Peace

"Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Luke 2:14 (NASB).  Not the usual way that people remember that verse. Most people, if they can quote that verse, know it from the KJV, or from Christmas carols, "On earth, peace, goodwill toward men."  So why did I choose the NASB? How does the change in the verse change the message of the angels that night?

The second advent candle is the candle of peace. The angels declared that peace had come to earth. As both It Came Upon the Midnight Clear and I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day point out, despite the promise of peace from the angles, instead we have had two thousand years of war and strife since the birth of Christ.  So what does that verse mean? Is it only a promise of future peace, when Christ comes again?

I don't think so. In John 14, when Jesus is comforting His disciples and promising the Spirit, he tells them, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."  In Philippians 4, Paul promises that if we take everything to God, the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard our hearts and or minds.

So what is this peace that we celebrate during the time of Advent?  It is not peace as the world understands it. In fact, the world cannot understand it, because to the world, it is foolishness. It is the peace that allowed the martyrs in Rome to face the coliseum. It is the peace that enabled Stephen to ask for the forgiveness of his murderers. It is the pace that has enabled believers throughout the world to endure persecution, imprisonment, beatings, starvation, beheadings, and murders and respond, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

And what is amazing is that this peace is offered to each and every one of us in Christ. Do I face the little trials of my every day life with this peace guarding my heart? I wish I could say that I do in every circumstance. But instead I have given in to despair and discouragement at times. What a Friend We Have in Jesus says "We should never  be discouraged, take it to the Lord in prayer." We truly have no excuse as believers to give in to discouragement and despair. God is in control. We can be sad, we can mourn, we can grieve, we can pray for God to change our circumstances, but we can never despair, because God is good, and his lovingkindness is everlasting.

I don't actually have a hymn to attach to this post. I would have chosen It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, but I've already written a blog post about it here.

Passages that I meditated on in preparing this post:

Isaiah 40

Philippians 4

Matthew 10

Luke 2

John 14