For those of you who like to think about who wrote the epistle to the Hebrews, this term, this phrase, "the God of peace" is a fairly telltale sign that it was written by the apostle Paul. At least he was the mind behind it, that God was inspiring to write these words.
Now why do I say that? Well, Paul uses this term, this phrase, "the God of peace," and he is the only one who does in the Bible, in benedictions at the conclusions of his epistles, particularly in Romans, II Corinthians, Philippians, and I Thessalonians. We will look at some of those in a minute.
This tells us something because he is also the same one who uses peace at the beginning, in a salutation of his epistles, and so his epistles, especially these ones, Romans, II Corinthians, Philippians, and I Thessalonians, are bookended by the concept of peace. So it makes this title, the God of Peace, quite significant. We have to think about it. We have to study it a little bit. What is he trying to tell us in saying that God gives us peace at the beginning of an epistle as he begins his teaching and at the end when he concludes his teaching and then hands it off to the people who he taught? Okay, what are you going to do with it? Peace is a very important part of this process.
Now, here in Hebrews 13:20-21, the author desires the God of peace to equip His people with everything good that they may do His will. If you have an ESV, that is exactly what it says. That the God of peace, to equip His people with everything good that they may do His will.
The New King James has something that I think is actually a little better because I think it is more descriptive. It says that "the God of peace. . . make you complete." We could also use the words fit, make you fit, or prepared, "in every good work to do His will." That is a little bit more descriptive of what is happening to us here, if we have God's peace and we follow through on it.
What He is doing here is talking about the perfection of the saints or the completion of the saints. This is something that the Protestant world does not talk about a whole lot because they believe that once you are justified, you are saved, and there is really nothing that you have to do beyond that.
Our Lord Jesus died and God brought Him up from the dead. He appointed Him the great Shepherd. And He made with us the everlasting covenant. You see all these things just being, . . okay, Paul is backing us into a corner here. All this has been done for you and God is not finished.
He is going to equip us. He is going to prepare us, make us complete so that we can do good works. Why? Because good works perfect us. They complete us. They teach us things. They teach us lessons. They help us learn good habits.
I want the phrase, "that great Shepherd of the sheep." This is an integral part of this process, that Christ acts as Shepherd to us, His sheep. The Father is the God of peace. And the Son is the great Shepherd. They work hand-in-hand in the context of Christ's sacrifice and our calling and justification so that we might live for righteousness. Peter calls Him in I Peter 2:25, "the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls."
This is a very important role that He plays in our lives. And there is a linkage we see here in Hebrews 13:20 and the idea of the shepherd, the linkage between peace and Christ's function as shepherd.
As our shepherd He is responsible for our feeding, care, growth, successful completion or perfection or maturity, however you want to think of that process, and ultimately He is responsible for our entrance into God's Kingdom. He is responsible for the entire process of our sanctification, from the time God hands us over to Him after we are called all the way to the first resurrection and actually beyond because we are going to be His bride and He will care for us in the same way. But He is involved in every part of that process and working nonstop to make sure that He and we are successful and are … . . .
The New Covenant is also sealed with blood, but it is not sprinkled on the outside of those making the covenant, as happened with Israel. Instead, it is ingested into the innermost parts of the person. Rather than being sealed with the blood of oxen, the New Covenant is sealed with infinitely more precious blood, blood that serves as a testimony of eternal life (see I John 5:6-13), as well as a pledge of God's loyalty to those within the covenant:
Notice that God makes us complete through the blood of the covenant. Christ's blood is a pledge that God made that He will finish His extraordinary purpose - one that goes beyond forgiveness and culminates in our spiritual completion. When we are complete, then Passover will be fulfilled. But the forgiveness of sins comes through the covenant, not before it. Before the covenant, God overlooks - He passes over. When we pledge our loyalty to God through baptism, and accept His covenant after repenting, He then forgives us. When we are put into Christ, we are washed clean (see Acts 2:38; 4:12; 8:36-37; 22:16; Romans 6:3-7, 23; Colossians 2:12; Titus 3:4-7). But the cleansing blood of atonement is only available to those who accept the divine blood of the covenant.
Forgiveness is part of the covenant because we need God's forgiveness throughout the process of being made complete. Neither the Old nor the New Covenant - nor the covenant with Abraham - were preceded by atonement. Instead, God makes covenants with those whose transgressions He has passed over. It is within the covenant, then, that sin is addressed. This is why Jesus proposed the New Covenant to His disciples at that Passover observance even before He died to provide atonement the following afternoon.
As we can see, sin is not the focus of Passover. Instead, God's mercy underlies the fellowship He initiates. The much greater focus is on the ongoing fellowship with the Father and the Son, as well as communion with those who partake of that one, living Bread. It is a memorial of Christ's death that sealed the covenant, as well as a grateful observance of our spiritual abundance and hope because of God's faithfulness. It is a solemn yet joyful celebration of the peace and well-being we have in Christ.
The bread and the wine represent the sacrificial meal, which ultimately is Jesus Christ. God accepts those partaking of this meal, and He is pleased to have them in His presence. The bread of life imparts spiritual strength, and through drinking the wine, we take in the blood of the covenant. That blood is an overwhelming pledge by Almighty God to make complete those who remain faithful, who do not count the blood of the covenant as common (see Hebrews 10:26-29). Both God and the individual are satisfied because of the peace and fulfillment that comes through the divine fellowship that Jesus Christ facilitates.
