'The _power_ of God,' says Peter, laying hold of the most general
expression that he can find, not caring to define ways and means, but
pointing to the one great force that is sure to do it.
Now if we were to translate with perfect literality, we should read, not
_by_ the power of God, but _in_ the power of God. And whilst it is quite
probable that what Peter meant was 'by,' I think it adds great force and
beauty to the passage, and is entirely accordant with the military
metaphor, which I have already pointed out, if we keep the simple local
sense of the word, and read, 'guarded _in_ the power of God.' And that
suggests a whole stream of Scriptural representations, both in the Old
and in the New Testament. Let me recall one or two. 'The name of the
Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe.' 'He
that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the
shadow of the Almighty.' 'Israel shall dwell safely,' says one of the
old prophets, 'in unwalled villages, for I will be a wall of fire round
about her.' The psalmist said, 'The Angel of the Lord encampeth round
about them that fear Him.' And all these representations concur in this
one thought, that we are safe, enclosed in God, and that He, by His
power, compasses us about. And so no foe can get at us who cannot break
down or climb over the encircling wall of defence. An army in an enemy's
country will march in hollow square, and put its most precious
treasures, or its weaker members, its sick, its women, its children, its
footsore, into the middle there, and with a line of lances on either
side, and stalwart arms to wield them, the feeblest need fear no foe. We
'are kept in the power of God unto salvation.'
But do not forget how, far beyond the psalmist and prophet, and in
something far more sublime and wonderful than a poetic figure, the New
Testament catches up the same phrase, and gives us, as the condition of
vitality, as the condition of fertility, as the condition of
tranquillity, as the condition of security, the same thing--'in Christ.'
Remember His very last words prior to His great intercessory prayer, in
which He spoke about keeping those that were given Him in His name. And
just before that He said to them, 'In the world ye shall have
tribulation, but in Me ye shall have peace.' Kept, guarded as behind the
battlements of some great fort, which has in its centre a quiet,
armoured chamber into which no noise of battle, nor shout of foeman, can
ever come. 'In Christ,' though the world is all in arms without, 'ye
shall have peace.' 'Guarded in the power of God unto salvation.'