Rest In Peace

Isaiah 54:11–17 KJV 1900

O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, And lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, And thy gates of carbuncles, And all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; And great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: And from terror; for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the smith That bloweth the coals in the fire, And that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

We find the word “Terror” 44 times in the Bible. Terror in the Greek means “phobos”.

We are living in a time where terror is all around us. School shootings, shootings at the movies, at concerts, even at our perspective places of worship. We call people who kill and do the senseless act of evil terrorist. A terrorist is: a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.

The enemy wants us to live in fear, trying to bully us by intimidation. We have become afraid to leave our homes and through this terror we have become distracted and oppressed.

The writer to the church at Ephesus tells us:

Ephesians 6:12 KJV 1900

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Ephesians

In order to win any fight or battle, you need to know your enemy. Our enemy is not each other. As long as we bicker, argue, and gossip against one another, the real enemy is going unnoticed.

1 Peter 5:8 KJV 1900

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

John 8:44 KJV 1900

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

2 Corinthians 2:11 KJV 1900

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

We are at war! Satan the devil hates us and wants to destroy us. We must be aware of our enemy’s weapons and tactics, because our spiritual life depends on it.

He wants to rob us of our joy and our peace. He is a liar and a thief. One of the most valuable things he takes is the ability to hope and trust. If he can cause you to lose hope and quit trusting, he’s won half the battle.

As God is speaking to his children in , he is assuring them of a glorious future.

Having endured much, the people of God will be restored like a ruined city rebuilt with the finest materials.

Isaiah 54:13 KJV 1900

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; And great shall be the peace of thy children.

One of the greatest fears perhaps, is that our children won’t be protected. That they are in constant danger and will somehow be left out of the protection of God.

Acts 2:39 KJV 1900

For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

He has promised to provide and protect not only you but your children. He knows where they are and has promised to call them out.

Isaiah 7:18–19 KJV 1900

And it shall come to pass in that day, That the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come, and shall rest all of them In the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, And upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.

Isaiah 7:11–12 KJV 1900

Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; Ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.

Isaiah 54:14 KJV 1900

In righteousness shalt thou be established: Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: And from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

He promise in verse 14 that in righteousness you shall be established and that you shalt be

Isaiah 54:15 KJV 1900

Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.

God’s people are secure because all the powers of evil are under God’s control and He will defend his people.

Psalm 34:19 KJV 1900

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Chapter 54

The workman that forms “weapons against thee” (Is 54:17) is wholly in My power, therefore thou needest not fear, having Me on thy side.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume Isaiah 54:11–17

“No weapon that is formed against thee (though ever so artfully formed by the smith that blows the coals, v. 16, though ever so skilfully managed by the waster that seeks to destroy) shall prosper; it shall not prove strong enough to do any harm to the people of God; it shall miss its mark, shall fall out of the hand or perhaps recoil in the face of him that uses it against thee.” It is the happiness of the church that no weapons formed against it shall prosper long, and therefore the folly of its enemies will at length be made manifest to all, for they are but preparing instruments of ruin for themselves. Secondly, From their law-adversaries, that think to run them down under colour of right and justice. When the weapons of war do not prosper there are tongues that rise in judgment. Both are included in the gates of hell, that seek to destroy the church; for they had their courts of justice, as well as their magazines and military stores, in their gates. The tongues that rise in judgment against the church are as such as either demand a dominion over it, as if God’s children were their lawful captives, pretending an authority to oppress their consciences, or they are such as misrepresent them, and falsely accuse them, and by slanders and calumnies endeavour to make them odious to the people and obnoxious to the government. This the enemies of the Jews did, to incense the kings of Persia against them, Ezra 4:12; Esth. 3:8. “But these insulting threatening tongues thou shalt condemn; thou shalt have wherewith to answer their insolent demands, and to put to silence their malicious reflections. Thou shalt do it by well-doing (1 Pt. 2:15), by doing that which will make thee manifest in the consciences even of thy adversaries, that thou art not what thou art represented to be. Thou shalt condemn them, that is, God shall condemn them for thee. He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, Ps. 37:6. Thou shalt condemn them as Noah condemned the old world that reproached him, by building the ark, and so saving his house, in contempt of their contempts.” The day is coming when God will reckon with the wicked men for all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him, Jude 15.

"Rest in peace" (Latin: Requiescat in pace (Classical Latin: [re.kʷiˈeːs.kat ɪn ˈpaːke], Ecclesiastical Latin: [re.kwiˈɛs.kat in ˈpa.tʃe])) is a phrase sometimes used in traditional Christian services and prayers, such as in the Lutheran,[1] Methodist,[2] and Roman Catholic[3]denominations, sometimes to wish the soul of a decedent eternal rest and peace in Christ. It is also used on headstones, often abbreviated RIP. The term has entered widespread common parlance within Western culture as a term used to acknowledge someone's death.

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The phrase dormit in pace (English: "he sleeps in peace") was found in the catacombs of the early Christians and indicated that "they died in the peace of the Church, that is, united in Christ."[4][5][6] The acronym R.I.P., meaning "rest in peace", continues to be engraved on the gravestones of Christians,[7] especially in the Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican denominations.

This verse has been found inscribed in Hebrew on gravestones dating from the 1st century BC, in the graveyard of Bet Shearim. It speaks of the righteous person who died because he could not stand the evil surrounding him. A recapture of these words, read as "come and rest in peace," has been transferred to the ancient Talmudic prayers, in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic of the 3rd century AD. It is used to this day in traditional Jewish ceremonies.

Nahum 1:7 KJV 1900

The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; And he knoweth them that trust in him.

2 Corinthians 4:8–9 KJV 1900

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

We can lay down in peace. We can rest in peace knowing that God is our refuge and our fortress.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Psalm 46:1–2 KJV 1900

God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Isaiah 26:3 KJV 1900

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee.