Prince Of Peace Series

During the season of Advent, we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ, the Savior whose arrival was anticipated for centuries by Israel, and whose coming was foretold in the Scriptures. There are many passages in the Old Testament which look forward to Christ, and this morning, I’d like for us to look at one of them, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 9. This is a prophecy of the Messiah as an eternal King; one who would reign forever on the throne of David. You’re probably familiar with this passage from the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel’s Messiah. In fact, if you can’t resist humming along as I’m reading it, I won’t judge you.

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:

and the government shall be upon his shoulder:

and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,

The mighty God,

The everlasting Father,

The Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,

upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,

to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice

from henceforth even for ever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6-7, KJV)

Seven centuries before the birth of Christ, God pulled back the curtain on the future. He gave the prophet Isaiah knowledge about the coming Messiah, the One He would send to save his people from their sins. And this child’s birth is the fulcrum of history; it is the turning point in God’s plan for humanity, so that even today, we date everything that has ever happened by how many years it occurred before or after Christ. He never held public office. He never commanded armies. He never acquired great wealth, or even wrote a book, yet He is the most influential person who ever lived. And so, just as Isaiah and the rest of God’s people looked forward to the coming of their Messiah, so now we look back. We view his birth, and life, and death, and resurrection as the most significant events of all time. Jesus isn’t just the founder of a religious movement. He isn’t just a good man, or a wise philosopher, or an inspirational leader. He is the Savior of the world. He is God in the flesh. He is the One by whom and for whom all things were created. Amen?

This prophecy assigns to Christ several titles, all of which are descriptions of who he would be, and what he would do. And the title I would like us to consider this morning is "prince of peace". Prince of Peace. This is certainly one of the most well-known and well-loved titles by which Jesus is known. As we saw last week, when the angels announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds, they sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:14). It warms our hearts to think of the newborn babe in the manger, watched over by his loving parents, worshiped by the shepherds.

In our mind’s eye, as we imagine the scene, nothing disturbs their quiet adoration; no noise breaks the silence but the rustling of the cattle in their pens. That vision of peace and tranquility is reflected in the art on our Christmas cards, and in those carved nativity scenes we place on our mantles, and even in our hymns. Take "Silent Night," for instance:

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin mother and child

Holy infant, so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Sleep in heavenly peace. And yet, tragically, the peace of the babe in the manger didn’t last very long. As the gospel of Matthew tells us, when the wise men told Herod about the newborn king, a potential rival for his throne, he ordered the slaughter of every male child under the age of two in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph and their infant son barely managed to escape to Egypt with their lives. After that, we don’t know much about Jesus’ boyhood or early manhood. But we do know that once he began his public ministry, conflict and controversy followed him whenever he went. In fact, at times, he seemed intentionally to provoke them. For example, he repeatedly challenged and antagonized the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees. He verbally attacked them, calling them "hypocrites," and "snakes," and "sons of hell;" he compared them to "whitewashed tombs filled with dead men’s bones". And on at least one occasion, his attacks weren’t merely verbal; they were physical. When Jesus went to the temple, the center of the Jewish religion, and found vendors and moneychangers there, the Bible tells us in John’s gospel that,