Prince of Peace

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, again, church family. This morning, we are wrapping up our Advent Series, “The Name.” We have been walking through Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 and unpacking the “NAME” that God says the coming Savior and Deliverer will be called.

We’ve seen Jesus as the wise King, the mighty Savior, and the eternal Ruler—and today we come to the name that speaks directly to our restless hearts: Prince of Peace.

As we come to Isaiah 9:6, today, we come to the last of these four names—PRINCE OF PEACE. Isaiah 9:6 doesn’t just give us a title to admire—it names the only answer to a world like this.

So, let’s read verses 6 and 7 (kids…that one was for you).

ISAIAH 9:6-7

Isaiah 9:6–7 “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.”

LET US PRAY…

TRANSITION

I want to ask you a question—where do you go to “escape”? When you think about finding “peacefulness” or the state of being at peace, where does your mind immediately run to? Maybe it’s on the beach, laid back, under an umbrella, good book, cold drink. For you, that is the pinnacle of peacefulness. Some of you…the most peaceful place is in the woods…quiet…surrounded by nature, watching the sunrise, waiting on a deer to walk out.

We long for peacefulness because our lives and our world are chaotic. Maybe there’s pain in our lives.

I think we often believe that peace comes when we can escape from the chaos and the pain or when our circumstances change for the better. Or when the conflict in our lives goes away. Or, that if our circumstances/safety—relational safety, financial safety, etc—change for the worse, then our peace is threatened or gone.

HISTORICAL & BIBLICAL CONTEXT

As we come back to Isaiah 9, we are reminded of why this name “Prince of Peace” was significant for the people of Judah. Remember, King Uzziah had reigned for 52 years and his reign had been marked by “peace.” There was no war. There was financial prosperity. There was security. These were the “good old days.”

But this peace was temporary. In just a few short years after Uzziah’s death, that peace was gone. Syria and Israel had joined forces against Judah and were threatening invasion and overthrow. King Ahaz is weak and his heart is shaking like a tree of the forest. There is national panic. In chapter 7, we read that everyone’s heart was just like Ahaz’s—shaking with fear.

On top of the threat from Syria and Israel, the people of Judah were dealing with Assyria. If you’ll remember last week, we saw that in response to the Syria-Israel alliance, King Ahaz refused to trust God and chose to enter into an alliance with the king of Assyria. Ahaz chose Assyria over God—and the so-called savior became their oppressor.

Isaiah 8:7-8 says that the Assyrians would sweep over Judah and that the people would be “up to their necks” in disaster.

Is that how you feel? You feel up to your neck overwhelmed by anxiety, fear, worry? If I’m being honest, I’ve felt like that a lot of times in my life. Things going on in ministry, in my family, with my kids…fearful about their future, fearful about the influences in their lives. I know many of you are struggling with the same thing.

So, in Judah, there is political, national, economic turmoil…and how do the people respond?

They refuse to turn to the source of peace and, instead, consult mediums and idols. They turn to false things.

This week, Buddhist monks on a 'peace walk' drew crowds in my hometown of Demopolis, but true peace isn't in false religions—only Jesus is our PEACE who brings PEACE!

What do we turn to for peace? For some of us, again, we try to escape to other places. The problem is…we’ve got to go back home and to the “real world.” For some, maybe you’re trapped in addiction…what happens when that high wears off or the alcohol gets out of your system or when the fantasy world of sex or whatever ends? You’re back in the same chaos and pain and mess.

Here in Isaiah 9:6, “one” God promises to send, one one who will be the “Prince of Peace.” Not a temporary peace-making king or one who promotes peace but then breaks the peace. He is eternal peace, itself. One who will abide with us and in us.

This is where our understanding of “peace,” must come into alignment by what the Bible says it is. And if we do that, we will see that, what Jesus offers—who Jesus is—is greater/deeper than what we might be looking for. Shalom is more than just the absence or the opposite of conflict.

“Shalom” means “wholeness” and “restoration” of what is broken. It’s making all things right again.

And, this is what Jesus, and Jesus alone, does. Jesus IS the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and for Judah’s hope.

MAIN IDEA

Jesus is PEACE that eternally RESTORES what sin has BROKEN.

He is the very source of peace.

Ephesians 2:14 “For he himself is our peace…”

The very fact that we need “shalom” means that we are broken/incomplete. Sin and the curse have caused brokenness and destroy our wholeness. ONLY JESUS…through his incarnation, sinless life, death on the cross and resurrection restores what sin has broken.

