Ashe Alliance Church
Sunday Service 12.22.24
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  • Hark The Herald Angels Sing (Mendelssohn)
  • O Come O Come Emmanuel (Veni Emmanuel)
  • Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria)
  • The Goodness Of Jesus
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    Main Idea

    The Messiah’s peace will affect all aspects of life.
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    So far, we’ve reviewed three powerful names or titles given to the coming Messiah. All of them highlight and magnify certain aspects of His nature and attributes of His kingdom rule.
    Wonderful Counselor - a miracle worker, majestic dispenser of divine wisdom and guidance.
    Mighty God - El Gibbor - the mighty, heroic warrior who decimates the enemy, and the God-Man who will rescue His people.
    Everlasting Father - The founding father figure of this kingdom who cares for, teaches, guides, provides, protects, and leads His people with sacrificial love.
    Now, we will conclude our Advent study by delving into the final title of Prince of Peace.
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    To begin, if you fast-forward to chapter 26, you will find the song of Judah as God’s people are vindicated from the wicked by the incredible power and might of Yahweh, and here is a snippet of how Isaiah encourages the people:
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    Isaiah 26:3–4 ESV
    You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
    Isaiah 26:12 CSB
    Lord, you will establish peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us.
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    Passage

    Isaiah 9:1–7 CSB
    Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future he will bring honor to the way of the sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.
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    I - Modern-Day Ideas of Peace

    What do you think of when you hear the word peace? Is it an image, a feeling, or a sense of being?
    • Maybe you see the peace symbol in your mind or someone holding up two fingers.
    • Maybe you hear the stereotypical beauty pageant answer when asked what they want, and they answer, “world peace.”
    • Perhaps you see a person in a state of meditation, trying to find inner peace.
    • Or maybe you are a frazzled parent who finally got the kids to sleep so you could finally sit in a dark room for a bit of peace and quiet.
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    We all have concepts of peace or what it looks like in our personal lives. Some may like the idealization of peace as a state of tranquility, but they might not have a realistic, concrete example of what peace truly is.
    To take it one step further, what do you think peace meant to Isaiah and his readers? What did peace look like for Simeon and Anna? The answer is that it meant something different to each of them. They lived at various times and in different circumstances. In Isaiah’s day, the Assyrian army was looming to the north, wielding blood-thirsty swords. Simeon and Anna lived under Roman rule with the Pax Romana (Roman peace). However, their version of peace is like being at peace with the bully at school who has you in a headlock in the locker room, and you just made a truce with them by giving them your lunch money in exchange for him leaving you alone.
    The variety of meanings and applications is a key component necessary to unlock the meaning of the Messiah’s final title: Prince of Peace. Like the term ‘Father,’ peace is fascinatingly multifaceted. If we only thought of it as the absence of war or an acceptance of self, we would miss out on so much this power-packed title has to offer.
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    II - Prince

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    Lexham Theological Wordbook שַׂר

    שַׂר (śar). n. masc. official. General word for the leader of a specific group or region.

    According to Lexham, this word is the one most commonly used for a leader in the Old Testament and ranges in uses from the Head (or leader of a group) to a court/district official, a chief (of a clan or tribe), a governor, or magistrate (highest official of a particular jurisdiction).
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    OT Perspective
    In each of these instances, a higher power has given the person authority over a particular group, tribe, and territory. This language makes sense in light of the Messiah being a child and son given to the people (presumably by His father). Other messianic passages, like Psalm 2, also show how God himself gives the Messiah the governing rulership over this Kingdom.
    The title Prince also fits well as being an heir from the royal line of David, and the alliteration doesn’t hurt either.
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    NT Perspective
    Jesus is the Son of God who prays to, gets guidance from, and submits to His Heavenly Father.
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    III - Peace - Shalom

    This is where it starts to get interesting. The Hebrew word for peace is shalom שָׁלוֹם (šālôm).
    This term goes well beyond the absence of conflict, which most would associate it with. As we read Isaiah 9:7 and this everlasting rule and dominion of peace, many of us might think about the future, an eternal state where swords are pounded into plowshares, the lion lays harmoniously beside the lamb, and children play carefree at the snake’s pit, because all hostility and animosity has been eradicated from the face of the earth. Indeed, this time will come eventually, but shalom goes far beyond a mere tranquil state of being void of war and conflict.
    On a broader scale, it speaks to the state of a person’s entire existence: their wholeness, fullness, and complete well-being. Shalom can address a specific area of life or inquire about a person’s spiritual and physical wholeness.
    Picture these definitions as rows in a pyramid where each is built on top of the previous.
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    National Level
    absence of war and hostility. Deut. 20:10.
    to be physically unharmed. Genesis 26:29.
    security and safety. Psalm 4:8.
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    Personal Level
    harmony - to be comfortable around another person. Joshua 9:15.
    to be at ease (wishing someone to “go to your fathers in peace” before they die). Genesis 15:15.
    well off in every sphere of life (food, shelter, health, love). 2 Samuel 20:9. The never-ending prosperity of the Messiah’s dominion is shalom.
    standard Jewish greeting: “Peace to you,” and farewell: “peace be with you.” Ex. 4:18.
    covenant relationship with God. Ezekiel 37:26.
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    Considering all this, Shalom could be defined as a relationship with God or another person characterized by harmonious love, loyalty, and care.
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    IV - New Testament Uses

