Jesus Promises Peace

John 14:25-31

We are studying in John 14. Jesus is with His apostles on the night He was betrayed. He was within sight of the cross, literally hours away now. On this night His concern was for His followers. Jesus knew He was leaving them, He had told them this several times already. It caused their hearts to be troubled and afraid. So Jesus is speaking words of comfort and encouragement to them. Listen to His words: John 14:25-31,

25 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

28 “You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.”

A key verse in this section is John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Peace is a precious word to the Jewish people. The concept of peace here is based on the Hebrew, Shalom. It was, and still is, the normal Jewish salutation and farewell. Shalom means wholeness, complete well-being, health, security. D. A. Carson points out (The Gospel According to John [Apollos/Eerdmans], p. 505), “Peace is one of the fundamental characteristics of the messianic kingdom anticipated in the Old Testament (Num. 6:26; Ps. 29:11; Isa. 9:6-7; 52:7; 54:13; 57:19; Ezek. 37:26; Hag. 2:9) and fulfilled in the New (Acts 10:36; Rom. 1:7; 5:1; 14:17).” When you have God’s peace there is joy and contentment.

Our world is in desperate need of peace. Our world is overrun with discontent, turmoil, strife, anxiety and fear. We see conflict everywhere from our homes and neighborhoods to our government and the nations of this world. Where is the peace that we long for? Jesus promises it to His disciples, and to us.

Jesus Himself had this peace. He had the peace that only comes from a right relationship to His Father. Being in a close relationship to God through Jesus is how we too can experience Christ’s peace. This is a peace that comforts our troubled hearts.

In the words of Jesus here in John 14:25-31 we find the features of this peace. First we find that,

1. True Peace is Powered by God’s Word (John 14:25-26)

Again Jesus promises to send them the Helper whom He explicitly calls the Holy Spirit here. A few verses before, Jesus had promised (John 14:16-17), “… I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever–the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

Jesus had been their teacher. He reminds them of this in verse 25, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.” Now He promises another teacher, the Holy Spirit. “He will teach you all things.” The way that the Holy Spirit will do this is to “bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

The fulfillment of this promise is seen when these Apostles, empowered by the Holy Spirit after the day of Pentecost, begin to preach and teach and eventually to write the New Testament.

Have you ever wondered how the apostles, writing several years after these events took place, could remember all that Jesus said and did? How many of you remember and could quote what I said last time I preached? How many of you remember what you said even yesterday? They did not have electronic means to record Jesus’ words and play them back later. But they had something better. Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit would perform that function. He would bring to the disciples’ remembrance all that Jesus said to them and He would give them understanding by teaching them what these things meant.

We know that before Jesus was raised from the dead and gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples they often did not understand what Jesus taught. Just in this chapter, we have seen how Thomas, Philip, and Judas (not Iscariot) had to ask questions about what Jesus said because they did not understand (John 14:5, 8, 22). But after the Day of Pentecost, the Spirit would give them understanding and cause them to remember Jesus’ teachings. John has showed us this in His gospel already. For example John wrote (John 2:22), “Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.” Again in John 12:16, “His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.” What jogged their memories? What gave them understanding? The coming of the Holy Spirit.

We have the Holy Spirit inspired apostolic testimony and understanding in our New Testament. We can have confidence that the New Testament is inspired by God. As Peter states (2 Pet. 1:16), “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” Peter goes on to write (2 Pet. 1:20-21), “… knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” Paul writes this about the scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17), “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” God literally breathed His word into men as they wrote the scriptures. Although Peter’s and Paul’s words referred primarily to the Old Testament, the same applies to the words of the New Testament. In fact, Peter refers to Paul’s letters as “scripture” saying that he wrote “according to the wisdom given to him,” (2 Peter 3:15-16).

The more you study the Bible, the more you realize that it is a supernatural, Spirit-inspired book. The Holy Spirit was sent to bring to memory the sayings of Jesus and to aid in the inerrant recording of their meaning so we can have the entirety of God’s Word found in our Old and New Testaments.

If we are to have the type of peace Jesus has in mind for all His followers, it is powered by the Holy Spirit who breathes life and peace into us as we partake of the Word of God found in the Scriptures. The secondary application of verse 26 for us is: The indwelling Holy Spirit will teach us the meaning of Scripture and will bring that meaning to our minds at the times when we most need it.

Paul writes about this ministry of the Holy Spiirt (1 Cor. 2:12-13), “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” John writes about this illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit in 1 John 2:27, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

The Holy Spirit does not give us some new revelation or divine insight outside the pages of scripture. Jesus clarifies what the Holy Spirit will teach in John 16:13-15,

13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

If you lack peace today then probably one of two things is wrong with you. Either you are not really a Christian and you can’t have the peace Jesus gives because you don’t have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. Or, if you are a believer, you do not read and study God’s Word. True peace is powered by the Holy Spirit teaching you the word of God.

2. True Peace is given in a relationship with Christ (John 12:27)

27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

What a wonderful promise from our Lord! What is Jesus’ peace? How can I get it when I need it?

Jesus had peace. Right in the midst of the hours leading up to the cross, He had peace. He had perfect peace with His Father. Now He promises to leave peace with them, to give His peace to them. It is the peace of Christ that the disciple receives. This peace is grounded in Christ and belongs to Christ. It is a peace rooted not only in His person, but also in His work of redemption at the cross.

