Introduction

Last week we talked about the new covenant that was established through Jesus by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, replacing our heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ez. 36:26), enabling us to walk in His commandments (Ez.36:27). The Old Testament promises speak of God doing miracles inside His people. And the people who experienced those inner changes would greatly expand God’s kingdom (Ac 1:7-8; Isa 54:1-3). Today, Jesus tells His disciples that He is leaving them with His peace, so they do not have to be troubled of heart or be afraid. This is quite a statement for Him to make, considering that the next 24 hours will surely be the most violent, troubling, and fearful nights of their lives. Yet, Jesus says that His peace is theirs. Jesus is our peace. Through His sinless life, He has restored peace to those who believe, and just as Jesus said, we do not have to live a life of fear. The price of peace is found in the Prince of Peace. Let’s read the passage.

The Peace of Jesus (Jn. 14:27)

• The word Peace means the absence of havoc and war.
• The peace Jesus experienced was peace with God. So, when He said, “Peace I leave to you; My peace I give you…” (literal) He was not promising them a trouble-free life.
• His own life had been filled with trouble. But He promised them that if they followed His example and obeyed Him as He had obeyed the Father, they too would remain unshaken and fearless as they walked through the trials that lay ahead.
• His peace came from an inner confidence that He was fulfilling an assignment and that God was pleased with Him (Jn 15:10). That is a very different source of peace than the peace which the world gives.
• The world gives its peace to those who will submit to its values and follow its ways (Jn 15:19). So, Jesus distinguished between His peace and the world’s peace. He said, “…not as the world gives [do] I give to you” (literal).
• Then Jesus comforted His disciples with these words: “Do not let your heart be troubled (shaken), nor let it be afraid (terrified).
• Troubled is defined as “to cause one inward commotion, take away his calmness of mind, disturb his mental stability and composure; to perplex the mind of one by suggesting doubts; to strike one’s spirit with fear and dread.
• In other words, the antidote to being troubled of heart and fearful is to have Jesus’ peace in us.
• The prophet, Isaiah, said that the Messiah would be the Prince of Peace (9:6). So, it makes sense that Jesus would be our source of peace.
• The world’s version of peace is also about well-being, but its source is not from Jesus and flows mostly from circumstance, like the difference between happiness (circumstantial) and joyfulness (inward).

Selfless Love (Jn. 14:28-29)

• Jesus said, “you heard that I told you, ‘I depart, and I come to you’”. His approaching departure should not alarm them because He would return spiritually and be with them.
• Then He asked them to look at the situation from His perspective. If they really loved Him, they should be glad for Him. He said, “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father…” (literal).
• Jesus was about to undergo about 24 hours of horrendous abuse, but God would use that suffering to vindicate His Son. By enduring the cross, He would prove to the world His love for the Father (v31), and by the resurrection, the Father would prove to the world His Son’s righteousness (Jn 16:10; Ac 2:24-32; 13:34- 37).
• Above all, they should rejoice because He was going home; He was returning to the glory He had with the Father before the world was (Jn 17:1, 5, 24).
• The Father and the Son are an example of selfless love. They love each other that way, and they love us that same way, and now Jesus is pointing out the difference here.
• Jesus had boldly declared His pre-existence and divinity. He had regularly announced that He had come from heaven and would return to heaven.
• But while acknowledging His glory, He never sought to diminish the glory of the Father. He told His disciples they should rejoice that He was returning to the Father, “…for the Father is greater than I.”
• He was reminding them that the Father is the Source of all things. It was He who “begot” the Son (Jn 1:14, 18), and what Jesus had come to do was not to supplant the Father but to open the way for sinful people to become His children.
• Because of the cross and resurrection, we who believe in Jesus can now bring our requests directly to the Father (Jn 16:23-27).
• Jesus continues to tell the disciples critical things, and though they seem not to understand much of it, He continues to share these deathbed moments with them.
• Jesus is not trying to be heard so He can express Himself. His words are a loving sacrifice that will stay with them when He is no longer with Him.
• What was about to happen to Jesus would shake the disciples’ faith unless they realized it was all part of God’s plan.
• So, Jesus said, “And now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe” (literal).

Cost of Peace (Jn. 30-31)

• Jesus’ time with His disciples was almost at an end. Even as Jesus spoke those words, Judas Iscariot was likely guiding the religious authorities back to the upper room.
• The devil, the “ruler of the world,” was coming, and through evil men, he was going to attack Jesus with fury.
• However, he would not be able to cause Jesus to stumble because, as Jesus said, “…he has nothing in Me.” There was no sin in Jesus, nothing that would give the devil any authority over Him.
• Satan desires havoc and war in this world, but also in our hearts, yet Jesus was at peace because He knew He was in the will of God. He knew Satan had nothing on Him.
• This is where we struggle with peace. We know we have sinned, and Satan does as well. So, he will try to steal our peace given through Jesus.
• Let’s go back to the definition of a troubled heart, “to cause one inward commotion, take away our calmness of mind, disturb our mental stability and composure; to perplex the mind of one by suggesting doubts; to strike one’s spirit with fear and dread. It becomes clear that the enemy of our soul wants us to live in this space, yet Jesus offers us peace.
• Jesus would willingly submit to the cross because it was the Father’s will, but the devil had no power to kill Him, nor could death hold Him in the grave. He was giving His life as a gift. It was not being taken from Him.
• He would do precisely what the Father commanded. The complete submission in His heart toward the Father would soon be evident to all as He humbly endured the events that awaited Him. And then the Father Himself would prove to the world that His Son was righteous by resurrecting Him from the dead (Isa 53:10-12).
• He had much more to teach His disciples and wanted to pray over them (Jn 17). So, before Judas arrived with the religious leaders, they left the upper room and walked eastward toward the Mount of Olives.

Conclusion

If Jesus paid the price so that we could have peace, why are some of us still in a place where we feel like we have no peace? Worldly peace is based on our circumstances. The problem with circumstantial peace is that the moment something unravels in our lives, we are left feeling the havoc and war of this world, which is precisely what the enemy wants us to experience. So, what is the difference maker? Jesus was completely submitted to the Father, so He lived in peace regardless of His circumstances. So, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you (vs. 27). This is good news because it means just like Jesus, we can have inner peace. How do we return to that place of peace when Satan tries to steal our peace? The answer is found in Philippians 4:6-7 which says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Discussion Questions

Have you experienced peace when your circumstances should have caused you to have a troubled heart?
Considering the definition of a troubled heart, is there a time you felt that way in your life? What happened and what did you do?
Philippians 4:6-7 tells us how to handle these moments. What are the steps found in this verse?