Peace

Peace – Fourth Sunday of Advent

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. This week we look at Father’s excellent gift of peace.

Isaiah 52:7 (NASB)

7  How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

The King is coming! One week from today we will celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth; the Anointed One, the Messiah. One week from today we will celebrate the birth of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. One week from today,

2  The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. Isaiah 9:2 (NASB)

The Prince of Peace is coming.

Isaiah 9:6-7 (NASB)

6  For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

7  There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.

It’s an interesting point to ponder that not only will His government and peace never end, but there will be no end to the increase of them. This is an amazing thought. Never-ending ever-increasing peace.

Peace was proclaimed by the angels at Bethlehem.

Luke 2:12-14 (NASB)

12  "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13  And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14  "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Before I understood the grace of God well, I used to understand this line to mean that only those who pleased God would have peace. But that’s not what it says, is it? It is a blessing that bestows peace upon mankind and tells us that Father is pleased with us.

How can it be that God is pleased with mankind? Isn’t mankind sinful? This blessing came before the cross, before Jesus died and rose again. How can God say He is pleased with people before the sacrifice had been made?

It’s very important when reading Scripture that we keep in mind that God exists outside time. He is not bound by time in any way. He is “the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17b-NIV) Father knows the end, and He has known it from the beginning.

Isaiah 46:9-10 (NASB)

9  "…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,

10  Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';

Faith in God, faith that He would provide a way out of our bondage to sin and death, is what has always been required for salvation. The cross simply marks in human history the fulfillment of God’s promise to provide salvation. Salvation would have been impossible without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We accept God’s gracious gift by faith in something God made happen in the past. The Old Testament saints accepted the gift by faith in something God promised would happen in the future. Isaiah makes this clear:

Isaiah 26:12 (NASB)

12  LORD, You will establish peace for us, Since You have also performed for us all our works.

Isaiah looks forward to God’s promises— “you will establish peace for us.” He also adds a comment about how, given that mankind is sinful, this can be possible. He says that God has performed all our works for us! What a magnificent insight into the grace of God this is. We could not accomplish the works necessary to please God, so God did it for us. It is Jesus who accomplished this.

Now listen to the words of Jesus.

John 14:27 (NASB)

27  "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

So, God is pleased with you and He has given you the blessing of peace. This great peace with God also extends to peace between Jews and Gentiles. The Jews cannot say that they are special and have a corner on the market for God’s love. The Gentiles are not excluded from God’s grace. There is no need for us to shun one another, as Paul remarks in his letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:12-18 (NASB)

12  remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13  But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14  For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

15  by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,

16  and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

17  AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR;

18  for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

In this we see that peace with God and peace with our fellowman comes through the Prince of Peace, whose birth we anxiously await.

Galatians 5:6 (NIV)

6  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

I love the way the NIV renders this passage. “Faith expressing itself through love” really expresses for me the effect of the new life God has given us. Since the God who is love is living in us by His Spirit, it is only natural that love would flow out from us.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)

22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Each of these aspects of the fruit of the Spirit of God are the expected result of His life in us and our life in Him. Notice that love, joy, and peace are the first three aspects mentioned. As we have been waiting in hope for the advent of our Lovely Lord Jesus, we have focused our attention in successive weeks on love, joy, and now peace.

God’s peace is not transient. It is a covenant between us and God.

Isaiah 42:6-7 (NASB)

6  "I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations,

7  To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.

This prophesy about Jesus makes the connection for us. The Prince of Peace is the covenant between us and God. The covenant involves and binds God fully. It is between God the Father and God the Son and it is guaranteed by God the Holy Spirit. We touched on this idea indirectly two weeks ago. The passage we read was

2 Corinthians 1:20-22 (NASB)

20  For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

21  Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,

22  who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

Hebrews 6:13-20 (NASB)

13  For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,

14  saying, "I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU."

15  And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

16  For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

17  In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath,

18  so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

19  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast…

These passages show clearly that God made an unconditional covenant and that He made it even more sure by an oath between the persons of the trinity. The covenant is unchangeable and the oath is unchangeable. It is impossible for God to lie. All this was done so that we who take refuge in His glorious grace will have strong encouragement to fully trust in what we hope for and that this sure and steadfast hope would be an anchor for our soul.

I think it’s important to note here that our soul and our spirit are not the same thing. We are a spirit; we have a soul; we live in a body.

Our spirit is the essence of our being. It’s what we are at the deepest level. Our spirit is fused with Jesus. We are mysteriously one with Him in spirit. We are in Him and He is in us at the level of our spirit. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Our soul, on the other hand, is our mind, will, and emotions. It is at the level of our soul where we need encouragement and reassurance. It is our soul that needs to be anchored.

Isaiah 26:3-4 (NASB)

3  "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You.

4  "Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.

The King James Version renders verse three, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” In the New American Standard we get the idea of an anchor for our soul in the form of “the steadfast of mind.” The King James brings out this steadiness in the form of the focus or direction of our attention; “whose mind is stayed on Thee.”

Paul also provides encouraging words about God’s gift of peace.

Philippians 4:4-7 (NASB)

4  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

5  Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

6  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Notice first that Paul assumes that we have a gentle spirit. This is a given since our spirit is joined to the Holy Spirit and He is very gentle. He does not barge in uninvited. Instead, He stands at the door and knocks.

Next notice what the peace of God guards. It guards your soul; your mind, will, and emotions.

Finally, let’s close with the reassurance Father compassionately gave us through His prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 54:10 (NASB)

10  "For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken," Says the LORD who has compassion on you.

As we go into the final week before Christmas, rest in the promise of God’s peace. God is trustworthy, faithful, and true. In His great love He compassionately provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him in peace. Next Sunday we will celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Grace and peace to you, and merry Christmas.