Peace - Advent, Week 4 Reading 4

Jesus makes peace with God possible.

"For God in all His fullness

was pleased to live in Christ,

and through Him God reconciled

everything to Himself.

He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth

by means of Christ's blood on the cross."

Colossians 1:19-21

"But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God's condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God."

Romans 5:8-11

Newsflash: we are not born children of God. In fact, we are born enemies of God.

Oh sure, we are still born cute and gorgeous according to His design. But beneath all the good, is a depravity, a corruption infused into our DNA by the first sin from our father Adam. It's anything but cute and gorgeous. And it makes relationship with God impossible. We are not right with God. There is hostility between God and evil, and so there is hostility between us and Him. Even the most perfect "goody-two-shoes", golden children are not good enough to override this corruption. No matter how much any of us try, we cannot override it. Sin is deserving of all of God's wrath because He is so good.

In God's mercy and grace, He allowed animals' deaths to substitute temporarily for the payment of death that our sin requires but an animal's death will not fully satisfy God's wrath.

This is bad. Very bad.

And this is precisely what makes the Good News so so good.

Jesus bore all of God's wrath for all of our sin in a most brutal, horrible death.

So now all who come before God's altar, before His throne of judgement, with Christ's blood now have their debt settled. Because they present to God Christ's blood, their sins are paid for and therefore God wipes them away forever.

Imagine yourself before God's judgement seat. There's a thick wall of hostility between you. You're in the same room but there's a chasm so deep and wide that no amount of good intentions or works could ever begin to bridge. All you have is Christ's blood. God's eyes light up and He immediately hammers down the gavel which echoes and says, "Innocent!" Immediately all of your sins disappear never to appear again. Next, He steps down from His throne with a robe in His hand. It's a beautiful robe made with the most luxurious fabrics; velvet, silk and fur. It's made to last a lifetime. Somehow you know what it is. It's Christ's robe of righteousness. His reward for living a perfect, sin-free life. With a tear of happiness in His eye, God decidedly wraps it around you. Surprisingly, it fits just right. It won't slide off and you won't even stumble over it as you walk. The chasm that filled the room before is completely replaced with love, joy...and peace. "You're free now!" God says with a hearty laugh. And then He puts both His hands on your shoulders and looks you straight in the eye and deep down in your soul, "Between you and Me, there is peace. Forever," He says seriously yet with gentleness.

Now this new relationship, it's also friendship. And it's not meant to be put aside for moments of desperation. The best kind of friends don't do that to each other.

This moment, those words...you'll need to return to them often. As you read His Word, everything starts making more sense, has more meaning. And when the days feel empty and you feel like you fall short and pressure and condemnation threaten your peace...remember God's Words and that you are at peace with Him.

Peace - Advent, Week 4 Reading 3

"When He came to the village of Nazareth, His boyhood home, He went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon Me,

for He has anointed Me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

and that the time of the LORD's favor has come."

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at Him intently. Then He began to speak to them. "The Scripture you've just heard has been fulfilled this very day!""

Luke 4:16-21, Jesus quoting Isaiah 61:1-3

Can you imagine being in that synagogue that day? You know these Scriptures extremely well. You talked about them often. With your family, with your friends, with God. There was disagreement about what or who these Scriptures refer to. Many Jews believe that it was a picture of deliverance from Babylon when your people were exiled for 70 years over 500 years ago.

But that deliverance didn't last long because here you are under oppression again, this time by the Roman empire.

It seems Israelites have a hard time staying free.

Over time, perhaps because of the political oppression they endured, the Israelites assumed the Messiah would be a rescuer from said political oppression. They had forgotten that their original and greater oppression came from sin, which separated them from God. To be fair, it's not hard to do.

Our current hardships also have a way of blinding us to our greater need; peace with God.

Yes, our greatest needs aren't material or physical at all, they are spiritual. "For what do we profit if we gain the whole world yet lose our soul?" Jesus asks in Matthew 16:26

How do we convince ourselves of this? Because Jesus came for the spiritual, even more than the physical.

