“And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near,”
Never in history, since the day Cain murdered his brother, has there been a time when men couldn’t look around them and ask, ‘where is peace?’ For the world has no peace and despite it’s relentless search will never find peace, outside of Jesus Christ.
Why? Because they search for it in absolute darkness, and for the most part their search is half-hearted and insincere.
In the political realm the plea for peace usually translates into ‘you give in to my demands’. ‘It’s almost voting time; let’s have a cease-fire’. ‘Cough up the oil, and nobody gets hurt’.
But peace with God was lost when man rebelled against His love, and those without peace with God, can never have the peace of God; which only is lasting peace.
I want to look at some preachers of ‘peace’ today, and see how the various ones differ in their message, and why the message itself dictates the success or failure of peace.
SUPERFICIAL HEALERS
The first group of preachers of peace we’ll see belong to the negative side of the equation. They are what Jesus referred to as false teachers. Or false prophets. In Matthew 7:15 He warned,
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
Jesus was warning against those He knew would come after Him, and indeed, were present at the same time He was. In point of fact; He could very well have said, ‘like the poor, the false prophets you will always have with you’.
Because He knew well that the presence of these deceivers already permeated history.
They were the ones who convinced the post-diluvian society that they should build a mighty tower up to God, so they had to be confused and scattered by God in order to make them go to their appointed places of habitation.
False prophets were the ones who grumbled against Moses and convinced the people to make a golden calf that they might worship.
They were the ones whose message has always been one of peace and prosperity, by the circumvention of God’s decrees and doing things according to the flesh. The easy way. But like the song says, “Takin’ the easy way isn’t an easy way...”
The natural tendency of fallen man is to look for the quick fix; take away the pain and all will be ok. And false teachers, puppets of satanic influence and authorities, have always taken advantage of that weakness, and always will.
God denounced these charlatans in chapter 6 of Jeremiah’s prophecy when He said, “And they have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying ‘Peace peace’, But there is no peace.”
And that’s just one example. We see this repeated several more times in Jeremiah, and also in Ezekiel. False prophets being denounced and their punishment predicted, by God, Whose judgment on them is that they deceive His people by declaring peace when there is no peace.
This is at the root of every false religion; every crooked televangelist or radio preacher, or so-called pastor of even mainline denominations of the Christian faith, who promise prosperity, and positive answers to our prayers for health and comfort and deliverance from trial, asserting that if we say just the right prayer, or give a certain amount of money to their cause, God is somehow duty-bound to pour out His blessings.
The false preachers of peace boast of mighty things in themselves, and promise all who will give them ear that if their faith is strong enough, they too will do marvelous things for God, and God will open the windows of Heaven and pour out His blessing.
If you listen closely and pay attention to what their real message is, you will find that they are preaching a god who wants to coddle you and dote on you like a spoiled brat, and all you have to do is be fervent in the exercise of your religious duties, and mumble just the right prayer words, and you’ve got this god practically obligated to acquiesce to your demands.
In the end what they have really accomplished is to turn you entirely away from the path of faith and obedience in the one true God, given you a false sense of rightness and security for the moment, and set you up for a very destructive fall.
In Matthew 7:16 - 23 Jesus warns His disciples to be aware of their fruit and judge them accordingly; then He points out that they will not enter heaven based upon their works; for no matter what pious and religious deeds their resume may boast, it is knowing Him that opens the portals of heaven for the weary traveler, and nothing else.
Let me say just one more thing on this subject before we move on to brighter territory. The mind of the world is deceived. So badly darkened and deceived, that it continues to believe that striving after worldly peace is the noblest, most worthwhile venture of man. It is a striving after wind.
The Christian must not let himself be drawn into that way of thinking. There will never be peace on this planet, until the King of Kings returns to rule.
Paul tells us in I Thessalonians 5:3 that even at the very end, men will be boasting of the peace and safety they think they have accomplished, when a very violent end comes upon them.
Jesus Christ purchased peace between God and men when He shed His blood on Calvary’s tree, and then rose again to complete the reconciliation. Only those who have appropriated that gift and been born from above can have that peace; but it is a peace that comes immediately upon the exercise of saving faith, and endures forever.
I think the greatest distinction between the message of the false prophet and that of the true prophet, is that the true prophet of God always calls the hearer away from this world and its lures.
The false teacher may perform amazing works that appear to be miraculous. He may speak with eloquence and clarity of thought and convincing argument that can only be defined in terms of genius. But he must, whatever his words or the choreography of his show, he must offer you worldly gain or comfort or prestige; something that appeals to the ego; to the psyche; to the flesh.
Because that is all he has to offer. He will not and cannot offer the spiritual. He cannot offer Heaven. All he has to offer is this world, and his master demands that he continue to use this world and its trappings to draw your attention away from the truth.
