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Bible Passage: Isaiah 9:2-7
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date: December 12, 2018
During our midweek Advent services we are looking at specific names the prophet Isaiah gave to Jesus, the promised Messiah, some 700 years before he would be born. Tonight we focus on the climactic fourth name given to the coming Messiah from Isaiah’s familiar words in chapter 9. The promised child, the Son which is given, will be called the “Prince of Peace.”
The word Isaiah uses for peace here is “shalom.” It has been turned into a greeting in Hebrew, and this special word has been sort of domesticated, separated from the original substance it conveyed. This word for peace in the Old Testament means more than psychological ease or a lack of violence. It is more substantial, a holistic type of peace, connoting something more like “completeness.” That kind of comprehensive shalom-peace is what God’s prophets, like Isaiah, envisioned for the future. Cornelius Plantinga writes about the Hebrew prophets and their intention when writing this word:
“They dreamed of a new age in which human crookedness would be straightened out, rough places made plain. The foolish would be made wise, and the wise, humble. They dreamed of a time when the deserts would flower, the mountains would run with wine, weeping would cease, and people could go to sleep without weapons on their laps… Lambs could lie down with lions. All nature… and all humans would look to God, walk with God, lean toward God, and delight in God…The webbing together, of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom.”
This is the type of complete peace that the Prince of Peace came to bring.
The only problem is, I can’t see it! Complete peace? If only! The overwhelming hostility we see in our world, in our country, even in our own lives begs the question: Has the Prince of Peace really come? When a nation is divided, and media and marketing make millions by furthering the gap. When controversy and destruction fill the headlines. Where is this Prince of peace? When daggers shoot across the table between a husband and wife. When a child erupts in anger and parents lose sleep praying for a solution. When a friend lashes out in anger against someone they once held in such affection. When hostility and anger, sins our Savior defines as murderous, rise up in our hearts against those we are called to love, how can we talk about the Prince of Peace? Did he really bring the promised Shalom we so long for?
Well, Isaiah certainly seems confident that the Prince of peace would come and more than that would be successful in bring complete peace. According to his prophecy, this coming prince would achieve peace by ending war and hostility. We read in verses 4-5, the Prince of Peace is going to shatter the rod of their oppressor. And every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. In other words, this Prince didn’t come to do the job halfway. He was going to end all violence and war. He was going to cut out the very root of all hostility.
That’s a pretty monumental claim, isn’t it? Especially because the root of all hostility is not easily defeated. Do you know what is at the root of every lack of peace or at the core of all the violence and hostility in the world? The answer is not a bad government or corrupt character. It isn’t bad parenting or unfortunate circumstance. The answer is sin: human hostility with God. In sin, we are at war with God. That is our condition apart from saving grace in Jesus Christ. We are, as the Bible says, enemies of God. Paul explains it this way, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, it does not submit to his law, nor can it do so” (Rom. 8:7). Whether we’re fully aware of it or not, there is a deep-seated, internal hostility toward God in every human being.
But the Bible also says that in our sin, God is actively opposed to us; God has leveled the massive sword of his law at every heart that beats in sin, including the one within each of us. God is holy and by virtue of his nature must be forever opposed to sin and evil. If we want God to hate injustice in our world, if we want God to end hatred and violence, if we want him to destroy sin, then we must also accept the fact that he must rightly hate the strains of that same sin which exist in each one of us. It seems like a despairing situation. If we want God to end all hostility and sin we too must be destroyed! We might be led to despair of the hostility in this world and in our own hearts before the righteous wrath of an Almighty God, unless, of course, we look at what the Prince of Peace was able to accomplish. For sin’s end and our rescue was just the mission he accepted when he came to earth.
And he arrived in such a fitting way, not with sword and shield, not with thunder and lightning, no army of light to destroy, but as Isaiah records, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…” Jesus, our Prince of Peace, came as a tiny, fragile infant, born in a stable. He fought not with muscle and might, but with the unconditional love of God. In humility and righteousness, he battled with ferocity everyday living in perfect peace with God. And in the end, our Prince of Peace would be nailed to a cross and take the sword thrust of God’s wrath for all sinful hostility. His battle cry was not vengeance, but “Father, forgive them.” The Prince of Peace gave up his life to disarm sin and hostility forever. This is our prince, not one who killed his enemies, but died for them, for you and me. God put an end to the war between himself and sinful humanity at the cross when Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. What a perfect title Prince of Peace is for our Savior, Jesus Christ!
And remember, this peace he won is not a paper-thin, external peace. It is shalom, a complete peace. Jesus told his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (John 14:27). He doesn’t give peace like the world talks about, he gives us his peace–the kind of peace that steadies in the storms, the kind of peace that sustains you when life spirals out of control, the kind of peace that unites us in the deepest way despite our differences, the kind of peace that will someday be realized in its fullest sense in heavenly glory.
We see in verse 7 that “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.” He will rule with “justice and with righteousness” forever. We get to experience just a small sense of this kind of shalom-peace here on earth through faith. The Holy Spirit works faith in our heart and with it comes the deep peace of God’s love. But on this side of heaven sin still exists. Although the Prince of Peace has conquered the root of sin, the dreaded flower of its violence and hostility is still in the process wilting. One day we know complete shalom in heaven, but until then we are to be God’s peace-makers in the world.
You see, because we have peace with God, we can enjoy peace with other souls on earth, explicitly with those who are united to Christ with us as members of his body, the church. The vertical peace we have with God translates into a horizontal peace we have with other souls on earth. The church, specifically, is to be a place of peace, not a place of conflict, petty politic, pet-projects, or other kinds of rivalry, but a place which is ruled by the prince of Peace. Let us glorify God by permanently setting aside hostility and glorifying our Prince of Peace. This is extremely vital since as we embody peace in our own relationships, we proclaim God’s peace to the world. God has given the church, the apostle Paul says, “the ministry of reconciliation.” “Therefore, he continues, “we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5). In other words, on behalf of the Prince of Peace, be at peace! Because of Jesus, be at peace with God, be at peace with one another, and be at peace with everyone as far as you are able.
We have many opportunities to be ambassadors of peace, in our families, in our church, and in our community. May the Holy Spirit give us the will and the desire to carry out the good work he has placed in front of us. And may we look forward to that day when our Prince returns to usher us into a never-ending era of peace, joy, and life with God forever and ever. Until that day when the lion lays down with the lamb, until we see the Prince with our own eyes, may the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.