Is peace possible in the midst of difficult circumstances? In Isaiah 26:3, God promises it. “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because He trusts in You.” This hymn study is being written on February 24, 2025, the third anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. As the country enters a fourth year of war, the national government in Kyiv has designated this day, today and in the future, to be the “National Day of Prayer” for Ukraine. Our hope for a lasting, just peace cannot be based on negotiating skills of political leaders. It is based on God’s love, faithfulness, goodness, and sovereign power. This is the God “who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
That’s why it’s possible to have peace in our hearts even where this is no peace in our land. That’s not just true today for Ukraine. It’s been true for believers in every age in history in areas where “wars and rumors of wars” persist, as Jesus said they would do (Matthew 24:6). Think of periods of biblical history where believers were forced to live in wartime conditions, from ancient Israel facing Philistine attacks and Babylonian conquest to New Testament Judea under Roman military occupation and apostles in prisons.
The primary need for peace for human beings, of course, is peace with God. And we have that already, according to Romans 5:1. The wrath of God has been satisfied on our behalf though the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ as our substitute. When we sing, “Jesus paid it all,” we are celebrating with joy the fact that our debt has been paid in full. We will never experience the wrath of God, either in this life or the next. We will benefit from His loving discipline as His adopted children, but never His anger as His enemies. This is the peace that has come as a result of our having been reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-20), and it is the peace that we can offer as peacemakers in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:9).
But God’s compassion is there to carry us through the temporary times of pain and suffering in this life, yes, and even in times of war and persecution. That’s the promise in the context of the Isaiah 26 passage. Even as the prediction of judgment was being given, Isaiah could prophecy of about God’s peace, that should be their song. Paul knew this peace from his Roman imprisonment as he wrote to the Philippians, not only about the God of peace (4:9), but also the peace of God (7). “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
And so, imagine yourself today in Ukraine – in Kyiv or Odesa or Lviv or Kherson (or hundreds of other cities, towns and villages) – claiming that very biblical promise as you join with anxious brothers and sisters in Christ praying for peace, and singing “Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?” That question comes as the opening line of the hymn, “Peace, Perfect Peace,” written in 1875 by Edward Henry Bickersteth (1825-1906), Anglican Bishop of Exeter between 1885 and 1900. Its first seven stanzas each ask the question, “Is such peace possible in this fallen world?” It’s in the eighth stanza that the answer comes, and it’s found in the assurance that Jesus will bring earth’s struggles to an end as He calls us to heaven’s perfect peace.
Born in Islington, England, the son of the Rector of Watton, Hertfordshire, Bickersteth was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge with degrees in Classics. His father had at one point been a missionary to West Africa. After his own ordination, he became curate of Bannington, Norfolk and then of Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells. He was called to the Rectory of Hinton Martell in 1852 and then to the Vicarage of Christ Church, Hampstead in 1855, a position in which he remained for 30 years. In 1885 he became Dean of Gloucester and in the same year was appointed Bishop of Exeter. Bickersteth was awarded an honorary D.D. by Cambridge University in 1885.
Following in the footsteps of his father, Bickersteth undertook a number of extended overseas mission tours in support of the work of the Church Mission Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. In 1880 he travelled to India and the Middle East. 1891 he travelled to Japan, reuniting with his eldest son, Edward, who was then serving as the first Bishop of South Tokyo. Arriving in Yokohama that year, the travel journals of his daughter, Mary Jane Bickersteth, include detailed descriptions of the Anglican church’s mission work in Japan as well as visits to Japanese shrines and the experience of surviving a strong earthquake at Osaka. Bickersteth married twice. His first marriage was in February, 1848 to his cousin Rosa, daughter of Sir Samuel Bignold of Norwich. She died in 1873, having borne him six sons and ten daughters. Almost 20 years later, in 1876, he married another cousin Ellen Susanna, daughter of Robert Bickersteth of Liverpool, who survived him without children.
His missionary zeal overflowed from a personal and passionate sense of his own salvation. This missionary heart is expressed in his 1849 hymn, “O Jesu, Savior of the lost.”
1. O Jesus, Savior of the lost,
My Rock and Hiding place,
By storms of sin and sorrow toss’d,
I seek Thy sheltering grace.2. Guilty, forgive me, Lord, I cry;
Pursued by foes I come;
A sinner, save me, or I die;
An outcast, take me home.3. Once safe in Thine Almighty arms,
Let storms come on amain;
There danger never, never harms;
There death itself is gain.4. And when I stand before Thy throne,
And all Thy glory see,
Still be my righteousness alone
To hide myself in Thee.
Bickersteth edited hymnals and was an accomplished poet, winning prizes for his literary work at Cambridge as a student. Beginning with a volume of poems in 1849, he published extensively. His “Hymnal Companion” called forth these high words of praise from John Julian, editor of the massive 1892 “A Dictionary of Hymnology,” writing “Of its kind and from its theological standpoint, as an evangelical hymn book, it is in poetic grace, literary excellence, and lyric beauty, the finest collection in the Anglican Church;” and he pronounced Bickersteth’s contributions to this volume as “very beautiful and of much value.” His most popular hymn was “Peace, Perfect Peace.”
It was “birthed” in August, 1875. During a summer holiday, Bishop Bickersteth went for a walk on the moors of Harrogate, where his family vacationed. It was a Sunday afternoon, and his mind worked over the morning sermon given by Vicar Canon Gibbon. The sermon’s key passage from the book of Isaiah tumbled through his thoughts: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee” (Isaiah 26:3, KJV). Gibbon’s message stressed how the Hebrew word “peace” repeated itself, because of that repetition being translated into English as “Perfect Peace.” This emphasis struck Bickersteth profoundly, and “Peace, Perfect Peace” echoed through his thoughts.
