Advent Day 20 – The Prince of Peace
The world has always been at war. Man is at war with God… continually. The Bible tells us that there is “enmity” between us and God. And the reality is, as long as man’s relationship with God is not at peace, we cannot… indeed will not be at peace with others.
The coming Messiah, according to Isaiah, was going to be known as “The Prince of Peace.” My, don’t we need a peacemaker in our world? But that person is not going to be a diplomat, or a king, or ambassador, or the president. You cannot MAKE peace if you don’t POSSESS peace.
He is the peace BRINGER, but more than that, He’s the peace MAKER. I shared this recently in a message, but it suits this blog post so I share it again for those who might not have heard the sermon.
A few years ago, our church was involved with a church in Springfield working with the homeless. On Tuesdays, we would go down and serve lunch to hundreds of homeless folk that would show up.
We also had the assignment of delivering bagged lunches to the residents of a high-rise, government subsidized apartment building across the street. I usually went over with the kids we were working with from our church, mainly for security.
I was delivering meals on one floor during the Christmas season, and some doors were left partially propped open if the person inside couldn’t get up to answer the knock. As I knocked, I looked down at the door and on it was a bumper sticker that had a picture of Jesus on it and the phrase “The Prince of Peace.”
But over time, the letter “n” in “prince” had been rubbed away, leaving a dirty streak and the word “pri ce.” Jesus, the “price” of peace. Indeed, He is both the “Prince” of peace, the peace maker and peace bringer.
And He is also the price paid that we may have peace with God. “We now have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The greatest price for peace that will ever be paid has already been paid by the shedding of His blood at Calvary. If we ever know peace, it will only come as we know Him.
He alone is “The Prince of Peace.”