Thanks for stopping by! This is Day 24 of my 2015 “31 Days Reflecting on God” series. Find the rest over here.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
God created man, and man chose his own way over God’s. When Adam and Eve chose to sin, following Satan rather than God, death entered the world and took hold of mankind and all the earth.
God is holy. He is perfect. He is radiant in glory. He despises death and sin and all their junk. They are his enemies.
So, born as slaves of sin and death, we were enemies of God.
But God would not let his enemies defeat him. He is a warrior. He will win the victory. He will have the last word. So instead of walking away, he picked up his sword, fought and won the battle in the most unconventional way.
He won the war by laying down his own life for his enemies. Not for sin and death, but for their slaves – for us. Many people willingly step up to do brave things, to fight valiantly. But to lay down their swords and give themselves up? That takes a deeper kind of commitment.
By doing what he did, God defeated death forever. He broke the chains that hold us captive and we can walk away freely. He brought peace that will never die.
It’s easy to be consumed by the long, hard days we face. The trials that seem to never end. Discouragement, depression, guilt, shame – they still seem like they’re winning sometimes. Peace seems far away.
But in light of what God has done to save us, these momentary trials are nothing. They will one day fade. We wrestle to feel at peace with ourselves and with God. Sin warps our feelings and we have to hold onto the truth. No matter how we feel, we have peace with God. We are not at war with him. Our enemy is death and God has defeated it, definitively. That’s why we can have true peace within.
He is a God of war because without fighting, he could never be a God of peace. He has conquered and we have peace in him.