The Way of Peace
Dearly beloved of God, Jesus Christ is the place of our justification, reconciliation, and peace with God.
“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:22-26
God has set forth Jesus Christ to be a “propitiation.” The word “propitiation” only appears in one other verse in the Bible; Hebrews 9:5, where it is translated “mercy seat.”
The mercy seat was the place that God showed Israel mercy when the blood of the Lamb was sprinkled on it once every year by the High Priest to make atonement for their sins.
Dearly beloved, Jesus Christ is the place that God shows us His mercy, and where we find peace.
Romans 3: 21-26 from the Working Translation:
“The justice of God without the law has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Yes, the justice of God is by the believing of Jesus Christ to all {+ and upon all} those who believe, for there is no difference.
In fact, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set before Himself [to be] the place of expiation and conciliation in his blood through believing. [This He did] with a view to a demonstration of His justice by the passing over of the previously committed sins in the forbearance of God.
[He also did this] with a [further] view to a demonstration of His justice in the present time that He is just and the Justifier of the one who believes in Jesus.”
By the mercy of God in Christ we have gone from being dead in sin, ungodly, and enemies of God who were destined for the wrath of God to being born again children of God, having the gift of holy spirit and the remission of sins.
We are now justified and reconciled by the work of Christ, and he saved us from the wrath to come. He made peace between God and us.
We now have a fabulous inheritance which includes the exceeding riches of God’s grace which He will display to us with kindness in the coming ages, eternal life, and glorious new bodies like Christ’s, and much more. We will acquire the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Who believed God to make all of this possible? Jesus Christ; he accomplished all of it. He reconciled us, justified us, and glorified us. He is our peace.
He is the place where expiation and conciliation were accomplished for all who confess him as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead. We will be saved from the wrath of God through him.
“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” Acts 13:38 and 39
If a child of God loses sight of who he is in Christ, and what he accomplished for us, he experiences the loss of his peace. Instead of the way of peace he will live in the misery of constant self-evaluation of his flesh, and in searching his soul. There is no good thing in our flesh.
Instead, search the scriptures for they are they which testify of Jesus Christ and what he accomplished. When you believe you are the righteousness of God you will have peace.
Oh rejoice, and live with thanksgiving in your heart, dearly beloved. Don’t ever lose sight of what Jesus Christ accomplished and who you are in him. That’s the way of peace.