By Mary Carothers

Did you know that every New Testament letter begins by bestowing God’s peace on the readers? Remember when the angels announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds? Their message was peace from God to all mankind. After His resurrection Jesus appeared to His disciples when they were hiding in fear (definitely not at peace!)  His first words? Peace be with you. In John 14:27 TLB Jesus had told His disciples, I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. The Amplified version says, Peace I leave with you; my own peace I now give and bequeath to you. Again, in Philippians four, we are told that God’s peace will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Does God want us to be at peace? No matter what is going on in our lives? I believe He does. And if He does, He must somehow have made it available to us.

We understand that on the cross Jesus made forgiveness of sins available to us by shedding His blood. This was foretold in Isaiah 53, seven-hundred years before Jesus came. We may not have realized that this same chapter tells us that the Messiah would also make His peace available to us. The chastisement needful to obtain peace and well-being for us was upon Him – (verse 5 The Amplified Bible).

I believe that Jesus made His peace available to us by shedding His blood – in Gethsemane. Luke 22:44 makes this clear and being in an agony of mind He prayed the more earnestly and intently; and his sweat became like great clots of blood dropping down upon the ground. Why was Jesus in such agony of mind? He who was without sin was about to become sin. He was about to drink the bitter cup of all the sins of all mankind to its bitter dregs. His pure and sinless soul shrank from the horrible prospect of enduring God’s anger against our sins. Jesus had always obeyed the Father. They had shared unbroken fellowship. But this too would come to an end when He would cry out, My God, My God why have you forsaken me?

Hadn’t God promised to never forsake His own? In Psalm 27:10 He even promised us that in the unlikely event our mother and father should forsake us, He never would. So why did He forsake Jesus? God is holy and cannot look upon sin. Knowing this, Jesus was in great mental stress and agony of soul in Gethsemane, as He realized what He was about to endure.

Jesus took upon Himself our sins so that we could receive His righteousness. He also took upon Himself our anxieties, fears, despair, and mental anguish so that we could receive His peace of mind.

Does this seem impossible to you? Dearly beloved of the Lord, what seems impossible to man is possible with God. Reach out to Him today. Ask Him to give you peace of mind – His peace that is beyond our human understanding. Jesus is right now interceding for you before the Father. Our heavenly Father is ever ready to meet all our needs through Jesus, who loves us and willingly gave Himself up for us. (Reprint from June 1997)