Unto Us: The Prince of Peace

Introduction

Last week, we looked at how Isaiah was seeking to give King Ahaz hope if he would simply trust in the Lord.

There would be hope that God will come and defeat his enemies if he would simply turn to the Lord and submit to Him in trust and dependence rather than rely on the wicked allies of this world.

This week we are looking at how God wants to give His peace to His people who are experiencing darkness and turmoil.

Hope and peace are very closely related and there is certainly overlap. But I would like to make a distinction between what we talked about last week and what we are looking at today.

Hope is the certainty of future assurance and peace. Peace, however, is something that can be ours today, even in the midst of trying circumstances. Hope is looking forward to what God is going to do. Peace is the experience of what God is doing right now.

Read Isaiah 9:1-7

Isaiah 9:1–7 (ESV)

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

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.

You have multiplied the nation;

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with joy at the harvest,

as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

For the yoke of his burden,

and the staff for his shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken as on the day of Midian.

For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

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.

The Darkness of Sin and Judgment

So God called Ahaz to trust Him and to place his hope in the LORD.

However, Ahaz did not put his hope in the LORD.

Ahaz instead formed an alliance with the King of Assyria because he trusted in what he could see rather than in the love and power of the God who came to be with him.

As a result, Ahaz and the southern Kingdom of Judah is going to experience God’s discipline just as much as the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the other nations around them.

This is the darkness that the people are walking in.

When we choose to go our own way rather than trusting in the LORD, our sin leads us into darkness and chaos rather than the joy that sin promises.

Sin may have some temporary effects that seem promising and pleasurable, but the effects of sin never work out well for those who turn away from God.

The Light of God’s Peace

But judgment does not have the final say in this story.

God is bringing peace to a people who have experienced judgment and darkness.

Those who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

God will multiply the nation and increase its joy. There is victory coming to those who have been conquered by their own sin and rebellion.

In fact, the idea that this multiplication carries with it is the idea that God is going to increase the size of His people to include not just ethnic Israel and Judah, but to incorporate people from other nations and bring them into His fold. They will be grafted into His eternal Kingdom.

The enemies of His people will be defeated as the yoke and staff of the oppressors will be broken.

There is peace coming. And it is not going to be found in the wisdom and strength of man, but rather in the child that God is going to give.

The Child - The Prince of Peace

This child is going to rule and bring peace where the kings and rulers before Him have only brought death and darkness.

We all long for a leader who will lead us into times of peace and prosperity.

We want a king, or a president, in our case, that will put the needs of the people above his own and above the needs of his own political advantages, and truly seek the peace and prosperity of the land.

While there have been leaders who were better than others, there has been no perfect leader in this. Every single king, president, prime minister, etc. however noble or good intentioned he may or may not have been, has been tainted by sin and has not led in the way of true peace.

This is why we cannot place our trust or hope in any human leader. We try to choose the best we can, but ultimately, no human leader deserves our blind and unwavering trust and devotion.

But God is sending a Child who will be the perfect leader and king our hearts are longing for.

This child will be the Prince of Peace. He will carry upon His shoulders the weight of the government in a perfectly good and righteous way that will bring the ultimate peace we all desire.

This is what verse 7 goes on to say. That He will establish David’s throne, and will increase his government and peace and will rule with perfect justice and righteousness forever.

The Names of this Child

As we have seen the background of this passage, we will now turn to verse 6 to look at the names that accompany His role as Prince of Peace.

Remember, in the Jewish culture, names represented one’s character and purpose.

This Child will be the perfect ruler to bring peace, thus He is the Prince of Peace.

But how will He bring us peace? We will look at the other names that accompany the Prince of Peace to see how He is going to bring peace to His people.

Receive the Peace of Truth - Wonderful Counselor

First, this Child is called Wonderful Counselor or Wonderful Advisor.

Chaos Comes from the Darkness of Ignorance

This Child, who is Christ come to us, is our Wonderful Counselor, the One who teaches and Advises us.

The Darkness and Chaos of this world comes from the fact that each of us have departed from what is right and good and true and have tried to determine right and wrong based on what we feel rather than on the authority of God’s Word.

