1. THE names of God are very beautiful—most beautiful because most true.
(1) “The God of comfort” (2Co_1:3-4)—hence the refuge of the brokenhearted, of the sorrowful, of the lonely, of the suffering. How great a company seeks the consolation of His heart, driven to Him by the pressure of their woes.
(2) “The God of hope” (Rom_15:13)—spanning the darkest sky with a bow of promise; inspiring the desponding with the expectation of good things to come; opening the door of morning out of the black gloom and deep silence of night, and leading the pilgrims forth with songs of joy upon their heads.
(3) “The Father of mercies” (2Co_1:3)—originating forgiving feeling, kindly judgment, forbearing behaviour, long-suffering patience, and evermore displaying to all men these delightful qualities Himself.
(4) “The Father of lights” (Jam_1:17)—Author of truth for the mind; Fountain of righteousness for the conscience, and of love for the heart; pouring into the inner world a brighter radiance than the light of the sun; kindling the dawn of a day which shall never be quenched in night.
(5) “The God of peace” (Rom_15:33; Rom_16:20; Php_4:9; 1Th_5:23; Heb_13:20)—abiding in the element of peace, untempted of evil, undisturbed by passion, untroubled by storm, earthquake, fall of kings, or excitement of nations; breathing peace upon the soul of man; extinguishing the fires of human resentment and anger; persuading to forgiveness and gentleness; building up through the ages by the spread of His Gospel, and by the operations of His providence, the conditions of a universal and permanent peace, based upon His Fatherhood of men and the universal brotherhood in Christ Jesus, the Elder Brother.
There are many special titles given to God in the New Testament; but this is found most frequently of all. It occurs no less than seven times, and on each occasion it is used in connection with the Christian life of sanctification in one or other its aspects. It is a significant thought that peace is so closely connected with holiness. Holiness; is soul-harmony, and therefore impossible apart from peace. Let us take a brief look at these texts. In Rom_15:33 we have, “The God of peace be with you all”; in Rom_16:20, “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly”; in 1Co_14:33, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace”; in 2Co_13:11, “Live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you”; in Php_4:9, “Think on these things . . . these things do, and the God of peace shall be with you”; in 1Th_5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly”; in Heb_13:20, “The God of peace adjust you.”
There is what is called “the cushion of the sea.” Down beneath the surface that is agitated with storms, and driven about with winds, there is a part of the sea that is never stirred. When we dredge the bottom and bring up the remains of animal and vegetable life, we find that they give evidence of not having been disturbed in the least for hundreds and thousands of years. The peace of God is that eternal calm which, like the cushion of the sea, lies far too deep down to be reached by any external trouble and disturbance, and he who enters into the peace of God, and has the peace of God enter into him, becomes partaker of that undisturbed and undisturbable calm. [Note: A. T. Pierson, The Heart of the Gospel, 178.]
2. Now if we rightly grasp the significance and sweep of the words we shall never rest content with such superficial exposition of them as supposes that by “the God of peace” is meant nothing more or deeper, nothing grander or higher, than the Author of concord between man and man. The phrase includes that, of course, as it includes other possible applications; but its essence it goes a great deal deeper than that, and lays hold upon an aspect of the Divine Nature
It must imply that the peace which is here ascribed to Him, as its source and fontalpossessor, is that deep and changeless calm of an infinite and perfectly harmonious Being which is broken by no work, perturbed by no agitations, and yet is no more stagnant than the calm depths of the ocean, being penetrated for ever by warmth and majestic motion in which there is rest.
Strange it may seem that it should be so, considering all He looks down upon in the universe, and more particularly in the world He has made, with its sin and misery. When one reflects how the hearts of good men and women are torn with anguish at the pitiable spectacles of guilt and wretchedness they behold, it is difficult to believe that God can be indifferent to the same. Nor is He. Yet the thought is that none of these things disturb His peace, reach so far inward as to cast Him into a condition of unrest and disquietude, interfere with His blessedness, or destroy the equilibrium or even balance of His divine mind. If they did, the fact that they did would prove Him to be like His creatures. It would almost destroy the hope that He could help and save His creatures. It is, however, certain that while not indifferent to the sins and sorrows of the human race, He is Himself calm and undisturbed—possessed of a deep peace which passeth all understanding.
God is rest: the infinite nature of God is infinite repose. The “I am” of God is contrasted with the I am become of all other things. Everything else is in a state of becoming, God is in a state of Being. The acorn has become the plant, and the plant has become the oak. The child has become the man, and the man has become good, or wise, or whatever else it may be. God ever is. [Note: F. W. Robertson, Sermons, iii. 139.]
3. This eternal rest in the Almighty Being arises out of His unity. Not because He is a unit, but because He is a unity. There is no discord between the powers and attributes of the mind of God; there is no discord between His justice and His love; there is no discord demanding some miserable expedient to unite them together, such as some theologians imagined when they described the sacrifice and atonement of our Redeemer by saying it is the clever expedient whereby God reconciles His justice with His love. God’s justice and love are one. Infinite justice must be infinite love. Justice is but another sign of love. The infinite rest of the “I am” of God arises out of the harmony of His attributes.
