The Prince of Peace

Introduction: Good morning! If you would please turn in your Bibles with me to Isaiah 9:6-7, as we continue our study on "The Name." In particular, the name we will consider this morning is the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6-7 “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

Peace - everyone seems to be for it. Whether it be the Dalai Lama, the president of the United States, Miss America, or the average student in a classroom, nobody is against peace. Yet, we still have peace advocates lobbying for peace because, although everyone wants peace, it is also an extremely elusive quality for any society. Some may even go as far as saying that peace may even be impossible to maintain permanently.

Why is that? Why has mankind never been able to maintain long-term peace? One of the main reasons is that peace means different things to different people.

For example:

Some Eastern religions say peace only comes through the obliteration of the individual; peace is achieved when an individual becomes a part of the universe and loses all awareness of self. So, to them, peace is to reach a state of serenity.

To an elderly couple, peace is when the neighbor kid finally goes off to college. So, to them, peace is quiet.

To a college student, peace is when they don't have to worry about paying their next bill because it has been taken care of for them. So, to them, peace means financial stability.

Or to a patient waiting anxiously for their test results from the doctor, peace, to them, is the news good health.

Even those on the extreme end of the spectrum want peace. For example, a communist dictator might try to achieve peace by eliminating opposing thoughts and ideologies. To him, peace is the end of conflict as others fall in line under his dominating rule.

With so many ideas on what peace is and how to achieve it, it is no wonder we don't have peace. Mankind doesn't even have peace with what peace means!

Because of this, some have defined peace as "life as it should be." Of course, most people disagree on what life should be as well.

So much so that if anyone were to achieve their own kind of peace, it would have to be an imposed peace. It would have to be peace at the expense of someone else's idea of peace. As a matter of fact, this is what the Latin word for peace means. The Latin word for peace is pax (which is the word from which our word for peace is derived), and in New Testament times, it described the prolonged period of peace in the Roman Empire, referred to as the Pax Romana. The Pax Romana, however, was peace maintained by threat.

We see this played out in John 11 right after Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. The Jewish religious leaders gathered together and asked, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation."

The religious leaders feared that if everyone believed in Jesus, the Romans would see this as a threat to their peace. "How can we maintain the peace?" they asked - by killing Jesus. Now, that doesn't seem to be like a very peaceful thing to do, does it?

So, it is clear that we cannot look to ourselves or society to accurately define what peace truly is. Instead, we must look to God to determine the objective reality of what peace truly is. And I'm glad that you came to that conclusion because that's what the Prince of Peace means. It means that this king, this Son who would be born, would be the Prince, or the official representative, of Peace, and He would come both to restore as well as define what peace truly is.

Transition: This morning, as we consider this awesome name, the Bible will answer three essential questions for us about peace: what is peace, why is there such a lack of peace, and when will peace be restored?

What is peace?

If we are to understand what it means for Jesus to be the Prince of Peace, we must first understand how a Hebrew reader would have understood peace. When interpreting Scripture, we must consider what the original audience would have had in mind when it was originally written. In the case of Isaiah chapter 9, it was written to Israel towards the end of the northern kingdom, and the message was that because of Israel's disobedience, they would fall to the coming Assyrians. However, God would not leave them abandoned; He would eventually send Immanuel, who would come from the line of David as the Prince of Peace.

So, the question for us is, how would an Israelite have interpreted the word peace? Well, the Hebrew word for peace is much different from the Latin word for peace. The Latin word for peace is like the peace experienced by the school bully. The school bully does not experience conflict because he is so busy causing conflict for everyone else. This is not the kind of peace referred to in this passage.

The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, and it carries a more complete meaning with it. It can refer to inner tranquility or the absence of conflict, but those are benefits that come from being in real shalom; they are not peace itself.

Instead, the core meaning of shalom refers to wholeness or completeness. For example, Solomon offered peace offerings (shalom offerings) when he completed the temple in 1 Kings 9:25. Or in the political sense, to be at peace was not only the absence of war but the restoration of friendly relationships between two groups of people.

So while pax is the passive absence of conflict, shalom seeks to resolve disputes to make a broken relationship whole again. This meaning is obvious in Psalm 34:14, where the Psalmist writes, "Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it." Peace is not just something that happens, but it is pursued as a goal.

