Peace on Earth

Luke 2:14
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

If you look around you will see that there is no peace amongst people on earth. There are wars, fighting’s, government overthrows, pickets, demonstrations, fear, murders, protests, disputes, anarchy. Where is the peace in all of that? The peace that the heavenly host was singing about was not peace among men. It was peace between God and man. This can be clearly seen by looking at Jesus' statement in Mt 10:34, which says, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Although the Gospel has changed men's hearts, and there are many instances where this change has caused peace between men, that was not what the angels were praising God for. They were rejoicing that the war between God and man was over. As Isaiah prophesied, "Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins" (Isa 40:2).

Jesus bore our punishment so that we could be reconciled to God. This peace came through the blood sacrifice Jesus made on the cross (Col 1:20). God isn't angry anymore. All our sins--past, present, and future tense--were placed on Jesus, and now God can justly love us. God isn't mad. All of God's judgment against our sin was placed on Jesus (Joh 12:32). He's not even in a bad mood. God is a good God, and we are to have our feet shod with the preparation of this gospel of peace between God and man (Eph 6:15).

We now have a covenant of peace where God will never be angry with us again or rebuke us (Isa 54:9-10). We are supposed to shod our feet with this gospel of peace (Eph 6:15). Let peace reign, it has already started between God and you, it’s now time to celebrate and carry that peace to others.

Merry Christmas