246. The God of Peace with us
Philippians 4:9Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
This conditional promise concerns the Word of God. If you have learned, received, heard and seen the Word, then the God of peace will be with you. What the Philippians have received from Paul is the Gospel. So for us, the reader: we have heard the Gospel, but then the important word is added: DO! We do not do the Gospel; Jesus does the Gospel; He is the Gospel. We do it by believing and receiving it, and then we repent and change our ways according to the Law, which convicts of sin and brings us to the Gospel. We do not forgive sins, we receive it; we do not work salvation, we believe it; we do not earn eternal life, we live it as a free gift.
Jesus does say, “He who hears these words of mine and doesthem…” So how do we do the words? We don’t; we can’t. We believe Jesus to do it for us. Hearing by itself, letting the Word pass through and out the ears again, does not do it. Doing the words means taking them to heart, applying them to myself, and using the power of the Gospel to begin doing them. Doing the Gospel involves sincere repentance and genuine faith that results in works. That house will stand; that one will be blessed.
For the one who does those things the God of peace shall be with you. This is the promise. Jesus says He will be with us always to the end of the age. But this promise, that the God of peace will be with us, is a particular promise for individual times when we need His presence. When He shows up He brings peace, for He is the God of peace; He comes to be with us in a special way; He blesses.
The one who does those things is blessed; he hears and does both Law and Gospel. We hear the Law not to change our ways and start doing it, but we hear the Law to receive the Gospel, which has to power to change our ways. We receive the Gospel, but we do the Law, but we do it by the power of the Gospel. James says we do not look at the mirror and forget what we look like: no, we look at the law of liberty and become a doer who acts; “he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1: 22-25). Then the God of peace will be with us.