PEACE ON EARTH!
By
Dr. Ken Matto
Luke
2:14 (KJV) Glory to God in
the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
With
Christmas upon us there seems to be another major confusion as to why Christ
came to this earth. It seems the
majority of people believe that it was for the purpose of bringing peace on
earth. Of course, the peace they
are thinking about is the type of peace where two people stop fighting or two
countries stop throwing bombs at one another.
While that is a nice belief it has nothing to do with that in the initial
stage of true peace. When Christ
came to earth, even He prophesied the destruction of Judah in 70 A.D. which he
also orchestrated based upon verses in Daniel.
So world peace was not established at that time.
Since the time of Christ, there have been many wars including world wars
and localized wars which means if Christ came for the purpose of establishing
that type of peace, then His mission was a complete failure.
So
then what type of peace did Christ come to establish on earth when Luke 2:14
speaks about peace on earth. The
answer to that is found in Romans 5:1:
Romans 5:1 (KJV) Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
The
peace that Christ came to establish was a qualified peace between God the Father
and those who would believe. As
Jesus stated in John 14:6 that no one can come to the Father except through Him.
The unbeliever is at war with God the Father.
The Bible calls it enmity which can also be understood as hostility.
Ephesians 2:14-16 (KJV) For
he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us; {15} Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the
law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace; {16} And that he might reconcile both unto God in one
body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
As we
read in Ephesians 2:14-16, that the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary had abolished
the differences between Jew and Gentile which created out of these two groups,
one complete body of Christ which are reconciled unto God the Father in peace
because Christ slew the enmity or hostility that existed between God and those
who had become saved. The peace on
earth that Christ came to bring was not a physical peace on earth since that
could not happen because every human being has the sin nature in them which can
be ignited in a moment. The peace
that Christ came to bring was the gospel that those who became saved will no
longer be at enmity with God. That
is the peace on earth which is the true peace.
Those who are saved have experienced the true peace with God.
Romans 15:33 (KJV) Now the
God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Philippians 4:9 (KJV) Those
things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do:
and the God of peace shall be with you.
Two
times in the New Testament God the Father is called “the God of peace.”
This is because He was the one who sent His Son to the manger for the
purpose of dying for His Elect of all ages so that peace can be eternally
existent between the saved and God the Father.
Now I
want to dispel another myth which has been believed for many years by many.
It is found in Matthew 5:9:
Matthew 5:9 (KJV) Blessed are
the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
In
the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus states that “Blessed are the peacemakers...” What
are the peacemakers and why would they be called the children of God?
First of all we must understand that to be a child of God, we must be
saved in Christ, not religious but truly saved in Christ.
The peacemakers are those truly saved people who send forth the gospel to
the ends of the earth. Let us say
you hand someone a tract and they become saved.
They, like you, are now at peace with God because the hostility has
ended. The peace maker in view is
the one who sends forth the gospel to see others become saved and as a result,
when they become saved, they are no longer at enmity with God, the war is over.
There
two other verses which must be looked at to give us a complete view of this
subject of peace:
Matthew 10:34 (KJV) Think not
that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Luke
12:51 (KJV) Suppose ye that I
am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
Here
in both Matthew 10:34 and Luke 12:51 we see that Christ did not come to bring
peace on earth but a sword and division.
The true gospel has split families and cost many friendships.
In this time of year, try bringing the truth of why Christ came and see
what the good church folk say to you or try to tell parents not to allow their
children to believe in Santa Claus.
Is your health insurance paid up?
If Christ came to bring peace on earth, then why is the gospel banned in many
countries? How can there be peace
if there is no true gospel? The
true peace that Christ came to bring is for one person at a time, not a country
or continent.
Above
I had stated that peace among warring countries or two people who hate each
other was not in the initial stages of true peace.
When two people are fighting and one becomes saved, they will cease
hostilities against the other person.
Outward peace is a result of the inward peace that God gives through
salvation. So a person receives
salvation, the peace of God in their lives, and it makes them less hostile and
less desirable to fight. If you
fill a bathtub with water and keep filling it, eventually it will overflow and a
person who has peace in their life, that too will overflow into their daily
living.
To
summarize the peace that the world seeks and sings for on Christmas is not world
peace but the individual peace that God gives to those that He saves.
Peace apart from salvation is not peace but an emotional illusion.
So that is the peace that Christ came to give at Christmas, the cessation
of hostilities between the Elect of God and God the Father through salvation in
Christ!