| J.R. Miller D.D. | Page 3 |
We have a beautiful illustration of this in two of the Psalms which stand side by side. The Twenty Second is called the Psalm of the Cross. It tells the story of the crucifixion. Its first words, certainly, were used by the Redeemer when he was passing through his dying agony. The psalm is full of the experiences of Calvary. The storms are sweeping fiercely about the mountain’s brow.
Then how quietly and beautifully the Twenty Third Psalm nestles in the shadow of the Twenty Second, like a quiet vale at the mountain’s foot! It shows us a picture of perfect peace. We see the shepherd leading his flock beside the still waters and making them lie down in the green pastures. Even in the deep valley there is no gloom, for the shepherd walks with his sheep and quiets all their fears. This sweet shepherd psalm could come nowhere but after the Psalm of the Cross.
The prophets also tell us much about peace. In Isaiah, especially, the word occurs again and again. The Messiah is foretold as the Prince of Peace. Farther on, we come again under the shadow of the cross, and read that “the chastisement of our peace was upon him.” The security and eternity of our peace are pledged in a wonderful promise which runs “The mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” A hundred and seventy five times does the word occur in the Old Testament.
But it is in the New Testament that the wonderful fullness of the meaning of peace is disclosed. On every page the word shines. The angels sang at the Redeemer’s birth, “On earth peace.” At the close of his ministry, Jesus said to his friends, “In me ye shall have peace.” Eighty times the word appears in the New Testament. St. Paul, alone, the great homeless, persecuted apostle, uses the word more than forty times.
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