“His Name . . . Prince of Peace”

Good morning from the Panhandle. I pray your day is going well. Today's post is the last on in the series from Isaiah 9:6. Here in the U.S. the "Christmas Season" is over, and people are returning to their pre-Christmas lives. Unfortunately this means that many will forget about the baby in the manger for until Christmas next year. Even some Christians will start to live differently, they will go back to their old lives so to speak. They will forget about how wonderful our counsellor is. They will forget how mighty our everlasting Father is, and they will not enjoy the peace given to them by the Prince of Peace. I pray this does not happen to you. 

Isaiah 9:6

6 For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The five names given to Christ Jesus by Isaiah’s prophecy are not repetitious. Each one describes a different attribute of His character. As “Wonderful,” He is the awesome One, the God-in-the-flesh miracle worker. As “Counsellor,” He advises us of all things right and best. We do well to walk in the path He directs. As “mighty God,” He is the Divine One, very God of very God. He who knows Him knows the Father also. As “everlasting Father,” He is a provider, protector, and disciplinarian for His children. Everything a good father is, He is. And now, as “Prince of Peace,” He gives His divine calm to those who trust Him.

“All we could ever imagine, could ever hope for, He is. ... He is the Prince of Peace whose first coming has already transformed society but whose second coming will forever establish justice and righteousness. All this, and infinitely more, alive in an impoverished baby in a barn. - Michael Card (musician and author)

1. The Promise of Peace. If you think about it our world has not known much real peace.

When Isaiah spoke this prophecy over twenty-eight hundred years ago, his nation was threatened with destruction. Already the rumblings of war, defeat, and slavery were heard on the horizon. Within a generation the nation would be suffering the bondage of Babylon. Yet Isaiah held out to the people a magnificent hope. He said, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isaiah 9:2). Where is this light? “Unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given: and his name shall be called . . . Prince of Peace.”

The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, was known well enough. So common was its usage that it was employed as a greeting of the day. It was used as we would say “Hello” to a friend. But the real meaning of the word had eluded the people for centuries. The promise of peace had been given often, for example, “I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid” (Leviticus 26:6). And “The Lord will bless his people with peace” (Psalm 29:11). Then when Isaiah announced the coming of the Messiah, he said His name would be “Prince of Peace.” Yet, for all the promises, there was not much peace. Then, finally, on that first Christmas, peace came.

Have you experienced the peace that only comes from knowing Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour?

2. The Promise Fulfilled.

While shepherds watched. It was a wintry night in old Judea. You can imagine that the shepherds had built a fire in the crevice of the rocks and huddled together to escape the cold. They were the last to expect that this night the Prince of Peace would come. Because they were shepherds, they were ceremonially unclean. They were not allowed inside the “church.” They were the nobodies of their day. They could not be called as witnesses in court, after all who could believe the testimony of a shepherd? They were despised, looked down upon, and often hated. The Jewish Talmud says, “Give no help to the heathen or a shepherd.” But there is no such prejudice with God. These who were the forgotten among men were not to be forgotten by God. 

Sometimes we may feel like the shepherds, outcast from the world, alone and lonely, and forbidden the “niceties” that others have. We feel friendless and lost. The Scripture says, “He . . . giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). It is to that type of person that God most often reveals Himself. It was true of the shepherds in Bethlehem’s field.

The angel’s song. Suddenly the darkness became as midday. The angel of the Lord appeared and said, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. . . . For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour. . . . And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:10 – 14). Then, as suddenly as the light had come, it was gone. All the way to the manger those shepherds must have repeated the words of the angels: “Glory to God . . . and on earth . . . peace . . . peace.” 

No more war and hate and killing. No more Roman soldiers in the land. Peace! At the manger they told what the angels had said, and everyone wondered at the things told them by the shepherds.

No peace on earth. As the months passed, the whole countryside was astir with the promise of peace. Then one day the Roman Legion came to Bethlehem with orders from Herod. While the people were gathered in the village square, the centurion read the edict, “Let all the children of Bethlehem and all the borders thereof two years of age and under, be slain.”

Matthew’s gospel tells the tragic story. “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more” (Matt. 2:18). So from a hundred broken and bleeding hearts came the wail, “The angels lied. There is no peace on earth.” 

Two thousand years have not changed the cry of the earth. Like the poet Longfellow, we say, “And in despair I bowed my head: ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said.” Did God lie? Did the Messiah come to earth to bring peace or not?

Christ Jesus is in truth the Prince of Peace. The peace He came to give is peace that passes the understanding of the world. It is not a political peace, a peace among nations, a peace that outlaws war. It is more than nonaggression treaties. What is the peace Christ Jesus came to give?

3. Messiah’s Peace.

A peace with God. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). 

Sin separates. It puts a barrier between man and God. This wall destroys peace. Isaiah said, “There is no peace to the wicked.” Sin is the great disturber, the constant troubler of the heart. It is the source of all disorder, strife, jealousy, envy, covetousness, hate, war, and killing. 

Christ Jesus came to restore order to your heart. He came as compensation so that you could be redeem. In preparing Joseph for Christ Jesus’ birth, the angel said, “Call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Do you have this peace with God in the forgiveness of your sins?

The peace of God. Not only does Christ Jesus give us peace with God, but he gives the Christian peace of God. Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” When the apostle wrote these words, he was a prisoner in Rome. In that cold and dark dungeon, Paul relied on the peace of God to keep him. Paul spoke of an inner calm, a serenity of soul, an inward peace born of faith and trust in God. 

Christ Jesus had this peace. It gave Him calm in the midst of a midnight storm when all the others were afraid. It was the peace of mind that brought Christ Jesus' tormentors to naught when they sought to trap Him in His words. It was love that caused Christ Jesus to say on the cross, “Father, forgive them.” This is the peace of God.

How can I find this peace? This peace of God does not come through the world of men. Search as you will, you cannot find this peace in worldly amusements, possessions, or acclaim. Christ Jesus said, “My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth.”

The peace of God is a gift. You must accept it in humility and thanksgiving. The Old Testament prophet said, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3). The last phrase is the important one —  “because he trusteth in thee.” These words contain the secret to the possession of this peace. The person who trusts his or her life to God through Christ Jesus has this peace. It is God’s gift in response to repentance and faith.

The peace of God is really the gift of Himself. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For he is our peace” (2:14). The peace of God is...God. This is the real meaning of the angel’s song. Peace on earth means—God with us.

The fortunes of war had liberated a small village on the western slopes of the mountains of Italy. The men of the American Seventh Army were engaged in securing the town against a counterattack. Through the rubble of a partly destroyed cathedral stepped an American soldier with his gun ready. Then he heard the voice of someone weeping. There at the torn altar an old man knelt. The soldier asked the cause of his weeping. Had he been injured in the fighting? Had he lost a loved one or friend? The old man looked up and said, “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just peace. She is so good.” Yes, my friend, peace is so good. It is Heaven’s gift to earth and God’s gift to man.