God’s Purpose in Our Peace

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Introduction

Most of us don’t love being in hospitals, except in certain situations like the birth of a child. Sometimes as you walk down the hallway you’ll hear that little chime that plays the first musical phrase of a lullaby. It’s quiet, but can be heard throughout the floor. It’s such a sweet, appropriate announcement to all on the floor that a child has been born, and all who hear it rejoice! It’s like a little internal party is being thrown at the new life created.

I can’t help but praise God when I hear that beautiful sound. I don’t even have to know the family b/c I’m celebrating God’s power to give life (albeit 9 mos. earlier) that someone has just gotten to meet.

Transition: Depending on the announcement, they come in different forms. The shepherds out in the field didn’t hear a little heavenly lullaby intended to bring a sweet smile. No, they saw and heard an angel arrayed in splendor later joined by thousands of angels lighting up the sky.

Read Luke 2:8-14

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Luke 2:8–12 ESV

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:13–14 ESV

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Pray

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The Angels’ Doxology

After the angel announced this “good news of great joy” to the shepherds (9-12) — that the Savior, Christ the Lord had been born — he is immediately joined by a heavenly host of angels.

“And suddenly”

The word “suddenly” here is often used to describe unexpected acts of God:

Malachi predicted the sudden coming of the Lord to his temple (Mal 3:1)

The Spirit’s coming at Pentecost in Acts 2:2 was a sudden appearance

Jesus stopping Saul (now Paul) in his tracks on the road to Damascus (Ac 9:3)

NT authors speak of the “sudden” coming of the Lord

This was no sweet lullaby playing quietly to gently alert those near. No, this was a sudden, jolting, glorious heavenly host. And this was ...

“a multitude of the heavenly host”

This “Heavenly host” tells us that it was thousands of angels! Often “host” means an army encampment. This is the same language used by Jesus when Judas had betrayed him and led the soldiers to him in the garden when Peter jumped to Jesus’ defense by cutting off the ear of the servant of the high priest.

Matthew 26:52–54 ESV

52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

Jesus speaks of “more than twelve legions of angels.”

A Roman legion was composed of 6,000 soldiers, so this would represent more than 72,000 angels.

Now in 2 Ki 19:35 a single angel killed more than 185,000 men in a single night, so this many angels would make a formidable army. (MacArthur)

Do a little simple math and you get power to easily handle thirteen billion, three-hundred twenty million (13,320,000,000) people.

And with the earth’s current population of about 7.6 billion, the point is that God’s not worried…he can handle anyone and anything.

But this isn’t really about math—whether 72,000 angels or whatever the number would have been. The math only serves to help us quantify the unquantifiable. It’s just a way to help us realize that we’ve reached the end of ourselves when we try to calculate God.

Remember, God spoke, “Let there be light,” (Ge 1) and there was light. God created this universe in which we live by the power of his word in six days before resting. God doesn’t actually need angels. One word, and whatever God wills will happen (he doesn’t even have to speak it).

Think about these shepherds — simple men just going about their nightly rotation, when one single angel appears and says, “Fear not.” (I mean, fear not, because in just a minute you’re gonna see a sight unlike anything you’ve ever seen!)

God announces the Savior of the world—one like the world has never seen in a way the world has never seen, and God will have the honor and glory of his work.

“Glory to God in the highest”

This word for glory, δόξα, conveys glory, majesty, fame. It’s not a status to be achieved. It is a state of being. God doesn’t attain glory. He IS all-glorious!

God has worked miraculously to see that Mary conceived as a virgin in order to give a Savior who is a new kind of man, a new “Adam.” God alone should receive the glory.

Justin Martyr said,

The Word is sent not as an inanimate power, but as a person begotten of the Father’s substance.

(Justin Martyr, The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, 1885, 1.)

Every person is created to say with his or her life, “Glory to God!” Living to express this praise personally is the highest goal any person can strive for. When you plan your day, your week, your year, plan with God’s glory in mind.

God is enthroned in this highest

There’s a contrast here, “Glory to God in the highest...”

Ps 11:4 echos the reality that Heaven is God’s throne and earth, Stephen says in Acts 7:48, is God’s footstool.

Ps 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

In the Lord’s prayer, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

…and on earth...”

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God shines through Christ to bring peace

In giving his son, Jesus, God brings peace to men on whom his favor rests

The New International Version translation of the Bible conveys it best: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Tom Schreiner says,

The notion that God’s peace extends to “men of good will” is a serious distortion of the doctrine of grace... (Thomas R. Schreiner, Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, 1995, 3, 799–839.)

The Apostle Paul couldn’t be more clear in Romans 3:9–20 (ESV)

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9b ...both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;

11 no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.”

13 “Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 in their paths are ruin and misery,

17 and the way of peace they have not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

There is no one who by their own good will, engenders the peace of God.

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Ephesians 2:1–10 (ESV)

2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4 But God, being rich in mercy (unearned favor), because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and his peace is bestowed upon those who are granted faith.

