In the same way it is ignorance that prevents men and women coming to Christ for salvation. What might be true of us if we were to submit to Christ’s rule is hidden from us. Once God opens our eyes, we see things more clearly. No one who has obtained pardon and new life in Christ wishes to go back to the old life again, and that assessment is right. The new life is vastly superior to the old life, and yet before we come to Christ, we can see very little of what it is to walk with him. These things are hidden from our eyes. They are hidden by the darkness which we have chosen for ourselves, for in that darkness all light from above is excluded from us.
God’s peace is a prize worth any amount to obtain. It is peace with God, the removal of the enmity that exists between the Holy One and fallen men and women. If we have peace with him then our eternal future is secure; he has justified us and he will never change his mind. We know that we are safe, and we are fulfilled and satisfied, because this peace is not simply an absence of hostility, but a communication of divine favour to our souls moment by moment.
Sin and the devil try to hide from us what is in our best interests. The devil is a liar, and all that he holds out to us is false. He promises us the pleasures of sin as if they lasted forever, when in reality they are but for a season (Hebrews 11:25), and they are the only reward we are going to get (Matthew 6:2,5,16). He urges us to go after material wealth, and does not tell us about the vexation of spirit that accompanies any increase (Ecclesiastes 2:11). He promises us intense pleasure from indulging the flesh, and keeps quiet about the guilt that always accompanies such indulgence. How great is the misrepresentation so often shown to us in fiction about characters that indulge in all manner of evil, and yet seem to suffer no pangs of conscience for what they have done. How unrealistic all that is!
If Christ feels such pity for us, it should be easy for us to approach him and to appeal to his pity. We could not come to a God who was only angry, and had only vengeance to unleash on us. His pity urges us to come to him and promises to welcomes us when we respond.
God loved Israel, and wanted them to love him and prove their love by obeying him. He desires our obedience not because he is fixated on controlling the will of others without considering anything else, but because he knows that obedience leads to life, and he desires life for all. In their rebellion he said to them, ‘Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken … 17 But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive’ (Jeremiah 13:15, 17). This passage tells us that often God’s sorrow at the waywardness of the rebellious is out of sight, but in this passage in Luke the Lord weeps openly. He weeps at what might have been – ‘If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!’ We are permitted by Scripture to say this, even though the plan of God is sure. Christ has a human perspective on this, as well as a divine perspective, for he is truly man.