Prince of Peace

(editor's note: this blog was written back around December 20th. Sorry it took so long to post!)

The Prince of Peace…

Since it’s the Christmas season, every church is performing its own version of a Christmas service. The choirs perform various classic Christmas songs and even some more contemporary numbers for good measure. And it seems that the overriding theme in these presentations is “peace, peace…Christ came to bring peace”. They all sing of Jesus bringing peace on all the earth, how all the earth is at peace because of Jesus etc. They even sing to Him as the prince of peace (which He is), but they misunderstand what it is they are saying.
It’s so easy from listening to those songs to fool oneself into thinking that by Jesus coming into the world, everything has been made right; it has not. The world we live in is a spiritual battlefield. And Jesus was incarnated into a very, very dangerous and evil world. Let’s consider for a minute, that from the very moment that Jesus was born, his own king, Herod, was out to kill Him.
Unfortunately for those singing the songs about Jesus bringing peace to all men, it seems the Messiah Himself has a few interesting words on that very subject…
49"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." (Luke 12:49-53)
So, in light of Jesus’ own statement, how can we take seriously any song which seeks to say that Jesus came to bring peace on earth? We can’t. In fact, such a song is a lie. I can already hear the “but I thought Jesus is the prince of peace” coming from the simpletons in the church. Jesus most definitely is the prince of peace. But do you know what that means? Do you know what it is to be the prince of peace?
Jesus is the prince of peace for those who believe. He is the prince of peace for those who have repented and turned from their wicked ways. He is the prince of peace for those whose minds have been renewed by the Holy Spirit and whose sin will not be counted against them because they have received the imputed righteousness of Christ which covers their sin. That is what it means for Jesus to be the prince of peace. He has made peace between God and a specific sinner. He did not however, come to bring peace on the earth to end war or social injustice or anything like that. There is no peace on the earth because men are evil.

Jesus makes it very clear that there is no peace on this earth because it is a place of constant spiritual warfare. Any minister who is preaching peace and safety is a deceiver and you ought to be on the look out for such a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Such a man is ready to settle with the devil to avoid trial and tribulation from the Lord. We must understand that the Lord’s wrath is building against his enemies and, at the time of judgment, will rush forth like a flood from a dam that has burst. And all those who have practiced iniquity and rejected the savior will be destroyed. We must constantly be on the guard from those who, unintentionally or otherwise, lead us from the truth. When someone preaches peace and there is no peace, we may rightly judge that they are deceived and are deceiving others.
Our Lord’s wrath is building and burning against those who constantly reject His commands. Yet many of the very people for whom such destruction is ordained, are quite at ease in their person this very moment. They do not fear that it may be them who receive the unbearable wrath of God for they have preached and believed “peace, peace” . They are quite comfortable and prosperous in their endeavors. They wrongly interpret this as a sign of Providence from God. God looks down on their lives and they think to themselves, “God must approve, he has rewarded me financially. Therefore, God must not think my sins are all that bad if he keeps blessing me.” It is the folly of fools to believe such nonsense. What does the scripture say? “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45) Your prosperity on this planet is not an indication that you are in a right standing with God. If it were, I suppose the Pope would be the greatest Christian on earth or that Bill Gates would be God’s favorite vessel for spreading God’s glory and fame.
What does the Bible teach? God sends rain (blessings) on the just and the unjust. So, we should not look to the things we receive as necessarily indicating a right standing with God. If you want a clear example of how God views all of these issues, turn to Jeremiah chapter 6, verses 10-14...

"10 To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
11 But I am full of the wrath of the LORD, and I cannot hold it in. "Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years.
12 Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land," declares the LORD.
13 "From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.
14 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace."

Sounds very much like what we’re hearing in the modern church today…preaching peace when there is no peace. This is what we see in the emergent church movement that classifies itself as “seeker friendly” and “open-minded” . They are afraid of troubling your conscience with the truth of the gospel and so they preach on social justice and how to be successful and have your best life now. They are more concerned about numbers and dollars and show than seeing souls converted to Christ. These false teachers are numerous and they are everywhere. Beware of the lies they preach and rest assured they have received their own reward for their perversion in full.
These false teachers must repent and return to the true gospel of Christ. They must understand that this world is in a war between God and the devil. And whoever does not belong to the Lord belongs to the devil. There is no middle ground in this struggle and there is no peace. The only peace on this earth is to be had by those souls whom Christ has regenerated and brought to new life in Him. These souls enjoy peace while it evades all others.
We must understand our own peace from God with sober judgment and not go to extremes extolling Christ as bringing peace to everybody. It is clear from Jesus’ own mouth that bringing peace is not his goal. His goal is to obey the will of His Father by becoming a curse and paying the price for our sin. It is through this sacrifice and this sacrifice alone that we have peace with the Father. We are at peace because Christ has settled our account with God. We also receive the peace of God which transcends all understanding and will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.