The Peacemaker
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I recently read that a former president of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences along with historians from England, Egypt, Germany, and India came up with the following statistics: Since 3600 B.C. the world has known only 292 years of peace! During this period there have been 14,351 wars, large and small, in which 3.64 billion people have been killed. The value of the property destroyed would pay for a golden belt around the world 97.2 miles wide and 33 feet thick. Since 650 B.C. there have also been 1656 arms races, only 16 of which have not ended in war. The remainder ended in the economic collapse of the countries involved.
I don’t have to tell you that we do not live in a peaceful world. Yet, every moment of the day people all over the planet are searching for peace. They want an escape from this tumultuous world and they are willing to do whatever they can to find peace, even if it’s for a moment. Some turn to drugs, some turn to alcohol, some turn to other people, some turn to money because they think they can purchase peace by buying a lot of stuff.
Some believe ultimate peace is based on their own actions. For example, John Lennon believed that true peace could only exist in a world void of religion and united under a one world government. In his song “Imagine” he says:
“Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace...”
So, in John Lennon’s mind, the reason there’s no peace on earth is because of religion and governments. It had nothing to do with mankind’s propensity to sin.
Some turn to various religions expecting them to bring about peace. In fact, I believe one of the most misleading aspects of Christianity is the idea that following Christ equals a completely peace-filled life. No where in the Bible are we ever promised a life of complete peace while we’re still on this earth. Unfortunately, too many people have bought into this idea and when they learn that it’s not true they give up and walk away from their relationship with Christ.
So, what is God communicating to us when we read in Luke 2:14 that the birth of Jesus meant “peace among those with whom [God] is pleased?”
Just glancing at the verse could cause one to believe that it means those who commit their earthly lives to Christ will experience “peace on earth.” But the Scriptures and past experiences of some of the most influential Christ followers who’ve every lived on this earth paint a completely different picture.
I want to spend our time this morning looking at the true meaning behind what the Angels meant when they said “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
To do this, I want to start with what they are NOT saying.
The Angels Are NOT Describing Internal Peace
The Angels Are NOT Describing Internal Peace
As I said a moment ago, one of the greatest misconceptions about the Christian life is the idea that when a person accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior, life automatically becomes peaceful. But this is simply not true. We are never promised internal or external peace while we remain on this earth.
When a person accepts Christ as their Savior, they are no longer condemned by the Law and place under God’s wrath, but what doesn’t change is our sinful nature. In other words, accepting Christ doesn’t change the fact that we are still sinners and we will remain sinners until the day of Jesus’s return or our being called home.
Because we are still sinners, living in a sin filled world that is controlled by Satan, it is impossible for us to experience internal peace. I would argue that our lack of internal peace will get worse because before we accepted Christ we didn’t care about our sinful lifestyle, but when we accept Christ we become aware of our sinful natures and that creates turmoil within us.
I believe one of the best descriptions of what I’m talking about is found in Romans 7. In these verses the Apostle Paul is talking about the internal awareness a Christian has regarding sin and the inner battle that it causes.
Read Romans 7:7-9
What the Apostle Paul is describing here is the fact that he would have never known coveting was a sin had God’s law not awakened him to that truth. And when he was awakened to that reality, he realized that his life was full of covetousness and he needed to repent from it. It also awakened a battle within him regarding sin in general and brought him to the realization of exactly what Jesus did on the cross and through His resurrection.
Read Romans 7:14-24
There is a constant battle within all true believers of Jesus Christ that rages on between our sinful nature and God’s Holy Spirit. Look again at verse 23. “I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”
That is not the description of an internal peace. It is exactly the opposite and it is something that every Christ follower deals with.
John Wesley was an 18th century evangelist and was the founder of the Methodist church. God used him and his brother Charles to write hymns that we still sing today. He was passionate about spreading the Gospel across England to the point where God used him to launch the Evangelical Revival in the 18th century.
Despite all the ways that God used him, John Wesley had an inner turmoil concerning his faith in Christ. There were times in his life, even when he was leading other to Christ, that he was unsure about his own salvation.
