God’s peace plan leads us, the most unexpected way.
The way of the world is to mandate peace from the top down, but real peace is only found in Jesus.
In this last leg of the journey, we’re going to continue looking at the message of prophets, the angels, and all the main players of Jesus’ story and their search for peace, because their story is not really any different from ours.
Here’s the thing, peace isn’t a place to pursue, it’s a person. Jesus, the Prince of Peace came to save a broken world. He came to make things right, through restoration and renewal. The shalom of Jesus is salvation in the fullest meaning of the word and leads down a very different road than the peace the world wants to give.
Unyielded human nature always seeks to serve self. We see this in effect every single day of our lives in every possible scenario we can imagine. It’s the ugly side of humanity, marred by the brokenness of the sin and the fall. When we elevate our need to be right over the call to love, we perpetuate conflict—in effect, we are the problem.
We were designed for something altogether different; we were made for intimacy with God. Salvation is the way into that beautifully full and perfect destiny, but to receive the goodness of that promise, we must surrender to God.
That place of surrender? That’s where we meet peace—face to face.
Shalom—God’s peace plan
Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace, but it has a much fuller meaning than what our English word connotes.
Peace is often understood as the absence of conflict. The problem with that definition is that it leads us to chase a solution that seeks to control all the exterior issues in order to secure peace, which is a fool’s quest. I don’t think that peace is the absence of conflict, it’s the attitude by which we respond to the conflict.
Ultimately, peace is about righteousness. God’s peace plan restores order and brings everything back into alignment with what is pure and true, and by that definition, we have to see that peace is only possible through Jesus.
Shalom is about completeness and wholeness. There is a restoration (healing) that cultivates a fruit that produces more of the same. This is what salvation is.
Jesus came in human form to save us from ourselves. He bought our redemption to restore shalom in us.
Faith opens the way for peace
Peace is the promise of righteousness, but it seldom looks the way we think it should. Why? Because sometimes we are guilty of looking at it through our lens. Our scope is narrow and usually stacked for personal advantage. Shalom isn’t about serving self, it’s about rightness.
A great example of a self-serving attitude is found in King Ahaz, who was one of the Kings of Judah, during Isaiah’s prophetic ministry. Ahaz was arrogant, which set the standard for all of Judah—God’s people—you can read the account of his reign in 2 Kings 16.
God told Isaiah, to tell Ahaz not to be afraid or to worry about the surrounding nations mounting plans to attack, that nothing would come of it. God wasn’t willing to give up on Ahaz, so He offered him a way back—to trust Him and follow Him. So, Isaiah issued the word of God to the King of Judah, ending with this profound statement,
“…If you will not believe, you surely shall not last.”
(NASB, Isaiah 7:9)
Fear is an insidious thing, so God, offered Ahaz the opportunity to ask Him for a sign of confirmation. And, God told him, to ask for something BIG. Can you imagine?
“But the king refused. “No,” He said, “I will not test the LORD like that.” Isaiah 7:12
Ahaz feigned humility, but God saw right through it, giving him a word containing the prophecy of Christ, the promise of peace and also the eventual outcome for a nation unwilling to humble itself before God. The arrogance of Ahaz sought only for the comfort of himself and his generation.
The promise of peace—God’s peace plan—is about righteousness. It comes through an intimate relationship with God starting in the heart with faith.
Surrender opens the way for peace
What happens when everything you hoped for, planned for even, falls apart before your very eyes? Even more, what if what happens is so offensive to what you’ve ever known and understood to be good and right?
“This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.” Matthew 1:18-19
Can you blame him? It must have sounded ludicrous because virgins don’t have babies. Yet, he loved her. Maybe he wanted to believe her, but couldn’t face the unbelief of everyone else. I don’t know, but I get it.
I love this part of the story because it demonstrates the heart of God. He sent an angel to visit Joseph in a dream, where he explains the whole plan. How beautiful is that? An invitation to join in the most epic journey ever, playing a key role in God’s peace plan for the world.
The rest of that scripture passage tells us that Joseph responded to God with surrender and obedience. He married Mary, abstained from sexual relations until after the birth of the baby, and then named him Jesus—all by the prophetic word.
Their lives were not devoid of conflict or trouble, yet they sacrificed reputation, comfort, and acceptance surrendering to the way of God’s peace plan.
Surrender opens the way for the righteousness of God. Jesus, the Prince of Peace born to save the world is right in the middle of God’s restorative peace plan.
The unexpected way of peace
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:2
That’s what the wise men said to King Herod after they arrived at the palace in Jerusalem. They had traveled from the East to see the Messiah, the one the prophets spoke of, yet no one seemed to have a clue.
The scriptures tell us that Herod was disturbed and immediately demanded information about where this Messiah was to be born. The leading priests came back telling him that according to the prophetic word, Bethlehem was named as the birthplace to be.
The wise men continued, following the star to Bethlehem, where they found Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. They worshiped the infant king bringing gifts of honor—a sacrifice to the Messiah.
I love the tenacity of these men, who weren’t even Jewish. They were wise scholars, who studied the stars and through their study learned about the One who would be peace to the world. Most of Israel missed it, but there was a remnant who got to join God on this important part of His peace plan.
It certainly wasn’t what they expected though, was it? I mean, they anticipated a ruler, one who would have privilege and power, not some hidden baby, laying in a humble manger cradled in the hay. No, God’s peace plan included unexpected details that sometimes bordered on ridiculous and offensive.
I think sometimes that’s what we need to awaken our hearts to see beyond our limited understanding. Oh, how easy it can be to miss the move of God when we are fixed on our understanding of what it is He is doing.
Embracing God’s peace plan
God promises peace, but it is connected to Him. Christ the Messiah, came to bring Shalom which is the movement of rightness and justice that begins in the heart and overwhelms the atmosphere. It cannot be mandated, it must be embodied. This is God’s peace plan!
Jesus, the source of peace (Micah 5:5), brings light and salvation to a dark and broken world. His way leads us to into the presence of God, where we can know him and be known by him. It is in the presence of God that renovation and revival take place because that’s where the intimacy is.
“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Through Christ, requires surrender. Surrender looks like confession and declaration of belief, which opens the way in, aligning soul to the Spirit of God, permitting him to do what needs to be done to make us right. God makes us right.
We were designed to live in close contact with God, which is why Jesus restored that through his death and resurrection. That’s the righteousness of God. When we are right with him, things become right within and around. God’s peace plan enables us to rise above the conflict of this world by trusting him, believing him, hoping, standing in faith, and declaring the promises in joy.
Peace starts with you and with me as we look to the source of all righteousness. The face of justice has a name—it’s Jesus, the Prince of Peace. We are the conduits of that grace message, which means you and I are peace bearers. What a privilege it is to be trusted to carry Shalom everywhere we go.
Catch up on the whole series here!
Unwrapping the Gift of Hope: an Advent Journey
Faith stories on the road to Bethlehem | An Advent Journey
Overwhelming Joy, the gift that’s hidden within | An Advent Journey