Prince of Peace
Isaiah 53:1-5; Isaiah 9:2-7; Ephesians 2:14-19
December 24, 2023
During Advent we’ve been looking at Isaiah’s prophecy of a child who was to be born, of a son that is given to us, and now we come to the fourth, final and climactic name given to the child: Prince of Peace.
Because we live in a world that is longing for peace, the Prince of Peace is a great name for Jesus. We all want peace, anyone who doesn’t want peace, we’d think there’s something wrong with them . . . . but how we achieve it or even try to acquire peace can be difficult . . . . especially if we go about it the wrong way — which I think much of the world does.
When we look at the world around us, it’s pretty obvious there’s no peace. We have countries picking and choosing sides and preparing for war. We have people who can’t get along, let alone families. We show our lack of peace by our attitudes on social media. We talk about it, but for so many, including Christ followers, we don’t have peace.
Add to the fun the fact that next year is another presidential election and the tension just increases. They describe themselves and what they’ll do for the country as though they were the child being described in Isaiah’s prophecy.
The candidates want to tell us that they’re the person in Isaiah’s prophecy. I’m the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace! Put the government on my shoulders, and see what happens. Of the increase of my government and of peace there will be no end!”
My point is simply this — — we must look to only One who can deliver on that promise. No person can put the government on their shoulders, unless it’s Jesus, the Christ. He’s the One, Isaiah said - - -
2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder,
and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and of PEACE there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD OF HOSTS will do this. - Isaiah 9
Of course, you know where I’m going with this. Because there is One who never overpromises or under-delivers but always makes good on precisely what He says and what He promises. He is the child described in the passage, the one Isaiah prophesied about 2700 years ago, the one we call Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and Everlasting Father, and as the focus of our attention in this message, the Prince of Peace. He is the One who can bring peace into the world and into our lives.
The Hebrew word is Shalom. It’s a simple word that has tons of meanings. It can mean hello or good-bye. It can mean peace. But the deeper meaning of shalom is having a sense of overall well-being, a sense of fulfillment, and flourishing. That’s what people like Isaiah envisioned for the future.
It would be a time when we would all worship together. We would be redeemed, we would come to God in purity of hearts. We would help our brothers and sisters. We would look at others as being more important than ourselves. The lion and the lamb would like together. Ultimately, humanity would be at peace, we’d be content.
That’s shalom, the kind the Prince of Peace will bring, and according to Isaiah’s prophecy. The Prince of Peace will extend well-being, or promote safety, security, and human flourishing. Isaiah tells us - - - -
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. He will rule with “justice and with righteousness” and thus cause everyone under His reign to flourish.
Wars will be non-existent. It’s a process that began with the birth of Christ and won’t be completed until Christ returns in glory.
I need to admit at this point as I was writing, I came to a crossroads. It’s Christmas Eve morning, it’s supposed to be happy, so I decided today wasn’t the day to get into the deeper theology of why we struggle with peace. In short, it’s our sinfulness, our desire to be god, because we want control and we are in some ways at war with God as well.
Now, that’s not a fun topic, but that’s for next year. What I want to spend time on for the rest of this message is how we can find peace and what that means in our lives and in the church.
In some ways, we couldn’t have Christmas without Good Friday and Easter.
The cross of Christ wasn’t optional but was necessary. If we’re going to enjoy real peace with God, there’s only one way it can come. God couldn’t just ignore our sinfulness and let bygones be bygones, overlooking our sinfulness, pretending it didn’t happen.
The only way peace with God will come is by God dealing head-on with our sin. That’s precisely what He’s done through the birth of the child and the gift of the Son, the one whom we call the Prince of Peace. To be the Prince of Peace, Jesus also had to have another name, the Suffering Servant.
Isaiah 53 is the most powerful and moving prophesies about Christ to be found in the Old Testament. That’s why the first generation of Christians loved the passage and turned to it again and again to make sense of who Jesus was and what He accomplished.
Listen to these words in Isaiah 53:1-5 - - - -
2 For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground;
He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. - Isaiah 51
Do you see what God did for us? He sent His Son to the cross! He was pierced for our sinfulness. Even though Jesus knew no sin, He became sin for us, so that we could find forgiveness and peace with God. He made peace through the blood of the cross, peace between God and humanity, by dealing with sin.
