12-15 SUNNY THOUGHTS FROM SUNSET by Rev. Vance Drum
On Sunday the Sunset pastor continued our Advent theme, “Jesus Our Shepherd King: Finding Peace in an Age of Anxiety,” with a message, “Prince of Peace.” The text was from Isaiah 9:6: “To us a child is born, to us a son is given, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Ever since our first parents Adam and Eve came up with the new idea that they could do their lives better without God—disobeying Him—and their son Cain killed his brother Abel, the world has not had much peace.
We say we want peace, but, apparently, not that bad.
Wars and rumors of wars abound, even as our country seems to be increasingly violent in our day.
The pastor made three points: (1) No Peace; (2) The Prince of Peace; (3) Everlasting Peace.
(1) No Peace. In our text the story is told of two tribes, Zebulun and Naphtali, in northern Israel. Israel was situated between several major world powers—Babylon and Assyria to the north, Egypt to the south—and whenever one of these empires would get feisty and want to take over the world, they would travel through Israel on their way to the rest of the world, and when they did, they tried to take over Israel as well.
Zebulun and Naphtali were the first ones to feel the brunt of the northern armies, so Isaiah describes their land as a place of (v1) “gloom and distress.”
(2) The Prince of Peace. Isaiah uses the backdrop of the sorrows of Zebulun and Naphtali to say a new age is coming in which peace shall reign. It will begin with the ministry of a child who would be born, who would “honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan.”
Jesus began his earthly ministry in old Zebulun and Naphtali, by the Sea of Galilee, near Nazareth where He grew up, in northern Israel.
Jesus is the Son who was given, and he is the Prince of Peace. The angels sang of his peace when he was born: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men.”
At the end of his ministry he pronounced peace on his followers after his resurrection from the dead: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.”
The world today outside of Christ is filled with strife and war. But in Christ, where the Prince of Peace reigns, there is peace.
Some of the rascals of world history—Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, King Herod, Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin, Mao Tse-tung—were from different ages and from different parts of the world. One thing, however, characterized them all: They did not know God or his Son Jesus Christ.
In fact, they were opposed to God.
Oh they may have worshipped idol gods, and they may have thought of themselves as God—as did the Caesars in Rome—but they were all far away from God.
It is the same today. Where Jesus is, there is peace. Where he is not, there is no peace.
(3) Everlasting Peace. Isaiah says that the peace Jesus brings is eternal. He would be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
He wants to be your wise counselor, God who is on your side, your faithful provider and the One who gives you peace.
Isaiah says “the government will be on his shoulders…. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” God will do it! Jesus said, “I will build my church.”
We can be part of his work, or we can sit on the sidelines and watch. I’d rather be in the middle of it. “He will reign over his kingdom…from that time on and forever.” Join Him in his holy work!
“But you Bethlehem…, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from everlasting.” [Micah 5:2]
May you invite the One born in Bethlehem—Jesus the Christ—into your heart and life today—our prayer for you from your friends at Sunset Christian Church.