Jesus, our Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9: 2-7 Common English Bible

2  The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in a pitch-dark land, light has dawned.

3  You have made the nation great; you have increased its joy. They rejoiced before you as with joy at the harvest, as those who divide plunder rejoice.

4  As on the day of Midian, you’ve shattered the yoke that burdened them, the staff on their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressor.

5  Because every boot of the thundering warriors, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned, fuel for the fire.

6  A child is born to us, a son is given to us, and authority will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

7  There will be vast authority and endless peace for David’s throne and for his kingdom, establishing and sustaining it with justice and righteousness now and forever.

The zeal of the Lord of heavenly forces will do this.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1861 Was not a good year for the great American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

1861 Wife died horribly—burned to death while sealing envelopes with wax. Her clothes caught on fire and she died from the burns. Longfellow was burned as well and grew his beard out to hid his scars

He was not able to attend her funeral.

His eighteen year marriage to Francis were the happiest years of his life, and her death threw him into a dark depression.

On Christmas day of 1862, he wrote in his jounal: “A merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.”

1863 He suffered another blow. He was deeply troubled by the Civil War which was tearing the country apart.

But his son, Charley, was somewhat taken with romantic notions of a soldier’s life and duty and ran off to join the 1st Massachusetts Artillery.

He was badly wounded on November of that year and Longfellow traveled to Washington to bring his son back home to Cambridge, MA, to recover.

They arrived back home on December 8 of 1863 and Longfellow set about the work of nursing his son back to health.

On Christmas Day, December 25th 1863, something changed in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He heard the Christmas bells ringing out in the church steeple, and he felt his heart being strengthened.

He sat down, pen in hand, and wrote this poem:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along The unbroken song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, A chant sublime Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South, And with the sound The carols drowned Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent, And made forlorn The households born Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said: “For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead; nor doth he sleep! The Wrong shall fail The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow felt like his life was being torn apart, from the death of his wife, to the turmoil in the country, to the wounding of his son, his heart longed for peace.

You can look back through history and you don’t have to look too far to find times when it seemed like our world was being torn apart.

I think of the great wars of the 20th century, WW1 and WW2, those massive global conflicts when it must have seemed like the world was coming to an end, especially for those parts of the world where the war was raging

Young men being sent out into conflict, millions of them never coming back

Civilians being caught in the middle, desperately fleeing for their lives, just wishing to be left in peace

More wars: The Korean War, the Vietnam War

Social conflicts and disagreements and racial conflicts

Many of you have experienced significant upheaval in your own lives

The sudden and seeming untimely death of loved ones

The news of a terminal illness

betrayal by friends

We think about these things, and we long for peace. We long for rest. I do, anyway.

We long for a time when all our pain will be gone.

We long for a time when there will be no more conflict and upheaval in our lives

We long for someone to step into the chaos of our lives and make it all right.

I remember as a young person in my teens, I had a dream one time that I was in a place of peace and rest, and I woke up with this longing in my heart that stayed with me for a long time

In the time of King Ahaz, God looked down and saw a young king burdened and conflicted and His heart was touched with compassion and love, wicked as this king was.

He looked down and saw his people scared and uncertain of the future, looking at almost certain disaster.

And His heart was touched with love and compassion for them.

And He sends Isaiah to King Ahaz and to the nation of Judah with a message of peace.

He says, there is a child that will be born.

And this child will be known as The Prince of Peace

The book of Isaiah is full of messages of peace and promises of what it will be like some day

For the people of Judah, the biggest thing on their mind was armed conflict.

This Prince of Peace will bring an absence of warfare

God comes to them and says this Prince of Peace will ensure that there will be a time when wars will cease. When armed conflict will be a distant memory

Isaiah 2:4 4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

We see the exact prophecy in Micah 4:3. You have to wonder if Micah heard Isaiah prophecy this.

swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks

in other words, there will be a time when men will have no more need of weapons.

tools of violence into tools used in a time of peace

Isaiah 9:5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire

There will be a time when warriors will have no more use for the boots and the garments that they once wore into battle

They will have nothing better to do with these things than to burn them.

