Advent 2018: For Unto Us
Prince of Peace—Isaiah 9:6
Introduction
Comments: I invite you to turn with me in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 9. We’ve been looking at the royal titles of Jesus as prophesied by Isaiah the prophet over 700 years before Jesus was born.
Image: In case you haven’t noticed because you’ve been living in a yurt off the grid in backwoods Colorado, we live in politically charged times. Everything I hear and read confirms for me that frustration levels on all sides of the political isle are at an all-time high. And over the last ten years or so, as people’s frustration reaches breaking point, savvy politicians have capitalized on this pent-up anger to make promises to us that are dripping with messianic overtones.
If you listen carefully to the rhetoric of President Barak Obama or President Donald Trump, what do you hear? Messianic overtones. Without blushing, candidates look us straight in the eye and describe for us things that they will do, that, at moment, could be descriptive of Jesus Christ:
o During his campaign then candidate Barak Obama said, with his wife Michelle and Oprah Winfrey by his side, “We need a leader who is going to touch our souls. Who is going to make us feel differently about one another. Who’s going to remind us that we are one another’s keepers. That we are only as strong as the weakest among us.” In his rhetoric you can hear an echo of biblical themes.
o And back when Donald Trump was a candidate, he repeatedly promised at his rallies to, “Make America great again.” He said, “If I’m your President, I’ll keep America safe, bring peace to the Middle East, and usher in a new era of American Prosperity.” Granted, it’s a different type of rhetoric—Obama’s is globalist and Trump’s is nationalistic—but the promises are messianic nonetheless.
If you listen carefully to the rhetoric of both politicians, it’s almost as if they’re saying, “Hey, vote for me because I’m the person in Isaiah’s prophecy. I’m an extraordinary strategist, God’s going to uniquely work through me, I’ll be like a benevolent father to you, and I’ll bring peace on earth, goodwill to men! Put the government on my shoulders and see what happens! Of the increase of my government and of peace there will be no end!”
Now please don’t write me any nasty letters this Christmas for insulting your favorite candidate because my point is simply this: in presidential campaigns the rhetoric gets messianic; the language used by candidates is eerily prophetic as candidates paint a picture of our world that only God can deliver. I wonder, could this be part of the reason why political campaigns in America are such a toxic mix of intense hope followed by anger and resentment as another would-be messiah promises more than any human being could ever deliver?
Need: So, I ask you this morning—are you frustrated with politicians and the political process? Are you fed up with politicians who overpromise and underdeliver? If so, the good news is there’s One who never overpromises and underdelivers because He always keeps His word…perfectly. He always makes good on precisely what He promises. He is the child described for us many centuries ago in Isaiah 9:6, the One whom we now know as the baby born in Bethlehem, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one who actually brings peace into our world and into our lives—God’s Shalom. Of this Child, Isaiah says (read it with me):
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end…”
Body
1. Today, one day before Christmas Eve, we’re going to focus our attention on the last Royal title of the Lord Jesus Christ—Prince of Peace. Isaiah calls him, “Prince of Peace,” or “The Prince of Shalom.” Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace; it’s a wonderful word that includes our English concept of “peace” but so much richer in all it entails.
Quote: Theologian Cornelius Plantinga describes Isaiah’s use of shalom this way: “He saw 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. The prophets dreamed of a time when the deserts would flower, the mountains would run with wine, weeping would cease, and people could sleep without weapons on their laps. People would work in peace and work to fruitful effect. Lambs could lay down with lions. All nature would be fruitful, benign, and filled with wonder upon wonder; all humans would be knit together in brotherhood and sisterhood; and 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.”
Summary: So, as you can see, the word shalom is much bigger than just an absence of conflict or a positive state of mind, but it’s a very wholistic term that speaks of a comprehensive well-being, harmony, and the flourishing of all creation. Shalom is a state of the world where everything is exactly as God intended it to be. This is shalom, the kind of extensive peace the Prince of Peace will bring to our world according to Isaiah’s ancient prophecy. Jesus will accomplish this peace in two primary ways:
o First, Jesus will put an end to war. Isaiah 9:4-5 says Jesus will break the rod of the oppressor and put an end to war.
o Second, Jesus will extend well-being and promote human flourishing. Isaiah 9:7 says, “Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end.” He will rule with “justice and righteousness” and cause everyone under His reign to flourish.
