One of the simple things in life that brings joy to just about everyone every time it is shared is the announcement that a couple is expecting or a baby has been born. I know of at least one friend whose family gathering this Christmas will include his daughter sharing the news that they are expecting. Whether it’s the shared anticipation of a couple who is expecting or the exciting news of the baby’s arrival at birth, it’s the kind of news that just makes us happy.
News of a birth also means wanting to hear all of the details. When was the baby born? How long was labor? Boy or girl? How much did it weigh? What’s the length? These curious questions are a natural follow-up to news of any birth, as we want to get to know a little bit more about the baby.
We heard a baby announcement today from the prophet Isaiah. While we aren’t used to such announcements being given any further out than about nine months at the most, Isaiah shared his announcement some 700 years before the due date! And, he didn’t wait until the baby had been delivered to share the details, but declared them ahead of time. His words today, and the words we’ll look at for the next two Sundays of Christmas, will provide us with the necessary information to answer the question raised by the beloved Christmas hymn, What Child Is This?
So just who is this Jesus whose birth is celebrated across the world by people of every nation and language? He must matter a great deal, for who else’s birth has been cause for such universal celebration every year ever since it happened?!? That fact alone deserves our attention, doesn’t it? Regardless of what anyone believes, isn’t this birth worth looking into if so many people all over the world have celebrated it for so many years?
What, then, does Isaiah tell us to provide insight into an answer for the question, What Child Is This? Quite a lot, actually! Isaiah tells us he’ll be a beacon of light in a world steeped in darkness. He will be a source of joy. He will bring victory. Then, we get to verses that have served as the basis for some of the most beautiful music ever played or sung; words that have inspired so many in the world of music and the arts; words that have filled hearts with hope for 2,700 years – the words of Isaiah 9, verse 6: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” While each of these designations could provide sermon upon sermon or even series upon series, on this day we will give our attention to just the one title that answers the question before us, the title, Prince of Peace.
To be designated as the “prince” of something is to say the one bearing the title is considered to be the authority in that field or area. The dictionary describes the title as “a man or thing regarded as outstanding or excellent in a particular sphere or group.” So what does it say about Jesus that his birth announcement 700 years before his arrival did not merely associate him with peace or describe that he might bring in a season or period of peace, but that he himself is the prince of peace? It means that any understanding of peace apart from Jesus is either an inadequate or incomplete understanding of what peace is, for he is the prince! A person cannot, therefore, have peace apart from the One called the very Prince of Peace!
But sadly, that doesn’t stop the world from either pursuing peace in all the wrong places or simply flat-out avoiding the things we perceive to be disrupting it. We do have phrases that incorporate the word peace, like “peace of mind,” being “at peace” with a decision, or “making peace” with someone. In one way or another, each of these expressions has to do with something that is unsettling or causing tension or conflict. To achieve peace, then, is to settle the matter, ease the tension, or eliminate the conflict. The result should then be peace.
Another solution is to simply avoid the things that are unsettling or cause tension or conflict. But with a few rare exceptions avoiding such things isn’t a real solution. It may perhaps buy some more time toward a solution, but the act of avoiding is itself no solution, and very often only exacerbates the problem. This happens especially when avoiding is paired with some attempt at escape like substance abuse or any of the other escapes we explored back in our October and September sermon series.
If any of these supposed solutions for peace worked, then how does one explain why our world is as unsettled as it’s been in any of our lifetimes? If these solutions worked, then do so many express the feeling that things are getting worse, not better? Shouldn’t we be “at peace” and finding “peace of mind” if we’re finally addressing climate change, calling out privilege and racism, if “our guy” is finally elected President, if individuals are free to identify as whichever gender they prefer, if… the list goes on. But how come all this “progress” hasn’t resulted in more peace? Why is drug and alcohol abuse on the rise? Why is depression debilitating more and more? Why are suicides so regularly in the news? Where is the peace? Is this what peace looks like?
The answer is “no.” This isn’t peace. Peace isn’t found in the absence of COVID or conflict; it’s found in the presence of Christ. Remember, Isaiah already told us what peace looks like! It’s not just Isaiah, either. Peace and God go hand-in-hand throughout all of Scripture. Micah, another prophet at the same time as Isaiah, said this when describing Jesus in a birth announcement of his own: “And he will be our peace” (5:5a). The apostle Paul, who wrote a good chunk of the NT, frequently referred to the God of “grace and peace” in the greeting of his letters. Another writer in the Bible wrote, “Now may the God of peace… equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20). Peace and God go hand-in-hand!
So just how did Jesus secure this peace that all the progress in the world cannot provide? “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [the Son], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20). Jesus came not just to be born in a manger, but to die on a cross. His very life was the price for our peace with God. Someone had to answer for our sin that separates us from God, or heaven would have been permanently shut off to us. God had communicated through Old Testament sacrifice that payment for sin was required. Jesus made that payment for us. Since we are no longer in debt to God for the payment of our sin, then we are at peace with him.
And the added bonus that comes with this peace? When you have it, it won’t ever run out. It isn’t a passing peace or a fleeting peace, but a permanent peace, as Isaiah shared in his announcement: “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end” (v.7a). This kind of peace won’t end. That also means your circumstances won’t change it. The things that happen to you can’t diminish it. Wherever you are, God’s peace through Jesus is with you – even if you’re in jail, like Ruffino Fernandez.
It was in jail that Ruffino came to faith in Jesus after hearing the Word of God during a seminar. Being so positively impacted by the Word of God in that seminar, he attended another the next time it was offered, explaining, “The teaching and love in these seminars has meant so much to me. I wanted to learn more before I left [prison].” Later, a third such seminar was announced, and Ruffino was very eager to attend. The problem? It was set for the same day as his release from prison, meaning he would miss it because he was being set free. So what did he do? He asked his parole officer for his release from prison to be delayed until after the seminar! (Source: Prison Fellowship fundraiser letter dated July 24, 1984, signed by Charles W. Colson.) Who would do that? Why would anyone do that? Because the prison walls made no difference at all to someone who knew the Prince of peace. Whether held inside the walls of a prison or released into freedom, it didn’t matter – he had peace either way. And because of Christmas, because God made good on Isaiah’s baby announcement and gave you the gift of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, you have peace, too.