{"id":169,"date":"2014-09-10T06:26:23","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T10:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=169"},"modified":"2014-09-09T23:45:58","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T03:45:58","slug":"rest-at-palace-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/rest-at-palace-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"Rest at Palace Beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thus they discoursed together till late at night; and after they had committed themselves to their Lord for protection, they betook themselves to rest. The Pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber, whose window opened towards the sun-rising. The name of the chamber was Peace; where he slept till break of day, and then he awoke and sang:<\/p>\n

“Where am I now? Is this the love and care
\nOf Jesus for the men that pilgrims are?
\nThus to provide! That I should be forgiven!
\nAnd dwell already the next door to heaven!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Following supper, Christian continues the conversation with the family at Palace Beautiful until late in the evening. The opportunities we have to fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ are precious and valuable. We should not rush through them or take them for granted, but savor the time we have together.<\/p>\n

As the family prepares to sleep, they trust themselves to the Lord.<\/p>\n

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;
\nFor You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
\n(Psalm 4:8)<\/p>\n

I lay down and slept;
\nI awoke, for the LORD sustained me.
\n(Psalm 3:5)<\/p>\n

\"Window<\/a>The spacious upper chamber where Christian finds rest represents Christ. Its window opens to the rising sun. Jesus is the \u201csun of righteousness\u201d who rises \u201cwith healing in its wings\u201d (Malachi 4:2). He is the light of the world (Isaiah 60:1; John 8:12), the Dayspring who gives \u201clight to those who sit in darkness\u201d (Luke 1:78-79, Isaiah 9:2).<\/p>\n

Christian\u2019s bedchamber is called \u201cPeace.\u201d<\/p>\n

You will keep him in perfect peace,
\nWhose mind is stayed on You,
\nBecause he trusts in You.
\n(Isaiah 26:3)<\/p>\n

Jesus is the \u201cPrince of Peace\u201d (Isaiah 9:6). In Him we find rest for our souls; He tells us:<\/p>\n

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).<\/p>\n

Peace is a gift of Christ (John 14:27) and a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). And peace is a hallmark of Christ\u2019s church. Most of the letters in the New Testament, written to encourage and instruct the churches, begin with a reference to peace: Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2; Philippians 1:2; Colossians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:2; 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4; Philemon 3; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:2; 2 John 3; Jude 2; Revelation 1:4.<\/p>\n

Paul exhorts us, as we fellowship and walk together in the church, to endeavor \u201cto keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace\u201d (Ephesians 4:3). The peace and unity we share in household of God is a demonstration of the power of gospel. It is a miracle of grace that God can take diverse and sinful people and make us one in Christ. It is Jesus Himself who is our peace, who rescues us from sin and selfishness and unites us together as His people for His glory. Paul explains:<\/p>\n

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:13-18).<\/p>\n

It is Jesus who cares and loves us. He is our Savior and Redeemer. It is He who brings us near to God and near to one another in the family of God. As with Christian in Bunyan\u2019s story, this truth should stir our hearts with joy and song.<\/p>\n

A Guide to John Bunyan’s\u00a0The Pilgrim’s Progress<\/em>
\nSee TOC<\/a>\u00a0for more posts from this commentary<\/p>\n

The text for\u00a0The Pilgrim’s Progress\u00a0<\/em>and images used are public domain
\nNotes and Commentary \u00a92014 Ken Puls
\nUnless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from\u00a0the New King James Version (NKJV) \u00a91982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thus they discoursed together till late at night; and after they had committed themselves to their Lord for protection, they betook themselves to rest. The Pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber, whose window opened towards the sun-rising. The name of the chamber was Peace; where he slept till break of day, and then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[47,12,64,11,38],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-the-pilgrims-progress","tag-church","tag-john-bunyan","tag-peace","tag-pilgrims-progress","tag-rest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-2J","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}