Peace On Earth

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was at the height of his profession as a critic and was hailed as Americas favorite poet in the mid 1800’s. Tragedy struck when his wife died during a miscarriage while he was studying abroad in Europe. Longfellow would eventually go on to remarry but tragedy would strike again one day while he was napping and his second wifes dress catches fire inside of the family home eventually leading to her death. Henry was severely burned seeking to put out the fire and consequentially unable to attend the funeral. Two years later the civil war would bring further tragedy. On March 1863, 18 year old Charles Appleton Longfellow, the oldest of 6, enlisted in the United States army. Henry wrote to influential politicians, used his influence to lobby for his son to become an officer and hopefully avoid the front lines of the battle. Henry Longfellow receive the news however that his son had been severely wounded in battle. He would later recover from those wounds, but that Christmas Henry Longfellow penned a poem to capture the turmoil in that was raging in his own heart. He could hear the bells ringing in Cambride and the singing of “peace on Earth, but there was no peace in his own heart or the world around him. On March 1863, 18 year old Charles Appleton Longfellow.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, and wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along The unbroken song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, A chant sublime Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South, And with the sound The carols drowned Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent, And made forlorn The households born Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said; “For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail,The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Peace is the absence of war and strife, it means to be whole, to have a soundness.

There is a peace that men strive for but can never obtain because He seeks peace with God and with men apart from Christ, with out which we can never be made whole.

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” Augustine of Hippo “Confessions”

There is a clear distinction here between the heavenly hosts which are the angelic armies of God, and the armies of the world. Rome had established relative peace at this time for a period of about 200 years. It is called the Pax Romana” Roman peace. It is certainly a peace brought by force, and by blood shed and war. As long as you submitted to Roman rule there was peace.

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott The Emperor Cannot Bring Peace to the Heart

The “Pax Romana” was being enjoyed at [the] time of Christ’s birth. But, as Epictetus, the distinguished first-century Stoic philosopher, said: “While the emperor may give peace from war on land and sea, he is unable to give peace from passion, grief and envy. He cannot give peace of heart, for which man yearns more than even for outward peace.”

The God of Peace is reconciling men to Himself.

The peace of the celestial city is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God and of one another in God. Augustine

The peace which once only existed in the celestial city has now been proclaimed on earth in melodic harmony by the heavenly angels..

The Origin of Peace.

God is peace and He desires that men be reconciled to Himself. God is not anywhere in scripture said to be reconciled to man in the sense that He somehow needs to be at peace. When we speak of this idea that is assumed in this passage; that is alienation. The coming of the angels and the song they sing would make no sense in a context where they was not alienation, where there was not strife and reconciliation to be had.

But this alienation at its root stems from the sin of man. The sin is not on the part of God. The turmoil, the unrest, the dysfunction is not on the part of God but on the part of man. God does not need to be reconciled to man, man needs to be reconciled to God. We are the ones that need to move or rather be moved towards God, we are the ones needing radical change and reconciliation and rescue.

God… He is immutable, He cannot change, nor is He dependent upon man in any way. Therefore if there is not be any reconciliation, and hope of peace and rescue it must be initiated by God Himself. This good will, this peace is that which proceeds forth from God Himself and not man.

Isaiah 9:2(ESV)

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone.

So why would the angel’s song declare glory to God?

Because He is the God of peace, because He is fulfilling the promise made in ancient days, and the determination of His own heart that He made in the triune counsel before the foundation of the earth were laid.

Some people are tempted to see God as some sadist whose sole purpose is to bring wrath and destruction upon the earth and to see Jesus as sort of this calming voice of reason trying to convince him to take his hand off of the nuclear button. It make the Father out to be some malevolent mean ogre. Wrath is in some sense said to be God’s strange work, because the main objective of history is the redemption of God’s people this announcement is the beginning of the end of all sin and the reconciliation of God’s people thus establishing peace between God and man.

This was the plan of the Father all along and therefore He demands yes deserves glory for having done it. God in His kindness sent forth the Son at the appropriate time.

Galatians 4:4 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

1 John 4:9 ESV

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

1 John 4:10 ESV

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:14 ESV

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

2 Corinthians 5:19 ESV

that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

TRANSITION: The famous hymn sings “God and sinners reconciled”

The Objects of Peace.

Does God need reconciling? CERTAINLY NOT.

We are the ones that need to be reconciled to Him. We are the ones that have sinned, and the natural result of sin colliding with the holiness of God is indignation and wrath that is anything but peace. In fact it is the ultimate sense of chaos.

Peace, physical, Christ does make; there is to be no strife with the fist, no blow with the sword, but peace moral, and peace spiritual can never be in this world where Jesus Christ is, so long as error is there. Spurgeon

God doesn't need us he doesn’t need our praise or our glory. But He chooses, He delights in the glory and praise of men who have been set apart and given His favor.

Luke 19:38–40 (ESV)

saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

It is not our enmity against God that comes to the forefront in the reconciliation but God’s alienation from us. This alienation on the part of God arises indeed from our sin; it is our sin that evokes this reaction of holiness. John Murray “Redemption Accomplished and Applied”

It is the kindness and benevolence and favor of God that leads men to praise. The man who is at war with God is the man who will and already has cursed His God. Such a man will try harder and harder to silence the voice in his own head, he will try to silence the conscience within Him, to no avail. He tries day after day, harder and harder, he puts more money in the offering plate, and tries to be a better man, but at the end of the day when He lays his head on his pillow he knows that not all is calm all is not bright. He is restless within himself because he is not a peace with his God.

Colossians 1:20 ESV

and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Luke 1:79 ESV

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Philippians 4:6–7 (ESV)

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

CONCLUSION:

Thus we have the fountain as well as the streams, the sun as well as his beams. Spurgeon

Peace without reference to Christ is no peace at all. There can be no peace apart from Christ. Even today we see so much hatred and so much division, groups and even our leaders stirring hatred and causing division.