Good News to the poor ... was Jesus meaning physical poverty or spiritual poverty? What would be Good News if you are spiritually poor? For me, it means that HE fills me with spiritual riches - intimacy with Him, wisdom, understanding, strength, confidence, and a robe of His righteousness; things I do.not.have on my own.

Captives will be released ... was Jesus talking about physical captivity or spiritual captivity? Captives are those who are held against their will. How are we being held against our will and how can we be released from spiritual captivity? For me, I feel captive mostly to my insecurities that keep me feeling down and from doing what He has called me to do. He releases me by proclaiming great worth and delight in me; His Presence and His voice make me feel valued and treasured.

The blind will see ... was Jesus talking about physical blindness or spiritual blindness? What would spiritual sight gain us? For me I feel blind to a lot of the meaning in the Bible and the things God is doing in my life and as I alow down and lean in, He helps me to see.

The oppressed will be set free ... was Jesus talking about physical oppression or spiritual oppression? Oppression comes from a heavy weight pushing you down or unjust or cruel abuses of power from an enemy. Who is our enemy and who can set us free his abuses of power? For me this is similar to captivity but maybe I feel oppressed by pressure...to do more and be better. But Jesus made me free. He lived a perfect life for me. It is finished. And I can just enjoy and be - His.

How about you?

Peace - Advent, Week 4 Reading 2

"How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of the messenger who brings good news,

the good news of peace and salvation,

the news that the God of Israel reigns!"

Isaiah 52:7

"For a child is born to us,

a son is given to us.

The government will rest on His shoulders.

And He will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His government and its peace

will never end.

He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of His ancestor David

for all eternity.

The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven's Armies

will make this happen!"

Isaiah 9:6-7

I used to be really into government and politics, especially national politics. Because of their obvious powerful role and impact on the country that I cared about deeply, my expectation that they should and would do what is best and good for the nation, my naive assumption that they recognized their responsibility before God and that they cared about righteousness, my hopes for the continued peace and prosperity of our country greatly rested on those in charge. And that makes the stakes so extremely high every election cycle. When elections didn't turn out the way I thought they should, when the "bad guy" won, I was stunned. How could God allow this?!

I was in a season of discouragement and hopelessness due to the political events when 'Joy to the World' played and these lyrics gave my mind and soul a peace and hope that had been lacking.

He rules the world with truth and grace

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness

And wonders of His love

Like music often does, it penetrated my heart deeply.

HE rules the world ... Jesus rules. Not the Democrats, not the Republicans. Not the globalists or the Illuminati.

with TRUTH and GRACE ... beneath the surface of all the evil and the news headlines, there in fact is, a whole lot of truth and grace

HE makes the nations PROVE ... if you look over the history of nations over many, many years, you will see proof of how fickle and finite each ruling power is. The most powerful political empires only lasted a couple of hundred of years, at most.

The GLORIES of His righteousness ... all earthly kingdoms disappoint, only highlighting the glories of God and His righteousness. And oh my goodness is He ever glorious!

And wonders of His love ... that nations prove, as they fall so short in the love department, that God's love really, really is full of wonder. And His Kingdom is love as He is love.

Isaiah says the government will be on His (Jesus) shoulders. Somehow it had felt that it was partly on mine, that it was my job to make people see what was good as they cast their votes, or impossibly, to make leaders see what they should do. This was obviously impossible, making me feel absolutely like a failure and hopeless.

Similarly, we can feel like we are responsible for so much in our lives. And since so much is broken we feel responsible for fixing it. But good news. Nothing is on our shoulders. Jesus bears the full weight of the universe on His shoulders. He is the only one who is able anyhow. And He does it beautifully. He is a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, a Prince of Peace. We can go to Him for our big problems and our small problems. He willingly and eagerly cares about them all in the most perfect way.

And as a result, we have peace.

Truly this is good news, and beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim it. The angels' as well as ours. We're not responsible for it. But we do get to proclaim it.

Let's proclaim this peace to the whole world. We can do it, together.