Peace (Advent Series)

Isaiah's Promise of the Prince of Peace

Isaiah chapter 9, we're going to be looking at the quintessential Christmas passage in verses 6 and 7 today. So Isaiah chapter 9, starting in verse 6, Isaiah says,. 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.

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.

What a great promise. And you know what's so great about it is the Old Testament saints would hear those words and they would know with certainty that it happens because the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

And we get to look back and we can see that he did exactly as he said. And had great comfort in that. Before we jump into this topic of peace and this text, I would like for us to stop. I know we pray a lot here and we're trying to grow as a church in our prayer life.

We're reliant on God to work in us, aren't we? We're reliant in every area, but we need the help of the Holy Spirit to illuminate these great truths to us and to guard my fallible mouth from speaking untruth from his word.

So let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you once again. Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would illuminate these truths to our hearts and minds. We are frail. We misunderstand. Even though your word is so crystal clear and true and precise, our minds are not so at times.

So help us, Lord. Help me that I would not speak error. Help the hearers here that if they hear untruth from your word, you would guard them from it. But the truths that we do hear, Father, we ask that they would change us and that we would be doers of the word and not hearers only.

In Christ's name, amen. Well, you know, we're talking about peace today, and the desire for peace is deep within the DNA of all humanity, isn't it? All of us long for peace. Every single person you know of longs for peace in some way.

We always long for inner peace, something within to calm the chaos that is at times within our own soul. We long for peace within our homes, don't we? We want our home to be a haven. We long for peace within our workplace.

We don't like conflict and chaos. We long for peace within our community. We long for peace within the nation that we find ourselves in. We long for peace throughout the entire world. And there is no shortage of philosophies as to how to obtain this peace.

There's all types of ideas out there because man is longing for it so. As a matter of fact, I'd like to share with you some quotes that represent much of the world's perspective as to how to obtain peace.

Just so we can get a contrast. You know how I like to do. I like to contrast things so we can get a better full picture. Some of you who were here last year, I actually brought these up, but hopefully they'll be new to you this year in a new way.

But this is a common thought of how to obtain peace. If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. That's why we don't have peace. If you don't have peace, if you don't have peace, it's just because you've forgotten that we belong to each other.

Sounds sweet, doesn't it? It's this idea. That would be Mother Teresa.

Right?

That's an idea. Well, we have another one here. We have Buddha. Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. If peace comes from in here, I haven't found it. I've done some digging and all I've found was darkness.

So, yeah. The Dalai Lama has essentially the same idea. He says, we can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace within ourselves. This is a more well-known one. The great poet of our day, John Lennon.

Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one. It's pretty lofty, right? Here's the thing.

You can hear it in their internal longing. In every one of those quotes. We could go on for days on different opinions and understandings as to how to obtain peace from the world's perspective. But you can hear that common thread of desiring peace within themselves.

And why do they long for it so? Why does all of mankind long for this peace so much? Every one of them. All of those quotes and then all the other quotes. And then every person that hears them and is grasping for some idea as to how to obtain this peace.

A peace within, a peace without. And just grasping for straws. Why do they do it? Because they were created for it. All man was created for peace. Think about it. Who are our first ancestors? Adam and Eve, right?

And what did God say about Adam before he created him? What was the interesting statement that God made within the triune God? He says, let us make man in our image. After our likeness. He didn't say let us make the stars after our image and likeness.

He didn't say the beasts of the field. He didn't say the fish of the sea. He didn't say the birds of the air. He said man. This man Adam. And ultimately coming from him Eve. Why were Adam and Eve created in his image?

Because he created them to be in relationship with the Godhead.

Right?

That was the whole purpose. God created man to be in relationship with him. God himself even came into the garden and walked with Adam. And communed with them. Had fellowship with them. But we all know what happened, right?

They ate the fruit. They ate the fruit and they were cast out of this garden. And ultimately, more than just the garden, they were cast out of relationship with God. They were separated. And left to live a life that they were never created to live.

