“No Peace On Earth”

August 15, 2010

Isaiah 5:1-7 Luke 12:49-56 Hebrews 11:29 - 12:2

If you live in an industrialized nation, or most anyplace in the world, you can hardly miss the fact that the
United States is involved in armed conflict in both Iraq and in Afghanistan. Most people also know that the
United States is not alone in these places. Britain, Australia, Canada and others have all been involved as well
as many other NATO nations. What we often allow ourselves to forget is that these are not the only places in
the world where people are trying to kill each other and where violence is a regular part of life. The website
globalsecurity.com currently lists thirty-seven world conflicts where violence is ongoing today. Of these, the
United Nations rates approximately ten of these as “major wars.” Add to that the threat of terrorism in the
modern world, the crime rate, gang violence, racial violence, border violence, road rage, rude and inconsiderate
sales people and now flight attendants that cuss out passengers and then depart the plane via the emergency
slide and we seem to live in a world that can’t seem to find “peace on earth” even if we searched for it with “all
the king’s horses and all the king’s men.”

All of this is enough to wonder what we were thinking back at Christmastime when we were singing about the
arrival of the savior of the world. We celebrated the arrival of the Prince of Peace, we sang “Silent Night,” we
sang Joy to the World where it said, “He rules the world, with truth and grace,” and we read from the gospel of
Luke where we heard these words (Luke 2:13-14):

“13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
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"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

What were we thinking? How can our world of violence and the world of Jesus the Prince of Peace coexist?
How can we believe in Jesus, the Prince of Peace when our lives are surrounded by war and violence?

As we read scripture, this sort of disconnection between expectation and reality is not uncommon. In fact, In
Isaiah 5:1-7, God himself questions why things on earth are not the way they should be…
1
I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
3
"Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4
What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?

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 When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
5
Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6
I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it."
7
The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are the garden of his delight.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

God proclaims that he has created goodness and righteousness and justice but that his people have perverted his
creation and caused bloodshed and distress. In the midst of this, God warns that he will stand in judgment of
evil and sin. If we flash forward from the story of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2, to Luke 12 where, in recent weeks,
we’ve been reading about Jesus’ ministry, we hear Jesus himself speak these words… (Luke 12:49-56)
49
"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to
undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell
you, but division. 52From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two
and two against three. 53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against
daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against
mother-in-law."
54
He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and
it does. 55And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. 56Hypocrites! You know how
to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present
time?

Jesus’ words remind us of several things. First, while Jesus has been sent to earth as the Son of God and is the
prophesied Prince of Peace, the time for peace has not yet come. Yes, Jesus brings peace to the hearts of men
and women and is capable of bringing peace to the nations that revere him, but his role as the Prince of Peace
has not yet come to pass. Before peace comes to the earth, first there must be judgment. Paul reminds Timothy
that Jesus will “judge the living and the dead,” (2 Timothy 4:1) and in John’s Revelation he prophesied that
Jesus would sit in judgment at the great white throne and judge all of humanity by what is recorded in the book
of life (Revelation 20). Second, we are reminded that until the time of judgment, peace will not be the
prevailing theme of the world and, instead of being a force of unification and peace, Jesus will most often be the
name that divides families and causes people to stand against one another. Finally we are reminded that

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because we have been given the prophecies of God and have been warned of future things, we are called to keep
an eye on current events and interpret them just as we keep our eyes on the horizon and evaluate the weather.

So how are we to follow Jesus when our lives are surrounded by war and violence? In the letter to the Hebrews,
we hear these words… (Hebrews 11:29 - 12:2)

29
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they
were drowned.
30
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
31
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were
disobedient.
32
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel
and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was
promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword;
whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
35
Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that
they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put
in prison. 37They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in
sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They
wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had
planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders
and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our
eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning
its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition
from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Throughout the history of the church, believers in Jesus Christ have endured hard times, endured persecution
and have even given their lives as they followed Christ. Our fear and the disconnection we feel between our
expectations and our reality are not new to our generation. Christians throughout history have lived, and many
of our brothers and sisters today have still live, with the threat of violence, persecution, suffering and death. In
the face of our fear we are called to remember those who have gone before us. We are called to remember their
faith and we are called to remember the victory that they found through their resurrection. In the face of our
fear we are called to remember that God has planned something better for us and that one day we will, together,
be made perfect. The writer of Hebrews encourages us to remember all those who have gone before us and
reminds us that they are watching us as we endure whatever discomfort that our generation has been called to
endure.

Jesus has called us to read the signs around us and to interpret our present time. We are called to be aware of
our culture but also to read scripture and to understand the prophecy contained in it. The world is running
headlong toward a final, climactic conclusion and we are called to watch in faith and to prepare ourselves for
the inevitable conclusion.

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So where do we find “peace on earth?”

We find peace through our faith in Jesus Christ.

We can find peace amid the chaos of today when we get rid of all the junk that distracts us from following the
path that Jesus has laid out for us.

We find peace amid the chaos of today when we persevere against the sin that draws us away from what we
have been called to do.

We find peace when we remember the suffering and the sacrifice of Jesus so that we might be saved.

We find peace amid the chaos of today when we remember that, at the end of time, our righteous judge will be
that very same Jesus.

As we see the world and its present violence, we must also keep an eye toward the future, and the end of the
world, and judgment.

At Christmastime, there is at least one hymn that keeps both of these views in mind. In verse five of Angels
from the Realms of Glory, we sing these words…

Though an infant now we view him, he shall fill his father’s throne.
Gather all the nations to him, ev’ry knee shall then bow down.
Come and worship. Come and worship. Worship Christ the newborn King.

Fear not. Have faith. Worship Christ, our King, our judge, he is indeed the Prince of Peace.

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