What a Name: Prince of Peace
WHAT A NAME Christmas Notes
“Prince of Peace”
(Isaiah 9:6-7, Philippians 4:6-9, Luke 2:13-15, Isaiah 26:3)
Opening scripture:
Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV) – For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
“Of the increase of His government and of peace, there will be no end”
If God’s Word says there will be no end to His peace, then why does our peace seem to end sometimes? Why do we find ourselves in seasons where peace is troubled, disturbed, running out, or lacking in our lives?
What’s even crazier is that Christmas should be a time that represents peace being given to us, yet how many times do we find our holiday filled with everything but peace?
Shopping, family, drama, busyness, schedules, travel, events—sometimes the Christmas break can be more exhausting than when we’re working regularly. We seem to always find something to fill our lives with when peace is missing.
Prince of Peace
Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. Curious to me why isn’t He called King of Peace. In other places we know Him as King—King of Kings, King of the Universe, King of the Jews, etc.—but yet in Isaiah, it’s specifically noted, He is the Prince of Peace.
The word Prince here in the Hebrews is SAR which means captain, chief ruler. It represents someone that’s been empowered with authority to rule over something—JESUS RULES OVER OUR PEACE. He is called Prince of Peace because He is the one assigned to accomplish peace in our lives—there will never be another. Jesus is the agent of peace, He is our peace.
Ephesians 2:14 (ESV) – For HE Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
No wonder the angels would declare on the day of His birth to the Shepherds in the field…
Luke 2:13-15 (ESV) – And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
The Angels were declaring that Peace is now on earth. Why? Because JESUS IS OUR PEACE!
He is the sacrifice of peace. Why did the angels speak to shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth?
Why not go and inform all the royal and religious officials about Jesus?
Why not go and let all other rulers, magistrates, kings, and kingdoms know about Jesus?
Why Shepherds?
These shepherds specifically were outside of Bethlehem during the time Census where people returned to their hometowns to be counted with their families. Therefore Joseph is bringing his family, Mary and their baby, to his hometown for this. Also during this time is the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a time initiated by Moses and the Children of Israel when they built the first tabernacle because it represented where God chose to dwell with us!
But why shepherds? These shepherds were keeping the sheep and the lambs that would have been sacrificed during all these festivities.
So the Angels show up and declare to the ones overseeing the sacrifices and tell them, “The ultimate sacrifice is here. You’re keeping the lambs, but we are declaring to you that the One and Only Lamb of God has been born this day—go and inspect the Lamb. Go and see that He is meek and mild. Go and see the PEACE that God has given to mankind today! You need no other lamb.”
He is our PEACE means not only does He rule over peace in our lives, but He is also the sacrifice that brought peace for us between God and man—we can now live at peace with God. Wow!
See many of us don’t believe we were able out of peace with God, but the Bible says, “There was enmity between us, we were violent in our sin against God.” We were hostile in our flesh, dead in our trespasses and our sins, yet Christ has made us alive and has given us peace.
WHAT IS PEACE?
In the Hebrew, Peace is the word SHALOM which means completeness, soundness, welfare, tranquility, friendship.
The Gospel is not simply about Salvation—and that sounds weird to say—but Salvation is not simply God’s goal for sending Jesus to us. You can be saved, rescued, delivered, and still traumatized, afraid, and bound to your past.
PEACE—restoration, completeness, wholeness is the goal! Jesus doesn’t just want to save you, He wants to restore you to original intent which was God walking with man and woman in the Garden of Eden, unafraid and unashamed. That’s why He came!
He came to give us peace back.
When we think of peace, we think of still waters, maybe a meadow or a field with nothing much going on, no drama or issues happening, etc.
But the better picture of peace would be Jesus sleeping in a boat during a storm. That’s the peace He gives us. We don’t just have peace when everything is going well. We have peace in the middle of storms. We can rest and find still waters even when everybody else’s waters seem disturbed.
Peace isn’t the absence of anxiety. I know we may have thought it was, culture may have taught you that, but that’s not true. Peace isn’t the absence of anything. It will never be defined by what’s not happening in your life. That’s fictional peace.
The peace Christ offers us is able to surpass all understanding. It’s able to operate when you cannot operate. His peace will hold you when you’re shocked, stunned, overwhelmed, afraid, or confused.
The problem for many of us is we worship when we have certainty with God, instead of worshipping when all we have is trust in God when things don’t make sense.
But, with peace, the Bible does clearly address anxiety and offers us strength, tools, and how to overcome it.
Jesus isn’t nearly as concerned about getting anxiety out of your life as much as He is concerned about you knowing you have authority over it in your life. Jesus isn’t raising people that can’t handle difficulty—He is raising up an army that can look in the face of darkness, despair, fear, intimidation and still say, “I will not fear for my God is with me.”
Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV) – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I love this passage and it’s blessed my family so much.
IN EVERYTHING PRAY! Prayer is our first response, not our last resort. In everything you face, pray, make your requests known to God.
Supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Paul doesn’t simply say pray, he tells us to attach thanksgiving to it. Notice that in the passage about anxiety, Paul combats it with gratitude. It is impossible to be anxious and grateful at the same time. That’s your cure!
He goes on to say the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. We spend our lives guarding our own hearts, but when you offer those things to God—His peace will guard your heart for you. His peace will guard your mind IN CHRIST JESUS.
If I had time to just talk about how much is mentioned that is ours IN CHRIST JESUS! Paul regularly uses IN Christ through the scriptures.
But essentially, these two verses tell us—if you’re anxious or worried about it, pray about it. If you want peace, pray. Overwhelmed, needing peace? Pray about it.
For years I’ve stopped at those two verses, but over the past 2 years with all that’s taken place in 2020 and so much happening, I’ve had to revisit and revisit scripture and I’ve found that the next 2 verses are actually the cream of the crop. The next 2 help me so much more than all of this…
Philippians 4:8-9 (ESV) – Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Whatever is true
Honorable
Just or righteous
Pure
Lovely
Commendable
Excellent
Worthy of praise
THINK ON THESE THINGS
The problem with anxiety is it has your mind fixed on everything else. Paul combats it with what we should be fixing our minds on.
“I can’t afford to have thoughts in my head about me that God doesn’t have in His.” – Bill Johnson
We go to modern medicine, psychologist, methods of today to remedy our anxiety troubles—and nothing’s wrong with those things—but the Bible has always had solutions for it and that’s over 2,000 years old. Man, what medicine can say it’s been curing people for 2,000 years? God’s Word can.
Then Paul says, “What you’ve seen in me, received from me, learned from me, heard from me—PRACTICE THESE THINGS! AND THE GOD OF PEACE!”
Two verses ago, Paul said the PEACE OF GOD will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
But now he’s saying, THE GOD OF PEACE will be with you.
You want the PEACE OF GOD—PRAY ABOUT IT!
BUT IF YOU WANT THE GOD OF PEACE—YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO PRACTICE!
Practice what? Exactly what He says here—PRACTICE THINKING ON THESE THINGS!
How often is the temptation of the enemy to get you thinking on things you don’t need to be setting your mind on?
The devil is not his name—it’s his job description.
His name is Lucifer but the Devil is his job—devil means DIABLO which comes from two Greek words DIA and BOLO.
DIA means to penetrate, breakthrough.
BOLO means to throw, in fact, to this day in Africa, it is a device they use to throw at the feet of an animal to capture it as we would use a lasso, they use a bolo.
So putting his name together means—to throw until it penetrates—DIABLO.
What is he constantly throwing in your life? THOUGHTS! LIES!
He’s very consistent, doesn’t take a day off, waiting for moments of weariness, exhaustion, busyness, fear, or pain—to throw a thought your way that you will grab ahold of. Why? Because if he can get your thought life—he will get your peace.
For so long, we’ve simply settled for the PEACE OF GOD when we can actually have the GOD OF PEACE WITH US at all times—but it requires that we practice our thinking.
That word practice means to continually and repeatedly act.
Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. You can practice and repeatedly do things but if your form is off, the technique is wrong, you’re only reinforcing the wrong habit in your life and priding yourself off of discipline.
You can’t just practice, you’ve got to practice doing it the right way. Thinking about the right things, setting your mind on the things above. We have been seated with Christ in Heavenly Places…
“Can you think on the level of your anointing? Can you think on the level at which you’ve been seated with Christ?” – Ron Carpenter
If you’re ever coaching sports, you lead practices with students or people and you’re preparing them for the games they’re going to play in. We practice for games, we practice for physical activities, but we do not practice our thought lives.
The goal of practice, however, isn’t just for you to be prepared for a game.
The goal isn’t just for you to learn a few plays and be ready for them.
The goal of practice and repetition is to develop a new instinct to where it becomes your new natural reflex in a moment.
When you’ve truly practiced enough is when it becomes second nature to you to respond to things a certain way!
WHY DOES PAUL TELL US TO PRACTICE? BECAUSE IT’S HOW WE DEVELOP OUR NEW GODLY NATURE! Some of us are still reacting to situations the way the old us would, because we haven’t practiced.
We still got some deep Texan in us because that hasn’t been dealt with. Before I’m American, I’m a Christian, which means His Kingdom overrides my politics. His Kingdom comes before my rights. His Kingdom overrides my disagreements with people.
James said, “Count it all joy when you fall into trials, temptations, and tribulations.”
Is that our first response to difficulty or is our first response, “Why me? Not again!”
It’s time to practice and there’s no better place to start than today!
No wonder it would say in Isaiah…
Isaiah 26:3 (AMP) – “You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both inclination and character],
Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].
YOU WILL KEEP IN PERFECT PEACE, HE WHOSE MIND IS STAYED ON THEE!!!!