Thomas A. Swann

John 14:27

I need peace. I desire peace. I long for peace in my lifetime. If not for my own sake, for the sake of those I love, especially my wife and children.

A longing for peace is made more desperate by the ways the world manifests its utter brokenness and incapacity for resolution. Even the best versions of peace this world can offer of itself seem fickle, and partial, and temporal. It’s fickle nature defined by its subjectivity, its partiality made so by its inability to transcend the superficiality that defines much of our perceived humanity, and its temporary application dependent on a temporal existence – nothing in this world lives forever.

What peace can this world offer a seeking soul? Only that which is ever changing, incomplete, and unable to stand the tests of time.

Jesus offers a peace the world does not because the world cannot. It is utterly incapable. In John 14, Jesus makes two clear distinctions between His peace and the world’s peace. He says in verse 27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.” 1. It is His peace. 2. He gives it as only He can.

Jesus offers a type of peace the world cannot. It is His peace. “My peace I give to you,” He said. It is His and it is imparted to those He chooses to impart it to. He is the bestower. It is a peace that transcends the superficiality of our surfaces and changes the very soul of those who receive it. We know that spark. We have seen that light in someone’s eyes when they come to know Jesus and walk in His peace. It is life changing, life sustaining, life giving peace. Perfect peace from the “Prince of Peace.”

It is His peace, and He gives it in a way this world cannot.

Jesus’ peace is assured. It is secure. He can and does fulfill every promise He makes. Even our best intentions fail, and our deepest promises are broken. The world’s version of peace is fickle. It is subjective because it is dependent on us, and we are imperfect, imbalanced, and corruptible. But Jesus, though one of us, is better than all of us. His is the eternal Son of God. His peace is assured because it depends only on Him, and He is always faithful.

Jesus’ peace is whole. It is complete. Where the world knows you only in part, Jesus knows you fully. Where we offer caricatures of ourselves to each other, Jesus knows the real us – even the parts we hate and hide. Jesus sees and knows everything, and He holds all things together and works all things together for the good of those who love Him. His peace encompasses every part of us… our minds, our bodies. Even more it transcends the surface and strikes through to the soul. Complete peace. Perfect peace. Shalom shalom.

Jesus’ peace is everlasting. It is eternal. When the world offers us peace, we already anticipate its disruption. We know it only lasts for a time. The whole of human history testifies to that. Perhaps it is not peace at all but just placation to soothe us for a time. Perhaps the peace the world offers is not really peace at all but rather just a masking over brokenness and unrest that eventually wears and fades until it no longer sugarcoats and conceals what really exists behind the veneer. But God offers peace that moves beyond the bounds of our time, that stretches through the whole of eternity and is established in the Heavens forever. The resurrection gives us assurance of this. It is God’s loud testimony to the everlasting nature of His promises and of those He holds near to Him. That which the world bounds with temporality, God holds forever. Jesus offers us peace that does not fade or only cover what lies within. His peace bounds across the Heavens forever – everlasting and eternally secure.

When you cannot find rest for your weariness, when you mourn and are desperate for comfort, when you feel broken and need peace that puts it all back together… Jesus offers you His peace. Peace that is secure, complete, and everlasting.

“Peace be with you.”