Peace

Posted on by korgrocker

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
John 14:27 NLT

There is much in the Bible about “Peace”. The Jewish word, “Shalom”, meaning “peace”, amongst other things, is well known and adopted by many as a greeting, along with a hug, kiss, or handshake, according to the culture. Paul started off his letter to the Ephesians with, “May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace” (Ephesians 1:2). Jude included such an introduction in his short letter, “May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love” (Jude 1:2). Letter writing convention today sometimes concludes with a blessing of peace.

In a world of wars and chaos, people desperate for an oasis of peace somewhere try to find it by visiting churches and monasteries, or joining a pilgrimage to a place previously associated with a move of God or where a particular saint or other holy person used to live. But much searching after peace is destined for disappointment because a worldly solution cannot be found for the yearnings for peace within. Everywhere we look there is a deficit of peace, a deficit that extends from a national and international level all the way down to family relationships. The impact of sin and devil-induced wickedness seems never-ending. 

But in it all there is a ray of hope. Jesus was not referring to a worldly peace. Even with an absence of such a peace, there is still the inner turmoil and strife that can afflict all people facing the worries and anxieties of life. At the end of a war there is jubilation and relief, now that the conflict has ended. But soon such feelings are replaced by the reality of living with the economic and societal consequences and realities of life, an external lack of war replaced by the internal wars in people’s souls. 

Jesus reassured His disciples that they would never have to feel again the chaos of a lack of peace within them. He told them that He was leaving them with a gift of “peace of mind and heart”. Kingdom peace is nothing like worldly peace, which never lasts very long. Jesus’ gift of peace was to be a permanent presence in the lives of believers for ever. The disciples experienced it and so can we pilgrims. There is no war and strife in God’s Kingdom. Instead there is a positive environment of love, joy, righteousness, and all the wonderful spiritual attributes we find in God’s presence. So the world around us will be dissolving into a chaotic panic while we calmly continue to trust in God who has the solution. Jesus came to this world to bring peace to mankind, as prophesised many years before, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Through His gift of forgiveness of sins, Jesus, by His death, introduced an opportunity for the salvation of people everywhere, people otherwise riven by a lack of peace, and His gift continues to be available today. 

Paul, an Apostle treated so badly by the world around him, could write, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Paul understood the same and eternal peace that is available to us as well, that peace promised as a gift by Jesus, “peace of mind and heart”. Fellow pilgrims, are you in a storm of chaos and a lack of peace just now? If so, there is a gift awaiting for you that will provide a remedy. It won’t necessarily take away the worldly situation you are facing, but God’s peace will somehow provide the strength and positivity to carry on, step by step, towards our Heavenly goal. 

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise and worship You today with thankful hearts. Your peace floods over us in strife-ridden times. Amen.

Peace

Posted on by korgrocker

“I have written and sent this short letter to you with the help of Silas, whom I commend to you as a faithful brother. My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace. Your sister church here in Babylon sends you greetings, and so does my son Mark. Greet each other with a kiss of love. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ.”
1 Peter 5:12-14 NLT

Peace seems to be an elusive word in and on 21st Century Planet Earth. The world around us is tearing itself apart with wars. Even closer to home, a lack of tolerance and understanding brings people onto the streets to have a “peaceful” demonstration, but it is inevitably full of hatred and vitriol rather than “peace”. This weekend there are planned marches in major British cities in defence of the Palestinian cause. Social media-stoked misinformation, and anti-Semitic rhetoric abound and destroy any hopes of peace in our UK communities, at least for the time being. Good people, and God’s people, stay at home, hoping the storms of non-peace will pass them by. But all this mayhem is an external manifestation of peace, or a lack of it, and not the sort of peace Peter was finishing his first letter with. Peter was writing about an inner peace, peace with God and our fellow believers. Achieving such a peace will spill over into peace in our communities and nations.

Paul wrote famously the verses in Philippians 4:6-7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus”. It is a true fact of life in modern times, that the peace Paul and Peter were writing about is in short supply. The lives we live can become corrupted by worry and anxiety, spawning feelings of anger and distress. Lashing out at perceived, often distorted or mistaken, “injustices” can partly mitigate the inner feelings of conflict. But instead of marching on the streets, prayer is a better solution. 

Jesus came to this world bringing peace. Remember the angels’ song to the shepherds near Bethlehem? “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased” (Luke 2:14). Isaiah prophesied the coming “Prince of Peace” in Isaiah 9:6, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. And Jesus Himself mentioned how God’s blessing will fall on the peace-makers, “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). 