A life of slavery to sin and death. A life that is at enmity. That is at war with its creator. Something they were not created to do.

Per se.

God knew exactly where this was going. And he knows exactly the circumstances we're all in. God is sovereign, right? He had a purpose and a plan in it. But it still doesn't mean that God created us for that slavery to sin, does it?

That's something alien. That's something that has corrupted us because of the sin of Adam. And now all of mankind is born into this slavery. And every single child, every single birth, every single child in their mother's womb is by default at war with God.

And war is the antithesis of peace, isn't it? However, man simply suppresses this truth in his own unrighteousness. Grasping again for hope. Grasping for peace that can never be obtained. But that doesn't stop them from seeking.

They know there's a void.

They know they're not created for this.

And so they're blindly searching for hope.

Searching for peace anywhere they can find it. Tripping. Tripping on the leftover spoils of war from trying to fight against their own creator. This is where man is. I think if we meditate, if we can make peace within ourselves, if we medicate.

Because this peace must be a chemical imbalance within me. I must need medication to fix it. That's going to fix it. If I can just simply be peaceful, then peace will manifest itself in the universe some way magically.

Karma. This is how man seeks after peace. Yet there's another extreme perspective for obtaining peace. One that shows us, in my opinion, the utter foolishness and futility of mankind's efforts of achieving their own peace.

This one will kind of blow your mind, but think about it for a second. Man truly believes this way at times. It is those who believe that mankind can achieve peace through the means of war. It's an oxymoron, isn't it?

We can achieve peace through the means of war. If the strong can simply overpower the weak, then the strong can be the peacemakers. They can legislate and enforce peace. And everyone will be peaceful.

It never seems to work out, does it? But it shows the utter foolishness of man seeking in a blindness, trying to find some type of peace. And what do all of these worldviews have in common? It's that idea that peace is attainable through means within ourselves.

You see, the problem is, just like with man trying to do anything on his own, we've tried to do it for 6 ,000 years. And has man ever actually achieved lasting peace during this time? Now we've seen momentary glimpses of peace, just as King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, right?

A time for love, a time for hate, a time for war, a time for peace. There's these momentary times, yet even then, peaceful times are very fragile and short-lived. And the point is, is that during this season in particular, this Christmas time that we get to celebrate, we hear a lot about peace.

This is when peace really starts to come out. Everybody kind of unifies around the Christmas tree, and they're like, Oh yeah, we can have peace. We can gain world peace some way, some way. How? If we could just come together like the Tower of Babel, right?

We can obtain some type of peace. We hear about it, but we must be discerning as Christians not to fall prey to this. Because most of what we hear about peace is actually the antithesis of true, lasting peace.

And because of that, people get themselves all worked up throughout the month of December, all the Christmas decorations, all the lights, all the family. Those are great things. Don't hear me wrong. I love those times.

But don't get lost in losing sight of what they actually are. They're momentary, beautiful gifts from a good and gracious, kind Creator. But we get so hopeful building up to this time of year to only be let down once the trees and the lights come down.

You ever feel that? You have your house all decorated, and you're like, Oh man, January hits.

You're like, I've got to take it all down.

I didn't realize how dull my house looked until I took all the Christmas decor down. And that hopefulness, that peace just kind of wanes just like it does throughout the rest of the year because that promise of peace and fulfillment failed once again.

I can't help but think of a better example of this than the Christmas Eve of 1914. Some of you all have heard me tell this story. I think this is one of the best examples of the world trying to find peace.

So bear with me. World War I is being fought. If you're a history buff, you may know this story. World War I is being fought. And if you've studied, you know how extremely brutal this war is. You want to talk about the opposite of peace?

They did things in World War I that the whole world came together and was like, Okay, let's make a deal. We're never going to use that again because that was brutal. This was a brutal war that eventually took the lives of somewhere between 15 to 22 million people.

But here's the thing. On the eve of Christmas in 1914, on one of the battlefields, you have German, French, and Scottish soldiers. They're in their foxholes. You've seen the movies, right, and the pictures.