When we have this understanding of peace, the words of Jesus in the New Testament make a lot more sense to us. In Mark 5, when Jesus heals the woman with the issue of blood, he says to her in verse 34, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction." Had she come to him in conflict, and now she departs in peace? No, she had come broken, and after encountering Jesus, she can leave whole.

Or in John 14:27, when Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." But how can that be true if he also said in Luke 12:51, "Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division."? How can Jesus say he came to give His peace but then say He didn't come to bring peace? Because He is not bringing the world's kind of peace. He came to make our relationship with God whole again, and when you are in shalom with God, you will not be in shalom with the world.

Transition: So, the Biblical understanding of peace does not merely refer to a lack of conflict. Instead, it refers to wholeness or completeness. It is, in fact, "life as it should be," but defined by God. Which leads us to our second question: Why is there such a lack of peace? Let's turn to Romans 5 for the answer.

Why is there such a lack of peace?

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

According to this verse, we have peace through Jesus Christ since we are justified by faith but look down with me to verse 12 as well.

Romans 5:12-14 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”

Jesus needed to come and make peace between man and God because Adam, as the representative of mankind, had broken our relationship with God. If Jesus is the official representative of our peace, Adam is the official representative of our brokenness.

Because of Adam, according to Ephesians 2:1-3, you "were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

In Adam, our relationship with God was broken, and we became, by nature, rebellious children of wrath.

But wait, there's more. Not only did our relationship with God break, but so did our relationships with one another.

Consider with me Genesis 4:3-8 “And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”

After Adam's sin in Genesis 3, Genesis continues to demonstrate the widening effects of Adam's brokenness by showing us its impact on human relationships. Starting with Cain and Able, human relationships are demonstrably broken and selfish.

But wait, there's more. Not only did our relationship with God and others break, but, in the fall, creation itself became broken.

Consider with me Romans 8:20-22 “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

Because of the fall, God subjected creation itself to brokenness. In His mercy, God cursed creation itself so that we would long to be saved from a broken world.

Why is there such a lack of peace? Because we are broken, our relationships are broken, and the creation we live in is broken.

Transition: And all of this brokenness, according to Romans 8, leaves us groaning and longing for redemption. No one is against peace because we all long for it. When peace is restored, it will be like going home again; it will be life as it should be. Which leaves us asking, "When will peace be restored?"

When will peace be restored?

Let's take another look at Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

First, Christ's atoning death has already brought peace between man and God, and man has the opportunity to be justified by faith.

According to Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

By faith in Christ alone, we are no longer children of wrath. Our debt has been paid, and we have access to enter boldly before the throne of grace.

When will peace be restored between man and God? Praise God it already has been! Jesus came on Christmas day to bring peace between man and God.

But what about our relationships with others? Let's take a look at Colossians 3:10-11 “and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”

In Christ, the selfishness of socioeconomic, racial, and religious differences has been torn down because we are now one body, the church. And the church functions with Christ as its head.

Ephesians 2:14 puts it this way, "For He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation."

When will peace be restored to human relationships? Well, in Christ, they already have been. Our primary concern should no longer be our own selfish concerns but rather encouraging and exhorting one another towards Christ-likeness. We now have a union in Christ.

But what about creation? Let's take another look at Romans 8:22 “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

According to Paul, and, honestly, according to our own experiences, it is evident that the earth continues to groan in brokenness.

Even Jesus, when he read in the synagogue in Luke 4:18-19, read the following from Isaiah 61: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

The first time Jesus came, He came to bring peace to the brokenhearted, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed, but Jesus stopped reading there. Isaiah 61 goes on to speak about God's justice being carried out on the wicked and establishing permanent peace for Israel. But not yet.

But why not? Let's take a look at 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

God will fulfill all of His promises. One day the wicked will justly be judged and destroyed in death, but until then, God desires for the broken to come to Him and be made whole.

Conclusion: Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is the official authority who defines and will completely restore peace to the world one day. And because of what He has already done, we can have peace with God and peace with one another because of our unity in Christ. So, as we continue to worship during this Christmas season, let us worship the one who has taken us as broken as we are and made us whole again. And let us rejoice because He will one day glorify us, and we will be completely at peace. Never again to be touched by the power or presence of sin.

But I do wonder if there is anyone here today who would say, "You know, I am not at peace with God. I am still a rebellious child of wrath, but I don't want to be. I want to be made whole again in Christ." If that is your desire, please speak to Pastor, me, or any of our church members this morning. We would love to share with you how you can be sure you are at peace with the Lord this morning.