I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.(Psalm 85)
The Psalmist speaks for all of the godly, those devoted to the LORD, those who know the God who is there, and that our God speaks. They know that God has “spoken through his Son” in these last days… .
He proclaims “I will hear…” , or ‘let me hear’, what God would say to his people.
What will God, the Creator Redeemer say to his people?
He will speak Peace. When God speaks, His Word results in peace to those who are his people. Even if it is a hard word or a correction, the result is always peace when it is truly God who is speaking.
By Peace , we mean much more than ‘absence of conflict or turmoil’. The biblical idea of Peace, Shalom, is fulness, completeness, satisfaction, rest, and reconciliation. He (the LORD) speaks ‘peace’ .
Sin has robbed the World of God’s peace, but because of the Son, the last word to God’s people is ‘Peace’. Sin bears twisted and deformed fruits such as anxiety, insecurity, fear, paranoia, remorse, regret and guilt. All of these and more perverse fruit set ups a constant inner dissonance to varying degrees in the hearts of men.
At the core is fear of death, in all of its thousands of forms. Men know deep inside that death is a penalty from God for sin.
Thus the ultimate ‘peace’ is “peace with God’, but how can it be regained?
The Word proclaims that by the cross of Jesus the long war is over and that which separates us from God, has been vanquished by the Savior.
We are told in the Word,
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. ( Collossians 1:20)
Also that when the Word came in the flesh,
“He came and preached Peace, to those who were near and those who are afar off…” ( Ephesians 2:17)
The sin and rebellion, of which we have all partaken of, brought us into conflict with our Creator, who hates and cannot accept sin or darkness in any form. A song we once sang in the Assembly of God , proclaimed,
“My heart was distressed neath Jehovah’s dread frown, and Lo in the pit where my sin brought me down…”
God hates sIn and evil and is at constant war with it in all of its forms. Men know this instinctively, and hate God for resisting their autonomy and pleasures. Men hate God.
But “He sent his Word and healed them(us) and delivered them from their destructions…” (Psalm 107:20)
The Word came, preaching peace,
“The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)” (Acts 10:37)
Jesus is the Word of God incarnate and the very peace of God. He is the Sar Shalom of Isaiah 9, the “Prince of Peace”, peace with God and man, “God and sinners reconciled” as the Christmas carol proclaims.
isaiah predicted the Peace that He would purchase and bring his people into in the beautiful fortieth chapter;
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. ( Isiah 40:1-2)
The message is that there has been a propitiation, that is a ‘satisfaction offering made’ that enables a holy God to righteously receive sinners.God himself shall come to Zion (the people of God) to make the propitiation, and to end the warfare.
God has come into the wilderness of this fallen world, to bring and accomplish a peace offering of himself. Those who allow him to be their sacrifice for sin, are cleansed from their sins and brought into sonship with God. God is speaking , and what He says, is the person of Jesus!
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. ( Isaiah 40;3-5)
In Christ the war is over; God is speaking peace, peace with himself, through forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to God, “in Him we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins”( Ephesians 1:7) Reconciliation with God is the core of peace, for if God be for us, who can be against us?
Thus the Savior , who “By himself purged our sins… ” assures us, his people,
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
Pastor Bill Randles Blog 
Amen!
Amen!!
The fear of the LORD and TRUE PEACE go together.
(many false teachings out there are removing ‘the fear of the LORD’)
Jeremiah 33:8-10
“I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.”
“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed PEACE, being built up;
and going on [continuing] in the FEAR of the Lord and in the COMFORT of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.”
Beautiful!!! Thank you, JESUS!!
“In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And His children WILL have REFUGE.”
proverbs 14:26
7In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 7
the Lord, the fountain of living waters. 14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. Jeremiah 17
5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. 6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. Isaiah 27
Dear Pastor Bill,
First and foremost, I want to say that I’m truly sorry for asking such hideous, unneccesary questions. Deep in my spirit, I knew the answers, but overzealous believers around me insisted otherwise. That is no excuse for me dredging up the past and demanding answers. There are so many false teachers and the like, my intent was not to hurt, only to gain truth that I thought I needed. If I had listened to the Holy Spirit, that wouldn’t have happened.😥 I realize now, myself being involved in a church split, that the flesh rises and sits down for no man…not even God. Trying to reason and speak truth to those that attacked a man of God, my then Pastor, was useless when their flesh was bent on destruction. There truly is only one side…God’s side. But…that is the past.
Amein and amein! Such a timely reminder especially now, when this world is falling apart at the seams. So many doctrines promising signs, wonders and power, but they’re all “feelings,” and not the true peace of real forgiveness upon repentance, that only Jesus can give. Many Christians, so centered on self gratification, the “me, myself and I,” they have no time to preach the gospel. I keep seeing, in my mind’s eye, the scripture when Jesus says, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Like 10:2
We all need His peace. I know I do…everyday.
Hineni…here I am Lord…send me❤
Praying for you Pastor.
Linda (Yaffa)
No problem sister, I appreciate your humility, and do not consider myself beyond accountability… Grace and Peace
Thank you Pastor Bill for your faithfulness to God to bring the truth of His spoken Word to us so clearly by your teaching and sharing in this blog.
I pray for you and your family that you will be strengthened daily by the Lord, for His protection over you and for the grace to face whatever storms that come your way.
I haven’t met you but you met my family in Pretoria, SA. Your teaching has impacted many in my part of the world… AP area. Thank you for your encouragement to me and my friends. God has ministered to me greatly through your teachings. I pray you too be encouraged through our Lord and Saviour.
wow…what can I say…these blogs come in at the right time…thank you…Maranatha!…In Christ, Mellany
to all the comments, Amen and Amen!
In truth the converse is true, religion and your God are the cause not the resolution of almost all conflict and hatred. Can you point to single peice of evidence that suggests that this is not the case, as I have a great many examples that do, such a the crusades, the spanish inquisition, northern Ireland….. Your ever watchful atheist, Mark
good old atheism gave us the twentieth century, the bloodiest century in history, under communism, nazisn, socialism…making the most ardent inquisitions look like boycotts at a picnic by comparison. you atheists gave us such sayings as “one death is a tragedy, a million are a statistic” and ” you have to break a lot of eggs to make an omelet…” thanks for todays chuckle Mark….
I’ve often wondered why so many “good old atheists” have such an obsession with a God in whom they don’t believe, and are often so keenly “evangelical” in professing that unbelief.
As an atheist, you have no absolute standard of right or wrong, only what you deem right or wrong at any given moment, i.e., whatever is convenient for you. You have no absolute moral truth. If the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, Northern Ireland, etc., etc., etc., were wrong, then why, exactly, were they wrong? On what basis?? If there is no God, then why is anything wrong? Who determines that? You?
As an atheist, you are not aware of the last century and the Communist regimes — Stalin, Pol Pot, Castro, Ceaușescu — and Islam, let’s not forget, that murdered many more human souls than the examples of the Catholic Church that you cite? Really, Mark? How on earth do you expect us to take you seriously?