Paul wrote that our inner peace is so important that it must become a driving force within us. We read in Colossians 3:15, “And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful”. How is our inner peace today? Do we pilgrims feel turmoil and stress, combining to displace the rule and reign of Christ within us? If that is the case, we need to pause on our life-journey and take some time sitting in God’s presence and allowing His peace to flood over us. We give thanks for our progress on the journey. And we pray about whatever is conflicting our very souls. We look up and see God in His throne room, smiling upon us, encouraging us, blessing us, and as we embrace His Son, the Prince of Peace, we will find restoration and peace once more. The journey will still be there tomorrow, or the next day. But now is the time for God and our peace.

Dear Heavenly Father. You have created us within us a need for peace. You know what is best for us, and we pray for Your grace to help us align ourselves to how You would have us be. So we thank You once again, and worship at Your footstool. Amen.

Maintaining Peace

Posted on by korgrocker

“For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.””
1 Peter 3:10-12 NLT

Peter didn’t just say be at peace or accept peace in a passive way. His advice was to “search for peace“, with the implication that it must be something we actively pursue. But in this world it seems peace is an elusive commodity. The war in Ukraine is still with us and the repercussions hurt everyone in Europe and beyond. The constant tension between different world ideologies occasionally bubbles up into a limited confrontation between nations. Even in our communities, a lack of peace is always with us – just read the local news. People yearn for peace but seem powerless to make it happen, because within us are desires and emotions that displace even the personal peace, an inner peace, that God has designed for us. Perhaps we can all echo Paul’s wail of frustration in Romans 7:24, “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” A lack of peace is often the fruit of wickedness and a popular verse is found in Isaiah 48:22, ““But there is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.” But we know that of course – the world is under the jurisdiction of a person, the devil, intent in propagating wickedness and evil wherever he can.

There are many causes of a lack of peace in the lives of people. Even we pilgrims often find ourselves debilitated by internal strife. Thankfully, Jesus came to give us peace with God, and that is the most precious of all types of peace. In fact, in Isaiah 9:6 we read, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Jesus had the title “Prince of Peace” in Isaiah’s prophecy and He truly demonstrated that in His time here on earth. At the time of Jesus’ birth the angels announced, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased” (Luke 2:14).

We pilgrims discover peace with God through Jesus. Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us”. When we find peace through God we have a foundation on which we can build a peaceful society. We may feel our own contribution is too small to make much of a difference, but Jesus asked us to be salt and light in our communities, amongst our neighbours and friends. Peace can be infectious, and a Godly influence can make a difference in the lives of many people. And when we find peace with God we find peace indeed that ripples through every facet of our lives.

Dear Father. You wish the world to experience Your peace. We have our part to play – please help us. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Ruler

Posted on by korgrocker

“All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”
“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.”
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”
Isaiah‬ ‭7:14, 9‬:‭2‬, ‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We read the Son’s assignment in Isaiah 9:6-7, and it quickly becomes clear that this did not happen while He walked the highways and byways of Palestine, as we read in the Gospels. Jesus wasn’t present on this earth as a Ruler, but as a Prince of Peace. There were three prophecies in these verses penned by Isaiah. They all referred to the coming of God’s Son, Jesus. Isaiah prophesied about how He would come, the impact of His coming, and His eternal reign. All in a few short verses. We have considered the first two and, with the benefit of hindsight, we see how remarkably accurate Isaiah’s prophecies were. But we have yet to see Jesus ruling “from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity”. 

In a few words, Isaiah gave us a hint that the Son’s first coming was going to transition to His second through the Holy Spirit’s presence on the earth. He was going to act as the Son’s representative, maintaining the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, inviting all who desired a relationship with Him to become citizens. But then we see a new Jesus. Not the Man of peace, riding a donkey, but a Man of authority, riding a white horse and ruling for all eternity. We don’t have the benefit of hindsight for this part of Isaiah’s prophecy so we, in faith, must accept it and watch out for it. It has still to happen.

Nowhere in these verses in Isaiah does it say when these prophecies would come to pass. We know that Jesus will return to this planet, because the angels at His ascension told the disciples so. We read in Acts 1:10-11, “As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!””. There are several Scriptures that give us some clues as to how Jesus will return to this earth. The Apostle John, in his vision, wrote in Revelation 19:11, “Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war“. I Thessalonians 4:16-17 reads, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever”. When Jesus returns to this earth, He will fulfil the last part of Isaiah’s prophecy. No returning as a helpless and insignificant baby – He will return as the Ruler, the Lord of lords and King of kings. 

In this season of Christmas, we pilgrims celebrate the birth of Jesus. We trace His steps through the dark paths of a people needing a Saviour. We see how His light has illuminated the world for the past two thousand years, and we have been given a preview of His impending return as the triumphant Mighty God. All from a few verses written by a Jewish prophet nearly three thousand years ago. The penultimate verse in the Bible records the last words of Jesus. We read in Revelation 22:20, “He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” Sentiments I am sure we echo and share.

Dear Lord. We are so grateful for Your willingness to come to earth, showing us a way to eternal life with You. We worship You today. Amen.

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