This is the dual role of the Prince of Peace: the way He will put our world right, a process of peace-making that Christians believe began at Christ’s first coming but won’t be completed until Christ returns in glory to finish what He’s begun.
2. If the Prince of Peace is going to achieve lasting peace, He must begin with the root cause of every lack of peace and injustice and hostility in the world. He must do what Barak Obama and Donald Trump and no president can do: He must deal with our enmity with God. In our fallen state, we are at war with God. The Bible says our natural state is not friends of God but enemies of God. Paul describes our fallen condition like this: “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7).
Whether we are aware of it or not, and most of the time we are not, there is a deep seated, internal hostility toward God in every fallen human being. Because of that, we instinctively suppress the truth about God. We don’t want to be confronted with the reality of His presence; it’s like when you have a falling out with someone and you show up at a party of mutual friends, and there they are! You don’t want them there, and whenever they’re near, you don’t want to acknowledge their presence. We naturally do the same thing with God. We naturally live life for self and don’t want Him running our lives. We are by nature hostile toward Him in our minds; we are at enmity with Him.
This is why Jesus came the first time—to deal with our sin head-on. That is precisely what God has done through the birth of Jesus, the one we rightly call the “Prince of Peace.” Before Jesus was the Prince of Peace, he was first—for us and because of our sin—the Suffering Servant.
Listen to these words of Isaiah 53:4-5, which fills out for us the picture of why Jesus came the first time and what He accomplished for sinful humanity:
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 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.”
With the first coming of Jesus, God put an end to the hostility between Himself and sinful humanity at the cross when Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He made peace through the blood of His cross, peace between God and man, by dealing with sin.
Application: Do you know that peace? In order to know the peace of God, we must come to God on His terms. He is the One who determines the means by which we come to Him, the means by which the hostility is removed. And He says the only way we are put into a relationship of peace is by trusting in Jesus as Saving Lord. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Have you embraced Christ by faith to find His peace? If not, you can trust in Christ right now and discover the true meaning of Christmas.
3. If you have peace with God through faith in Christ, it’s worth pointing out that this peace with God does not necessarily fix everything in your life. Even after we come to faith in Christ, there will be difficulties and hardships we must face, conflict we have to endure, and broken relationships we have to carefully navigate. The Prince of Peace doesn’t promise perfection in this life. But what He does promise is a deep and personal spiritual peace even in this life. Jesus spoke of this type of peace with His disciples; this is the type of peace He promised them even when He knew the world would be hostile to them.
Shortly before Jesus was betrayed, arrested, and killed, He spoke plainly to His disciples. The world, He told them, wouldn’t enthusiastically embrace another King whose reign would disrupt and displace the powers of this world. He said to them, “In the world you will have tribulation.” But He also tells them, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace” (John 16:33).
Earlier in His ministry, Jesus told the disciples, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). And do you remember what the very first thing Jesus said to His disciples after the resurrection? When they were cowering in fear behind locked doors, He suddenly stood among them and said, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19).
Application: This is the type of peace the Prince of Peace gives to His followers. It isn’t some vague general notion of peace that a beauty queen might wish for on pageant night, but it’s the kind of peace the holds fast during the storms of life. It’s the kind of peace that steadies and sustains when your world spins out of control. It’s the type of peace that steadies when your teenager rebels. It’s the type of peace that sustains when your health takes a turn for the worse. It’s the type of peace that sustains when the path forward is unclear and uncertain. It’s the type of peace that strengthens when you’re let go from your job two weeks before Christmas. It’s the type of peace that provides comfort when standing before the casket of a loved one. This is the type of peace Jesus followers sing about even in the face of death:
When peace like a river, attendeth my way.
