I recently gave a message to our college group at Grace Covenant during our annual Christmas fellowship. A few weeks before, I began thinking about what I might share with the group of young adults. Of course I knew that I would bring a message on the topic of “Christmas,” but the more I began to think about it, the more I realized how many topics and subtopics can flow out of the heading, “Christmas.” Literally thousands of sermons could be preached on the topic of Christ’s birth—the actual event and surrounding events, the prophecies foretelling it, the implications of his arrival, the essence of his person, the miracle of a Virgin birth, the faith of his parents, et cetera, et cetera!
But as I read the 2000-year old story in Luke 2 about the birth of our Lord, God seemed to bring one concept to my mind more than anything else.
As I read that passage in preparation for the devotion, it was verse 14 that really jumped out at me:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
When the angels sang this song from the heavens on that ever-so holy night, they were both proclaiming a doxology of praise to God and passing along the very almost-unbelievable promise of “peace on earth.”
You see, it was this part about peace on earth that stuck with me after reading this passage.
And I’ll tell you why as I ask you—When you read the daily news and see the world’s headlines on TV, does it look to you like there’s “peace on earth”?
No. Of course it doesn’t.
So I had to think deeper on the matter—what exactly were the angels telling those shepherds? How would there be peace on earth through the birth of one little baby in a small town in Bethlehem?
Here’s what J.C. Ryle said about this “peace on earth”—
“Now is come to earth the peace of God which surpasses all understanding,—the perfect peace between a holy God and a sinful man, which Christ was to purchase with his own blood,—the peace which is offered freely to all mankind, the peace which, once admitted into the heart, makes men live at peace with one another, and will one day overspread the whole world.”
You see, I think that this peace on earth is a spiritual peace, not necessarily a physical peace between warring nations or peoples.
Matthew Henry said in his commentary on Luke,
“God's good-will in sending the Messiah introduced peace in this lower world, slew the enmity that sin had raised between God and man, and resettled a peaceable correspondence. If God be at peace with us, all peace results from it: peace of conscience, peace with angels, peace between Jew and Gentile.”
This peace is the peace that God makes with us when he turns our hateful and rebellious hearts of stone into obedient and humble hearts of flesh. This peace is the peace that comes with salvation! Look at these 2 verses that speak about this kind of peace…
“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
Colossians 3:19-20
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:1
So the question, and the ultimate point of that message, is this: How exactly did God the Father secure this peace on earth through that baby Jesus? The angels said that there would be peace on earth, but how would this peace become a reality? How would this peace be given, or transferred, to us??
This is where things get interesting!
Let’s read what God’s prophet Isaiah said to help us figure this out…
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5
Whoa!
How was peace brought to us?...through His punishment!
You see, the answer to the question is this: God used violence to bring peace!
I know what you’re thinking: “That’s crazy!”…”How can violence produce peace?”
Well just look at the wars of history—World War II is a good example. Through violence (war), peace was eventually established in both Europe and between America and Japan. Further, throughout the Old Testament we see God using violence to achieve His purposes. One of the most used, God-ordained practices in Israel was blood atonement which always included the killing of an animal. Why do you think God had the Israelites sacrifice to Him like this?...to point to the ultimate sacrifice which came in the person of Jesus Christ!
“In him we have redemption through his blood”
Ephesians1:7
God brought us peace through violence.
The way in which Christ was killed was one of the most violent popular methods of execution known in all of human history! The Romans were brutal when it came to punishing criminals. And yet this is the way God showed His love for us—by allowing His only, beloved Son to come to earth and bring us peace by dying this horrific death. What a Savior we have who was willing to offer Himself in this fashion! And what a Father we worship who gave us this opportunity to find peace in the Prince of Peace, Himself!
Revelation 5:12 reminds us how important an event Christ’s death was for us by telling us that in heaven, the eternal song of the redeemed will be a song about death…
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain”
So it’s as if even the manger was in the shadow of the cross—Christ’s entrance into this world was for the purpose of dying for us in order to bring eternal peace between God and men.
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
May we not forget this important lesson this Christmas season in the middle of all of our shopping and gifting and celebrating; instead, thank Jesus for coming to earth, dying for you, and may God indeed receive the glory for all these things.
Tim, I've been asked more about my faith than any person running for president. I'm OK with that. I hope I've answered these questions very candidly and very honestly. I think it's important for us to talk about it. But the most important thing is to find out, does our faith influence our public policy and how? I've never tried to rewrite science textbooks. I've never tried to come out with some way of imposing a doctrinaire Christian perspective in a way that is really against the Constitution. I've never done that.
