THE GIFT OF PEACE
ISAIAH 26:1 - 26:12
Introduction:
I was attending Acadia University at a very scary time in the world.
It was the time of the Gulf crisis.
We gradually watched as the forces were compiled on the desert bases. Then one evening, as some of my friends were making snowmen down at the School, I took the news down to them that Desert Shield had now become Desert Storm.
The attack by the coalition of U.N. countries, of which Canada was included had started.
For days we watched on television as hundreds of missiles carrying their deadly cargo hit many of their marks.
We watched as Iraq sent missiles against Israel.
I remember visiting a man in the hospital.
He didn’t know whether to be more afraid of his cancer, or the son he had at the desert.
Then there is the racial cleansing in Kosovo.
The incidents of violence in Northern Ireland.
In this century we have seen two world wars, Viet nan, Korea, the Falklands, just to mention a few of the conflicts that we have seen.
Our attempts at peace and freedom through war cost over 120,000,000 lives and literally billions of dollars.
I’m reminded of A little girl once wrote an answer to a question in an examination: "Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, and since then we have had two minutes of peace each year.
As I was walking back to the residence I saw a sign hanging from one of the windows that really discribed the feeling of the day.
It read "Peace, through superior fire power"
This is not a new thought at all.
It was the basis of the cold war, between Russia and the United States.
It was felt that the only way to keep each country in check was to have as many, if not more, nuclear missiles than the other country had.
In fact at one time, there were enough nuclear missiles stockpiled to destroy the world some twenty-three times over.
Huge amounts of each country’s national budgets went into defense while living conditions were allowed to tumble.
And this all in the search for peace.
Now I am not saying peace at any cost.
There are times when it is necessary to fight, in defense of our homeland, and families for example.
It was John Foster Dulles who said:
The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.
In recent years violent crime in North America has sky-rocketed.
Many places you can’t walk the streets at night.
I went to Chicago with a friend in 1986 and he was afraid to ride the Subway.
He told me that any time I went out to always carry fifteen dollars to pay the muggers.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that while on the subway I had over seven Hundred dollars with me.
You couldn’t do anything to make you stand out as a tourist, for they were easy prey.
The peace that the world searches for is not found in patriotism.
The peace that the world seeks is a deeper peace that can be found in a document or paper.
The peace that the world seeks is not a man-made peace that can be broken.
It is the peace of Christ in their lives.
It is the peace of Philippians "That passes all understanding" that we desire.
It is that peace that we must make preparations for as we celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace at Advent.
Part of our preparation for this peace is the recognition that we are sinners, and have alienated ourselves from God, on a daily basis.
To recognize that state that we were in, and the change that has happened in our lives because of Christ, brings about a realization of that peace.
It was John J. Zier who stated:
No man enjoys the serene calm of inner peace unless he has first known the harassing moments of a disquieted soul.
The soul that is under conviction is the soul that will be lead to inner peace.
A number of years ago I had an ultserated tooth.
If any of you ever dealt with one you know that it gives almost unbearable pain.
I finally got a dental appointment and had the tooth pulled.
The peace that came to me as a result of that extraction was so good.
Some of you suffer with migraine headaches.
I do as well.
The feeling of peace and relaxation that comes just after one is over is intensified by the severity of the headache.
The more it hurts the better you feel after.
I don’t advocate either as a way of gaining peace, nor am I saying that we should sin more, so that we can be convicted and receive the peace of forgiveness.
We don’t have to worry about that, we sin enough as it is.
But it’s that feeling that everything is all right, that our house is in order, that is the peace that we seek.
It is a peace that is the result of our believing faith.
George MacDonald states:
This is a sane, wholesome,practical, working faith: That it is a man’s business to do the will of God; second, thaqt God Himself takes on the care of that man; and third, that therefore that man ought never to be afraid of anything.
You see one of the reasons we fear is because of a lack of faith.
We don’t believe that God will take care of us, and so we try to do it on our own.
When we try to do it on our own, we wind up troubled, with a lack of peace, because we are trying on our own.
It is amazing the difference in hospital visits between a person who has put their lives in the care of God, through the doctors, and those who don’t have that assurance.
There certainly are concerns from both, but there is a peace with the Christian because they believe in their hearts that God is in control.
They believe as William Barclay does:
When we believe that God is Father, we also believe that such a Father’s hand will never cause his child a needless tear. We may not understand life any better, but we will not resent life any longer.
The peace that the world searches for will not be found at the U.N.
It will not be found by the buildup of armaments in the Mediterranean.
The peace that the world seeks will be found in the same place that it has been since the beginning of time.
It will be found in God, through the church and God’s people.
If this is not so, then why before Bush gave the go ahead order for Desert Storm was hew in prayer for most of the night before with Billy Graham.
It was J.M. Price who stated:
An effective organization for world peace will be established not through political diplomats around a peace table, but through Christian teachers in all lands, teaching citizens in Sunday School and public school the sacredness of human life.
For any who are skeptical, the only time dur war, that [eace truces were ever kept, were on Christian religious holidays, particularly Christmas.
In the first world war for example enemy soldiers would exchange gifts, sing sarols, and eat together at Christmas.
The sadness and conviction they had in their hearts as they returned to war, was an indicator of the peace that they had during this time.
The enemy no longer faceless or nameless, but a man with a family that they were killing.
And So in the midst of this, we take time to think and prepare for the coming of the Prince of Peace as Isaiah calls Jesus.
Now the hebrew word for peace, used in Isaiah 9:6, and in our responsive reading in Isaiah 26:3 are the same.
