What’s in a Name?: No Jesus, No Peace; Know Jesus, Know Peace!
--Isaiah 9:6-7
They are homonyms, words that sound alike but are spelled differently. You understand their meaning by the way I use them in these sentences. “No, Sheila, you can not hide those tacos, bagels, and chocolates under your bed to eat whenever you decide to do so.” “I know Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour.” The two homonyms are used in a popular Christian bumper sticker, and the saying is oftentimes found on Church marquees. It has also become the title of a short devotional book. It’s a Biblical truth—“No Jesus, no peace; Know Jesus, know peace.” Today is our final message in our series from Isaiah entitled “What’s in a Name.” Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Without Jesus there is no peace; those who know Jesus have peace.
In the 2000 comedy Miss Congeniality Sandra Bullock plays FBI agent Gracie Hart, who enters a beauty pageant undercover to catch a serial bomber. In the movie the wish of all the other contestants is “world peace.”
Addison Leitch, Professor of Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, died of cancer in 1973. Writing in the December 22, 1972, issue of Christianity Today, he made this affirmation: “Our trouble is we want the peace without the Prince.” That can never happen, for peace is rooted in the Person of Jesus Christ as the Prince of Peace; He alone is the giver of peace. What is the peace He gives?
The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom,” and it forms the basis of the New Testament message of peace as well. The term appears more than 200 times in the Old Testament. Basically it means calmness, quietness, freedom from anxiety, tranquility. The root meaning of shalom is “to be whole.” Shalom describes a “state of being at ease.” It pictures a condition in which people “feel at ease or comfortable with each other.”
Of the more than 200 times shalom appears in the Old Testament between fifty and sixty times it means “the absence of strive,” a testimony to a relationship between people or nations. In such contexts it describes a state of world peace. Shalom may suggest either a personal, internal peace in the heart of an individual or an external peace between people or nations. Shalom is personal, spiritual, and inward. It give us inward tranquility and harmony. It is a peace that gives us victory no matter how hard our personal lives become or how difficult the circumstances are that we face. Shalom “puts our minds at ease,” despite the stress, anxiety, tension, pressures, or worries that may come our way.
It becomes clear throughout the New Testament, especially in the letters of Paul, that Jesus is the source and giver of shalom, of peace. Continuously in the salutations and closings of his letters Paul uses such phrases as in Romans 1:7, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ,” or he may share a commandment and a promise with his brothers and sisters as in Philippians 4:9, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me— put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Peace is rooted and grounded in Jesus, God the Son, the Prince of Peace.
The Prince of Peace grants both inward and external peace. His peace is personal and collective. It is for us as individual children of God and for His world. His peace gives us victory over personal anxiety and stress and also liberates our world from the ravages and rages of war.
As our Messiah Jesus is coming again to usher in His Millennial reign over the world as our rightful King of Kings and Prince of Peace. Moody Bible Institute publishes the daily devotional guide TODAY IN THE WORD. The devotional for June 19, 1992, contained this observation:
A group of academics and historians has compiled this startling
information: since 3600 B. C., the world has known only 292 years
of peace! During this period there have been 14,351 wars large and
small, in which 3,640,000,000 people have been killed. The
value of the property destroyed is equal to a golden belt around
the world 97.2 miles wide and 33 feet thick. Since 650 B. C., there
have also been 1,656 arms races, only 16 of which have not ended
in war. The remainder ended in the economic collapse of the
countries involved.
Over 3,000 American Servicemen and Servicewomen to date have perished in the War in Iraq. World peace continues to elude us. Is there any hope it will ever become a reality?
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow felt the same hopeless despair during Christmas of 1863 when our Nation was in the midst of Civil War and he penned his poem that became our Christmas Carol “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” He laments in stanza three:
And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men.”
But his despair quickly turns to hope as he receives divine assurance in stanza four:
Then pealed 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.”
My brothers and sisters, Jesus is coming again! This time He is not coming to be born in a manger, not to be despised and rejected by men, not to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. No! He is coming to bring lasting “peace on earth, good will toward men.”
The promises that assure us of this fact abound throughout the Hebrew and the New Testament Scriptures, especially here in the Book of Isaiah. After naming Jesus the Prince of Peace, Isaiah affirms in verse seven: “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” The Prince of Peace will reign on David’s throne forever. There will be no end to the increase of His government and of His peace.
What the United Nations, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Republicans, and Democrats, kings, armies, and rulers throughout history have failed to manage; the Prince of Peace will accomplish. Isaiah paints the picture of the peace Jesus will bring even more poetically and more realistically in Isaiah 11:6-9. The LORD Himself speaks and says, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” Rest assured, “the zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” That’s shalom; that’s lasting world peace.
Jesus will bring lasting world peace, but in the meantime you and I can experience His personal, inward, spiritual peace. Two of my favorite promises of Scripture assure us of the personal peace Jesus gives us to face all our stress and anxiety each day. Again the Prophet Isaiah reassures us in Isaiah 26:3-4: “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD for ever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.” The words of the Prince of Peace in John 14:27, shared with His original disciples on the night He was betrayed, bring us confidence, courage, and assurance today: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The shalom of Jesus is perfect peace. No matter the stress, anxiety, situation, or circumstance we may face, it frees us from a troubled and fearful heart. As we put our trust and confidence in the Prince of Peace. When others “fall apart in times of trouble and distress, we remain steadfast, because the Prince of Peace is our eternal Rock. This is the peace the world can not give; the peace the world does not comprehend, but it requires us by the power of the Holy Spirit to maintain a steadfast mind: “The Prince of Peace keeps in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast.” The word steadfast primarily means “to lean upon.” Shalom comes to us as we “lean on the Prince of Peace.” I’ve always liked the popular song by Ben E. King “Lean on Me.” The message of the first stanza and refrain declares:
Sometimes in our lives,
we all have pain, we all have sorrow
But if are wise,
we know that there’s always tomorrow.
Lean on me, when you’re not strong,
And I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on,
For it won’t be long,
till I’m gonna need somebody to lean on.
[SOURCE: http://www.ocap.ca/songs/leanonme.html].
The Prince of Peace reminds us in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Until He returns or calls us home, we are going to have times of pain and sorrow. We are going to have times we are not strong. As we lean on Him, He will make us strong; He will help us carry on. J. Oswald Sanders sums it all up so well when he says: “Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God.” [SOURCE:--J. Oswald Sanders. Today’s Christian Woman, “Heart to Heart.] The final words of our Prince of Peace, His final promise to us in Matthew 28:20 is, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
What’s in a Name? He is our “Prince of Peace.” No Jesus; no peace. World peace will only become a reality in Him. Know Jesus; know peace. Peace comes to us through our personal relationship with Him. Always lean on Him and continually live in peace, no matter what the pains, sorrow, stress, or anxiety may be. “He is our Peace.”
Kandela Groves in her praise chorus “He Is our Peace,” based on Ephesians 2:14-15, put it so well:
He is our peace
Who has broken down every wall
He is our peace. He is our peace.
Cast all your cares on Him
For he cares for you.
He is our peace. He is our Peace.”
[SOURCE: --PRAISE: Hymns and Choruses, expanded 4th edition.
(Maranatha Music, 1997).
