The God of peace…. make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21
Jesus tells us in Matthews gospel chapter 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Thayer renders this word perfect as ‘brought to its end, finished; lacking nothing necessary to completeness; perfect.’
We have been predestined to be conformed to the image of His dear son according to Romans 8. The working of God in the life of a believer is to make Him perfect and complete in all the will of God, Colossians 4:12. Paul declared his purpose was shaped by teaching and admonishing every man to be found perfect in Christ, Col. 1:28. Paul wrote while I have not attained this, I do follow after this.
The God of peace works in us so we may be found in a place of rest in the midst of all circumstances. Knowing that God, in these circumstances, is working for my good and ultimately to conform me to the character and nature of Christ enables His peace to remain.
Andrew Murray wrote in 1894 An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews called The Holiest of All. The following is an excerpt from this book.
“ This is the name by which we are invited to call upon and trust our God. Peace is the opposite of enmity, of war, of care, of unrest. Where everything is finished and perfect there is peace and rest. God hath set the Holiest open for us, in token that we may enter into His rest, and trust Him to perfect His work in us. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, can now keep our hearts and minds by Christ Jesus. Peace, an end of all care and fear and separation, has been proclaimed; the God of peace is now waiting to do His work in us.”
At the conclusion of his chapter, He sums up with these comments, “Peace is rest. To know the God of peace is to enter the rest of God. And until the soul rests in Him in Sabbath peace, God cannot do His higher, His perfect work. The work of the Father and the Son for us find their completion in the work of the Holy Spirit within us. All the objective revelation is for the sake of the subjective experience, the mighty power of God working in the heart of His child what He longs to see. It is what God makes us, that the power of the redemption in Christ is proved. ”
While He works in us our position is to be one of rest. The children of Israel, as Hebrews points out, were unable to enter into the rest of God simply because of their unbelief.