Blog: Max Dawson
7/18/16
That’s what He is called in .
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called…Prince of Peace.”
Brother Benjamin Lee and I used that verse last night in our study on the Kingdom of God. The text is prophetic of the first coming of Christ. It’s about His birth, His coming into the world. It’s about what He would be–a prince who reigns in peace.
Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has been able to accomplish something no other ruler has ever achieved. He established a kingdom of peace. Isaiah mentioned that peace in when he talked about the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ.
“…they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
This text is not saying that there would never again be wars among the various countries governed by men. I understand it to mean that those who come from the differing nations into the Kingdom of Christ would be at peace with one another. That is most clearly seen in the case of Jews and Gentiles–those who formerly had been at odds with one another. The Apostle Paul spoke of those two as he made his point in (RSV).
“…that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both (Jew and Gentile–md) to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end.”
When people submit to the Prince of Peace they are reconciled to God in the one body (the church). They are brought together in unity with one another. Thus, the hostility that once existed is now gone. Hostility. Gone.
That text tells us something about the relationships that ought to exist among God’s children in His family–the church. Peace. No hostility. Unity. That’s what following our great Prince produces.
THE FINAL WORD
A final passage. This text is one that Ben and I will touch on this coming Sunday night. The Prince of Peace Himself spoke these words in .
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”
I don’t think Jesus had in mind those who meet at the United Nations to try to bring an end to conflicts. Rather, I understand that He means those who promote the gospel of peace (); those who work to reconcile men to God and to each other. Our God is the Father of peace (). When we promote peace among His children, we are certainly imitators of our Father.
“He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.”
Seek Peace. Pursue Peace. Please God.
May the Blessings of Peace be upon you my dear friends.
–Max