Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart

 

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of underserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” Romans 5:1-2

Because of our faith, we have been made right with God. And being made right with God, we are in a place of undeserved privilege. We share in all the privileges of Christ Jesus and what He has done for us. We do not need to earn them for ourselves. As we stand in this position of rightness, we have peace and can stand confidently.

The word peace here is the Greek word, eiréné, Strongs #1515 and it means “the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoerer sort that is.” [1] Peace includes peace of mind as we trust in the Lord and not our circumstances that are continually fluctuating.

We adore Him as being in control of everything and our mind becomes a sanctuary for His presence just as the soul and the spirit. As we lift up all of our selves to Him in worship, His presence fills us and manifests itself through peace.

We know that this state of peace being manifest is discernable and could rest upon others because in Matthew 10:13, Jesus told the disciples to go out and bring nothing with them as they proclaim the good news of the gospel from town to town. And if the house they stayed at was worthy, their peace, eiréné, would rest upon it and if not, it would return to them.

It is a sense of health and wellness of the individual that is represented in “wholeness” from lacking no good thing. It is also represented in this wholeness, “i.e. when all essential parts are joined together” [2] and made one. By having this peace with God, we are made whole and we are unified as one in this beautiful picture of all coming together in love and honor of each other. Romans 14:19 says that we must always aim at those things that bring peace and the help strengthen one another.

I had a dream not too long ago where there was a compelling unity coming through the body of Christ that was bringing us together as one. The body, rather than devouring each other or competing with each other like the world does, was becoming one unified bride in maturity of Christ.

This peace is also a state of hope as we are in it, we “joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” As commentary notes, there is an “expectation of good, hope; and in the Christian sense, joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation.” [3]

We can joyfully look forward to our future in sharing God’s glory when our lives end on this earth and we are birthed into the fullness of His Kingdom glory. We also are to look forward to His Kingdom coming on earth with great hope and anticipation. As I mentioned in my last post, 2 Peter 3:12 notes that we ought to live holy and godly lives as we look forward to the day of the Lord and speed its coming.

For some time, I really struggled with having anticipation and hope about the Lord’s return rather than fear about tribulation. I once had a dream, while attending my prior church, that there was a bear in the pulpit. I believe God was speaking to me about the place of fear that I stood in as I wrote my blog posts about His return. It was devouring the anticipation and hope that the best is yet to come.

The bear speaks of fear. It is the opposite of joyful anticipation. While Jesus brings peace and hopeful anticipation, it is the opposite in the world. In the world, Satan (signified by the dragon), is ruler and has authority. And we know that his purpose is to kill, steal and destroy. We also know that he is father of all lies.

There is scripture versus about a beast that devours the flesh and takes captive. And those who belong to the world and its kingdom rather than God’s Kingdom, ultimately belong to the beast. They are tormented by it. In Revelation 13:1-2 it says, “And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.”

Here in revelation, it is coming as one beast, not one after the other as in Daniel and is “allowed to rule” but will ultimately be conquered. For this end time, it is unified, probably all coming at once and under the rule of the dragon (Satan).

It goes on to say in Revelation 13: “Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain.

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.”

In Daniel, we see this beast represented in four beasts, signifying different Kingdoms, one following after the other. These represented different kingdoms that brought great persecution and captivity to the people of God. They were kingdoms that ruled in oppression of God’s people but ultimately resulted in the remanent fully coming back to Him.

These are the beasts from Daniel and the kingdom they represented:

FIRST BEAST - BABYLON - Daniel 7:2-4 ...'Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.'

SECOND BEAST - MEDO-PERSIA - Daniel 7:5 ...'And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.'

THIRD BEAST - GREECE - Daniel 7:6 ...'After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.'

FOURTH BEAST - ROME - Daniel 7:7-8 ...'After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.'

When I think of fear, oppression and devouring people, one thing that comes to heart for me is the exponentially growing mental health issues of the day. And turning to addiction is like the ball and chain that pulls one under in the midst of mental health issues. While it seems like an escape, it is a trap that holds one captive in that place, leading to further and further destruction.

I used to struggle with significant mental health issues before I came to the Lord and fear, anxiety, phobias, oppression and captivity were just a small taste of the impact of this. What made this worse was trying to escape into an addiction. It further impaired my ability to make good choices. I also struggled with despair, loss of all hope and dread along with confusion, lack of clarity and sadness. It felt like torment. It was the opposite of the hope, joy, anticipation of good and delight in the Lord that I experience these days.

Under His eyes I have found true peace. (Song 8:10)

Coming back to the initial scripture, rather than despair and hopelessness that are the result of being devoured in the world by the beast, we have great hope of future glory. Romans 8:18-19 goes on to say, “I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot e compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal His children”

We have hope! Romans 8:24-25 goes on to say, “For it was by hope that we were saved; but if we see what we hope for, then it is not really hope. For who of us hopes for something se see? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait [and groan inwardly] with patience.

Lord, we truly have good news to offer. We have freedom, healing, deliverance, and hope that comes from knowing and following You. Flood our lives with your provision and overflowing hope for all who are around us that they wouldn’t be devoured by fear or the oppression of the day.

1, 2.  Strong's Greek: 1515. εἰρήνη (eiréné) -- one, peace, quietness, rest. (biblehub.com)

3. Strong's Greek: 1680. ἐλπίς (elpis) -- expectation, hope (biblehub.com)