Peace, Perfect Peace
Peace, Perfect Peace
Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.
Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.
Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round?
On Jesus’ bosom naught but calm is found.
Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?
Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.
Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours?
Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.
It is enough: earth’s struggles soon shall cease,
And Jesus, call us to heav’n’s perfect peace.
IN 1875, while Edward Bickersteth was vacationing in Harrowgate, England, he heard a sermon on Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” The minister explained that the original Hebrew read, “You will keep in peace, peace. . . .” In Hebrew the repetition of a word indicates intensity or perfection. That afternoon Bickersteth visited a dying relative. When he found the man deeply distressed, he withdrew for a while and wrote this hymn. Then he returned to read Scripture and to share the comforting lines he had written.
As we read the first line of each stanza, we are pummeled by the problems of our modern society. But while problems are found in the first line of each stanza, there is one word that appears consistently in the second line—Jesus. And His presence in our problems and heartaches makes all the difference.
[Jesus said,] “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
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