The first sin brought with it death and separation. First from God and then from each other as Adam and Eve began to blame and accuse one another. It brought enmity between God and man and between each person.

You have Cain and Abel, Cain seeking to justify himself and taking the life of his brother trying to gain the peace of God’s favor.

We’ve seen the death and destruction that came as everyone lived according to their own morality during the time of Noah.

You see this same thing being stated in the time of the judges. There was no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

The darkness during Isaiah’s time came because King Ahaz did what he thought was right instead of choosing to trust the LORD and place his hope in God.

This idea of subjective truth actually steals our peace.

It lies to us and promises peace and freedom for me to free myself from an external absolute standard of right and wrong and to experience the freedom of following my heart and being true to my “authentic” self.

But we actually lose our peace because deep down we know that I do not get to decide what is true simply based upon my own feelings.

This idea of everyone living according to their own truth actually kills peace.

Peace Comes from Knowing What is Really True

You see, what we need is the One who is Truth Himself to tell us what is actually true, not what we think may be true.

My wife started a job at the end of the summer at the hospital. And she will tell you, one of the most stressful parts of the job is trying to learn what is expected of you and how to do your job properly.

There is stress and anxiety that comes when you are asked to do something and you are not entirely certain what the right way of doing things are.

As such, when you start a new job, there is typically a training period to learn how to do your job in the right way, the way your boss and employer wants you to do it.

As such, Christ is the Prince of Peace because He is our Wonderful Counselor. Which means He is our Wonderful Teacher and guide to know how life ought to be lived.

Throughout Scripture, we see God teaching and telling His people how they ought to live.

The Law He gave to His people was a grace because it was teaching and guiding them on how life was best to be lived. The Law could not save, but it did guide them on what was expected.

Most people know and accept that there is a heaven and hell. And they also believe that only good people should go to heaven. But what is the definition of good? How do we know what is expected of us?

Many people try to guess as to what might constitute being good. But unless we’ve been taught and told what is good and right and true, all we can do is hope that maybe I’m good enough, but never have the peace and assurance that I’m there.

Jesus, however, came to share with us what is absolutely true.

Jesus is Truth Himself.

He came to share with us what is expected of us. We do not have to guess as to what is right and true and good because Christ is our Wonderful Counselor who has come to teach us and guide us into all truth and righteousness.

And there is peace when we trust in the authority of Christ and His Word.

Find the Peace of Rest - Mighty God

Second, this Child is called Mighty God.

Darkness Comes from Recognizing I Can Never Be Good Enough

There is peace in knowing what God demands and expects of us and that we do not have to guess as to what righteousness entails.

However, as we receive the counsel and guidance of Christ, we begin to realize that no matter how hard I try, I cannot attain this standard on my own.

Stress, anxiety, chaos reign as I try to meet the demands of righteousness on my own because I realize that no matter how good I am I will never be good enough to meet God’s righteous demands.

King Ahaz tried hard to find his own salvation and protection from his enemies only to be betrayed by the one he trusted in.

When you and I try to earn our own salvation and righteousness, we find that we are actually betrayed by the very things we trust in. There is no peace in trusting in ourselves or in the means and philosophies of this world.

Peace Comes from Knowing Christ Has Accomplished the Demands of Righteousness for Us

This is where the good news of the gospel comes in.

Christ brings us peace as He counsels and advises us on what is true, and good, and wise. But then He also lets us know that on our own, we are unable to live according to this high holy standard.

And so Christ gives us the good news that He has come to fulfill what we cannot fulfill on our own.

Jesus came, not to abolish the Law, but to actually fulfill the law on our behalf.

This means, He perfectly kept the law in every way as He lived.

And then He fulfilled the righteous demands of the law for when the law is broken.

This Child is the Mighty God who overcame our Sin as He took His throne upon the cross.

This child who was born for us, this Son who was given, is the One who alone is the Mighty God to powerfully do what no one else in all of human history has been able to do, to perfectly fulfill all righteousness.

