“Peace” is a word whose true definition has eluded this planet since the time recorded in Genesis 3:6-7:
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
The cry for peace is futile, in the human sense, because since the disobedience in the Garden of Eden, humankind has continued to descend more deeply into sin. The heart is deceitful above all things, the Bible says, and desperately wicked. Therefore, there is, rather than tranquility within the lost human soul, warfare that is never ending: “[There is] no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked” (Isaiah 48:22). And, James the apostle says: “From whence [come] wars and fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your lusts that war in your members?” (James 4:1).
The prophet Isaiah spoke to Israel and—through his God-given words—the whole human race:
“The way of peace they know not; and [there is] no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace” (Isaiah 59:8).
So, in this time of the season when many across the world (although I concede it’s a diminishing number of people) use the phrase, “Peace on earth, good will to men,” let us think a moment on peace.
We recall the grainy, black-and-white newsreel of Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain waving a document containing the peace arrangement he had just made with the German Führer, Adolf Hitler. Chamberlain said at that time that the agreement guaranteed that there would be “peace in our time.”
Those who know the history of the time know that almost before the ink on the pact was dry, Hitler ordered the first attack that began bringing the whole world to war.
There came a time when Japan surrendered, and General Douglas MacArthur declared the matters of World War II concluded. But the issue of warfare was and remains far from concluded. Many thousands of Americans, not to mention people from other nations, have since lost their lives in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and numerous other far-flung areas around the world.
Today, the world’s diplomats, news cameras, and microphones are focused on the most problematic spot on earth regarding the threat of the possible ignition of World War III. It is the same area where true PEACE will one day break out. But, for now, it is the lack of the humanistic version of peace in the Holy Land that is the cause of angst for earth’s powers that be. God’s prophet, Ezekiel, spoke to the dearth of peace involving God’s chosen nation:
“[To wit], the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and [there is] no peace, saith the Lord GOD” (Ezekiel 13:16).
No matter which direction we glance today, evidence of earth-quivering anxiety mounts. This is, at present, more than at any time in recent memory, a world without peace. The seas and waves are roaring, the nations are in distress with perplexity, precisely like Jesus said they will be when He breaks in upon a sinful, incorrigibly wicked world of earth-dwellers.
The Middle East is, as it has been perennially, in a failed peace process. Terroristic threats never cease to plague Israel. And terrorism is a spreading infection that has invaded most all of Europe and now threatens America’s major cities.
There is no peace because government leaders concentrate on acquiring and increasing authority to control, financial leaders and the money powers strive to attain more wealth by whatever means necessary, and most of the rest of humanity looks in every direction except toward Heaven for the peace they cannot find.
Religions of earth, too, are in turmoil, proclaiming that they are peaceful while, at the same time, they are hating each other. The religionists are making efforts to establish their own brand of peace through ecumenism. Certain of some who claim to have Christ at their center have joined the ecumenical movement toward establishment of a religious conglomerate within which all can live in peace.
PEACE–true PEACE—however, is in fact already here upon this troubled sphere. It came in the form of a Baby nearly two thousand years ago. We will celebrate His birthday this December 25. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, in truth IS here in the forever of eternity past and the forever of eternity future. He is the great I AM who is here in the present, and who chose to come in the flesh to suffer and die, then to resurrect so that fallen men, women, and children can be given the PEACE the human soul of each person on the planet must have to be resurrected from the death sin wrought.
Jesus ascended to the throne room of Heaven and is coming again:
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my father is greater than I” (John 14:27-28).
Rejoice! Take heart! Lift up your head and watch. PEACE will yet have the victory upon Planet Earth!
Are we living in the End Times? What is the Mark of the Beast? Will AI be used to facilitate it?