And ultimately through His wounds, we experience healing. So many people trust in that passage. It’s a hope we all have when you’re in Christ. Because of His wounds, we can find healing. Sometimes it’s in this lifetime, but we have the great hope and promise that it will be someday, always in eternity!! Where there will be no more tears, no medicines, no illnesses and diseases, no hunger, instead there will be perfect love and perfect peace.
The question that I need to ask you right now is very simple - - - -
Do you know that peace? Have you embraced a relationship with Christ? If not, then Christmas Eve is a great day to say yes to Jesus.
Or maybe, life’s been a struggle, and experiencing peace just doesn’t come easily. You want it, but it’s not there. And you really don’t want to wait until death to get it. I mean, as long as I’m alive, I want to live it up in a God honoring way! Why wouldn’t we?
Sometimes we think because we believe in Jesus, we shouldn’t have any problems, that believing in God will heal all problems and we’ll have no crises in life. That would be pretty cool. But that’s not how it works.
We will have difficulties and hardships. There will be conflicts and broken relationships. The Prince of Peace doesn’t promise perfection in this life.
What He does promise is a deep personal and spiritual peace even in this life. Jesus talked about that kind of peace with His disciples. He promised them just that kind of peace even in a world He knew would be hostile to them.
In what is called his Farewell Discourse, his last teaching before he was betrayed and crucified, Jesus was pretty blunt with His disciples. He told them — there would be trouble. They would face persecution. Jesus said - - - -
33b In the world you will have tribulation - John 16:33.
He also told them - - - -
33a I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. - John 16:33
33c But take heart, I have overcome the world. - John 16:33
That’s the peace we can experience from Jesus. We have confidence in Him because He overcame the world. In other words, I can trust and be confident in Jesus because He defeated all of His enemies, and hence, all of my enemies.
That’s what the Prince of Peace offers His followers. It isn’t just pie-in-the-sky peace — — but it’s the kind of peace that steadies us in the storms.
This is the kind of peace that sustains us,
the kind of peace you long to have when your world is out of control;
it’s the peace when things take a turn for the worse.
It is the kind of peace celebrated in the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul” when Horatio Spafford wrote - - -
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
After his children died in a cross Atlantic journey, he wrote those words on another ship as he sailed to his wife. That’s not always easy to say, to believe and have that peace in our hearts . . . yet when we have that relationship with Jesus, even in the midst of the terrible times, we know He will see us through to the finish line; and because of that we can experience His peace.
Finally, when we’ve been reconciled to God, we enjoy peace with God. And a by-product of peace with God — — is peace with one another.
The peace we have with God should translate into a peace we can enjoy and share with one another.
Paul celebrates this duality of peace in Ephesians 2 - - - -
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility
15 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,
16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
18 For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, - Ephesians 2:14-19
This passage is so fantastic because of the promises from God . . . for us.
Paul very clearly tells us that God is our peace! We don’t get it from anywhere else. We can’t buy it, we can’t manufacture it, we can’t wish it . . . in a sense, it’s a package deal. When we say YES to Jesus — — —
we gain salvation
we gain the Holy Spirit
we find forgiveness
we have hope
we have power beyond what we can imagine
we are accepted despite our flaws
AND we gain peace with God.
Paul tells us in that last line, we’re no longer strangers and aliens, but we’re fellow citizens with the saints ------ which means we’re now one family. Nobody is better than another, we’re all on the same level playing field.
So, we are to embody this peace from God in our relationships with one another. The church is to be a place of peace, not a place of conflict, petty politics, broken relationships, or other kinds of rivalries or infighting.
Instead, as Paul goes on to say in Ephesians chapter four, we’re “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we’ve been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (v. 1-3).
This is because we are now part of the ONE body, ONE Spirit, ONE church, ONE God and ONE Jesus . . . so that makes us brothers and sisters in Christ . . . and we are to dispense love to one another, just as God gave to us.
So, when I think of Jesus coming into the world, the words of Paul are so true about God, as they are a call to us - - - Jesus also came with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with you and I in love, and was eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Folks, we have this promise from God, who offers His Son for you and I. He is the One who will shatter the darkness and bring us into the light and we will experience Him as our - - - -
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace
All we need to do is say YES to Jesus. Maybe it’s to say YES again and again, because you’ve drifted and you feel anything but peace.
Or you’re there. You’ve got that peace, but we know how fleeting that can be, so work to cultivate that peace so it stays with you and others can see it in you!
