Peace

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 10th of December, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Last week we looked at some of the prophesy written about the Messiah, and how Jesus fulfilled that when He came to earth, and how He will fulfill even more when He returns.  The greatest prophet was Isaiah, who clearly and accurately foretold of our Lord’s birth and His life on earth.  And we said he also foretold of what will happen when Jesus returns.  I read part of a very familiar text to you from Isaiah, and today I’d like to look at that scripture again, and include a second verse that looks to the future for us.

Listen and follow along as I read from the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 9, verses 6 and 7, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

6 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.

7 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.

--Isaiah 9:6-7 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, You looked down and had pity on mankind, so You sent us Your own Son, that we might be redeemed of our sins and disobedience if we would only believe in Him and follow His voice.  Forgive us, please Father, when we reject Your Son with our doubts and our refusal to give Him of our time and resources.  Help us to be more faithful and true to both You and Jesus.  Speak to us now, Father, that we might better hear Your voice and discern Your will for our lives.  In the blessed name of Your Son Jesus we pray.   Amen.


There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who could paint the best picture of peace.  Many tried, and the king looked at all the pictures, but only two really caught his attention.

One pictured a calm lake, a perfect mirror for the peaceful towering mountains all around it.  Fluffy white clouds filled a clear blue sky.  All who saw it thought that it was indeed the perfect picture of peace.

The second picture had mountains too, but these were rugged and bare.  Above them lightening played across an angry sky from which rain fell in torrents.  Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall.  This did not look peaceful at all.  But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock.  In the bush a mother bird had built her nest.  There, in the midst of the rush of angry water and with lightening splitting the sky, sat the mother bird on her nest… in perfect peace.

The king chose the second picture, explaining, "Peace does not mean being in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work.  Peace means being in the midst of all those things and yet still being calm in your heart.  That is the real meaning of peace.”


I think that little story sums up pretty well how personal peace has little or nothing to do with the circumstances around us.  Rather, it has everything to do with what is in our hearts.

So many people search for peace and never find it.  We look for peace from our enemies, from our strife.  When we are at war, we crave peace and petition our leaders to seek it at any cost.  When we do find peace, it is transient, fleeting – here today, gone tomorrow.  But Isaiah tells us true, lasting peace comes only from Jesus, the Prince of Peace.  When Jesus returns, He will establish His government with judgment and justice, and of His peace there will be no end, from that time forward, even forever.


As I told the kids a little earlier, I believe there was one night when all the world knew peace – a true, quiet, humble peace.  In chapter 2, verses 13 and 14 of his Gospel account, the Apostle Luke relates…

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, goodwill toward men!”

--Luke 2:13-14 (NKJV)

Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.  We have a hymn based on a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that starts out, “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.”  But then Longfellow is drawn back to reality of the war raging in his day:  “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.’”  Finally, our good poet remembers what peace is all about:  “Then peeled 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.’”

Longfellow understood what Isaiah was talking about.  If the world did know peace that one night when our Christ entered this world, it sure didn’t last.  Nor, seemingly, was it supposed to.  A little further on in Luke’s account, chapter 12 verses 49 through 53, Jesus warns us…

49 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! 51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. 52 For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

--Luke 12:49-53 (NKJV)

The first time He came, Jesus did not bring peace – He brought division.  Why?  Why would the Prince of Peace come to bring division among mankind?  Maybe it was so we could find true peace, like the mother bird on her nest in the midst of all the chaos around her.  But so many people fail to understand, refuse to look in the right place.

In his letter to the Romans, chapter 3 verses 10 through 18, the Apostle Paul borrows scripture from the Book of Psalms and others as he warns us…

10 As it is written:

“There is none righteous, no, not one;

11 There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God.

12 They have all turned aside;

They have together become unprofitable;

There is none who does good, no, not one.”

13 “Their throat is an open tomb;

With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;

“The poison of asps is under their lips”;

14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;

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

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

--Romans 3:10-18 (NKJV)

We don’t know peace because we aren’t righteous, we don’t understand, we don’t seek God nor fear Him.  We don’t know peace because we don’t know Jesus.

Our Lord Himself felt great sorry over our ignorance.  The Apostle Luke tells us of His reaction upon entering Jerusalem, in chapter 19, verses 41 and 42…

41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

--Luke 19:41-42 (NKJV)

True personal peace is as close to us as is Jesus, but too many of us, even among His followers, fail to understand.  That which can give us lasting peace is too often hidden from our eyes.  Hidden, because we refuse to see.

Jesus tried to explain it.  The Apostle John recorded Jesus telling us this, in chapter 14, verses 27 through 29 of his Gospel account…

27 “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. 28 You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.

29 “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.”

--John 14:27-29 (NKJV)

The peace that Jesus gives is not like the peace the world knows.  His peace doesn’t just come and go, it isn’t conditional, based on each group or person doing their part to uphold it.  His peace doesn’t depend on everything around us being quiet and calm and at peace.  No, His peace brings quiet and calm amid all the chaos and conflict.  His peace is eternal, unending, everlasting.  His peace is conditional only upon our belief in Him as the true Son of God, our faith in Him as Lord and Savior.

Indeed, our faith provides the means of peace.  Again looking to his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us in chapter 5 verses 1 and 2 that…

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

--Romans 5:1-2 (NKJV)

Because of our faith in Him, Jesus justifies us to our Father God, the ultimate Judge.  Through Jesus, we have peace with God.  And we receive peace within ourselves - inner peace, personal peace.  We just have to trust Him, have faith in Him.


This morning we lit the candle of peace and lifted a prayer for peace, peace in the world, knowing full well that division and hatred and war still rock the earth.  This is as it must be until Jesus returns to set things right.  But in the midst of all the turmoil, while the storm rages around us, we can find the peace of God that Jesus beings.  Just have faith and trust in the Word of God.

In the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the bringer of peace.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, Your peace surpasses all understanding.  Thank You, Father, for sending us Your Son who brings us Your peace through salvation if we accept Him as Lord and Master.  Help us, please Father, to receive Your gift of peace and carry it in our hearts this Christmas season and throughout our lives.  Forgive us when we let the busyness of life intrude upon that peace, when we let the world shatter that peace.  Help us to remain calm and at rest in You.

Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You straight from our hearts, thanking You for Your many blessings, repenting of our disobedience, seeking Your forgiveness…

Lord Jesus, You came to earth not to bring peace to all mankind, but to offer us Your peace, a special peace unlike what the world gives.  What the world calls peace is shallow and does not last.  Help us, Lord, to remain in the calm of Your peace even as the storm of the world rages all about us.  Help us to share Your love and Your peace with others so that they too might be saved, and might find rest in You.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.