‘Let there be peace on earth’
Peace on earth is something we all want. There is no political debate or divide about it. It would be wonderful if we could also agree about how world peace might be realized. Part of the challenge is how we define peace and, therefore, how we know we have attained it.
For some, peace is defined as the ceasing of hostility. For those engaged in hostility toward one another, a cessation of aggression can result in some temporary peace. But it seldom lasts long and there are never just two parties in conflict at any given time. Throughout human history, and even today, there are countless ongoing conflicts, attacks, acts of aggression, abusive behavior, lawbreaking, and the list goes on.
There is no easy path to peace if we’re only looking at it from a political or law-enforcement perspective. Even if every nation on the planet, every fringe group of revolutionaries, and every private citizen in the world willingly gave up all their “weapons,” new ones would be devised.
There is a better way, a better path to achieving peace. “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. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, and 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 will do this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)
The enemy of peace is sin. The Bible is truthful when it says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 2:23) The inclination of the human heart is selfish and deceitful. It wants what someone else has and cannot be honest about its own sinful condition but instead relies on deception to gain an advantage over those who threaten one’s own selfish pursuits.
The first sin ever recorded
in human history was grounded in deception and selfishness (Genesis 3) and it resulted in the peace of the Garden and the peace of humanity’s relationship with God being broken. Their sin nature was passed to the next generation and Cain murdered his brother Abel, using a rock, because Cain selfishly coveted the favor Abel had with God (because of Abel’s righteous heart and offerings). Cain was deceived by Satan and self-deceived about his own heart before God, but rather than deal with that, he violently broke peace with his brother and his God. And the cycle has only gotten worse with every subsequent generation. Were it not for the heart-changing, heart-transforming grace of God at work in and through His truly redeemed people, there would be total anarchy in every part of the world.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace. True peace, in every sense of the word, is evident wherever He resides and rules. It is a most remarkable thing! His heart-piercing truth challenges our selfish, deceitful hearts. It convicts us in our sin and warns us about sin’s consequences. And then, He offers us our only true hope, a new heart!
Here is God’s promise, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
Millions and millions of people on this planet right now have humbled themselves before God, have confessed their sinful hearts, have asked for God’s grace in Jesus Christ to save them from themselves and to give them a new heart — redeemed, restored, and repurposed to live in peace with God and everyone else, so far as we’re able.
My Christmas prayer for you, if you too truly desire “peace on earth,” is that you will bend your knee in the presence of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. He promises you will experience “the peace that surpasses human understanding.” And He will teach you how to help others do the same.
Can world peace truly happen? Yes, though every effort we make is met with great resistance from Satan, the enemy of peace. God promises that His Kingdom of peace and righteousness is now here in part and will be coming to fulfillment soon for all who have surrendered their hearts to Him, asking Him for a new heart in which the eternal Prince of Peace resides and rules. Amen.