Will There Ever Be Peace on Earth?
Will There Ever Be Peace On Earth?
Surely you have asked that question just as I have. Will there ever be peace on earth? Christmas always reminds us of the hopeful angelic chorus: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14). As we leave our Christmas celebrations behind and enter a new year, this is a question reasonably asked: Where is this peace on earth? When will we see peace on earth? So, these are the questions I’d like to explore in this and in upcoming articles.
In the midst of this world of war, ongoing terrorism, senseless murders, unending bloodshed, and seething and manifest hatred toward our fellow man, we who love and long for peace in our world, our nation, our cities, and our communities, pray for peace.
But conflicts in our own lives, strife at work, clashes with family members, and ugly disagreements at church keep our souls unsettled and cause us to question the promise of peace. If we can’t achieve peace in our own lives and in our closest relations, how can we hope for peace between nations, or in our own domestic political factions and other forces within our national life? If there is no oneness and harmony in the Body of Christ with its many members, how can we expect oneness or peace in a nation of so many diverse people and divergent cultural, racial, political, and religious backgrounds, histories, and worldviews?
It seems to me that the kind of peace so many have desired is a false idea, a phantom quest, and a hollow hope. The peace we desire as Christians cannot be achieved or found in human efforts or schemes no matter how sincere or noble they might be. That much seems clear. Humanity is incapable of peace. Why? Because we are at war with ourselves and with God.
The earth has no hope apart from the God of peace. There is only one God, we believe, and he sent his One and Only Son as the Prince of Peace. He is the One through whom God and man are reconciled, bringing peace on earth, and establishing his KIngdom of peace in the hearts of those who believe in him and become like him through the work of the Spirit whose presence in us produces spiritual fruit, described in part, as love, joy, and peace.
Christmas, the celebration of the coming of Jesus, as large as it is in our hearts and minds as Christians, was a small beginning. It was hardly noticed beyond Judea, and mostly denied there and then. The Roman Empire paid no attention to Jesus of Nazareth until the Jewish leaders brought him to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.They wanted him dead. They demanded his death. Only Pilate had the legal authority to sentence Jesus to death, but he just wanted the problem to go away. But, to keep the “peace” in Jerusalem he ordered our Lord to be executed on a cross. He knew Jesus was an innocent, harmless man, in a lawful sense, and that he didn’t deserve to die. But to keep Jerusalem from rioting and himself from professional ruin, he did what he thought would appease the mob that strenuously cried for his crucifixion.
What Pilate didn’t know is that his executive order to crucify Jesus was a crucial part of God’s eternal plan to establish peace on earth. As instrumental, of course, as the Incarnation of the Savior was to God’s plan, so was his atoning death on the cross. Paul encapsulates God’s plan and its implications to us who believe this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (II Corinthians 5:17-19).
Writing to Timothy, Paul spoke of God’s will and desire for “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (I Timothy 2:4-6). Let’s understand that the essential role of a mediator is to bring two parties together, somehow removing the barriers and enmity between them, restoring a relationship of peace. And Jesus continues in this redemptive role today as our Great High Priest, seated at the right hand of God, making intercession for the saints.
Reconciliation with God means that we are no longer enemies of God, no longer at war with God. We are at peace with God. This, again, is the Apostle Paul: “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight” (Colossians 1:19-22).
Jesus came to instill the peace of God into the hearts of his followers, both Jews and Gentiles, people of all nations, races, tribes, and ethnicities. He said to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). This peace is other worldly peace, not of this world. He tells them again, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
In those key words of Jesus, we have the promise of present peace as well as future peace in the Kingdom of Heaven that will victoriously defeat and destroy all the dark forces of evil and supersede and replace the present world, which will pass away at the Lord’s coming at the end of the age. Until then, we who believe in the Lord Jesus and trust in the Word of God, must continue to pray for peace. However, it is imperative to remember that Jesus is our peace, and that the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us is the Spirit of the God of peace.
So, Paul urges the believers in the church at Philippi: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7).
Yes. There is peace on earth – God’s kind of peace. It is here and now. It exists where the blood of Christ has cleansed and purified those who believe. It surpasses understanding, but exits where the Spirit dwells and the heart rejoices in the Lord and patiently waits on his triumphant return.
I’ll pursue this theme further next time. Grace and peace always in our Lord Jesus Christ! – Hal