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Some beloved brethren say that this is a matter of preaching the gospel. Well, we trust nothing that is now written will discourage any true gospel preachers. "Preach the Word" says the Scripture (2 Tim. 4:2) and may the Lord Himself, the Lord of the harvest, thrust forth His labourers! But when we look a little more closely at this Scripture it would not seem to refer to the preaching of the gospel. Does it not rather speak of the peace which flows into the soul that stands in the good of the gospel of peace? This needs a little explanation. If you consult the dictionary (I mean the ordinary English dictionary) you will find that peace is defined as the absence of war. That is the highest to which dictionaries can reach. But if you read your Bible you get a different thought. Briefly stated, Bible peace is peace in the midst of war. This is very arresting. One could not imagine for a moment that our God is at all disturbed or caught unawares by any storm down here. God's throne is set in heaven and our God is a "God of peace", a description I think we find 6 times in the New Testament. This is what characterised the Lord Jesus in His holy pathway here. Again we must limit ourselves, because of space, but consider Him for a moment in those scenes that we so often ponder at the breaking of bread "when the darkness round did thicken". All Satan's power and more was about to be let loose upon Him, despised, betrayed, forsaken …! And what does He say? "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth (notice, not like the dictionary definition). Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). He was not only enjoying peace Himself, He was spreading it abroad to others. It is the same in resurrection, the Lord out of death, and commissioning His own "to be for Him where He had been". Characteristically His word to them as He stands in the midst is, "Peace". And why? "In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer ("peace") I have overcome the world" John 16:33. It is abundantly clear from many other Scriptures that our pathway in this world will not be an easy one — suffering, reproach, the cross. "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). But what our Scripture is teaching us is that there is One who delights to stand alongside and breathe peace into our souls and not only into us, but that we should radiate that peace to others. I was very interested in pursuing this study to discover that the Roman soldier (from whom this imagery is taken) had hob nails in his sandals. In other words his sandals gave him a good grip of the ground on which he was standing. I think this is very attractive. We are to have a good grip of our standing in Christ and then we can begin to become helpful to others. We shall be able to bring peace into the situations that we meet, and that is what this Scripture supposes you and I are to do in the midst of some of the many problems that crop up in the present evil day.