Wesley’s journal entries tell the story about his inner conflict. One entry reads, “Every day I was constrained to cry out, “What I do, I allow not; for what I would I do not, but what I hate, that I do.’.. I was indeed fighting continually, but not conquering.”
At one point in his life, God called Wesley and his brother to leave England and travel to one a colony in the New World called Georgia. Their purpose was to take the Gospel to the Indians. About this, Wesley wrote, “I went to America to convert Indians, but, oh, who shall convert me?”
Here is one of the greatest evangelist the world has ever known. He traveled all across England and came to America to share the Gospel and lead people to Jesus. Yet, he was in constant inner turmoil about his faith and salvation.
As long as our sinful natures are at war with God’s Holy Spirit, which dwells within us, we will not have an inner peace. That is why the “peace” the Angels are referring to in Luke 2:14 is not internal peace.
The Angels Are NOT Describing External Peace
The Angels Are NOT Describing External Peace
Not only are the Angels not describing internal peace, they are also not describing external peace. Just like we’re not promised internal peace, no where in the Scriptures are we promised external peace. In fact, it is just the opposite.
Paul tells Timothy that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted...” (2 Timothy 3:12, ESV).
During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when other revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matt. 5:10-11, ESV).
Talking to His Disciples, Jesus said, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves…Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake...” (Matt. 10:16-18, ESV).
Again, speaking to His Disciples about the end of time, Jesus promises that His enemies will, “deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9, ESV).
No, we are not promised external peace. We are promised suffering, we are promised an un peaceful life.
We don’t need to look any further than the lives and deaths of the Apostles to understand this truth.
Peter and Paul: Both killed in Rome about 66AD on the order of Emperor Nero. Paul was beheaded. Peter was crucified, upside down at his request, since he did not feel worthy of being crucified in the same manner as Jesus.
Andrew: History records that Andrew was murdered in Greece after spreading the Gospel in what is now the Soviet Union, Asia-Minor, and modern-day Turkey.
Thomas: The Apostle Thomas took the Gospel to Syria. While there he was pierced with spears by four soldiers.
Philip: Philip took the Gospel to Carthage in North Africa and then Asia Minor. While there he converted the wife of a Roman official. In retaliation, the Roman official had Philip arrested and put to death.
Matthew: The former tax collector and one of the original twelve disciples became a missionary in Persia and Ethiopia. It is believed he was stabbed to death in Ethiopia.
Bartholomew: Took the Gospel as far as India, but was skinned to death in 72AD in Asia Minor.
Matthias: The man who replaced the traitor Judas, Matthias ministered in Judaea, Cappadocia, and Northern Asia Minor until he was killed in 65AD.
Simon: Simon the Zealot preached the name of Jesus in Persia until he was crucified in 67AD.
Jude: Jude was clubbed to death in Persia in 67AD
James the Less: was also clubbed to death in 62AD.
James the Greater and John: James the greater was beheaded in Jerusalem in 42AD. The Disciple that Jesus loved, John was sentenced to death by boiling while he was Rome. After surviving the attempt, he was exiled to the Island of Patmos. He is the only one of the original Disciples that didn’t suffer a terrible death, but imagine living with burn marks and pain of an attempted boiling.
Some of these men Jesus’s closest earthly friends and they did not experience external peace. The reason this is important to understand is the same as understanding the issue with believing that our relationship with Jesus means constant internal peace.
When people are mislead to believe these things, they will get frustrated because what they expect to happen will never happen. The result is they give up and walk away.
So, if the Angels were not talking about internal or external “peace on earth,” what type of peace were they talking about?
