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!

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