    εἰρήνη, eirēnē.
    The New Testament contains many use cases, but I want to highlight four to illustrate how Christ fulfills the role of the Prince of Peace.
    1. The heavenly announcement of Christ’s birth - Luke 2:14 - ties directly to Isaiah 9:6. The peace on earth comes from Jesus and is announced by the angelic messengers in the sky as the Messiah, and if He is the giver of peace, then He must be the Prince of Peace.
    2. Grace and peace– This is a greeting in nearly every one of Paul’s epistles that carries a duel purpose: (1) it unifies the body by tying together the common Jewish and Greek greetings, and (2) highlights a profound, theological truth (peace only comes after grace, reinforcing peace with God before experiencing it in daily life).
    The world may offer peace through compromise and meditation, but it will never be able to deliver on its promise because there is only one source of true peace, and it begins with the grace of God to convert enemies into sons and daughters.
    3. Spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22). Lasting peace can only flow from God’s Spirit.
    4. Spiritual armor (Eph 6:15). Our feet are equipped with the message of the gospel of peace.
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    V - The Prince of Peace

    Jesus is the Prince of Peace because it characterizes every aspect of His kingdom rule. Everywhere you look in the Messiah’s Kingdom, peace reigns.
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    1. Peace is the atmosphere of the Kingdom
    Because this peace is flowing from the Prince and Ruler to the citizens of His kingdom, this is a covenantal peace.
    Romans 14:17 CSB
    for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
    This is why peace is a spiritual fruit and armor; it is an essential building block of the Kingdom, and the Prince of Peace will establish and eternally rule over it. The very message of the gospel itself is a message of peace:
    Ephesians 2:17 CSB
    He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
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    The peace of the Messiah’s reign will not be like a false sense of peace that always proves to be unsatisfying and temporary.
    Jeremiah 6:14 CSB
    They have treated my people’s brokenness superficially, claiming, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
    He will establish a unique, fulfilling, and lasting peace:
    John 14:27 CSB
    “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.
    Peace is not meditation, a temporary cease-fire with another, or giving up your moral boundaries to avoid offending anyone.
    In Jesus:
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    2. We have peace with God
    This is our most fundamental need. If we don’t have peace with God, we are cut off from the source of peace. However, if peace flows from Him to us, it can overflow from us to our neighbors. If you want a life characterized by peace, it begins here.
    Romans 5:1 CSB
    Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
    Colossians 1:20 CSB
    and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
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    3. We have peace with one another
    The early church grew because they were unified by peace. Peace with God gives us the capacity to be at peace with one another.
    Acts 9:31 CSB
    So the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
    We can have peace with one another because the wall of hostility between people has been removed:
    Ephesians 2:14–15 CSB
    For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh, he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.
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    4. We have peace within ourselves
    Think about what your heart produced last week. What situations were you in? How did you respond? What about the past year? If you could summarize your mental and emotional condition for the year, how would you define it? I’m willing to bet that not many people would say peace is one of them. We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded by national news and global events. We are surrounded by people living fake lives online so they can look interesting to people they don’t know, and we compare ourselves to their fake selves. Our world is at war, groceries are too expensive, and the election played out like a Spanish telenovela… so many things made us feel anything but peace.
    These things keep us in a constant state of anxiety, fear, and worry. The world tries to give us ways to cope, promising that if we do x-y-or z, we can have peace, but that puts us on a treadmill with no off button. If we try to produce it, we will always strive to improve but never be satisfied or settled. Why? Because the world’s remedy rejects the only source that will give lasting peace!
    John 16:33 CSB
    I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
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    Romans 8:6 CSB
    Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace.
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    Colossians 3:15 CSB
    And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.
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    5. We have Christ-likeness because of peace
    This is the ultimate goal for every Christian, is it not? Maturity = Christlikeness.
    2 Corinthians 13:11 CSB
    Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
    Ephesians 4:3 CSB
    making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
    Matthew 5:9 CSB
    Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
    James 3:18 CSB
    And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.
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    Takeaways

    Peace should permeate every part of our lives. Throughout today, we have been informed of the realities of the peace Jesus brings. Now, if we want to be conformed to His likeness and live lives that are transformed by Him, we must do one thing… come back full circle to Isaiah’s advice to keep our minds focused on God and trust in Him as our everlasting rock, and as we submit our faculties to His Lordship and not to current circumstances, He will establish peace for us, because it is His work in us.
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    Questions to Consider

    How does the peace of Christ differ from the world's understanding of peace?
    What impact does having peace with God have on your ability to foster peace with others?
    In what situations do you struggle to feel peace, and how can turning to God help?
    How can understanding the peace that Jesus offers change the way you react to stressful situations?

      • Isaiah 26:3–4CSB

      • Isaiah 26:12CSB

      • Isaiah 9:1–7CSB

      • Luke 2:14CSB

      • Galatians 5:22CSB

      • Ephesians 6:15CSB

      • Romans 14:17CSB

      • Ephesians 2:17CSB

      • Jeremiah 6:14CSB

      • John 14:27CSB

      • Romans 5:1CSB

      • Colossians 1:20CSB

      • Acts 9:31CSB

      • Ephesians 2:14–15CSB

      • John 16:33CSB

      • Romans 8:6CSB

      • Colossians 3:15CSB

      • 2 Corinthians 13:11CSB

      • Ephesians 4:3CSB

      • Matthew 5:9CSB

      • James 3:18CSB

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Ashe Alliance Church
nroten@ashealliance.org
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http://www.ashealliance.org
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