It is Shalom, and the thought is that the peace that God gives go with you.
Shalom is a very consise word and carries a vivid discripition of the peace of God:
It is defined by Strong as:
1) completeness, soundness, welfare, peace
a) completeness (in number), there is nothing lacking
b) safety, soundness (in body)
c) welfare, health, prosperity
d) peace, quiet, tranquillity, contentment
e) peace friendship in e1) human relationships
e2) with God especially in covenant relationship
f) peace (from war)
g) peace (as an adjective)
It comes from the Hebrew word Shalam which means:
1. To be in a covenant of peace, to be at peace
2. To be complete, be sound
Many times shalom is used to say good-bye
It’s definition makes the word and the thought special, not to be used loosely.
In the New testament the word to describe the peace mentioned in John and Philippians is "Eirene"
This word also has a very powerful definition according to Strong:
1) a state of national tranquility; exemption from the rage and havoc of war.
2) peace between individuals (harmony; discord)
3) Security, safety, prosperity, felicity, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous)
4) Of the Messiah’s peace, the way that leads to peace, (salvation)
5) Of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soula assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort it is.
6) The blessed state of devout and upright men after death.
When you consider what the world has now, compared to what Christianity offers, the logic of not seeking after the faith, and the God of the faith defies me.
Why should we settle for a temporary man-made peace that has no bearing on our eternal state, when we can have the peace of Christ within us to help us face anything in this world, with the assurance of eternity with Christ.
It is the shalam peace that the world seeks.
Unfortunately they seek it on their own terms to gods of their own making, not the God of Israel.
The God of Israel allows the song of Isaiah 26 to be sung across the land.
Look at it closely.
The strength of the city, the strength of Israel, and the strength of the Christian is salvation.
Salvation is our defense and shield.
It allows us to face whatever we have to face in this world with the peace that our eternal future is secure.
Francois de Salignac de La Mothe Fenelon puts it this way:
Peace doth not dwell in outward things, but within the soul; we may preserve it in the midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remain firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from acquiescence, not the exemption from suffering.
It was the peace of Christ that allowed Stephen to endure his martyrdom with the assurance that in just a little while he would be home.
The same is true of the martyrs for the faith.
How do you face your suffering , hurt, and pain today?
We are told in verse 3and four to put our trust in the Lord.
He is the rock eternal in which we can put our trust.
He will keep us steadfast, and in perfect Shalam.
Down in Minto we had a swinging foot bridge that for some reason we called "The swinging bridge".
It was a series of planks that went across a stream but secured only by a cable handrail, and cross pieces for the planks.
It thus moved freely, but was not too stable.
Now I don’t like heights, and I don’t like bridges, so when mom and I went to the bridge to cross it you can guess what happened.
I looked down, and it seemed like the bridge was moving.
I felt weak and that the bridge offered no security at all.
I had no peace inside, and was scared stiff.
In fact I probably would be there today if it wearn’t for mom and her talking to me as I crossed.
I put my faith and trust in her and she got me through.
God wants us to put our faith and trust in Him and he will as well.
We can be steadfast in our faith, no swinging bridges when you are on the rock.
The righteousness that the passage speaks leads to the Shalam.
God takes us from where we were as sinners, and makes us righteous torhough forgiveness.
That forgiveness brings us the inner peace that we desire.
Verse 12 tells us that the peace that we seek is established by God.
He is the Prince of Shalam, the giver of Shalam.
The passage in John fourteen continues the great promise that was made at the first of the chapter.
Verse fifteen tells us that our obedience to God is a measure of our love for Him.
We obey not because we have to but we want to.
This is a passage that is for Christians.
Verse Seventeen tells us that the Spirit of truth, is not available to non-Christians.
They cannot accept Him, because they neither see or know Him.
Verse twenty-three carries a promise of God that if we love and obey Him, that He will come and dwell with us and in us.
He will make his home with us.
It’s like this, those who truly love each other form an interdependance with each other.
There is a part of Leslie in me and a part of me in her because we love each other and are committed to each other.
I trust in her and she can trust in me.
She has a home in me, and I have a home in her spirit.
The same is true of the Christian and God.
When the true love is there, just as we make our home with Him, so does He make His home with us, and doesn’t leave no matter what we face.
Jesus tells us in verse twenty-seven my peace, my eirene, is what he gives.
This is a complete and perfect peace, that will keep us as it says in Isaiah 26:3.
He then tells us not to let our hearts be troubled.
What kind of peace is this.
It is the kind mentioned at the first of the chapter.
It is an eternal peace, that transcends time.
And best of all it tells us how to get that peace.
The peace that Jesus is describing here, is not possible tpo understand in the natural.
Philippians 4:7 tells us this, and something else.
It tells us that the peace of Christ mentioned in John 14:27 is a peace that guards our hearts.
How does it do this?
The Holy Spirit communicates with our spirit and convicts us when something is wrong.
It is like knowing you shouldn’t do something without knowing why.
The only answer is , I just know, that I know, that I know.
The peace of God can also guard our minds which is the Devil’s playground.
Conclusion:
The essential question that you have to answer is this.
Do you want the temporary peace of this world, that cannot last, or do you want the Peace of Christ that is eternal?
It is no wonder that the angels sang of the peace of God to the world the first Christmas night.
I’m sure that night was surrounded by the peace and love of God.
Isaiah was right to call Jesus the Prince of shalam or eirene.
He is the eternal prince of peace, and He offers the gift of perfect peace to all today who will accept it.
The thing that you must do is accept it.