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
3. And because Jesus is our Prince of Peace, the church can be at peace as we anticipate everlasting peace at His return. Those of us who have been reconciled to God through faith in Jesus now enjoy peace with God. And because we have peace with God, we can enjoy peace with other followers of Jesus. The vertical peace we have with God through Jesus Christ translates into a horizontal peace with have with each other.
Ephesians 2:14-17 says, “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 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, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”
And followers of Jesus are to embody this peace in our relationships with one another in the body of Christ. The church is to be a place of peace, not a place of conflict, petty politics, fractured relationships and fleshly rivalries.
But rather, Paul goes on to say, we’re to “walk in a matter worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3).
And here’s God’s intent for the church as a community of peace: as we embody peace in our relationships, we proclaim peace to the world. God has entrusted us with, as Paul says, “the ministry of reconciliation,” which is not primarily about horizontal reconciliation, though that is a necessary fruit and proof, but vertical reconciliation. But God’s design is that as we live with a supernatural peace and unity with one another, the world might be drawn to Him and see that Jesus is Lord. Living in peace with each other in the body of Christ, so that the world may see that Jesus is Lord and be reconciled to God, is a significant part of our calling. That’s why Paul says, “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Application: Let me ask you, is there someone in this church you need to be reconciled with? A follower of Jesus not part of our immediate church family? Maybe it’s someone who hurt you deeply? Maybe there’s someone you’ve hurt deeply. Maybe a person or group of people you used to minister with, but now the relationship is strained and you’re no longer together the way you once were? Let me ask you—given that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, given that He died to establish peace with God and one another, given that the church is to be a place of peace for all the world to see, is it really a God-honoring option to persist in a state of alienation with another follower of Jesus? Wouldn’t Christmas be a great time to reconcile, a great time to restore peace to that relationship?
Illustration: Some years ago, I had a rough and tumble guy who was an unrelenting critic of the church. He never missed an opportunity to get in a jab, both face-to-face and on social media. He criticized my leadership, my clothing, my preaching, the budget, the music, the volume, and the vision of the church. He never missed the opportunity for a jab. One time he told me it would be hell to be stuck on a deserted island with me.
Then when we relocated to Littleton, I thought I was finally rid of him. Then one day he shot me a note on Facebook and said, “Me and my wife will be in Denver, and we’d like to come to church then take you to lunch.” I thought to myself, “You know, I’d rather have lunch with the grim reaper than you,” but I said, “Sure.” After listening to all that’s wrong with our church and the church in America, he abruptly switched topics and said, “Although you drive me crazy, I’ve come to appreciate you and your ministry and I’m sorry I’ve been such a thorn in your side.” I don’t remember exactly how I responded, but I said something like, “I’m sorry for frustrating you all those years; I’m sure it wasn’t always easy having me as your pastor.”
And now we’re at peace with one another and say nice things to each other on Facebook. We probably aren’t going on vacation together anytime soon, but when He comes to Denver and joins us for worship, I can eat a burger and fries with him after service and not get sick to my stomach. And I’ve got to hand it to him: God is at work in His life and he was the bigger man and took the initiative to promote peace in our relationship. And all of this is possible because Jesus is his Prince of Peace and my Prince of Peace.
Conclusion
Closing Image: John Milton, the famous English poet who wrote Paradise Lost, penned a lesser known Advent poem entitled One the Morning of Christ’s Nativity in 1629. It speaks of how God the Father, through Jesus Christ, gifted us with perpetual peace because Jesus is the Prince of Peace:
This is the month, and this the happy morn
Wherein the Son of Heav’n’s eternal King,
Of wedded maid, and virgin mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That He our deadly forfeit should release,
And with His father work for us a perpetual peace.
Our prince of peace, foretold long ago by Isaiah the prophet, promises to us a perpetual peace—inaugurated now in this life through His life, death, and resurrection, and perfectly consummated when Jesus comes a second time to usher in a never-ending era of ever-increasing peace with one another and God forever. “Of the increase of His government and of peace, there will be no end…”
And no politician can deliver this type of peace: only Jesus…only Jesus. And as we wait for Jesus to come again, believe His words: “My peace I give to you.”