The Angels ARE Describing that Jesus is Peace
The Angels ARE Describing that Jesus is Peace
Jesus is the peace maker because Jesus is peace. In Micah 5:5, the prophet says the promised Messiah, “will be peace” (ESV). Isaiah says that the coming Messiah will be known as “the Prince of Peace.” Peace is one of the name of Jesus because Jesus is peace. Again, He didn’t come to make our earthly live peaceful. He came to make peace between God and His Children. He is the Peace Maker because He was the sacrificial lamb. He is the Peace Maker because He was the burnt offering. He is the Peace Maker because He was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. So, when the Angels are describing “peace on earth” they are saying that the peace maker has literally come to the earth. “Glory to God in the Highest” because He is the only One who deserves all credit for sending “peace on earth” and that is a good thing for all who accept Him as their Savior. Therefore, “those with whom [God is pleased] are receiving a gift. Jesus the peace maker between sinful man and God the Father is the greatest gift ever given.
Theologian John Gill puts it like this, “Christ himself is…being just born, in order to make peace with God, and reconciliation for the sins of the people: and he is so called, because he is the author of peace between Jew and Gentile, which were at enmity with each other...” -John Gill
There are several Scriptures that point to this fact as well.
Paul, writing to the Colossian Church says, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile himself to all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.. (Col. 1:19-22, ESV).
To the Ephesian Church, Paul wrote something similar. He says, “For [Jesus] IS OUR PEACE, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so MAKING PEACE, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (Eph. 4:14-16, ESV).
Jesus tells His disciples, “‘I have said these things to you, that IN ME YOU MAY HAVE PEACE. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world’” (John 16:33, ESV).
Because He is the peace maker between us and God, while true believers are not guaranteed a peaceful earthly life, we are guaranteed eternal peace.
God’s Design: We live in a broken world, surrounded by broken lives, broken relationships, and broken systems. This brokenness is seen in suffering, violence, poverty, pain, and death around us. Brokenness leads us to search for a way to make LIFE work. In contrast to this brokenness, we also see beauty, purpose, and evidence of design around us. The Bible tells us that God originally planned a world that worked perfectly—where everything and everyone fit together in harmony. God made each of us with a purpose—to Magnify Him with our worship.
Sin: Life doesn’t work when we ignore God and His original purpose for our lives. We selfishly insist on doing things our own way. The Bible calls this sin. We all sin and distort the original design. The consequence of sin is separation from God—in this life and for all of eternity. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a).
Brokenness: Sin leads to a place of brokenness. We see this all around us and in our lives as well. When we realize LIFE is not working, we begin to look for a way out. We tend to go in many directions trying to figure it out on our own. Brokenness leads to a place of realizing a need for something greater. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the creator” (Romans 1:25). “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Prov. 14:12).
Remedy: At this point we need a remedy—some good news—a peace maker. Because of HIs love, God did not leave us in our brokenness. Jesus, God in human flesh, came to us and lived perfectly according to God’s original design. Jesus came to rescue us by doing for us what we could not do on our own. He made peace with God on our behalf. He took our sin and shame to the cross, paying the penalty of our sin by HIs death. Three days later, Jesus was then raised from the dead—to provide the only way for us to be rescued and restored to a relationship with God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…” (John 3:16a). “He erased the certificate of debt…and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.” (Col. 2:14). “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…He was buried [and] raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).
Repent and Believe: Simply hearing this Good News is not enough. We must admit our sinful brokenness and stop trusting in ourselves. We don’t have the power to escape this brokenness on our own. We need to be rescued. We must ask God to forgive us—turning from sin to trust only in Jesus. This is what it means to repent and believe. Believing, we receive new life through Jesus and God turns our lives in a new direction. “Repent and believe in the good news” (Mark 15b). “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9).
Recover and Pursue: When God restores our relationship to Him, we begin to discover meaning and purpose in a broken world because we understand that we exist to glorify Him in all areas of our lives. While we will still fail and face internal and external trials, we will still be assured of our salvation because of our faith in Jesus Christ as the perfect substitute. God’s Spirit empowers us to recover His design and assures us of His presence in this life and for all of eternity. “For it is God who is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Phil. 2:13). “For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
And that is why Jesus is peace and it is the only way you will ever enjoy true peace. It’s the kind of peace that allows you to endure whatever internal or external trial that comes your way, because you have the assurance of eternal peace because of the Prince of Peace.