PERSONS ENJOYING THE PEACE OF GOD. BIBLE IS FULL OF THEM.

Jonah is an excellent example in 1:8, when sailors questioned him during the storm. ‘For whose cause is this trouble? What is your occupation?’  Evangelist.  ‘Where do you come from?’  (God of glory/) ‘Of what people are you?’  (God’s chosen)   Why? Why? ‘I am a Hebrew.  I fear the Lord.  The God of heaven is Creator of the sea and dry land.’  Significant truth during a storm. ‘The men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him. Why have you done this? The men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

‘What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us- for the sea was growing more tempestuous?’  The remedy- ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea.’  A human sacrifice, typical of Christ’s rejection into the ocean of man’s wickedness- and God’s mercy. He assured, ‘Then the sea will become calm for you.  For I know this great tempest is because of me.’  Human effort could not spare the ship and crew- the men rowed hard to bring the ship to land. They could not- the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. They picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea. And the sea ceased from its raging. Then the people feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and (surprisingly) made vows. The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.  Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and nights.

Then ‘Jonah prayed to the Lord from the fish’s belly.’ (2:1) Deep peace flows through this amazing prayer.  His body temperature, that of the whale is raised.  He is breathing high percentage oxygen for whale blood has concentrations of oxygen much higher than human.  I spoke with a gentleman in the park who challenged the bible and especially Jonah and whale.  ‘How could he actually breathe?’  He was astonished when I told him I had just researched this amazing detail.  Jonah was serene, for ‘He answered me. (2:2) You heard my voice‘. (v2 )

‘I will look again to your holy temple. (v4)  You have brought up my life from the pit. (v6)  I remembered the Lord (v7) I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving.’  He showed remarkable calmness. ‘I will pay what I have vowed.  Salvation is of the Lord.’ (v9)  Jonah demonstrated that the peace of God passes all understanding.  Australia remembers 2 men trapped in the mine of Tasmania, when that little Uniting church prayed. Pray in most atypical circumstance in most untimely hours.  God hears the prayer of faith. The Lord honours the calm servant.  ‘The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and preach to it the message I tell you.’ Notice the concord of Jonah, who prayed to the Lord after internment in the belly of the whale for three days.  Don’t wait for that experience before you enjoy His peace and tell the gospel.

Esther showed the serenity of a child of the King. Her uncle Mordecai’s sackcloth marked deep tragedy, which he wore.  Mordecai told her servant ‘All that had happened to him, including the immense sum of money that evil Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasures to destroy the Jews. Similar hatred burns when adjacent nations aspire to drive Israel into the Mediterranean.  To support this foul scheme, ‘He gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her. And ‘that he might command her (at great personal risk) to go into the king and make supplication to him and plead before him for the people. The servant returned and told Esther all the words of Mordecai.’

Queen Esther was tranquil in her greatest crisis, although her people were exposed to danger.  Her own life was in jeopardy.  She was calm, for she knew her God. This encourages us. Esther responded to Mordecai through her servant.
‘All the king’s servants know that if any man or woman goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has one law to put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden sceptre, that he may live.  I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days. (4:11) They told Esther’s words to Mordecai.  He warned, ‘Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace more than all the other Jews.’

Mordecai solemnly foretold, ‘if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.’ We saw this fulfilled in the Nazi holocaust. Then the prophetic word, ‘Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such an hour as this.’  Serene, Esther outlined her plan for all the Jewish people in Shushan, ‘Gather all the Jews and fast for me neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day.  My maids and I (understandably sympathetic) will fast likewise. And so I will go into the king, which is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.’ Esther calmly faced possible, immediate rejection and death.  Her gaze was heavenward.

Our Lord Jesus taught, ‘If any would come after Me, let him take up his cross daily and follow Me. So shall He be My disciple.’  Queen Esther qualified. Do we?
Then the climax.  ‘On the third day Esther put on her royal robes, majestic and dignified, and stood in the inner court of the King’s palace while the king sat on the royal throne in the royal house. God honoured her faith and gave her acceptance with the king.’ When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favour in his sight. The king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. Indeed, God’s hand was on Esther.  His peace filled her being, though her heart raced with excitement.  Esther confirmed the favour when ‘She went near and touched the top of the sceptre. (5:3) What is your wish, Queen Esther?’
 It shall be given to you- up to half my kingdom. ‘Mordecai was honoured when the wicked Haman led him in triumph through the city.  The Queen honoured the king at a royal dinner, exposing the diabolical Haman, now impugned by the king and hanged on the gallows designed for Mordecai.  The Jewish nation was preserved.  God had been glorified, Esther pacified and her people rescued. 
The sacrifice of Christ had been her inner strength- hence her calm repose.