They're in their foxholes shooting over and shooting back and forth at each other. But on the eve of Christmas, they all come out of their trenches, and they meet on the battlefield, and they celebrate.

They exchange chocolates. They drink champagne. They even have record of them playing soccer together. These are guys that were just killing each other the day before, and now they're playing soccer together.

They compare pictures of their children and their wives. This sounds promising and peaceful, doesn't it? Some look at that story and say, See, there is some type of peace that can be obtained within human means and within all of mankind.

There's still some goodness within them. The problem with that theory is you know what happened once Christmas was over? This horrific war continued as if it never happened. If there were ever a false sense of community and peace, it was here.

And in my opinion, this is one of the clearest pictures of the world's concept of peace. Let's all just get along at least until I'm not getting what I want. James summed it up in James 4, didn't he? In verses 1 and 2, James says, What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?

Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? The world says peace is within you. No, they're at war within you. You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and you cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

This is precisely why we can have no peace because of our natural default. It's sin. Sin keeps us from peace the way God designed us to be. And because of this default of sin, the spirits of this world, and the evil one, they seem to be widening this gap, don't they?

They seem to be widening this gap between humanity and lasting peace. And it continues to spiral downward further and further into corruption and sin. And at times, honestly, it feels like the evil is winning because we can't obtain peace.

After all, they have the nations, don't they? They have the powers to be. They have the armies. They have the media. They have all of the celebrities. They have everything that seems powerful. If you think about it, it's really no different than it was during the time of Isaiah.

And this prophecy that we read a moment ago came to Isaiah in the midst of all of this. In the midst of difficulty and the war pressing in on Israel. It seems like the darkness was pressing in deeper and deeper, worse and worse.

And the hearts of the people of Israel were darkening deeper. And there seemed to be no light. There seemed to be no hope. There seemed to be no peace. But then God enters the scene with an announcement.

I love this. God responds to the state of the powers of this world and the means of this world and the philosophies of this world that seem so enticing and powerful. He responds to it. And how does He do it?

Through an army? Through an earthly government? Does He respond with some philosophical idea?

No.

The creator of the entire universe does it with a birth announcement. Something as seemingly insignificant as a child to be born. And this is just like God. To respond to the powers of this world with an announcement of a child.

I mean, Jesus told us that, right? He flipped our world view upside down during the Sermon on the Mount, didn't He? Blessed are the persecuted. What does that mean? You are the salt and light of this world, not vinegar and power?

Like He's switching everything up on us. And He does this in the way that He always does. He responds to all of the darkness with an announcement. Look at what He says there in verse 6. He says, For to us a child is born.

To us a son is given. Think about those words for a moment. Notice that this announcement doesn't come with a command. This announcement doesn't come with an enlistment to some earthly power to be. It doesn't come with a set of blueprints in order to achieve it.

No, it's announced as a fact. It's announced as a gift.

It's a gift to us.

He says, For to us a child is born. To us a son is given. What a beautiful announcement. Look back at verse 2 in chapter 9. Building up to this point, Isaiah says, The people who walked in darkness. That's you and I, right?

That's the world that is rolling around blind, seeking after peace any way they possibly can. Where can I find it? Do I find it within? Do I find it without? Where do I find this peace? Somebody has to have an answer because we're walking in darkness.

But He says, The people who walked in darkness, they have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You see, here's the thing. Many that are roaming around blindly, seeking out after peace, have no idea they're blind.

They don't know they're in darkness. They don't know. They know that they don't have peace. They know that they are trying to find it here and there. But they don't know that they're blind. But when Isaiah brings this to the table, he's acknowledging those of us that were in darkness, that walked in darkness, in deep darkness, but now have seen light.

We have been awakened to that great truth. And what is that light? What is the light that he's speaking of here in verse 2? The light of the world, right? Christ. We were in darkness, but that promised light came as a gift in the form of a child.

And what does it say about this child? Look at our passage again there. It says, unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. Notice it doesn't say governments.

