With all the news of Islamic terrorists stabbing American
college students and driving trucks into German Christmas celebrations, one
might be somewhat puzzled by the seeming incompatibility of these things with
the “peace on earth” that Jesus is said to have brought 2,000 years ago. Two of our most treasured Christmas
passages feature peace as a hallmark
of the ministry of the Messiah on earth.
In Luke 2:14, a multitude of the heavenly host were praising God and
saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace among those with whom
he is pleased!”
And in Isaiah 9:6-7, we read: 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. 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.
We sing so much about peace on earth during this time of
year, but are we fooling ourselves?
If we pay attention to the news, clearly we’ve got a peace shortage
here. What are we to make of these
things?
First, the description of Jesus as
the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9 is tied to the prediction that He would ascend
the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it. It is also said that His peace would
never end. So we should ask ourselves,
“have those things happened yet?”
We could say, yes and no.
According to Peter in his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2, the resurrection
of Christ represented His ascending the throne of David (Acts 2:29-31). So we could say, yes, this has been
fulfilled already. But in another sense, it has not yet been fulfilled. Jesus will ultimately and finally establish His kingdom on earth in the
last days (Rev 21-22). It is then
that He will uphold the kingdom “with justice and with righteousness.” It is then that He will establish
peace. The ultimate fulfillment of
Isaiah 9 will take place at the consummation of the age.
This is an example of the “already,
not yet” that we occasionally talk about.
Many of the blessings we have in Christ, we enjoy in some sense already,
but in an ultimate sense not yet. Since
the words in Isaiah 9:7 appear to describe events that have not yet been fully
fulfilled, and since it is in that context that Jesus is described as the
Prince of Peace, His ministry as the Prince of Peace must also be an
eschatological reality. That is,
the fullness of who Jesus is as the Prince of Peace will be known in the last
days. After the Lord returns and
vanquishes His enemies and destroys evil and brings about the new heavens and
new earth, that is when there will be peace forevermore. When we see evidence of chaos in the
world, we can be reminded that Christ is on the throne of David, ruling over
His kingdom, but the final consummation is yet future, and we can look forward
expectantly to that glorious day.
Second, we must realize that there
is more than one kind of peace – peace between men and peace between God and
man. The violence we see in the
world is an absence of peace between men.
But Jesus’ work on the cross made peace between God and man.
So if the name Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6 refers to this part of
Christ’s ministry as the mediator of our peace with the Father, there is no
contradiction between what we read there and what we see in the world around us. Even as man is at odds with one
another, God has made peace with the believer through faith in Christ.
As we think about the Savior in the
coming days, let’s be thankful for three things: (1) we have peace with God now through the sacrifice of His Son;
(2) Jesus rules even now from the
throne of David; and (3) the day will come when His kingdom is consummated and
there will be complete, final, eternal peace on earth.
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