Where's the Peace
I first saw this on a bumper sticker, and it still makes me giggle. It’s whimsical treatment of an ideal that some people take very seriously. Jesus takes world peace seriously. After all, one of His names is Prince of Peace.
But look at what Jesus said, Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. (Luke 12:51-52)
For a fact, since He came, there has been more division than there has been peace. How would you explain that to someone?
Here’s one angle spoken by Jesus when He was trying to prepare His disciples for the fact He was going to die. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid…..Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. (John 14:27, 30)
We are living in a battle between the Prince of Peace and the prince of the world. They couldn’t be more opposite. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. (John 14:6) He also said, Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matt. 7:14)
Those truths automatically set up the framework for division. If we believe and promote what Jesus said, there will be no peace with those who reject these truths. I don’t even need to explain that. This is why Jesus said, For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. (Matt. 10:35) God’s truth and Satan’s opposition to it lead to oil-and-water relationships.
Where’s the peace? Accepting Christ’s truth, we get personal peace, as we saw above. But more importantly, we get peace with God, and that is why Jesus came. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Rom. 5:1-2) That’s the peace we should be talking about.
We also get peace with other believers, even from different cultures and backgrounds. For he is our peace, who hath made both one (believing Jews and Gentiles), and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. (Eph. 2:14)
World peace is not out of the question. But that is reserved for the future, and it will be peace beyond imagination. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. (Isa. 11:6-9)
When will this be? After the prince of the world, who blinds people’s minds to the truth, is taken away. When Jesus reigns. When the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord. In the meantime, here is my second favorite bumper sticker.
Jody