Prince of Peace in the peaceful Kingdom
(Isaiah 11:1-9)
No peace in the world
Do you have peace? Recently I have been thinking of peace
often. The definition of peace is a stress-free state of security and calmness
that comes when there is no fighting or war, everything coexisting in
perfect harmony and freedom. When I am in the middle of a conflict between
two different sides, it is hard to have peace, perfect harmony, and freedom,
especially when I am in the middle of arguing and fighting with my children. Our
world is filled with genuine pain and trouble. We lost perfect harmony when sin
came to the world in the garden of Eden.
In 2003, journalist Chris Hedges set out to determine
whether there have been any sustained periods of peace on the human record.
Defining war as any "active conflict that has claimed more than 1,000
lives," he reviewed 3,400 years of history and discovered just 268
war-free years. In other words, approximately 92 percent of recorded history is
marked by active conflict. How about our minds? Even though we are not in a war
physically, we easily live in a war of tensions in our minds. We have been
longing for peace. How can we have peace in this world?
When you looked back on your life, when did you have peace
beyond understanding and all terrible situations? I cannot tell peace without
Jesus. Jesus gave me true freedom from all disputes. I believe that most of you
had the same experiences. Jesus not only brings peace, but he is also peace.
The Prince of Peace invites us to his peaceful Kingdom today.
Prince of Peace
The book of Isaiah is the most important book that represents
Jesus’ whole life in the entire Old Testament; the prophecy of His coming
(Isaiah 40:3-5), the sign of His virgin birth (7:14), His proclamation of the
good news (61:1), His sacrificial death (52:13-53:12), and His return to claim
His own (60:2-3). Also, Isaiah indeed tells us why we cannot have peace by
ourselves, and why Jesus can bring peace to us, and Jesus can be peace to us in
Isaiah 53:5-6.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds
we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned
to our own way;
And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all”
Jesus suffered, he died for our iniquities instead of us,
and we can have freedom from all disputes. He hurt instead of us already, and
we do not need to be hurt. He got betrayed instead of us already, and we do not
need to have bitterness from our broken relationship. He already paid
everything we should have paid for our iniquity. He gave us the privilege to
enjoy our freedom from judgment, conflict, and tension. As I shared in the
children's message, we just need to celebrate Veteran's Day for Jesus every
moment, especially every Sunday. He fought the war for us, and He rose again!
(It is not Memorial Day)
The Peaceful Kingdom
The Prince of Peace came to us as Isaiah prophesied in 11:1
"A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall
grow out of his roots." The Royal line of David, Judah would be a
humble stump, but a new shoot would grow- Messiah, our Prince of Peace. He is
the fulfillment of God's promise that a descendant of David would rule
forever.
The Prince of Peace will lead us in the peaceful Kingdom as
Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 11: 6-9. That place would be in heaven. What would
happen in the peaceful Kingdom? Can you imagine that the wolf lives with the
lamb and the leopard with the kid? Can you allow your children to be with the
leopard? The calf and the lion and the yearling are together, and the children
shall lead them. The bear shall graze with the cow. The lion shall eat straw
like the ox. The stronger one shall eat the food of the weak. The nursing child
shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand in
the cobra's den. They will not hurt or destroy all of God's holy mountains;
Imagine the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters over
the sea. That is the place we are going to, and that is the place God wants us
to live in heaven, and even on earth.
Wansang Han, a Korean Sociologist talked that we can have
heavenly peace on earth by having peaceful communication. He said there are
three steps to have it. The first step is 역지 사지 (易地思之) in Korean, and it's "put yourself in other's
shoes" in English. When the stronger ones try to put themselves in the
weak ones' shoes, it will help them to understand and think about other people.
The second step is 역지
감지 (易地感之), it's that to feel from the
other person's point of view beyond thinking from the other person's side. The
third step is 역지 행지 (易地行之 ) it's that to act from the
other person's point of view beyond just thinking or feeling from the others.
It is like Isaiah 11:6-9. Lions naturally eat meat, but the lion eats straw
like the ox in God's peaceful Kingdom. It is like Jesus' incarnation. Our
Prince of Peace showed us how to have peace with others in Philippians 2:5-8.
“ 5 In your relationships with
one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who,
being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with God something to
be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made
himself nothing by taking
the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to death even death on a cross!”
Jesus put himself in our shoes to think like us, to feel
like us, and to act like us. Through His incarnation, we can have peace as in
Ephesians 2: 14-18
14 For he himself is our peace, who
has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing
wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his
flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was
to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of
them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached
peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have
access to the Father by one Spirit.
Through Jesus' incarnation and death, we can have peace,
even though we are different. As He did it to us when we give up our privilege
and yield our strong will, and our thoughts,
we can understand others, we can feel others, and we can live with others in
the peaceful Kingdom.
Peacemaker with Prince of Peace in the Peaceful Kingdom
When I looked back on 2022, I have one good news and
one bad news. One good news is that I became a peacemaker with someone. Once I
pointed out our differences and tried to change her, and make her put herself
in my shoes, but Jesus, my Prince of Peace gave His heart to me, and I accepted
our differences and honored the differences, I put myself in her shoes.
Amazingly our relationship is restored. One bad news is that I failed to be a
peacemaker with my beloved sister. I could not think on her side, I could not
feel her feeling, and I could not act the way she wanted. She was hurt by me,
and I was hurt by her. I am praying for another chance to have peace between us
during this Advent. How about you? Do you have someone who does not have peace
with you like me? How about us? Do we have peace in our church? Do we have
peace in our denomination? Even though we are different, we can be united
through Jesus Christ, our Prince of Peace. God does not want us to be the same,
but to be united through Jesus Christ. We are not God. We do not need to
advocate for God. Isaiah 52:7 says, "How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who
brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God
reigns." I pray for all of us to be a peacemaker to walk with our
Prince of Peace in the mountains together, and we can live in the peaceful
Kingdom in heaven and on earth.
Service: https://fb.watch/he0wPCN5HK/?mibextid=cr9u03
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