{"id":1313,"date":"2011-09-24T05:52:42","date_gmt":"2011-09-24T05:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2011-09-24T05:54:06","modified_gmt":"2011-09-24T05:54:06","slug":"the-farewell-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1313","title":{"rendered":"THE FAREWELL GIFT"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE FAREWELL GIFT<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose\u201d\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cPeace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.\u201d\u00a0John 14:27<\/p>\n

No shadow of the figurative grove of Elim is more grateful to the children of humanity than this. It is in Jesus alone, and in His finished work, that the beautiful words of the Evangelical Prophet are fulfilled in the case of every pilgrim to the true Canaan\u2014\u201dMy people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in\u00a0undisturbed places of rest\u201d <\/em>(Is. 32:18).<\/p>\n

The circumstances in which the Savior uttered the words of our motto-verse were interesting and peculiar, and give an intense poignancy to His declaration. It was at a time, one would have thought, of the deepest unrest and anxiety to His own soul; a time when the saying, \u201cMy peace I give to you,\u201d would have seemed a strange and doubtful blessing: for the shadows of the cross were gathering around Him. Some consolation, higher than earth could afford, was needed, when the Shepherd was about to be smitten and the sheep to be scattered. In the clouds of that dark, troubled horizon, He set the bow of covenant\u00a0Peace. <\/em>His utterance was more than a promise\u2014it is expressed in the formula of a last Will\u2014a Testamentary deed. It is the dying legacy which the Prince of Peace bequeaths to His Church and people in every age. Let us note some of its characteristics.<\/p>\n

It is a\u00a0purchased<\/em> peace. That palm whispers pre-eminently \u201cthe name of Jesus\u201d\u2014\u201dPeace through the blood of His cross.\u201d In no other way could it have been procured. By no other could it be bestowed. No voice but the voice which exclaimed in dying accents, \u201cIt is finished,\u201d can say to the troubled tempest-tossed soul\u2014\u201dPeace, be still!\u201d In the familiar Bible narrative, we see the heathen sailors rowing hard to bring the vessel to land, in whose hold was the fugitive prophet. It was in vain. \u201cThe sea was getting rougher and rougher\u201d\u2014wave after wave baffled strength of oar and muscle. What was their expedient? The sacrifice of the one life was demanded and surrendered for the sake of the others!<\/p>\n

So it was with\u00a0the true Jonah.<\/em> When He was taken and cast into the deep, that deep was hushed into a calm, its fury stilled, every tumultuous billow was rocked to rest\u2014\u201dThe raging sea grew calm.\u201d \u201cBeing justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d He has done all, and suffered all, and procured all for us\u2014left nothing to be supplemented by human merit. In the words of an old theologian, \u201cWe who have believed do enter into rest, and that by ceasing from our own works, as God did from His.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a perfect<\/em> peace. It is no simulation\u2014no counterfeit. There is no flaw in these title-deeds. It is a peace founded on everlasting truth and everlasting righteousness, securing alike the vindication of the Divine law and the manifestation of the Divine glory. It is a peace with\u00a0God<\/em>above, and peace with\u00a0conscience<\/em> within\u2014peace secured by the Redeemer on the Cross, and ratified by the Kingly Intercessor on the Throne. Like the weary bird, after tracking its way across leagues of vast ocean, the believer can enter the opened window of the True Ark, and sing the song of an older heir of covenant blessings, \u201cBe at rest (Peace), O my soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a\u00a0permanent <\/em>peace. As such, it is \u201cnot as the world gives.\u201d Many of the world\u2019s best blessings, those which are considered to minister most effectually to outward happiness and inward peace, ours today, may be gone tomorrow\u2014we have no pledge or guarantee for their continuation. They are fed from the low marshy grounds of earth, dependent on fitful seasons and capricious showers. But the peace of Christ, being from heaven, is a perennial stream; it is fed from surer supply than glacier Alps, and it rolls on in undiminished fullness and volume, in summer\u2019s drought and in winter\u2019s cold. It is irrespective and independent of all outward accidents. It bears up and sustains in the midst of the harassments of business, the crushing of poverty, the weariness of sickness, the pangs of bereavement, the shadows of death. Well may the author of \u201cThe Pilgrim\u2019s Progress\u201d give the name of PEACE to the chamber in which Christian lay, and whose window opened toward the sunrise!<\/p>\n

It is said of Goethe, the great German, that in one of those dark, unsatisfied hours in which his mighty intellect and soul groped after the true Rest, he thus recorded his undefined longings for that which he had failed to attain\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cFairest among heaven\u2019s daughters, Thou who stillest pain and woe,
\nPourest Thy refreshing waters On the thirsty here below:
\nWhither tends this restless striving? Faint and tired, I long for rest.
\nHeaven-born peace, \u00a0Come and dwell within my breast!\u201d<\/p>\n

These words were found on a scrap of writing paper lying on his writing table. A devoted friend of similar intellectual pursuits, but one who had personally experienced the shade of the Elim grove and tasted its perennial springs, and who therefore knew what alone could quench these ungratified aspirations, wrote on the other side,\u00a0\u201cPeace I leave with you, My peace I give you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

PEACE\u2014true<\/em> peace. Intellect cannot bestow it; wealth cannot purchase it. Men, in their quest of it, surround and fortify themselves with creature comforts, and away from corroding care; invite the angel of peace to come and over downy couches to sing the longed-for lullaby! The lullaby is sung, \u201cPeace, peace,\u201d but often it is only to awaken the echo of dissatisfaction, \u201cNo peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speed your flight, O weary wanderer, under the shelter of this heavenly Palm. The bough on which your earthly nest was built may have been felled by the axe or broken by the storm; but \u201cHe is our peace.\u201d And as driven by the windy tempest your cry is, \u201cO Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant me Your peace!\u201d may it be yours to listen to the glad response, \u201cMy peace I give unto you\u201d\u2014\u201dEven while you sleep among the campfires, the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask for peace, O Lord!
\nThy children ask Thy peace:
\nNot what the world calls rest\u2014
\nThat toil and care should cease;
\nThat through bright sunny hours
\nCalm life should haste away,
\nAnd tranquil night should fade
\nIn smiling day\u2014
\nIt is not for such peace that we would pray.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask Thy peace, O Lord!
\nThrough storm, and fear, and strife,
\nTo light and guide us on
\nThrough a long struggling life;
\nTo lean on Thee, entranced,
\nIn calm and perfect rest\u2014
\nGive us that peace, O Lord!
\nDivine and blest,
\nThou keepest for those hearts that love Thee best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John MacDuff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE FAREWELL GIFT \u201cThis is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose\u201d\u2014 \u201cPeace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.\u201d\u00a0John 14:27 No shadow of the figurative grove of Elim is more grateful to the children of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,35,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-john-macduff","category-gods-attributes","category-pictures-and-types"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1315,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions\/1315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}