Title: A Vision of Peace for a World at War / A Hope for Peace for a World at War
Text: Isaiah 2:1-5
Thesis: A vision of a kingdom peace is the hope for which we wait in the future and work for in the present.
Introduction
I am reading a new book by Bobby Gross titled: Living the Christian Year. It was published by IVP in 2009. It is a devotional guide for the Christian Year which begins with the Season of Advent. Today is the First Sunday of Advent. I intend to read the book slowly, focusing on the devotional thoughts and biblical readings for each week throughout the coming year as we make our way through the seasons of Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost.
Advent is a time of anticipation. It is a time in which we identify with the ancient Jews who longed for the coming of the Messiah who would bring an end to all the injustice, conflict and chaos in the world. Perhaps it may be said of any time but this feels like a time ripe for the coming of the peaceful reign of Christ.
This week I read about a story in Time Magazine that told of how the Afghanistan people are preparing for peacetime… weapons are going for bargain prices and the prices of knives, Kalashnikov rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades have dropped some 50%. One weapons dealer who identified himself as Abdul said he wouldn’t need his weapons anymore. “Peace has come to Afghanistan,” he said, “The King is coming home, and people are sick of fighting.” (Simon Robinson,”Today’s a Great Day to Buy a Used AK,” Time.com (4-9-02)
That was in April of 2002! And now, nearly 9 years later, we still identify with those who long for the coming a peace.
We also identify with the Season of Advent on another level. We all identify with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and her waiting during her pregnancy for her time of deliverance.
Just a couple of months ago I noted on my FB page that I was finding it impossible to concentrate on my work that afternoon because my heart and my thoughts were on hearing news of the birth of our seventh grandchild. For 9 months we had waited and waited and waited and now the time had come for the announcement of the Ethan’s birth.
Mary, like every other expectant mother in history, may have been living in a world of chaotic frenzy but she waited quietly for the coming of her child. We too quietly wait for the coming of the Christ despite the chaotic frenzy and warring ways of the world in which we live.
This week I asked a young woman in our congregation if she could remember a time in her life when we were not involved in some kind of military conflict in the world. She could not… And while Pearl Harbor looms as a most vivid reminder of a chaotic world in many of our minds, 9/11 is the harbinger that reminded her generation that the world in which we live, is not a peaceful place.
So it is that as we mark the Season of Advent, we hear the pronouncement of the angel of the Lord, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” Then the angelic chorus sang to those humble shepherds on the night of Christ’s birth singing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 4:8-14
The hope for peace is no new longing. And it would seem that on those occasions when we become hopeful that peace might come to this world at last… that hope is dashed. But yet the hope and dream of peace lives on in every generation.
This morning we turn with renewed hope to an ancient text written approximately 800 years before the birth of the Christ… it is an eschatological prediction of a time when the peaceful reign of Christ comes to this world.
Meanwhile, I would suggest that Christians ought not wait until Christ comes to begin acting in accordance with the will of God and God’s plan for the peace that will come then… we need to begin doing now what will usher in the peace that is to come then.
Isaiah says there will be peace when:
I. People turn to God
“Many people will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.’” Isaiah 2:3a
There will be a day when the Temple of the Lord will be established in Jerusalem. That time is not yet… Jerusalem is a divided city at war with itself. The Israeli /Palestinian conflict rages on with the collapse of peace initiative upon peace initiative. And if that were not of enough significance… there is such hatred and animosity in the Middle East and such determination to deny Israel even the right to exist that the building of said temple and a lasting peace initiative in that part of the world seems – hopeless.
There was a time during WWII after France had capitulated to the onslaught of Hitler’s army that the British cabinet met with Prime Minister Churchill to apprise him of the situation. France had fallen and Britain stood alone in those darkest days of the war. The room was deathly silent and despair was written on every face. Mr. Churchill was silent for a bit and then he spoke, “Gentlemen,” he said, “I find it rather inspiring.” (Wm. Barclay, The Letter to the Romans, Westminster Press, p.217)
In Christian hope there is the conviction that that God is still alive and there is no man so hopeless that the grace of God cannot change him and there is no situation so hopeless that God is rendered powerless over it and no conflict in the world so hopeless that God cannot institute peace. (Berlin walls do get broken down and world powers that threaten freedom and peace do collapse.)
The peace initiated in Isaiah 2 is a peace that happens when people turn to God.
I wish it could be so simple as to give Kim Jong il of North Korea or Mahmoad Ahmadinejad of Iran or Osama Bin Laden a call and urge them to turn away from their warring ways to God. I may not be able to do that but I can do what I can and you can do what you can to usher in the peace of Christ in the world.
And this is what you and I can do.
God says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14
We need not wait for that prophetic day when the Lord’s temple is built on the tallest hill in Jerusalem and the peoples of the world will say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord…”
It begins with you and it begins with me when we, like Joshua who challenged the people of his day saying, “If you are unwilling to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve… but as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
Peace begins when people turn to God and then begin to walk in God’s ways.
