One of the things we hear most commonly at Christmastime is the phrase “peace on earth,” taken from the message of the angels on that first Christmas night. It’s not surprising that the world would latch onto this phrase, because one of the most common universal longings of all people is for peace.
In 1977, David Bowie and Bing Crosby come together on a television Christmas special to record what has become one of the most beloved Christmas songs, a blend of “Little Drummer Boy” and “Peace on Earth,” in which Bowie sings longingly,
“Peace on earth. Can it be?
Years from now, perhaps we’ll see,
See the day of glory,
See the day when men of good will live in peace,
Live in peace again. Peace on earth.”
Another modern Christmas favorite, “Grown-Up Christmas List,” written by David Foster and Linda Thompson and made famous by Amy Grant, wishes for a world where “No more lives [are] torn apart [and where] wars would never start …”
And if we step back in time over 150 years ago, we’ll find Henry Wadsworth Longfellow mourning the loss of his son who died in the Civil War and writing one of my favorite Christmas carols, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” which longs for “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to men.”
It’s not just world peace in the absence of war we long for, of course. We’re all too familiar with conflict much closer to home. Many people look forward to getting together with their families over Christmas, but many also dread it because of the inevitable conflict that will arise. For some, it’s the re-living and re-enacting of years-long conflicts over hurts and slights, some real, some imagined.
This year added new political and social tensions and conflicts to many family relationships. Whether caused by the presidential election or the COVID crisis or the economic collapse of so many small businesses or the demonstrations and riots associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, it seems we’ve had no shortage of things to fight about.
But if we’re honest, we don’t need to look to wars in the world or the political scene or even to some of our extended family gatherings to feel the profound longing for true peace. Within our own hearts and minds, we are painfully aware of the lack of peace, and we deeply long for – we need – true peace.
1. We All Need Peace
So, why is it that we all need peace, and yet it seems to be so elusive to us? We need peace because we were created to live in peace, and yet we are continually living in a state of war. Part of the reason for the elusiveness of peace is that we fail to understand the root cause of the problem.
We cannot understand our persistent lack of peace unless we understand its deepest cause: We lack peace with one another and within ourselves because we lack peace with God. We were created to live in peace, anchored in a right relationship with God, which was broken by sin when we rebelled against God. So, unless we have peace with God, no other peace will be possible.
Now, this is not just nice-sounding religious mumbo-jumbo. Think about this for a minute: Everyone truly longs for peace, knows we need peace, and yet also painfully knows we don’t have it, and, as far as we can tell, have never had it. So, why would we have such a deep longing and need for something we don’t have and have never truly experienced, except maybe in passing moments?
If the atheists are right, if naturalism and materialism are the right way to see the world, then conflict and struggle and a lack of peace are normal and even good, as far as we can define good. Under Darwinism, conflict and struggle are the only way forward, the normal and expected path of improvement. But we know deep down inside that’s not right, and so we long for and need true and lasting peace, even though it’s something we’ve never experienced. All of this points to a deeper and higher reality beyond our material existence.
Isaiah 6:9 gives us four Throne Names for Jesus, four titles that reveal the character of His kingly rule. We are told that the child to be born, the son to be given will be . . .
Wonderful Counselor, which speaks to the mind of Christ, having miraculous wisdom, wonder-working powerful counsel;
Mighty God, which speaks to the strength of Christ, having divine strength and power, an arm strong enough to save and deliver His people;
Everlasting Father, which speaks to the heart of Christ, having a heart of compassion for His people, committed to protecting, providing, guiding, and blessing His own;
and Prince of Peace, which speaks to the goal of Christ’s rule, to bring true and lasting peace to the lives of His people.
The goal of Jesus’ rule as Messiah-King is to restore the peace we lost in the fall when we rebelled against God. That’s why He came on that first Christmas night over 2,000 years ago, that’s what He’s accomplishing now in His reign on David’s throne at the right hand of God, and that’s what He will perfectly bring to completion when He comes again. In His first coming, in His reigning now, and in His Second Coming, He is the Prince of Peace.
2. He Himself Makes Peace
As the Prince of Peace, Jesus came to make peace. If, indeed, the root cause of our lack of peace is our lack of peace with God, then Jesus must begin there, if He is to truly make peace.
As the Wonderful Counselor, Jesus has the wisdom to know what is required to truly make peace. John Lennon famously imagined a world of peace, but his solutions were less than wondrously wise. For example, he said, “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.” Oh, yes, if only it were that easy. As the Mighty God, Jesus has the power and strength to make peace. And as our Everlasting Father, Jesus has the heart to desire true peace for His people.
As our peace, Jesus has not only made peace between us and God, but He has also made peace between the people of God.
And where do Jesus’ great wisdom, power, and love come together for the making of peace for His people? Colossians 1:20 tells us He made “peace by the blood of His cross.” This is so unexpected and almost unbelievable that Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that the message of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the wisdom and power of God.
How? How is the cross the place where Jesus made peace? How is the message of the cross the wisdom and power of God for salvation for all who believe?
Because on the cross, Jesus removed the root cause of the root of our lack of peace. We lack peace with God for one core reason: our sin. Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you.” And twice in Isaiah – Isaiah 48:22 and Isaiah 57:21 – God says, “There is no peace for the wicked.”
So, if we are to have peace, we must first have peace with God, and if we are to have peace with God, our sins must be removed from us.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” – 1 Peter 2:24
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:1-4, ESV
On the cross, Jesus become sin for us, so that our sin might be condemned in Him and His willing self-sacrifice might cleanse us of our sin and cover our unrighteousness with His perfect righteousness.