So when the false prophet preaches peace, he can offer no more than some temporary, surface cessation of turmoil that cannot last; if indeed he is in a position to offer even that.
He is a ‘superficial healer’, as noted in Jeremiah 6, and even that term compliments his efforts, since in reality he is no healer at all.
THE PRINCE OF PEACE
In sharp contrast to the shallow and empty promises of the charlatans, One finally comes on the scene who offers no worldly gain or comfort.
His words have a ring of truth and of authority. People are saying of Him that He speaks with an authority and a credibility that far exceeds that of the educated and the religious elite of His day.
They’re saying, “Never did a man speak the way He speaks”. Even the temple guard, when sent out to arrest Him, came back empty-handed because they were so awed at His words.
Could this be the One? The One of whom the prophet Isaiah wrote:
“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace.”
-Isa 9:6,7
But what an enigma He is! He doesn’t seem to be preaching peace at all. He says things like:
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” - Matt 10:34
In His wake He leaves entire families at odds with one another. He enters the temple and infuriates the Pharisees with His teaching, and with provocative acts, like driving money changers out, and talking about the temple itself being torn down.
But didn’t Isaiah say He would be called ’Prince of Peace’? Could this be the One?
Well, we know the answer, don’t we? It is yes. Absolutely and without doubt, this is the One.
Because we understand that His message was that to have peace with God, one could not be at peace in or with this world. We all owed a death, and the only way to have life with God was to be dead to the world.
Quite a removal from the peace and prosperity message of the superficial healers, isn’t it?
C. S. Lewis said, “Nothing that has not died can be resurrected”. A statement so simple and so obvious that at first one is caused to wonder why such a lucid and intelligent man would bother to say it.
But over time as I pondered this assertion, I began to realize that he was talking about so much more than just physical death and resurrection. Because you see, it is not only sin itself, and the bad things; the bad habits, the unworthy, ungodly ideas and ideals that we must die to.
We must be willing to die to the most noble of this world’s dreams and pursuits; all of our own fleshly talents and exercises, all that the world calls ’good’, but that has no eternal value or function, before Christ can take all those things, burn off the dross, and bring forth His kind of life.
The highest calling of the Christian is not to find their strongest talent and use it in ministry. The highest calling of the Christian is to die to all things, good and bad, seeing ourselves as raised to life in Him, and yielding our new selves to His use. Then, if He uses our talents, we will be exercising them as glorified saints, not as glory seekers
The Jews had their Law and their rite of circumcision. The had the oracles and ordinances of God.
The Gentiles had their art and their science and their philosophy and their hedonistic pursuits of physical beauty and perfection.
And both groups thought that peace was a by-product of the tenacious and unrelenting adherence to these things.
But ever-elusive, peace continued to manifest itself as a ghost; hovering just out of reach, beautiful in appearance but incorporeal and shifting with every breeze like a plume of smoke.
Then He came, preaching peace to the Jew, those who were near, and to the Gentile, those who were far off. And it was a peace that was real and tangible and attainable; but called first for a death.
I’d like for you to pause and take note of something right here that may have previously escaped your attention.
Note that Ephesians 2:17 says He preached peace to those who were near, and those who were far off.
A few months ago my wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary by taking a ride on the Durango/Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. It was a lovely day and we enjoyed ourselves very much.
A few weeks later, whether it was because I ate the wrong snack before bed time, or what, I had a short dream relating to that day.
I dreamed that I was walking outside the train as it readied to set out from the station. Lynnea was in her seat already, waiting for me, but I wanted to get a picture from the back of the train, looking up the length of it toward the engine.
As I passed the end of the caboose and prepared to turn and focus my camera, the train’s whistle suddenly blew, the cars jumped, and the train began moving out from the station at a rate that I could not keep up with.
I ran. I yelled, “HEY!” knowing that no one would hear over the sounds of the whistle and the screeching steel. I grabbed for the railing on the back of the caboose, and felt my fingertips brush it as the train sped up and pulled itself out of my reach.
Very briefly, but calamitously, I stumbled on a railroad tie, and by the time I recovered the train was moving quickly down the track, taking my wife and my wonderful anniversary plans with it.
I was near. I was so near. But I want to call to your attention, the fact that once the train pulled out, I was no closer to being a passenger on that train, than were our girls who were still at home in Montrose.
The Jews were near. They were so near. They had the specific revelation of God through His Law, through the ordinances, through the record of His pre-incarnate appearances to the patriarchs and His word through the Jewish prophets.
But a miss is as good as a mile. And they needed the Prince of Peace to come and preach to them, just as much as the naked pagan dancing around his fire and chanting incantations to a monkey’s head tied to a stick.
