Our Hope for Peace

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased” (Luke 2:14, NASB). This is the time of the year that Christians send greeting cards to their family members and friends. One of the verses from the Bible that is often inscribed on Christmas cards is Luke 2:14. The cards that I have seen most often use the words found in the King James Version of the Bible. It says, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” At this time of the year people look for peace in the world. People speak of the spirit of peace being in the world at this time. People hope that for this brief period of the year that there will be peace in the world and in their lives. However, this is not the reality that we see in the world in which we live. During the Christmas seasons of 1968 and 1969 I was stationed in the Republic of Viet Nam. The officials from the warring nations reached a “cease fire” agreement. There would be no acts of war for a specified number of days. The soldiers that I served with looked forward to this time because it meant that they could celebrate Christmas not worrying about an enemy attack. Yet, in retrospect, I don’t remember too much talk about the peace that God offers to humankind. I don’t remember much talk about the birth of Jesus and what it means to our lives in spite of the fact that many of us were confessing Christians. Instead, it was a time that we relaxed, got drunk, and talked about all kinds of crazy things. At the same time, while we were having fun, we were aware that in a day or so, war would resume. We never had the peace of knowing that our lives were forever free of danger. In this article, I want to write about the hope for peace given to all people for all eternity. What is peace? How can we have peace? At the end of World War I the League of Nations was organized in hope that the past war would be the end of all wars. However, World War II broke out some twenty-one years later. After the peace agreements were signed the United Nations was organized; again in hope that war would not come upon the earth again. On the contrary, war is a present reality throughout a large portion of the world today. It seems to me that the world defines peace primarily as the absence of hostilities expressed in ways that cause physical harm to people. Peace also includes the absence of mental and emotional harm caused by one person or group of people that is inflicted upon another person or group of people. With this said I will not spend time describing all the ways that people harm others and thus prevent us from having peace. Let us return to the scriptures. According to the Bible and Christian tradition a young woman named Mary gave birth to a son. Joseph, her husband and she named the child Jesus because they had been instructed to give the child this name by the angel of God. On the night that the child was born angels appeared to shepherds watching over their flock. The angel told them to go to Bethlehem where they would find the child lying in a manger wrapped in cloths. The angel said that this baby is “Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11, NASB). A company of angels appeared and praised God proclaiming that there is now peace from God that is offered to all that God is pleased with. It is important that we see in the text that the peace offered by God is different from that offered by men. New Testament scholar Robert Stein writes “Peace’ refers to the fullness of blessing which the Savior/Christ/Lord brings and is essentially a synonym for salvation (“Luke” in The New American Commentary vol. 24 [Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992], 108). Thus, the angel praised God for fulfilling His promise to give to His people a Savior, the long awaited Messiah, the Lord who becomes both Immanuel, meaning God is with us, and Jesus, meaning, he who saves us. The promise of God is that through His Son Jesus there is forgiveness of sin. Forgiveness of sin is necessary for the war between sinful man and God to be ended. Jesus is the necessary mediator of peace between God and the world. In His death on the cross Jesus was reconciling God to man. Paul writes in Romans, “For while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (5:10, NASB). Further, Paul contrast the war started by Adam’s sin with the peace that comes through the grace of God in Christ (vv. 12-21). Although peace is offered to all people, not all people accept the invitation. People must hear the offer of salvation through the proclaiming of the Gospel that produces faith in the individual. Then, those who hear must believe in their hearts and confess with their mouths that God raised Jesus from the dead (Rom. 10:8-17). Since all people do not accept the peace offered by God we will look again to the Scripture. Luke writes that this peace on earth is not among all people brought about by the methods and strategies of people. Rather, it is God’s goodwill toward men and among men whom God is pleased with. In Romans 1:7 Paul writes “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. A similar greeting Paul writes to the other churches. Paul is not writing to the world at large. He is writing to the people of God. The world needs the peace of God because as Paul writes in Romans 3:10-18 all people are unrighteous having gone their own way. Their mouths are used for curses and deception. They shed innocent blood. Paul concludes that people without God follow the path of misery and destruction. They do not know peace because they have no fear of God. This is a grim picture of humankind in their relationship to God and each other. A close look at what Paul is saying here and prayer helps us to understand that sin prevents any human method from bringing about peace in the earth. It is the responsibility of the church to preach and live the Gospel, serving as a testimony of God’s grace in offering reconciliation between God and people (Mark 16:16:15-16; Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-49; john 21:15-17; Acts 1:8). When a person accepts God’s forgiveness of sin and peace through Jesus Christ, Savior, and Lord, God gives that person His Spirit. They become a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). God gives them the fruit of the Spirit which is love. Love produces character traits (Gal. 5:22-23) in the individual that leads to peace with God and other people who have been born of the Spirit. In conclusion peace comes only from God to people who accept the peace offered by God and it is spread among people who belong to God.