The Gift of Peace

As we begin our new series on Christmas Gifts, we started by looking at The Gift of Peace. In the book of Isaiah, we discover that Holy Spirit moves into the Christmas story with a sense of peace. Isaiah 11:6-9 refers to the predator lying down with the prey. "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. It is a picture of supernatural, Divine peace.

It is important to remember that Isaiah did not live in a peaceful time. He was preparing the people for the invasion of the Babylonians which would eventually lead to the exile of the Hebrews. Yet, peace is a major theme in Isaiah, and specifically in the Christmas prophecies. The word peace that Isaiah uses means more than just our English word peace. It carries the idea of the coming of wholeness and fullness. The prophecies of the coming Messiah is one that will bring wholeness and fullness to mankind. And as I said earlier, it is theme that is closely related to Christmas.

 In Isaiah 9, we are told that one of His names will be the Prince of Peace. In Isaiah 2:5, we find Micah (a contemporary of Isaiah) prophesying that the Christ child will be born in the town of Bethlehem. And he goes on to say that He will be the source of peace. We flip over to Luke and read about Zachariah's prophesying about his son John the Baptist, how his son John will point to Christ, and how their ministry together will lead to a path of peace. Then Luke 2 describes the angels coming to the shepherds, and proclaiming "Peace on earth, goodwill to men." 

However, the Christmas story is actually anything but peaceful. Angels show up and scare the shepherds to death. A teenage girl is told she is going to be the mother of God and conceive a child even though she is a virgin. Mary and Joseph live with the stigma of raising a child born out of wedlock. They are living under a period of Roman occupation and brutality. The king is a paranoid egomaniac, who has all the boys in Bethlehem under the age of two killed to prevent this newborn king from living. Nothing about this story is peaceful.

And for many of us, the Christmas season is not peaceful. We go home are places of conflict. Our shopping centers make the news daily of brutality and attacks during the holiday shopping. Conflicts and war continue to ravage our planet. Hunger and poverty continually plague many of the children of our planet. Peaceful? Hardly.

So how do we have peace when the events and circumstances of our lives do not lend themselves to peace? How do we experience peace when the lamb is being stalked by the lion? Mark Batterson says it this way, "Peace has less to do with the state of affairs we live in than the state of being we rest in."  The events and circumstances of our lives (our state of affairs) might be filled with chaos and conflict, tension, and strife; however, our spirits (our state of being) can be at rest. Peace is not so much about the state of affairs that we live in, but the state of being that we rest in.

This week, we are going to look at two really important concepts that will enable us to experience the supernatural peace of God in spite of our circumstances. The first is the character of God? Secondly, we are going to look at some practical things we can do to experience peace in spite of our circumstances. I hope you will read all these post. In a world filled with stress, anxiety, and pain...God promises us a supernatural peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).