It is common for leaders to make promises of peace. I suppose if we could ask people what they had most wanted to see in 2021, many of them would say peace because we live in a world in which peace is lacking in many areas of life. Yet I suspect that if we asked them to define what they mean by peace, a variety of answers would be given. Some would intend external peace whereas others, who live in fairly steady circumstances, would desire internal peace.
When we look back into history, we can see that peace has eluded many who sought for it. Sometimes a form of peace was imposed on other nations who had been conquered by a dominant country, yet its rule was resented by its subjects. Its peace was merely an absence of war. When we look around our world today, we conclude that politicians cannot give peace (despite their genuine attempts at times), prosperity does not bring peace (materialism cannot satisfy the heart), advances in technology have not brought peace (instead it has developed many methods of preventing peace), and increase in knowledge has not brought peace (we know much more than our ancestors did in lots of ways).
The people to whom Isaiah initially delivered his prophecy faced a situation in which there was no prospect of peace on a national level. Ahead of them was exile under the sway of the foreign powers of Assyria and Babylon. Yet to them, Isaiah had a message of peace when he predicted the coming of the prophesied Messiah. He reminded them that this peace could never be found in their circumstances, even if they changed and the exile came to an end. Instead he told them to look ahead to the birth of Jesus if they wanted to experience personal peace and anticipate an environment marked by peace. His message is the same as far as we are concerned.
Why do we need peace to be given? In order to get the true answer, we have to first realise why peace is absent. If we need the peace that Jesus brings about, then we should ask ourselves what there is about us that required God to send his Son into the world to bring this peace to us. So the first question to ask is this, ‘To whom does Jesus offer peace?’ The answer is that he offers peace to sinners.
When the Bible describes sinners, it uses a wide range of pictures. For example, sinners are said to be lost in a dangerous location (lost sheep in a hostile wilderness). Or they are regarded as rebels who have disobeyed God’s laws (he is the sovereign whom they have disobeyed). They are also depicted as being in a state of enmity with God. Enmity is not a word we use often today, but it means the presence of hostilities between two or more parties. When hostilities are present, there is no peace between the opposing groups. The amazing reality is that Jesus went to Calvary to deal with the issues that robbed us of such peace.
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