Lent 2018 | Day #5: Peace

I desire to have more peace, to grow in peace, to experience higher levels of peace. But, all of this can only happen by drawing closer to Jesus. There is no other way.

If there is a subject that is difficult to discuss it has to be spiritual peace. How do we get? What causes it to go away? Is there anything we can do to make it last?

I am sure that there are more questions that have been asked. I know I have asked them too. In spite of the difficulty in talking about peace, there is one key reality that gives me comfort. And it is this, there is someone who not only understands it, to be with him is to have the very peace of God in you, surrounding you, and sustaining you.

One of my favorite descriptions of Jesus is that he is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Now I know that Peace is not a country, a physical place. But for the sake of this conversation what if it was? What if when the Bible described Jesus as the Prince “of” Peace that it meant it like some earthly royal is the king of this place or the queen of the other place. What if peace were a place and not just something that we experienced within us?

I like this idea. I know that this is not the primary way, or even the best way, of interpreting what this phrase means. However, it is something that I have wondered about on several occasions. While Peace is not a place on the map, Jesus is a very real person. And to be with him is to be where peace is because he is the embodiment of this quality of being.

I desire to have more peace, to grow in peace, to experience higher levels of peace. But, all of this can only happen by drawing closer to Jesus. There is no other way.

As we continue to contemplate God’s love in Jesus, we should give thanks that God sent peace to reign in our lives because of Jesus. To have Jesus is to know true and everlasting peace.

I know that many have seen the image below on shirts or bumper stickers, but it is still true even if has become cliched in the minds of some.

Lent Day #22 | Peace

The bottom line is we will never fully understand who Jesus is in his fullness. We can experience his fullness, but wrapping our minds around it is not possible.

There are many names given to Jesus in the scriptures. Names that speak to what he provides. Names like savior, healer, teacher and friend. There are other names that speak to how he sustains us in our own journey. Names such as the bread of life, guide, living water and the true vine. These are all significant and good. As a matter of fact, we need all of these names so we can continue to expand our understanding and appreciation of who he is. There is no one name that fully encompasses the greatness, majesty and totality of Jesus. This is why those of us who have been redeemed are is such awe of him.

The bottom line is we will never fully understand who Jesus is in his fullness. We can experience his fullness, but wrapping our minds around it is not possible. It would be like a seahorse comprehending an ocean, thinking that in knowing the part it has seen the whole. However, the attempt is what gives rise to our joy and satisfaction in his ability to fulfill his promise to save us!

Prince of Peace - Isaiah 9:6

In the entirety of the bible there is one superlative that stands out to me. It rises to the surface because of the calamity and conflict that seems to emerge so frequently in our time. One of the signs of Jesus glorious return is the “wars and rumors of wars” (Matthew 24:6) around the world. As every nation develops strategies and weaponry to combat terrorism, civil unrest and outright conflict, Jesus stands at the apex of history as the only one capable of bringing true and lasting peace. The prophet Isaiah declared the coming of this peacemaker when he said,

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6, ESV)

What is it about Jesus that allows the scripture to speak of Jesus as the prince of peace? How can Jesus accomplish this feat?

Will he disarm the armies of the world?

Will he broker peace agreements between warring factions and feuding neighbors?

How exactly is Jesus qualified to bring about the end of this animus that seemingly exists in every culture?

Paul made an interesting statement in his admonition to the Corinthian church. Listen to how he connects Jesus character and disposition toward the world and the method we, those who follow in his steps, wage war against the enemies of God’s kingdom.

¹ I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— ² I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵ We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ⁶ being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (2 Corinthians 10:1-6, ESV)

Peace does not take place because the weapons of warfare are removed. Peace comes when the motivation to war is excised from the human heart. Only the Gospel can do that because only the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims the message of the Prince of Peace. The longer it takes the church to realize the power it wields as bearers of the Gospel of Jesus, the longer it will take for true peace on earth to come.

Christmas-gate: The Scandal of Christmas

⁶For to us a child is born,
     to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
     and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
     Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace
     there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
     to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
     from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)

This may very well be one of the most astounding prophecies that Jesus fulfilled by his birth. It reveals so much of what the Christ Child would accomplish for all those that would put their trust in him.

Here in the form of a small, defenseless and humble child the Redeemer of the world stepped into the limited from the eternal. In the hands of a young, faithful maiden was held the hope of the not just the faithful, but of the cosmos itself. In the company of beasts of labor and livestock the King of kings was born.

Jesus was born in a lowly place, not so he could learn humility, but so that the humble would not fear approaching him.

Jesus, the baby, was given to us so that we could, if we would, find the hope and solace our hearts and souls long for.

God’s Wild Idea

But, what really astounds is the last line of this passage. Look at it again. Notice the “who” and the “why” of this event. Who will do this? “The Lord of hosts will do this.” The birth of Jesus was not relegated to the hands of angels. It was not entrusted into the feeble hands of broken humanity. No, God himself, concocted and executed the greatest scandal ever perpetrated in the universe!

If you do not believe that the birth of Christ is a scandal, you must read the stories again.

An unwed, pregnant girl
A betrayed groom
A birth in an unsanitary stall
Outcast shepherds, the first to hear
Pagan wise men, the first to worship
A mad king, bent on retaining power
The king’s counselors, unable to accept the news

This is a scandal. We have grown so used to it that we have made it seem so normal. And it was all God’s idea.

God Enjoyed What He Did

If the fact that God made this event take place is not enough, the way in which God did it just as unbelievable. Isaiah says that it was “with zeal” that God was going to do it. With zeal? God enjoyed doing what he did. While that is not completely surprising it is surprising. God took pleasure and delighted in sending His son into the world. God was not unhappy or saddened by the Son’s departure from heaven into the world of men. No, the Father sent him with “zeal”.

There are so many miracles taking place in the birth of Jesus. What makes this entire event and the circumstances that surround even more spectacular is that God was not only behind it, God was pleased by His role in the whole thing.

The sun will rise on Christmas morning and we will be challenged once again to consider not only if we have accepted the man that this baby would become. That would be too short sighted a view of Christmas. We will be confronted with whether we, like our Heavenly Father have enjoyed and delighted in the coming of the Son of God.