Looking for peace in a troubled world

One of the titles of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible is, "The Prince of Peace."

A prophecy of the prophet Isaiah some 700 years before the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 9:6) gave Him this title and one of the links that connect His prophecy directly to Jesus is a line in the song the angels sang to the shepherds at Christ's birth in Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men."

However, there is a more obvious connection linking the prophecy to Jesus in the words of the Lord Himself spoken to His beloved disciples on the very night He was betrayed and arrested.

We read them in John 16:25-33, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Jesus had just finished making crystal clear to the disciples, the revelation of the divine and eternal plan of redemption and the fact that He was about to die as the final and perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Jesus knew the disciples were heavy hearted with disappointment and grief. Jesus also knew that those who would come after them in the church age would also suffer troubles and disappointments. It is just the way things are in this temporal world suffering under the curse of sin.

In these days when anger, frustration, and anxiety among peoples of all nations is probably at the highest level in our lifetime, and probably in the history of the world, how desperate are we all for inner peach. For the peace that is here spoken of is not so much peace among hostile nations, but peace, calmness, and harmony in our own hearts.

This peace was based on three things that the Savior had just finished expounding at the table in the previous chapters and would be accomplished by His death on the cross.

First, His death would make it possible to have direct access to God through His name. "Whatever you ask the Father in My name He shall give you."

Secondly, they could be certain of God's love for them. "For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God."

And thirdly, that His absence from them would only be temporary. "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:2-3).

These facts are sufficient resources for peace in these days of trouble and uncertainty but the important key is to notice the necessary qualification spoken at the beginning of the sentence. "In Me you may have peace."

Are you "into" Jesus?

Pastor Gene Holman of Living Word Fellowship is a member of the Carson Valley Ministers' Association.