It’s been known as a greeting and a goodbye… “Peace” The Hebrew language even uses the word shalom, which literally translates to “peace” for the same purpose as a greeting and farewell. However the Bible has a much more grand view of peace, specifically the divine peace of Jesus.
Today I want to share with you this peace of God, what it is, how we receive it and how it benefits us. These things are spelled-out in the scriptures purposefully because God wants us to know them and have them. Jesus paid for us to have His peace because He loves us and wants us to receive freely from Him.
Let’s begin today by reading 2nd Peter 1:2-4:
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
According as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue:
Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
We see here in verse 2 that Grace and Peace are multiplied to us through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. This is important because the way that we get more grace and peace into our lives in not by doing more or trying harder, but by knowing and receiving more from Jesus. This continues in verse 3 that according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to both life and godliness, again through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue.
Now verse 4 begins with the word “Whereby”, which in the Greek text is διά, a primary preposition which indicates the channel through which something is done. This is telling us how these things are going to be accomplished in us… and as we see in verse 4, we are given exceeding great and precious promises: so that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
So we can see that it is through the accurate knowledge of Jesus Christ and through the exceedingly great and precious promises which He has given to us, that things are accomplished in our lives. It is by these promises that we partake of His divine nature.
So how does this tie in to the peace of Christ? Let’s turn to another example found in Mark 5:25-34:
“And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
And his disciples said to him, You see the multitude thronging you, and say you, Who touched me?
And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you whole; go in peace, and be whole of your plague.”
Here we see a woman in a pitiful state… She has a blood disease, and has had it for twelve years. She went to all the doctors, and suffered many things by them, now she’s poor too after giving all her money to the doctors; and not only has her condition not improved, but it’s worse now!
Praise God though that we see in verse 27 that she heard about Jesus! I can guarantee you that she did not hear some of the messages that are preached in churches today about Jesus… she did not hear “clean yourself up before you come to him.” “or don’t approach him with sin in your life”. If she had heard that, she would’ve never sought Him out to touch Him. Instead, I believe she heard about the compassion of Jesus, His love, His Grace and obviously His miracles. In verse 28, we see that she said “If I can only touch His clothes, I shall be made whole” And having done so, she immediately felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
Then Jesus knowing what had happened, asked who touched His clothes – you see He takes notice when someone actually has faith and belief to receive from Him. And we see in verse 33 that the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, fell down before Jesus and told Him all the truth. She was not afraid of Jesus – after-all she was just healed by Him. Instead she was in reverence (fear) because of what has just happened in her body, and realizing that she truly did not deserve it but received it anyway because of His Grace (trembling).
Now verse 34 is the key here. Jesus says to her Daughter, your faith has made you whole; go in peace, and be whole of your plague.
In our English translation, it doesn’t seem to make much sense. Not only is Jesus seemingly repeating Himself, but He is telling her to go in peace and be whole after she is already healed.
However as we look at the original Greek text here, we see something very different is being said.
The two words for “whole” used in this verse although they are identical in our English Bible, are actually two different words in Greek. The first one, used when Jesus says “Daughter, your faith has made you whole” (and also in verse 28 when she spoke in faith) is the Greek word σῴζω, which is used for “salvation”, and being “made well”.
The second word “whole” used when Jesus says “Go in peace, and be whole of your plague”, is the Greek word ὑγιής, which is used for “restoration and completeness”. It is used in Matthew 15:31 when Jesus healed the multitudes who were maimed and mutilated – those who received their body parts back.
So what we see here is that Jesus is giving the woman more than she even asked for… she came to Jesus looking to be made well, but He is giving her the secret of being restored and complete. Do you see the difference? If someone has a flesh destroying disease, it is possible to be made well and have the disease destroyed, but still lose all of the flesh that the disease already touched. However, when you are restored and complete, you will receive new flesh to replace what was lost.
Now you see that phrase “Go in peace”, it seems mostly insignificant, but remember that there are no insignificant details in the Bible. That small little word “in” which we think we all know and understand, is actually the Greek word εἰς, which means “into”. Jesus actually said Go into Peace! Specifically His Peace.
In Hebrew, Jesus said, נכנס בשלום, Go into Shalom.
Jesus was saying, your faith has made you well, Now live in my Peace, and you will be completely restored.
As we read in the opening of this study today, He has given us exceeding great and precious promises, and His Grace and Peace is increased in us through the knowledge of Him. When we are allowing His truth to surround us like a fortress, like a strong tower and we are living in Him as a house, no sickness, disease or infirmity can stand, demons have to flee, and His Peace reigns.
This is the power of His Divine Peace, the peace that He left for us in John 14:27. We have it, and it is increased in us, not by doing more or by performance, but by seeing more and knowing more of Jesus.