It doesn't say the governments shall be upon his shoulder. No, it's government. What is that government? What is Isaiah speaking of here? What is this prophecy about? The kingdom of God. The government.

The only place that we could ever be where there is peace, where there is lasting joy, where there is lasting hope, where there is lasting peace. And how can he carry this government upon his shoulders?

Now, I've talked in the past about when we see a name in Scripture, there's meaning. There's purpose behind a name, right? Scripture doesn't allow any word to go unpurposeful, especially names. How is the government, the kingdom of God, upon his shoulders?

Look at what it says. It says, and his name shall be called. And he goes on to list four things here. Four things in this that this child is to be called. The wonderful counselor. We have a lot of counselors in this world, don't we?

Some good, some bad. And what is a counselor doing? A counselor is seeking to give you wisdom. Seeking to help you in areas that you need help. In areas where you just maybe are blinded and need some guidance.

A counselor. But this right here, when Isaiah says the wonderful counselor, he is the perfect counselor. And he's the perfect counselor because he's the only source of truth.

All earthly counsel is fallible man.

You can take or leave that counsel. But this child to be born, he's the wonderful counselor. He is the source of truth itself. This is how the government shall be upon his shoulder. The second one we see is that he is mighty God.

Now this one right here is the death nail in any of those cults out there that want to say that Jesus is a created being. Because God doesn't share his glory with anyone. He himself is the second person of the Godhead.

Eternal.

But it calls him mighty God. His power and might are infinite. He is the source of power. Not only is he the source of truth, but he is the source of power. This child that's going to be born in obscurity because the world has no place for him.

Who is going to live a life of peace, fulfilling the law perfectly. This is the God of eternity. This is the mighty God. Infinite in power. The third thing it says about him. His name shall be everlasting God.

Everlasting Father. He is everlasting. The only source of eternity. We have the only source of truth. The only source of power. Now the only source of eternity. And the fourth thing is prince of peace.

That's what we're talking about today, right? This is attested to this child. That this child is the prince of peace. He reigns as the only source of peace that we can find. He is the prince of peace.

And why was it important for them to identify, for Isaiah to identify him in these four names? The first is that this is who he is. This gives us an idea of who this is, this child to come. Secondly, to support and confirm this next truth.

Look at verse 7. He says, of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. You know those fleeting moments of peaceful times that we get to experience in this world are merely a blip on the radar, aren't they?

You have those moments where you feel like everything is going right. You have peace with everything. It's just a small sliver of your life. But here's the thing. In his kingdom, peace will never end.

Peace will never end. Not only that, but it says it will even increase. Why don't you think about that for a second? We can't comprehend that, right? We think, okay, well there's a level that we can achieve where there's ultimate peace.

But you've got to understand. Look at the names. The Wonderful Counselor. The Mighty God. The Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. This is the God of heaven and earth. This is the God, the creator of all things, that is eternal.

And since he is eternal, everything about him is eternal. He is the God of peace. He is the Prince of Peace.

Hence, peace doesn't have a cap.

Hence, we cannot even begin to comprehend the fact that his government will increase. We see it increasing day by day. We see those being brought into his government. But we also see peace for eternity will continue to increase more and more.

And it is only possible because of who he is. It says 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.

You see, this world can't offer peace because of injustice and unrighteousness. Nothing in this world can offer us that peace. We can't trust anything in this world, including ourselves. So every time it promises peace, we know that it won't last.

But we can look to this and he says, from this time forth and forever more. Eternal, ever increasing peace. That can only be had through the blood of Christ. This child that came. This peace from everlasting to everlasting.

And this is the peace that Jesus spoke of in John 16, 33. I read the passage earlier, but it says, In me, you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation.

But take heart, I have overcome the world.

Take heart. So that momentary affliction that we feel. In this world, where our flesh is pulling us away from seeing Christ for who He is. When it's drawing us in at times, back and forth, and then we find ourselves in conflict.

We find ourselves in a time of not having the peace that we hoped to have. In that moment, we should take heart because He has overcome the world. And if you are in Christ, you have access to a peace that surpasses all understanding.

