God’s Promise of Peace Now and Forever

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. What is Advent? That is normally, the question for those who have never really celebrated or recognized the Christian calendar. Advent is the expectant waiting and preparation for the birth celebration of the Christ. The word means coming. So as we walk towards the birth and recognize that He will come again we do so by recognizing four themes that are seen during this time of year.

As a community we recognize the themes of hope, peace, joy and love. Today we begin the march towards the birth of Christ by recognizing that peace is what Christ has brought and will bring to us at His return.

Now you may wonder why I have said that it is the peace that He has brought and will bring. I say that because we are reminded that Christ desires that we have a measure of peace even in the midst of a chaotic world. says to us “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Even though we live in this world that is often filled with unrest and chaos God calls us to be people of peace.

So let’s take a moment to define the word peace. Peace is defined as: Total well-being, prosperity, and security associated with God’s presence among his people. Linked in the OT with the covenant, the presence of peace, as God’s gift, was conditional upon Israel’s obedience. In prophetic material, true peace is part of the end-time hope of God’s salvation. In the NT, this longed-for peace is understood as having come in Christ and able to be experienced by faith.

So, what does that really mean. It means that for us to really experience that peace that surpasses all understanding that we learn how to depend completely on a God that has never failed us. That we learn to trust a God that has never left us. That we believe in a God that has never forgotten us.

Can you understand what I am saying. We can have peace when we allow God to have complete control and we depend on Him in every area of our life.

Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Peace. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2, p. 1634). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.