To understand our need for “shalom,” though, we have to start further back than BETHLEHEM and even JUDAH. We have to go back to Eden.

When Adam and Eve, the representatives of the human race, rebelled against God and sinned, the immediate result was a broken relationship between God and man. Broken relationship with self. Broken relationship with others. Broken creation.

Sin and the curse have affected every square inch of God’s creation. And Jesus, the Greater Adam, has come to reconcile all things to God…to make all things right again.

PREACHING POINTS

Jesus is PEACE that eternally RESTORES what sin has BROKEN. He restores our broken relationship with God.

In our sin, we are in rebellion against the holy God. We are at war with Him. Sin separates us from God. This is the root of the problem.

He does this through the cross.

Colossians 1:20 “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Jesus is PEACE that eternally RESTORES what sin has BROKEN. He restores our own brokenness.

Because of sin…

our minds are broken—Paul says that our minds are darkened and that we are foolish in our thinking. We think wrongly, suppressing truth, redefining good and evil, and rationalizing sin. This is why fallen humanity can be highly intelligent and deeply foolish at the same time.

our desires are disordered—our hearts are deceitful…leading us to desire and find fulfillment for what our hearts desire in things that are temporal…meaning/significance/etc

our will is bent toward rebellion

In our brokenness, we look for peace—relationships, sex, identity found in approval from others...by how our lives look or how we are perceived and approved by others on social media…

Through his death on the cross…

Jesus is PEACE that eternally RESTORES what sin has BROKEN. He restores our broken relationships.

Because of sin, human relationships are fractured. We see that this is true right after Adam and Eve sin in the garden of Eden. They immediately begin to blame one another. They’re ashamed of who they are. The very first sin we see in human history OUTSIDE the Garden is in Genesis 4—Cain kills his brother, Abel. Human relationships fractured and broken and it’s been downhill ever since. Wars. Murder. Violence. Families broken up by divorce. Abuse.

Through the cross—Ephesians 2:14–16 “For he himself 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.”

The only hope for peace and restoration and healing in our broken relationships is Jesus. God took the sin that divides us, placed it on Jesus on the cross, and defeated it there. That sin no more has power over you. Jesus is the reconciler. He is the peace that makes enemies brothers. We first have to be reconciled to God.

If we are being real honest, this morning, there are broken relationships in this room. Brothers and sisters who have, for one reason or another, one sin or another, fallen out of fellowship and relationship with one another. There have been situations like that this year at our church. The devil wants to divide!

Jesus is PEACE that eternally RESTORES what sin has BROKEN. AND, ONE DAY, WHEN HE RETURNS…He will restore the broken creation.

Isaiah 11 gives us this picture—wolf dwelling with the lamb…leopard lying down with young goat…calf and lion and fatted calf together…

CONCLUSION

This past week has been full of tragedy and heartbreak in our nation and in our world. Rob & Michelle Reiner brutally murdered by their own son. Fifteen Jews in Australia gunned down and murdered while celebrating Hanukkah. Two students murdered at Brown University. Sports reporter in Birmingham killed by her husband in a murder-suicide leaving alive their infant son.

These things shock and horrify us and break our hearts for everyone whose worlds are shattered. But it isn’t just these incidents that show us how broken the world is. We look around us and even within us. Some—in our own church—are dealing with grief—going through a first Christmas or another Christmas—without that loved one where there’s still an empty seat at the table. Some are walking through broken family relationships. It may be that you are struggling with addiction. Maybe you are dealing with the ruins of your marriage.

The emptiness in our lives is something that only Jesus can fill. The brokenness in our lives is something only Jesus can restore. The pain in our lives is something only Jesus can heal.

Trying to find peace in anything other than Jesus is futile. It’s empty.

You made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless till they rest in you.

Saint Augustine of Hippo

If you are being honest this morning and you would say, “I don’t have peace with God. I don’t know for sure that my sin is forgiven and that I am going to spend eternity in heaven.” You can have that peace today. Repent of your sin and come to Jesus.

APPLICATION

Jesus is our peace who gives us peace. How can I live out His peace that brings restoration this week?

Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.””

Who will you share the good news of peace in Jesus Christ with? How will you let Jesus be the peace in your life that you have been longing and searching for? How will you let Jesus be the peace in broken relationships?