Because of this, instead of endlessly trying so hard to be good enough to make our way to God, we can rest in what Christ has done for us and experience His peace.

Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV)

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Christ has done for us what we could never do, to bring us peace by crushing the head of the serpent and the curse of sin.

Martin Luther

You can quit trying to earn your own righteousness and now rest and rejoice in the Son who was given to us through whom we have now receive reconciliation.

Experience Peace as Children of God - Eternal Father

Finally, this Child is called Eternal Father.

This Child Brings Peace Through Adoption

But the good news does not end with Christ simply paying the debt of our sin and reconciling us to God.

This is amazing news in and of itself. The fact that we can live no longer in debt to our Creator is an incredible gift.

But just because a debt has been paid does not mean we are where we want to be.

When you pay a lender back what he is owed, you have been reconciled. Things are even and made right. But that does not mean that we have a relationship with the one we were indebted to. It just means that things are made right.

But the child who was born, the son who was given, did not just come to pay our debt and to reconcile us to a neutral relationship with God, He has come to do more than that.

As the Prince of Peace, this Child who is Christ Himself, came to not only reconcile us to God, but through His death on the cross and resurrection, come to give us the spirit of adoption as sons and daughters of the Eternal Father.

John 1:1–13 (ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

The most amazing thing about this peace is not that we have been reconciled, but that we now have a new and intimate relationship with the Creator of the Universe as a loving Father.

And because of this new relationship, we can have the peace of assurance that comes knowing that the Father will never leave us nor forsake us.

The Lord’s Supper

Invitation

Brothers and sisters, as we draw near to the Lord’s Table to celebrate the Communion of the body and blood of Christ, we are grateful to remember that our Lord instituted this ordinance:

• For the perpetual memory of his dying for our sakes and the pledge of his undying love;

• As a bond of our union with him and each other as members of his mystical body;

• As a seal of his promises to us and a renewal of our obedience to him;

• For the blessed assurance of his presence with us who are gathered here in his name;

• As an opportunity for us who love the Savior to feed spiritually on him who is the Bread of Life; and

• As a pledge of his coming again.

Communion Prayer

Father in heaven, we bow our heads now because Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit. We bow in reverence, in respect, in awe, and in adoration for the person of Christ, the words of Christ, and today for the cross of Christ.

Fill us now and afresh with your Holy Spirit, so that our worship in this moment will bring true honor to you—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and genuine peace to our souls.

We pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Fencing

This sacred time at the Lord’s Table is for believers who have rested all their hope on the death and resurrection of Christ. If you are not yet a believer, you should refrain from partaking until you come to faith in Christ—and then joyfully partake along with the body of Christ.

We encourage those of you who are believers to examine your hearts, so that you can partake in a worthy manner. If your heart is not right, refrain until you can come freely to partake.

As the bread and the cup are served, we ask that you hold them, so that we all partake together.

The Bread

Prayer for the Bread

The Pastor’s Book: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide to Pastoral Ministry Sample Communion Liturgy #1

Christ Jesus, when you came into the world, you said to the Father: “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.” Then you said, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book” (Heb. 10:5–7).

And then you came in the incarnation, and by a single offering of your body on the cross you achieved what all the offerings on Jewish altars could never accomplish—the complete forgiveness of our sins. Bread of heaven, as we now partake of the symbol, ravish our hearts and refresh our souls. Amen.

Isaiah 53:4–6 ESV

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:10 ESV

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

It was the Will of God to crush His Son to bring peace to all those who would trust in Him.

The body of Christ who was broken for us, who has borne our griefs and taken our sorrows, who by His stripes we are healed, is the bread of life that is given for us.

As we partake of this bread, we come into the presence of God to remember what Christ has accomplished for us and the peace that He has brought to us.

As Christ told His disciples, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”

The Cup

Prayer for the Cup

Distribute the Cup

Isaiah 1:18 ESV

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

This cup represents the blood that was shed for us at the cross. This blood is the blood that perfectly cleanses and washes us of all unrighteousness and makes us clean. Though our sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow because of the blameless, priceless blood of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus told His disciples that the cup is the cup of the New Covenant in His blood. “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”