25 "“I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! 30 Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.”31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”"
John 16:25-33
Jesus said 'In Me peace'. But peace is the fruit and the consequence of other things, the end product and result of other things, and we need to look at the teaching of the New Testament as a whole on what it means to be in Him to appreciate fully this peace. It is not a negative thing, the mere absence of disturbing factors, but something positive and vital. And this is where the ministry of the Spirit comes in, for it is He Who leads us into all truth illumining our minds to understand the wealth of our position in Him. It is this, in fact, that Paul prays for in Ephesians 1:15ff. The meaning of the phrase 'in Him' is expounded for us in the epistles of the New Testament as a whole (it is perhaps significant that Jesus says: 'These things have I spoken unto you' - all the teaching about the Spirit Whose office it is to lead us into all truth). It is the knowledge of what we are in Him, and what is ours in Him, that is our great source of peace for a true realisation of our position in Christ that makes a man unassailable. This is what the Psalmist glimpsed in Psalm 46: 'God is our refuge and strength therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed.' It is a great exercise of faith to recognize where we are and what we are, and where God has placed us in Christ, to know as Paul says in Ephesians 1 the exceeding greatness of the power that is to us-ward who believe. This is 'the rest that remaineth for the people of God' (Hebrews 4:9). To dwell habitually in that atmosphere is the secret of Christian victory (see Revelation1, where tribulation and peace go together in a remarkable way: in exile in Patmos, and under such considerable pressure, John was nevertheless able to sing in exultation: 'Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God....'). The knowledge of his position in Christ ushered him into royal living. This is the true peace of God (16:25-33).
We must now look at the other side of the paradox: in the world - tribulation. Tribulation has a twofold source, inward and outward. The inward source of tribulation comes from the fact that over against our position in Christ there is the reality of the battle with the flesh. There is the fight of faith, the mortifying of the deeds of the body. This is battling and tribulation indeed, the daily dying to sin and self, the daily taking up of the cross and denying oneself to follow Christ. There is a cost attached to such faithful living, as we may see from a study of the lives of Biblical giants like Abraham, Moses or Paul; the battle for inward purity, for truth and honour and integrity, the battle for character is one that necessarily involves much tribulation. The outward discipline of tribulation comes through one's faithfulness to the testimony of the gospel. The opposition and persecution that come for Christ's sake and the gospel's constitute a real tribulation as witness the sufferings of the early Church in Acts and not a few twentieth century martyrs, in South America, China and elsewhere. It is inevitable that it should be so; it always will be so.
But the paradox of peace and tribulation is not an equal one, and the two sides are not in equal tension. The balance is decidedly in favour of the new order. There is the 'much more' of grace (Romans 5). Jesus has overcome the world and because this is so, we are more than conquerors through Him and nothing can ever separate us from His love (Romans 8:39).