II. People learn to walk in God’s ways
“He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” Isaiah 2:3b
We are saddened and alarmed by North Korea’s saber rattling… Eight months ago the North Koreans purportedly sank a South Korean warship with a torpedo killing 46 sailors. This past Tuesday North Korea shelled a South Korean island, firing scores of artillery shells in one of the heaviest attacks since the Korean War in 1953.
It seems unlikely that North Korea is much interested in walking in the ways of God. It seems unlikely that the leadership there has any intention of joining in a cooperative effort to facilitate greater peace and security in the world.
But one day the likes of Kim Jong il will! One day Kim Jong il will be among those who bend the knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. “For God has exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
Meanwhile we do well if we learn the ways of God… reading and obeying the Word of God. Loving as God loves and living as God’s instruments of peace in the world…
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God.” Matthew 5:9
We are to live in the world as agents of peace and good will.
When we learn to live as God wants us to live we will then practice living in peace. Our hope is there is a day coming when all people everywhere will live in peace.
III. People live in peace
“They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” Isaiah 2:4
The United Nations was founded in 1945 following World War II as an international organization whose stated aim is facilitating cooperation between nations in international law, security, economic development, social progress, human rights and achievement of world peace. The United Nations Security Council is specifically charged with maintaining peace and security among countries.
You may not be aware of this little known fact but inscribed on the foundation of the United Nations headquarters in New York City are these words, “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”
While we may at times question the value and existence of the United Nations its stated purpose is maintaining peace and security among nations.
Prior to my preparations for today I was not aware that the vision of peace and the language of beating swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks were used elsewhere in scripture other than the Isaiah passage. I found almost identical language spoken through the Prophets Isaiah, Joel and Micah. I especially like the language used in Micah 4:3-5 where Micah adds an additional twist to the hope of peace among all peoples. Following the text around ploughshares and pruning hooks Micah adds, “Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.”
The day of hope envisioned by the Prophets Isaiah, Joel and Micah point to a time when weapons of war will be reshaped into farm implements. And all of the people of the world will no longer live in fear of an artillery attack by a rogue nation or a violent plot of a terrorist group.
Not only is there the image of a world devoid of weapons and machines of war… there is the image of people who are not afraid to sit out under a shade tree because there is no one who wishes ill upon another.
9News reported this week that Centennial, Colorado is ranked the 23rd safest city in the nation. It is Colorado’s safest city. Arvada ranks as Colorado’s 2nd safest city and the nations 65th safest city. Bonnie and I live in Westminster which comes in as Colorado’s 5th safest city behind Longmont and Boulder.
Some of the things Bonnie and I like about living in our home is that our HOA does not allow any door-to-door soliciting. We like living in a relatively quiet neighborhood. Our home has an alarm system, door locks and a deadbolt. Our windows have little locking devices that prevent anyone from opening a window from the outside. We have two large spot lights on the corner of our garage and our stoop is lit. We also have a substantial hickory stick club made out of a pick-axe handle should anyone care to do us harm.
We may live in the 5th safest city in Colorado and we may have several safety features in place to make us feel safe but do you think I am willing to go to bed at night without checking everything every night before we go to bed? And then after I’m all tucked in I always pray, “Lord, grant me and those I love a peaceful night and a perfect end. Amen.”
We can and we do live lives that are somewhat peaceful for the most part but the peace we long for is still not yet.
One night last week Bonnie and I saw an old truck plastered with the news that Jesus is coming and there is nothing wrong with that kind of religious zeal. But it would seem that our efforts to live as the people of God ought to extend beyond bumper stickers. Perhaps as we live in hopeful anticipation of that day when Christ will institute world-wide peace, it would be well for us to pick up Isaiah’s vision of a peaceful world by doing what we can to live at peace.
How does that song go?
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.
Conclusion
Occasionally we get glimpses of what the peace of Christ on earth looks and feels like… it does not happen often but it does happen and when it does we are reminded of what may be and what will one day be.
Before the days of modern warfare with satellites and armed drone aircraft and inter-continental ballistic missiles and smart bombs and all of that… war was fought in the trenches.
In WWII the war was fought as hand-to-hand trench warfare. Soldiers lived, fought, and died in trenches full of mud and blood and vermin. The trenches were dug in the fields of France and enemies could actually hear each other talking… there was no need for satellites to locate the enemy. The enemy was right over there.
It’s an old story and has been told and retold and embellished here and there but as it goes, on a cold, moonlit Christmas eve a British soldier with a beautiful tenor voice began to sing Silent Night, Holy Night… and then from the German trenches a soldier with a rich baritone voice joined in singing Silent Night, Holy Night in his German tongue. They sang and they sang and then there was stillness.
On Christmas morning some British soldiers climbed out of their trenches into the no-man’s-land that separated the enemy lines and began to kick a football about. And then some German soldiers climbed from their trenches and there in the middle of a battlefield enemies played a pickup football game on Christmas day.
Peace can happen and it does happen and one day it will be.
Meanwhile it is in this Season of Advent that we are reminded to long for and hope for and pray for work for that day when Christ will judge between the nations and will settle the disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plough shares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore, and every man will sit under his own vine and no one will make them afraid, and they all will walk in the light of the Lord.