Church-goer, I want to be very clear today, and I want to assure you, that this principle applies to you as well. I don’t care if you are the shy person who sits in the back and keeps a low profile, or the person who leads singing, or teaches Sunday School, or preaches God’s Word.
I don’t care how near those things bring you. They are useless, they are of the flesh, they miss entirely, Heaven and God, unless you are ‘on board’, with Jesus Christ.
And by that I mean that you are one of those Paul was talking about when he said, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...” Rom 5:1
The peace that He came preaching, was nothing more and nothing less than the peace He was to make available between God and men, through His life of absolute obedience to the Father’s will, and the pouring out of His innocent blood from Calvary’s Cross, and His triumphant defeat of death and the grave by His bodily resurrection from the dead.
Church won’t get you there. Noble acts won’t get you there. Sacrificing yourself and your worldly goods to help others won’t get you there. Spending your life in the pursuit of the betterment of society won’t get you there.
Self-improvement won’t get you there. Not art, not philosophy, not science, not the knowledge of God’s Law, not the faithful exercise of religion, none of these things...
...because you must die to all of these things insofar as placing any confidence in them whatsoever, before He can give you His life, and the peace that comes with it.
But once He does, friend, I promise you, He will provide a value and fulfillment to all those things that never can be realized until He is your Prince of Peace.
BEAUTIFUL FEET
Now I want to talk about the course He sets the believer on. It is a path of peace.
In Isaiah 52:7, the prophet is again talking about the coming Messiah when he writes:
“How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”
Once again, it is the Prince of Peace, coming and preaching peace; this time to those who are near, as we see He specifically addresses Zion.
But the sentiment being expressed in the verse can apply also to His people; those whom He has brought near by His blood, and given them beautiful feet, and sent them to proclaim this message of peace also.
Interestingly, as Paul goes on in this letter to the Ephesians; what we call chapters 3 4 and 5; he continues to establish that this mystery of the ages has now been revealed to Jew and Gentile alike, and has made both groups into one and given them bold access to the Throne of grace.
Then he begins to more specifically address the walk of the believer, and what it means to be a Christian in our practical, every day living.
As we continue our study we will see that this large portion of this letter of only 6 chapters, deals very thoroughly with Christian behavior, and the witness that we are as imitators of God and fellow heirs with Christ and the saints.
There is much to say, of course, and maybe we’ll get through it all before the Rapture.
But let me just offer some closing thoughts today to remind you of what has brought us to this point, and maybe prime your thinking for future study of this epistle.
To this point, Paul has been talking about all that God has done through Christ, in us and for us and to us.
He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. He has chosen us, called us holy and blameless as He sees us through the righteousness of His Son. He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit Who is given us as a pledge of our inheritance in Him.
We were dead. He has made us alive and seated us in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus. He has prepared good works for us since before the foundation of the world, and created us and prepared us to accomplish them, as we obey and walk in the Spirit.
Then we come to our verse of study today and find that all dividing walls, all barriers between God’s chosen people and the nations of the world are torn down in Christ, who is the Prince of Peace.
He has made peace with God for us, even while we were His enemies and enemies of one another. He provides the peace; purchases it for us and calls us to it.
In future weeks we’ll see that now that this work is done; now that this mystery of the ages has been revealed, and now that His Holy Spirit makes us all one in Him, He sends us forth to walk accordingly in this world.
Now that He has called us out and made us not of this world, now that He has created us anew and made us right with the Father, He now cleans our feet and sends us forth also, through lives of praise and obedience to Him, to preach peace also.
My friends, we turn on the morning news and hear of war, and murders, and tragic accidents; suicide bombings and disappearing children, and thinly veiled threats from one world leader to another, and in the midst of all this turmoil, we see tears. We hear crying. We hear the politicians talking about the quest for peace, and we hear grandmothers pleading for it.
But the next time you read the newspaper or listen to the radio or turn on CNN or whatever news program keeps you abreast of world events, I would like for you to turn off the sound for a moment, or just tune it out, or lay down the paper, and remind yourself that the Prince of Peace has come, announcing peace, proclaiming news of happiness. He has torn down the dividing wall, abolished in His flesh the enmity, brought together those who were near and those who were far off and made them into one new man in Christ.
I want you to remind yourself that you, as a Christian, are the only one who can answer the questions cried out in anguish; ‘why can’t we have peace?’ ‘where is peace?’
It is a simple answer. But they will never find it on their own. They need the message brought to them by those who have beautiful feet, shod with the gospel of Peace.
Through Him we both (Jew and Gentile) have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
We are the Church. Attentive Bride of the coming Prince; the only hope for peace left in a dying world.