In fact, they will not even want these garments around to remind them of the horror of warfare that they used to take part in

We read other prophets prophesying the same thing

Zechariah (Chapter 9 verse 10  I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem;and the battle bow shall be cut off,and he shall speak peace to the nations;his rule shall be from sea to sea,and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Can you imagine a time when warfare ceases? It’s hard to imagine now because there is always an armed conflict going on somewhere in this world

It has been part of our story as humans for centuries

But this Prince of Peace is going to usher in a kingdom of peace and a reign of peace unknown before

A kingdom where violence and bloodshed and the noise of battle will be in the past and not part of our story any more

I long for a kingdom like that!

This Prince of Peace will secure Peace with God

Isaiah 40:1-5 (ESV) Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,and cry to her that her warfare is ended that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

This passage does mention warfare, but it is primarily a prophecy about the coming Messiah and what His mission will be

It says, “speak to Jerusalem and tell her that Her iniquity is pardoned (speaking to “Jerusalem”, which signifies the Jewish people)

We talked two weeks ago about how their main problem of King Ahaz and the people of Judah, and our main problem is sin.

We need a mighty God to deal with the enemy of sin

This coming Prince of Peace, says God through Isaiah, will pardon the iniquity of His people.

This Prince of Peace will say with a heart full of love and compassion, “You have paid enough for your sins. You have paid double, in fact, for all your sins”. Now let me pay for them.

I will pay for them and I will pardon your iniquity

A way will be made to God.

The seemingly impassible valleys and mountains of trying to be right with God will be smoothed out

This Prince of Peace will make the way straight. The way to reconciliation with Father God will be direct and simple

This Prince of Peace will come in the flesh and reveal the glory of God

We have been studying the Gospel of John

John writes that The Word, Jesus, when He came and dwelt among us, that we saw His glory.

His glory was indeed revealed

Then John the Baptist came, and he quoted this passage from Isaiah.

He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘prepare the way of the Lord. make straight the way of the Lord’”.

John the Baptist came preaching repentance and belief for the preparation of the coming of the Lord

And Jesus said, “You know the way to the Father. I AM the Way, the Truth, The Life. No one comes to the Father except through me”

There is no other way. Simply believe in me. Put your trust in me

No matter how much the liberal scholars and theologians of today want to tell you differently, there is no other way to be reconciled to The Father

The way is simple and level. The moutains have been lowered, the valleys brought up, and the rough places smoothed over

Isaiah 53

Again, a prophecy about our sins, our debts being taken on to this Prince of Peace

Isaiah 53:4-6Isaiah 53:4–6 (ESV)

4 Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 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.

6 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 53:11Isaiah 53:11 (ESV)Isaiah 53:11 (ESV)

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

this is the Prince of Peace doing the work to bring peace between God and sinful man.

We all went astray, but He was pierced and wounded for OUR sins. And God laid on this Prince of Peace the sin of us all

And He will make many righteous. (interesting that it doesn’t say “he will make all righteous”)

This Prince of Peace brings Peace with man

Ephesians 2:11-22 (ESV)

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 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, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The walls of hostility that existed, and sadly still exist between groups of people is broken down in Jesus Christ

The walls between tribes and races and gender and social status are all broken down in Jesus Christ.

In Him, we all have equal access to The Father.

In Him, we all are on equal footing, all in equal need of grace, all without hope in our own merit or abilities

We are all need Him equally

And when we realize this, when we LIVE this, it brings humility and brokenness with one another

It breaks down our pride and the anger that we have toward one another, and how we judge one another.

Instead, we live together as people in need of love and grace.

We live in peace.

This child that God tells King Ahaz about truly is the Prince of Peace.

Jesus is our Prince of Peace.

He has offered peace with God

He offers peace between mankind

And one day He will reign. His kingdom will be established with peace and perfect justice.

The New International Version. (2011). (Is 2:4). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

God comes to them and says, “There will be a day w