Hebrews 13:20-21 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep… I. I call your attention to THE PECULIAR TITLE UNDER WHICH GOD IS ADDRESSED IN THIS PRAYER: "NOW, the God of peace." The names of God employed in prayer in holy Scripture are always significant. Why, then, did the apostle here call God " the God of peace"? He had a reason; what was it? Iris a Pauline expression. You find that title only in the writings of Paul. It is a name of Paul's own coinage by the teaching of the Holy Ghost. There were reasons in Paul's experience which led him to dwell upon this peculiar trait of the Divine character. Just as in our text he prays, "Perfect you in every good work to do His will," so in Thessalonians he says, "And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blame. less unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is evident, not only that the apostle delighted in the expression peculiar to himself, but that he saw a close connection between the peace of God and the sanctifying of believers, and for this reason, both in the Thessalonians and in the Hebrews, his prayer for their sanctification is addressed to the God of peace. The title is a gospel one. God is not spoken of as the God of peace in the Old Testament; but there He is "a man of war, the Lord is His name"; "He shall cut off the spirit of princes; He is terrible to the kings of the earth." 1. The appropriateness of the title to the particular prayer will readily strike you, for holiness is peace. "May the God of peace make you holy," for He Himself is peace and holiness. 2. The God of peace has also graciously restored peace and reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, but it has been by the putting away of sin, for while sin remained peace was impossible. He died for our sins, but He rose again for our justification, which is none other than the replacing of us in a condition of reconciliation with God. He went into heaven to take possession of our inheritance; and what better evidence could there be that we are reconciled to God? 3. If you pursue the subject you will see more and more clearly the significance of the title, "the God of peace"; for, to make us perfect in every good work to do His will is to give us peace. Sin is our enemy, and the new life within us is heartily at enmity with evil, and therefore peace can never be proclaimed in the triple kingdom of our nature until we always do that which is well pleasing in the sight of the Lord, through Jesus Christ. Nor is this all. 4. When the apostle, praying for our sanctification, prays to the God of peace, it is as much as to say to us that we must view God as the God of peace if we are to be led to do His will. O man, is God your enemy? Then you will never serve Him, nor do that which is well pleasing in His sight. You must first of all know that there is peace between you and your God, and then you can please Him. This knowledge can only come to you through Christ Jesus, for peace is made only by "the blood of the everlasting covenant". 5. I will call to your notice the fact that the title, "the God of peace," sheds a light over the whole passage, and is beautifully in harmony with every word of the prayer. Let us read it line by line. "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus." War brings down to death; but the God of peace brings back from the dead. The restoration of the Lord Jesus from the grave was a peaceful act, and was meant to be the guarantee of peace accomplished for ever. "Through the blood of the everlasting covenant." The very word "covenant" is also full of peace: and especially is it so when we remember that it is a covenant of peace which eternal love has established between God and man. The apostle goes on to pray, "Make you perfect in every good work to do His will." If God's will is done by us, then there must be peace, for no ground of difference can exist. "Working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight." When all in us is well pleasing to God, then, indeed, is He the God of peace to us. The final doxology is also very significant, for in effect it proclaims the universal and eternal reign of peace: "To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." What can there be to disturb the universe when the Lord God omnipotent shall reign, and all nations shall glorify the Ever Blessed, world without end? Not without reason, therefore, did our apostle select the title, "The God of peace." II. We have now to consider THE SPECIAL ACT DWELT UPON" IN" THIS PRAYER. "That brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant." The bringing back of the Lord Jesus from the dead was the seal of His perfected work, and consequently of our peace and ultimate perfection in holiness. Because He had wrought all righteousness, therefore did tie stand amongst living men; and because He had merited a crown of glory, therefore did He rise even to the throne of Jehovah, to sit there till His enemies are made His footstool. We go further yet. The bringing again of Christ from the dead was in effect the leading back of all His people. Not without the sheep did the Shepherd come, for that were to return defeated. The text speaks of "Our Lord Jesus." Did you notice that? Ours in His offices of Shepherd and Saviour, altogether ours as brought again from the dead. What He did was for us. He is the great Shepherd of the sheep, and therefore what He did was for the sheep. "Because I live," saith He, "ye shall live also" and because He lives to intercede, therefore His people are preserved from evil: Satan desires to have us, that he may sift us as wheat; but the great Shepherd, who was brought again from the dead, is daily watching over us, and the power of His life, and of His kingdom, and of His plea, are manifested in us, so that we conquer temptation, and advance from strength to strength in our pilgrimage to heaven. III. Thirdly, let us notice THE VERY REMARKABLE MANNER IN WHICH THE HOLINESS PRAYED FOR IS DESCRIBED in the text: "Make you perfect in every good work to do His will." That is the first clause, but the translation is not strictly accurate. The passage would be better rendered, "make you fit in every good work to do His will," and the original Greek word properly means to reset a bone that is dislocated. The meaning of the text is this: by the fall all our bones are out of joint for the doing of the Lord's will, and the desire of the apostle is that the Lord will set the bones in their places, and thus make us able with every faculty and in every good work to do His will. The first part of the prayer, then, is for fitness for holiness. The next is for actual service: "Working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight." And here I ask you to notice how all things are of God. Even he who is best adapted for the performance of virtue and holiness, yet does not perform these things till the Lord worketh in him to will and to do of His own good pleasure. Over and above this mode of securing all the glory to God notice the next clause — "through Jesus Christ." That which we do even when the Lord works in us we only do through Jesus Christ. We are nothing without our Lord, and though we do what is acceptable in the Lord's sight, yet it is only acceptable through Jesus Christ. IV. Our fourth point drops into its place very naturally, for we have already seen that THE WHOLE OF IT COMES TO A MOST APPROPRIATE CONCLUSION OF PRAISE: "To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." To glorify God is the object of it all. Praise is the flower for which the stalk of prayer exists. It would be a very difficult question to decide to whom the last clause alludes, whether to " the God of peace," or to "Our Lord Jesus," and, therefore, I think, the safer way is to take them both together, for they are one. "To whom," that is to God; "To whom," that is to the Lord Jesus, "be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Let it be so; it ought to be so, it must be so, it shall be so. Amen. Amen. Tarry just a minute while we give glory unto the Three-One-God. He is the God of peace; approach Him with holy delight; adore Him; glorify His name evermore. Then magnify Him next, because He found for us a Shepherd. Glorify ] = lDDint next for the covenant. And then adore Him because the power which He exerted upon Christ He is now exerting upon you. Bless Him for every grace received, for faith however little, for love, even though it burn not as you would desire; bless Him for every conquered sin, bless Him for every implanted grace, bless Him evermore. Bless Him that He deals with you through Jesus Christ. Through the Mediator all good has come to us, and through the Mediator it will still come, until that day when He shall deliver up the throne to God, even the Father, and God shall be all in all. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, |
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