Human peace, like the world gives, is temporary. It may last as long as the circumstances are good. The world bases its peace on resources while God’s peace is based on a relationship with Jesus Christ. In the world peace is something you hope for or work for, but Jesus’ peace is His gift to us. The world has peace when there is an absence of trouble, but Christ’s peace is available in spite of trials. Jesus will conclude His teaching that night by saying (John 16:33), “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

The peace Jesus gives is real and lasting peace. His peace does not ebb and flow depending on the circumstances. How could Jesus have peace hours before the cross? How could He have peace while in the Garden of Gethsemane sweating drops of blood? His peace came from His direct connection and relationship to the Father. The same thing stands true for us. As long as our relationship to the Son exists so does our peace. Trials come and go but our eternal connection to the Son is permanent, therefore so is our peace.

Do you have unfailing, absolute peace because you have a relationship with Jesus Christ?

3. True Peace believes God is in control (John 14:28-31)

Jesus gives a gentle rebuke to the disciples, who were understandably troubled over the news that He was leaving them.

28 “You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.

Jesus doesn’t mean that the disciples did not love Him at all. Rather He is exposing their self-focus and their lack of understanding.

The greatest desire Jesus has is to complete His mission, to die for those the Father has given Him and return to the Father. It is Christ dying on the cross that fulfills His mission. Our Lord tells His followers that this is ground for rejoicing. When we truly love someone, we want what is best for them even if it is not to our particular desires. Their love for Jesus should have caused them to rejoice that He would be with His Father again. Jesus would be returning to the glory that He had not only before becoming a man, but before the world was (John 17:5). Jesus’ promise to come back to them after completing His mission should be the comfort for their own hearts also.

Jesus’ statement that “My Father is greater than I,” is in no way a negation of Jesus’ own deity as some cults have claimed based on this verse. In the Gospel of John alone we have seen over and over again the clear teaching that Jesus is divine. Jesus is the Word that was in the beginning with God and was God and then became flesh to dwell among men (John 1:1, 14). In John 5:18-47, when the Jews accused Jesus of making Himself equal with God, He didn’t back off or correct them. Rather, He went on at length to make claims that only God can rightly make. In John 8:58, in response to the hostile attacks of the Jews, Jesus asserted, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

In John 10:30, Jesus plainly asserted, “I and My Father are one.” This led the Jews to pick up stones to stone Him (John 10:31), charging Him with making Himself out to be God (John 10:33). Again, Jesus didn’t correct them, but affirmed their accusations. In John 14:9, after Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, He replied, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” In John 20:28-29, after Thomas exclaimed to the risen Savior, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus didn’t rebuke him for blasphemy, but rather commended his faith.

So why does Jesus tell the disciples here that they should have rejoiced at the news of His departure, “for My Father is greater than I”? In His incarnation, Jesus temporarily laid aside the glory that He shared with the Father from all eternity (John 17:5). He took on the form of a servant and became obedient to death on the cross. After His resurrection, He would be restored to His glory with the Father, seated at His right hand over all authority in the universe (Eph. 1:20-22; Phil. 2:5-11), and He would send the Holy Spirit to indwell them. If the disciples had understood all of this and if their focus had been on loving Jesus rather than on themselves, they would have rejoiced over His return to the Father. His going was God’s plan.

29 And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.

Jesus told His disciples what was coming so that they would believe. All of these things Jesus has been predicting haven’t happened yet. He’s telling them of future things. Jesus is telling His disciples of the future in order to comfort them. When these things came to pass, it would cause His disciples to believe in Him even more. Jesus is a proven Prophet, whose every word is true.

God is in control of these events. The cross is God’s eternal plan.

Jesus wants all His people to know that the reason He could tell them about the events beforehand and the reason they come to pass as He said is because He is the Son of God who does as the Father commands Him. .

It might look like Satan is in charge…

30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

Satan is temporarily the ruler of this world of sin. He is the usurper who “now works in the sons of disobedience,” (Eph. 2:2) and who has blinded the minds of unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4). Satan is coming, having earlier that night entered Judas Iscariot who has gone to betray Jesus (John 13:27). It will look like evil is in control and that Satan has power over Jesus, but he doesn’t. As Jesus says, “he has nothing in Me.” That is, Satan has no claim on Jesus because He is the sinless Son of God. There is nothing in Jesus that gives the devil an opportunity to accuse Him.

Jesus makes it clear that He was sovereign over Satan and over His own death. Although Satan was behind the events that culminated in the cross, Satan was not over Jesus. Rather, Jesus went to the cross to show the world that He loves the Father,

31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.”

How ready is Jesus to fulfill His Father’s command? Arise, let us go from here.

Jesus is ready to go to the cross in loving obedience to the Father. God is in control here, not Satan. As Jesus said (John 10:17-18), “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

Jesus was always master of the situation because He submitted to the Father. And He still is. He is Lord over all. He is seated at the right hand of the Father with all things under His feet and is head over all things for the church (Eph. 1:20-23).

True peace comes when we believe Jesus is in control of all things. Peace is resting in God’s sovereignty.

The end result of the Holy Spirit’s work in our life is deep and lasting peace. With Christ’s peace, we have no need to fear the present or the future. If your life is full of stress, allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with Christ’s peace.

So if you find yourself void of Christ’s peace than ask…

–How much am I really reading and believing God’s Word?

–Am I living in relationship with God through Jesus Christ?

–Do believe God is really in charge of all circumstances?

Jesus has left His peace with us. He gave us His peace. If you have the peace that He gives nothing, nobody will be able to take it from you. John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”