War & Peace

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
Matthew 10:34

"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God..
James 4:4

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. "
John 14:27

How can Jesus say that He came to bring a sword, and not peace, but then, reassure us with His words recorded in John 14:27?
What is it that brings this war or peace that Jesus referred to?
The presence of sin, friendship with "the world", the world system, the spirit of fallen,corrupted, sinful humanity, ruled over by a fallen Lucifer, brings the sword that Jesus wields. Darkness, rebellion, sin are the realms He destroys, the unredeemed are the prisoners of war he releases and gives good gifts to...
The peace that Jesus promises comes only after He wins the war that rages inside us, against and around us. The enemy of our souls attacks when he's threatened, but when the smoke clears, when the noise of the world is quieted, when we surrender to Jesus, we are rescued. It is a peace that surpasses all comprehension, that those in the world cannot understand, that stills our spirit, even as sometimes disasters and horrible things swirl around us.
The keeper of a sometimes uneasy peace is the Holy Spirit, a.k.a. The Comforter.
He makes sure that the "boundary lines" of our hearts and spirits fall in pleasant spiritual places, if we listen to his still small voice, and obey.