Can God Really Bring Peace?
On December 25th, we celebrated the birth of Jesus. For 2,000 years, the Christian world has been remembering the birth of Emmanuel - God with us. Even though Christmastime has been usurped by the commercialism of the Western World, it’s still the most amazing message the world has ever received. No longer do we strive to reach God because God, our creator, has come to us.
Jesus ushered in a new reality. He inaugurated the Kingdom of God on Earth. It’s a reality that has been prophesied about for generations before Jesus’s coming, and it’s one that Christians are called to live out. Jesus is the ruler of this new kingdom and He rules with justice and peace. In fact, Jesus is known as the Prince of Peace who came to seek and save those who are lost and provide healing and restoration to the world. He rules by His self-giving, sacrificial love, which was on full display on the cross of Golgotha.
But we all know that no matter how much we idealize peace, we are far from realizing it. Even just this past week, I woke up to a Twitter feed full of messages about a US assassination followed by threats and fears of future war. Similar to other escalating conflicts, I witnessed overt levels of hatred against the “other.” I know social media isn't a good test of what people would actually do, but amidst those who were lamenting what was going on, many others seemed ready to kill.
So … did I miss something?
If Jesus is the Prince of Peace and He came to bring about the Kingdom of God, why are we seeing no end to war, violence, and hatred? Why doesn’t Jesus just fix it, set it straight, or bring about peace like we hope He would? Instead, it seems like we’re only following our own interests and are willing to justify any action because we’re the good guys and everyone who opposes us is evil.
As I was reading a familiar passage in Isaiah over Advent, something popped out at me that’s helped me answer this question. The passage comes from Isaiah 2 where God speaks through Isaiah to tell of a time to come where all things will be made right. The Kingdom of God will be fully established and people from all over will stream to be in the presence of God. In this new world, something amazing is going to happen.
Isaiah 2:4-5
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Come, descendants of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the Lord.
This image of beating swords into gardening tools is familiar in the Christian world and is often referred to when talking about peace. But something stood out to me in a new way: the people were the ones actually doing the beating. They - the citizens of these nations who have come to gather on the mountain of God - are the ones beating swords into plowshares!
Jesus doesn’t come down into His kingdom to restrain everyone and throw away their weapons so that peace can exist. It’s not a kingdom of robots or mind-controlled humans whom God programs to no longer think about war. Instead, the kingdom of God is the place where the people are so convinced and transformed into Christ’s image that they make the choice to take their weapons and beat them into tools that give life instead of take it.
“Peace is the deliberate action on our part to do away with our weapons and strategies of violence and war.”
Peace isn’t just an internal disposition; it isn’t a well-wish. Peace isn’t passive and it doesn’t come through violence. Peace is the deliberate action on our part to do away with our weapons and strategies of violence and war. Until we’re willing to do that, we won’t see true peace. But God isn’t going to force our hand. We need to choose the way of Jesus. The question is, are we convinced enough by the gospel of Jesus Christ to actually take Him seriously?
Sadly, as we look around in our world (and I’m talking about everywhere), we aren’t even close. It doesn’t matter if we think we are a Christian nation or not, or if we think we are good people or not, the fruit shows the true nature of the tree. We’re a vengeful people, and the best way we know to get our revenge is to assert power and force on others.
If someone pushes us, we punch back. If someone calls us a name (use your imagination), we call them something worse. If they hurt us, we will kill them. But the problem is that in almost every violent situation, each side believes they’re the victims and their enemy is the terrorist. In the end, the side with the greatest power for violence wins.
But that’s not how we win with Jesus. Jesus teaches us to love our enemies and to pray for our persecutors. He teaches us to turn the other cheek and to walk the extra mile. He teaches us that those who live by the sword will die by the sword. But most importantly, Jesus demonstrates His love by forgiving the very people who put Him on the cross.
We can justify anything to ourselves or to people who are on our side, but in the Kingdom of God, there's only one use for the weapons we carry - to redeem them as tools that can bring life. We may never see this happen fully until Jesus returns, but as Christians today, it’s our job to share this message of the Kingdom with the world. It’s here that I find hope, knowing that there are people all over who are sacrificing themselves to take the first step of laying down their weapons.
May the peace of Christ be with you, and may that peace transform you to such an extent that you become transformed by Jesus’ way of peace.