During that afternoon, Bickersteth visited an aged dying relative, Archdeacon Hill of Liverpool. That ill man was in a deeply depressed and disturbed state of mind. Eager to be of spiritual help and comfort, Bickersteth picked up his Bible and read the portion of scripture used in the morning’s lesson. Then, while his relative slept, he took a sheet of paper from a nearby desk, quickly jotted the lines of this poem, and read them to the sick man after his awakening, which brought the man great comfort. Edward returned home, gathered his children, and read the poem to them. After Bickersteth wrote the words to the hymn lyrics, it was first published in a tract, “Songs in the House of Pilgrimage,” along with four other hymns. It soon became a hymn commonly sung at funerals. “Peace Perfect Peace” was sung at the grave of Bickersteth’s oldest son. It was said to be a favorite of Queen Victoria. Translated into many languages, Bickersteth heard it sung in Japanese and Chinese on his tour to the East. He died in London, having edited three hymnbooks and produced at least thirty hymns of his own.
And so, on this 2025 National Day of Prayer for Ukraine, as we long and pray for peace, this hymn serves as a sermon-like commentary on that passage in Isaiah 26:3. It is our plea in song that God would answer each of these questions for our brothers and sisters in Christ, who are struggling to persevere in hope as this war now enters its fourth year of senseless slaughter and destruction. Our prayers are bolstered by the promises of Scripture that remind us that God is sovereign and has not only perfect peace, but also a perfect plan. No one in all of creation was found who was worthy to open the scroll in John’s vision in Revelation 5. John wept over that, and so would we, if we did not know what he learned. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered, and is worthy to open the scroll of human history and destiny, bringing to pass the perfect redemption God has planned from before the foundation of the earth.
And so we can sing each of these questions, knowing that God will answer. Every stanza begins with that plaintive expression, “Peace, perfect peace?”
Stanza 1 asks …
Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.
This world is a dark world of sin because all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23). However, Jesus shed His blood for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). Thus, the blood of Jesus is the answer to the problem of sin (Ephesians 2:14-17).
Stanza 2 asks …
Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.
All of us have thronging duties and cares which press us daily (Luke 21:34). However, Jesus wants us to do the will of the Father in heaven (Matthew 7:21). Hence, doing the will of the Lord is the means by which we can have peace and rest (2 Thessalonians 1:7).
Stanza 3 asks …
Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round?
On Jesus’ bosom naught but calm is found.
Life is filled with its sorrows which surge around us from time to time (Psalm 90:10). We cannot literally rest on Jesus’ bosom, but we can still abide in Him (John 15:7). Therefore, just as He stilled the storm on Galilee, so Jesus offers us peace and calm (Matthew 8:26).
Stanza 4 asks …
Peace, perfect peace, ’mid suffering’s sharpest throes?
The sympathy of Jesus breathes repose.
After one of Bickersteth’s sisters pointed out that there is nothing specific in the hymn about physical suffering, “That is soon remedied,” he replied. He took up an envelope and wrote this following stanza. This sympathetic Jesus cares about our hurts (1 Peter 5:7).
Stanza 5 asks …
Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away?
In Jesus’ keeping we are safe, and they.
All believers, especially parents, knows the anxiety about loved ones who have traveled some distance from home for school or job or family. But peace is available as they entrust those loved ones to the care of the Lord who has planned all their days (Psalm 139:16).
Stanza 6 asks …
Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?
Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.
Certainly, we realize that the future is unknown to us (James 4:14). However, while we do not know the future, we know Jesus who holds the future (John 17:3). Thus, we can trust Jesus, who is the ruler of the universe, to bring us peace so that we need not worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34).
Stanza 7 asks ..
Peace, perfect peace, death shad’wing us and ours?
Jesus has vanquished death and all its pow’rs.
We realize that death is shadowing us and ours because it is appointed for men to die once (Hebrews 9:27). Yet Jesus has vanquished death and even destroyed him who had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14-15). Hence, we are no longer under death’s powers and can be at peace because we have nothing to fear from this last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:25-26).
Stanza 8 answers …
It is enough: earth’s struggles soon shall cease,
And Jesus calls us to Heav’n’s perfect peace.
Earth’s struggles soon shall cease for Christians because when they die they are at rest from their labors (Revelation 14:13). At that time Jesus will call us when He comes again to take them home (John 14:1-3). Then we shall experience Heaven’s perfect peace (1 Peter 1:3-5).
The tune, PAX TECUM, was composed in 1877 for this very text by a young student, George Thomas Caldbeck (1852-1918). The following year, it was harmonized to be published in the second edition (1878) of “The Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer” by Charles John Vincent (1852-1934). Caldbeck was born in Waterford, Ireland, where attended the National Model School, Waterford, and Islington Theological College. His desire to be a missionary was thwarted by his poor health. He returned to Cork and became a schoolmaster and evangelist in Ireland. In 1888 he moved to London as an independent itinerant preacher. He was arrested in 1912 for selling scripture cards door to door without a license. The judge dismissed the case upon learning he was composer of the hymn tune PAX TECUM. At the time he was living in a church hostel. He died in Epsom, Surrey.
Here is a link to youth singing most of the stanzas at the Shenandoah Christian Music Camp, an anabaptist ministry in Harrisonburg, Virginia.