It is God’s good-will that makes us his people “... that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Pt. 2:9

The angels are saying that God will bring peace ‘peace to men on whom his favor rests.” There is an emphasis on God, not man. It is those whom God chooses, rather than those who choose God, of whom the angels speak. Peace, of course, means peace between God and people, the healing of the estrangement caused by human evil.

When God introduced good will to this lower world, God’s footstool, he slew the enmity that sin had raised between God and man, bringing peace.

One commentator said it this way,

“All the good we have, or hope, is owing to God’s good-will; and, if we have the comfort of it, he must have the glory of it. Nor must any peace, and good, be expected in a way inconsistent with the glory of God; therefore not in any way of sin, nor in any way but by a Mediator.

See how well affected the angels are to man, and to his welfare and happiness; how well pleased they were in the incarnation of the Son of God, though he passed by their nature; and ought not we much more to be affected with it? This is a faithful saying, attested by an innumerable company of angels, and well worthy of all acceptation, That the good-will of God toward men is glory to God in the highest, and peace on the earth.

Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 1828.

Darrell Bock, who has written the definitive commentary on Luke, the phrase “with whom he is pleased” is “almost a technical phrase in first-century Judaism for God’s elect, those on whom God has poured out his favor.” (Bock, Luke 1:1–9:50, 220.)

The peace of God comes according to his sovereign pleasure. The shepherds are the perfect example. They did not choose God; God chose them. They had to respond in faith, of course, but it was by the sovereign grace of God that they heard the good news.

As one missionary studied this verse, he struggled to translate it into a native tongue. The term “peace” was especially difficult because there was no equivalent in the local language. But with the help of his assistant, he finally came up with a translation that captured the heart of this verse:

“God in heaven is just so good! So the people who live in this world, if God’s heart is happy with them, then their fear is all-gone now!”(Quoted without attribution in a 2001 newsletter from Wycliffe Bible Translators in Orlando, Florida.)

“Their fear is all-gone now.” This is the joy, the freedom, the peace we find when we come to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Sometimes even Christians forget to trust God fully for it, but it is ours to be had as we “…walk in the Spirit, so we do not gratify…or give in to…the desires of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:16)Trust him. Day by day. Moment by moment. And he gives you peace.

First and foremost, friend, hear God’s saving peace. When Christ lived the only fully righteous (redundant) life ever lived, and died the only sacrificial death possible, he secured peace that is yours if you find yourself satisfied in Jesus!

(Gently)

Your world may be upended, but if you’re in Christ you have peace with God and when you rest in him, trust (believe) his good (albeit at times confusing) sovereign purpose for your life, and “walk in step with the Spirit (Who indwells you) so that that you do not gratify the desires of the flesh,” you will be have peace.

You may have conflict in life b/c we live in a sin-torn world, but when you submit yourself to the God of peace through prayer (sometimes difficult work of prayer) the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. - Phil 4:7

You need not be afraid of what others will think of you as you strive to live wisely before the face of God. You’ll sin, and God has forgiven. Live for Christ and make every effort to live at peace among all men so much as is possible with you. (Rom 12:18; Heb 12:14)

Conclusion

A man traveled a great distance for an interview with a distinguished scholar. He was ushered into the man’s study, where he said, “Doctor, I notice that the walls of your study are lined with books from the ceiling to the floor. No doubt you have read them all. I know you have written many yourself. You have traveled extensively, and doubtless you’ve had the privilege of conversing with some of the world’s wisest men. I’ve come a long way to ask you just one question. Tell, me, of all you’ve learned, what is the one thing most worth knowing?”

Putting his hand on his guest’s shoulder, the scholar replied with emotion in his voice, “My dear sir, of all the things I have learned, only two are really worth knowing. The first is, I am a great sinner, and the second, Jesus Christ is a great Savior!”

If you know those two things personally, you know the best news in the whole world, that a Savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord!

Inclusio

The bedtime lullaby chime that plays in the hospital has a glorious effect and makes a startling statement. But at times there are those on the floor for whom that chime is the most detestable noise. Every time that chime plays in the hearing of a mother and father who lost a child they were supposed to go home with, they are reminded that that child just born is not theirs. Oh, hospital’s turn it off for their rooms, out of love and care, but sometimes it can still be heard, or sometimes turning it off can get overlooked.

This announcement of the angels at the first advent reminds us of the soon-coming second advent of Christ. God’s purpose in our peace is that you and I live and breath to repeat the sounding joy of the glory of God as we “...await our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” — Titus 3:13-14

In Rev 22:12-13, Jesus says,

Revelation 22:12–13 ESV

12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Revelation 22:14 ESV

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

Don't be one who loves only for this earthly life, only to find that one day there will be another announcement…a trumpet... only to discover that the Prince of Peace is not your Prince of Peace... …your Savior.

He came to bring peace to everyone who will humble themselves, and trust Him for salvation.

Communion Transition and Prayer

This is the incredible reality we celebrate the earthly ministry of the Lord at the Lord’s Table, where “...Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” — 1 Cor 11:23b-26

Every time we proclaim the Lord’s redemption of sinners such as you and I, brothers and sisters, we rejoice with exceedingly great joy!

PRAY