who has touched me?” The woman thought that she could keep her matter secret, that no one need know. She was cleansed, she was free from the awful plague and no one need know that she had ever had a plague. But the Lord would not allow that. He had something better in mind for her. David said in Psalm 32, “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my groaning all the day long”; but when he acknowledged his sin he got peace. So the theme of his psalm is, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” Paul brings this into Romans 4, where he speaks about being saved by faith. This may have been David’s exercise at his conversion.
Later, when he goes through tremendous exercise in Psalm 51 because of his failure, he asks for cleansing. He says, “Wash me fully from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin”. He also says, “Purge me with hyssop”. That would be inward cleansing. David realised that God is a holy God, but that He would not despise a broken and contrite heart. If there is anything with any one of us about which we have not got peace with God, let us realise that a broken and contrite heart calls out the forgiveness of God, and the healing touch of Jesus.
The Lord Jesus went all the way to the home of Jairus to raise his daughter. But on the way, something happened—a woman got cleansing. The Lord has been on a definite way this week-end to bring us into a better knowledge of the purposes of God. It may be that your blessing tonight will be like a parenthetic blessing—not exactly the purpose of the week-end meetings, but a blessed by-product on the way which will bring you into the way of peace.
The woman touched the hem of His garment. That is just like Luke, is it not? He wrote with method; he would tell us, through this, that the end of the dispensation will be orderly. Some may speak about what awful confusion there is. Certainly there is confusion, but can you look through all the confusion and find an area where the saints have found peace? Can you see where things are being put in order, where a finished hem is being put on the dispensation?
Touch the hem of the garment: You have been related to it these three days of gathering. Reach the feelings of Christ by touching the hem of His garment. Recognise that He has been in this week-end; allow something to come into your soul, allow nothing to interfere; carry through, break your silence, speak to someone about your problem; touch the hem of the garment! Of course, the garment cannot heal you, but, as you touch it, healing goes out from Christ. “Who has touched me? ... I have known that power has gone out from me”.
You need a personal touch and link with Christ—the Giver of the Spirit; He will give you the power that is needed to overcome that tendency to find secret joy in unclean things—it may even be immoral things. Activity of the mind can render us unclean. But the Lord feels for you. He knows that an adverse power is seeking to rob God of what He is entitled to from you. The unclean spirit must be cast out. Touch the hem of the garment and find power from Himself enter into you, so that the Spirit in you brings in healing and power and you can “go in peace”.
Where will you go? Did not the way of peace lead to the place where He Himself stood in their midst, and says to them, Peace be unto you”? He will direct you there because He has set you free to be livingly in that sphere of peace. Let Him come into your heart and mind to strengthen you and give you power to overcome in present adverse conditions, so that as cleansed you retain the consciousness of the peace which He gives. Can we afford to allow anything to prevent us from reaching the area where peace has never been disturbed? It is the sphere of which Mr. Taylor loved to speak, saying it is where love is at home. Mercy and grace are abundantly available, but the Lord wants us to know love beyond its compassionate dealings with us, as in its embrace in the sphere where God dwells family-wise with sons, where Christ is pre-eminent.
Of course, it is necessary to have the matter of our sins and uncleanness settled and to be delivered from these secret things—the “sin which so easily entangles us”, (Hebrews 12: 1). Jesus is our present Saviour, able to save completely those who approach by Him to God.
Therefore, see to these things—touch the hem of His garment, and you will find a longing for the Lord’s day to come so that you can have the experience of being with the saints in the sphere where the Lord brings in peace from heaven and where we can enter with Him into the sphere where peace has never been disturbed. May we not rest until we know more about this.
May the Lord bless the word!
Preaching at Edinburgh
14 October 1973