“God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” – 2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV
In making peace between us and God by removing our sin, Jesus also disarmed the enemies of our souls, the powers and principalities of hell, Satan and His minions, who torment us by tempting us and then heaping shame on us when we give in to their temptations. They have been disarmed, because no accusation can now stand against a cleansed and forgiven child of God. We are made right before God and are accepted by Him as being as holy and blameless as His own dear Son.
Colossians 2:14-15 tells us how Jesus makes peace, by “canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”
Hebrews 10:14 tells us, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
So, Jesus has made peace by the blood of His cross. Humbly submitting to death displayed His wisdom, power, and love by cleansing us of our sin, removing the obstacle that keeps us from having peace with God, and disarming the enemy of our souls in his attacks on us.
3. He Himself is Our Peace
But not only has Jesus come to make peace for us, but the Bible also tells us that He Himself is our peace. Micah had prophesied this truth hundreds of years before Jesus was born. In Micah 5, after he foretells that the coming Messiah King will be born in Bethlehem, Micah says
And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
And he shall be their peace. – Micah 5:4-5a, ESV
Other great kings may be able to make peace for their people by defeating their enemies – although such peace is never truly deep or satisfying – but then they die and leave their kingdoms to others, and the limited peace is soon lost. Jesus Himself has not only made peace for us, but He is our peace, and He reigns forever.
As our peace, Jesus has not only made peace between us and God, but He has also made peace between the people of God. Ephesians 2:13-16 says,
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 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. (ESV)
This passage very importantly tells us that Jesus not only made peace between God and His people, bringing us near to God by His blood, but that He also tore down “the dividing wall of hostility,” “killing the hostility” between God’s people. He has made both a vertical and a horizontal reconciliation. He has made us one with God, and He has made us one with one another.
If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, then God is your reconciled Father and every other believer is your reconciled brother and sister, no matter their language, cultural background, political persuasion, or economic status. No barriers of race, color, gender, ethnicity, economics, politics, or anything else divides the people of God.
The way Paul puts this at the end of Galatians 3 is this:
. . . for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (ESV)
Paul is not saying that such distinctions no longer exist at all, but that these distinctions do not separate us from God or from one another in the body of Christ. And this is because Jesus Christ Himself is our peace, and He is the same Lord and Savior to all who call on Him in faith.
4. He Himself Promises Peace
Having made peace between God and His people by removing our sin and having made peace between God’s people by removing the obstacles of our separations, Jesus also promises peace to His people. Some of that promise is for this life, and some of the promise is for the life to come in the resurrection.
So many Christians have peace with God and with one another by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross but do not live in that peace. They live under a burden of guilt and shame and do not feel the reality that God has completely forgiven them and accepts them as perfect for all time by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. They live in hostility and tension with other believers, allowing the world to set up dividing lines between the people of God where God has already torn down the walls of division in Christ.
It’s not really hard work, in the end, but the loving invitation of one who is gentle and lowly, and who is calling us to rest.
So, how can we walk in the peace Jesus has made and has promised us? The Apostle Paul was in prison, unjustly accused by the Jewish leadership and unjustly imprisoned by the Roman authorities, and rather than letting this drive him to bitterness and despair, he wrote the most powerfully joyful book of the Bible, Philippians. In Philippians 4:4-9, he gives us the keys to living in peace:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (ESV)
We can always choose to rejoice in the Lord for what Jesus has done for us. We can always treat others with reasonableness, or gentleness, because of how God treated us when we were His enemies. When we are tempted to anxiety, we can turn to the Lord in prayer and, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to God.
And then, we can train our minds, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to think about and dwell on that which is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Finally, we can put into practice the patterns of Christian living we have received and heard and seen in those mature saints who have gone before us, which is one of the lasting values of studying church history.
God gives us two promises as we pattern our lives in this way:
1. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
2. and the God of peace will be with you.
Now, if this all seems like work, it is, but it is work we do by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, and it is privileged work that only the children of God are blessed to be able to do.
God has made peace for all His children by sending His Son to be our Messiah-King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus made peace by the blood of His cross, and He Himself is our peace. He invites us to the joyful privilege and work of walking in the peace He has made for us, in the peace that He Himself is for us. But to walk in it does take some work. We might wish God would just wave His magic wand over us and give us this peace, but He invites us to a pattern of life that leads to a deep and abiding peace, day-by-day.
This is the life Jesus calls us to when He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, ESV)
It’s not really hard work, in the end, but the loving invitation of one who is gentle and lowly, and who is calling us to rest.
What makes this call to rest in Jesus so hard is living with our own remaining sin nature and living in a world full of hostility, lies, bitterness, ugliness, and heaps of moral and spiritual garbage. This is the same world Jesus entered over 2,000 years ago, and while He came the first time to give us peace with God and one another in the midst of this fallen and broken world, He is coming again to put a final end to all sin, both the stubborn remnants that remain in our hearts, plaguing us, and the sinful plague that has infected the whole world.
And so, our deepest longing for peace, for a peace that is perfect and unbroken, a peace that will never disappoint, must wait until that day when He comes again and makes all things new. Even as we strive to walk in the ways that make for peace, and even as we rejoice in the coming of the Prince of Peace into this world 2,000 years ago, our heart cry remains and must remain: “Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Come and be our Prince of Peace forever!”
When Jesus comes again, then David Bowie’s wish will be fulfilled, in a way he probably never anticipated, and we will see the day of glory when men of good will live in peace on earth. Until that day, we can sing with Longfellow:
Then peel the bells more loud and deep:
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
with peace on earth, goodwill to men.
Jason Van Bemmel is pastor of Forest Hill PCA in Forest Hill, Maryland.