First and foremost this is about those who promote peace with God. By and large these great statements of blessedness are primarily about spiritual characteristics. How can you tell a Christian? Godliness of life, of course, and worship. But how else? The Christian is concerned about the message of reconciliation; he has a large heart for lost souls and desires to promote, with all his strength and whatever gifts he has, the message of the gospel to others. What are the marks of grace? Well there are several but here is one – a great concern for souls and the triumph of the gospel that it will be spread abroad. Blessed are those who promote reconciliation with the living God. His disciples resemble their Lord. The eternal Son came into this world to live a perfect life and to offer himself up and be punished with the eternal weight of punishment due to all his people for their sin. He came to reconcile God to men, and men to God. He did so at tremendous cost to himself, for only by grace could sinful human beings be forgiven and justified. He had to suffer in our place, what we deserved to suffer at the hands of God, and he had to bear it even though he was without sin. To be the perfect peacemaker, he had to bear the scoffing of those who have broken God’s laws and yet who justify themselves. He had to suffer mocking, and false accusation, and ridicule and shame, and he had to go to the cross and be punished by his Father in heaven on behalf of his people. He is the perfect peacemaker and we are to be like him. We do not suffer as he did in making an atonement, but we suffer the mocking of an unbelieving world because we identify with our Lord. As peacemakers his disciples support the gospel; they labour among the children in the Sunday School, they visit the community, they attend the prayer meeting and cry out to God for blessing upon lost souls in the community. They witness at their place of study or their place of business. Blessed are the peacemakers, the great promoters of the message of gospel of free grace. Those people are especially blessed by God. They and they alone shall be called the children of God.
We must be peacemakers in our families, forever building bridges. This is the characteristic of God’s people, given to them at conversion. Are we those who will not back down, who hang onto a grudge and cannot be talked out of it? ‘But you do not know what they did … But they have not asked for forgiveness.’ However unreasonable people are, we are to be reasonable.
Of course it includes peace with other people too. As much as lies in us, we must live peaceably with all people. Sometimes in society among nations war is necessary. Sometimes because of the depravity of human nature and the terrible things that go on, there has to be a just war or a just defence. But generally speaking, personally as individuals, we are to be magnanimous as it is possible to be. Let your sweet reasonableness, says Paul, be known unto all men. Not proud people, standing on our dignity, defending our rights, getting back at people who offend us, starting cold wars and feuds, combative people. That is not the sign of a person that has been converted. We are to be people who promote team work, people who are at pains to end strife and controversy and bring about reconciliation. We can show grace to others because so much grace has been given to us by God.
Peace is not at any price. We may never deny the truth in order to obtain peace. There is a false irenic spirit which hates strife so much that it abandons Biblical principles in order to obtain it. There is a false way of thinking that says, we should make peace with God’s enemies on their terms and compromise the gospel in the interests of peace. That sort of peace is condemned in Scripture. We may not enter into any covenant with the enemies of God (2 Chronicles 19:2).