Advent, Part 6

Advent, Part 6
Saturday, December 21, 2024 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Contemporary issues / Encouraging words / Hope in Christ / The church / Thought for Today

Peace. This Advent, are we thankful for what Jesus has done for us? Are we thankful for God’s salvation? What about God’s peace?

Peace with God. That is another huge thing to be thankful for, isn’t it? We have peace. Real peace. Not a false temporary peace people might find through a drug high or something like that, but real genuine peace, peace that rests in the unchanging God.

John 14:27 (NAU): “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.”

John 16:33 (NAU): “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

God, through Jesus, gives us His peace. It is His gift to us. Even while facing tribulation, tribulation that is showing many signs of increasing, we have God’s peace. We rest in the One who has overcome the world. Do we focus on the difficulties we may be facing, or do we concentrate on God’s peace? Which we choose makes a significant difference.

Romans 5:1–2 (NAU): “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

Apart from faith in Jesus Christ we don’t, and indeed can’t, have peace with God. Rather as the Scriptures tell us, we are under God’s wrath for having rejected His Son. But through faith in Christ, we have peace. We don’t have to live in fear, worry, or anxiety.

The New Testament epistles typically include greetings of peace. For example, Ephesians 1:2 (NAU): “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Colossians 3:15 (NAU): “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

How do we do that? How do we live in God’s peace?

Isaiah 26:3 (ESV): “You keep him in perfect peacewhose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” In contrast, consider Isaiah 48:22 (NAU): “‘There is no peace for the wicked,’ says the LORD.”

Romans 8:6 (NAU): “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”

As we stay focused on God, God keeps us in perfect peace. If we prefer wickedness, peace is impossible. When we are struggling with sin, even as Christians, do we have God’s peace? No, we are under God’s conviction regarding our sin. By definition, the world cannot know God’s peace as those in the world have rejected Him, having their minds set on what the Bible calls their flesh, their spiritually dead human nature. While they may acknowledge some form of a false God, true peace is not found through that which is false.

Starting now, during this Advent season, let us remember God, what He has given us, and let us keep our minds focused on Him. He is our peace.

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