“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, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass, you may believe. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do” (Jn 14:27-31).
One of Jesus’ gifts to you is peace. Not as the world gives, but a peace (as Paul would later write) that is beyond our natural comprehension. And Jesus shares it here as an antidote to a fearful heart. There are so many things going on in our world right now that are pouring gasoline on the fire of fear. We need Jesus’ peace.
Jesus explained to the disciples that He is telling them things which are about to come to pass. He is giving them this preview so that when these events happen, they can return to Jesus’ words and believe. They can believe that Jesus was telling the truth when He spoke of these things. They can believe that He is the Son of God as the “knower” of these things. And they can believe that everything else Jesus said is true.
And knowing and believing will bring us peace. We have peace because Jesus has not left us alone … “I go away, and I will come to you.” We have peace because Jesus is coming to us with the heart of the Father … “because I go to the Father.” We have peace because Jesus has laid out incredible promises yet to come … “I have told you before it comes to pass.” We have peace because the ruler of this world – the author of so much fear – has no power over the Son … “the ruler of the world is coming, and He has nothing in Me.” We have peace because the Son loves the Father … “I love the Father.” And that love now lives in us … “By this the love of God came to live in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him” (I Jn 4:9). And “living through Him”, we have the power to love through Him. “If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us” (I Jn 4:12).
And finally, Jesus makes the same connection between love and obedience that He gave to us … in His love for the Father. “That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do” (vs 31). Jesus loves and has loved the Father and carried out all that the Father asked of Him. Because Jesus accomplished all that the Father had for Him to do – culminating in “He [Jesus] humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8) – He secured our peace.