A peace with your holy, perfect, mighty, gracious Creator. And ultimately, an ever increasing, perfect, abounding peace. Because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. That whoever believes should not perish, but have everlasting life.

What a great comfort that if we are in Him. And how do we know this with certainty? How do we know that this peace is certain? Look at the last part of our passage here that I mentioned a moment ago. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this.

Not only is the Lord of Hosts a God that cannot lie. And does all that He sets out to do. And all that He says He will do. But that's the same God who is zealous to accomplish it. It's not as though we have a God, a Creator who says, You ate of the fruit, you sinned, now I'll sin my son begrudgingly.

And now you can have peace through me. No, this is a God who says, I will accomplish it. And not only will I accomplish it, I am zealous in doing so. I will find you. And I will redeem you. And I will make you mine.

And I will give you peace. And you have a great hope in your future. Because I have redeemed you. Because I am zealous to do so. Now that's great hope. And here's the beautiful part about this. This great truth that we see in Isaiah.

Is it already was accomplished. So we're seeing this through a different lens than the Old Testament saints heard these words. They hear these words and they're looking and they're saying, The God who is zealous to chase after His children.

Who will be true to His word and will accomplish all that He sets out to do. He is going to accomplish it. He's going to send a Messiah. And then guess what He did?

He did it.

And now we have proof of that. He accomplished it. He sent His Son. Just as He said He would. A child was born unto us. A son was given. And let me tell you what. Right now this very moment the government is upon His shoulder.

And He withholds it. With His mighty, mighty hand. And He is zealous for His own. And we can't forget during this season. Where our peace truly lies. The fact that He was born in that obscurity. Lived a life we could not.

Died a death that we deserved. Rose from the grave and defeated death. And bought us peace. Peace with the Father. Just as I mentioned a moment ago. Adam and Eve had relationship with God.

Right?

Made in His image. Walk in the garden. And here's the thing. Sometimes we look back at the garden and we say, I want that peace. I want to go back to the garden. Why did Adam have to mess up?

Right?

Why can't we just be in the garden? But here's the greatest thing. Is the God that is zealous for us had a perfect plan in it. He had a perfect purpose in it. And what He's saying is the garden was but a taste.

Because the garden was just a small sliver. You had peace internally in the garden. With me coming and communing with you side by side. But now what I'm going to do. Because of your sin. And because of your disobedience to me.

Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to provide my son as a sacrifice. So you no longer walk in the garden in relationship with me. I'm going to actually pull you in into relationship with me. And unity with the Godhead Himself.

To where the garden doesn't have to end. There is no tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle to tempt us. That's so much better than the garden. Because just like with Adam and Eve, given the opportunity to fail, we will.

But God is redeeming us and truly redeeming us eternally. And that's peace. You will only find death and destruction, heartache and pain, hatred and bitterness, war and chaos, and ultimately eternal judgment in this world.

But when we call out to Him, you have a great rest and peace in the Savior. And that's what we rest in this season, right? We can rest. For those of us that are in Him this morning, we can go and we can live in peace.

And so, let's look at this from a practical perspective. When we set our attention, when we set our focus, when we set our sights upon what the Savior has done, then we have a better perspective. And that perspective is going to play into our internal peace that we get to have in this world.

Just as the Apostle Paul, right? Think about him writing the book of Philippians, the book of joy. Find joy in all circumstances, right? As I'm chained to a Roman guard in prison, my point is that us as Christians, we may not be living in peaceful times, but we can still obtain peace.

We can still have peace, ultimately peace with the Father eternally, but we can also have peace by looking and being reminded of what the Son has accomplished. For unto us a child is born, and to us a son is given.

The government will be upon his shoulders, and we can rest in that. And we can look at our circumstances. Let me give you a better analogy. You all remember when Jesus walked on water, right? Jesus is walking on the water, and what does Peter do?

Peter steps out of the boat and starts walking on the water. He's looking. His eyes are on Jesus.

But what happened? He took his eyes off. Christ, didn't he?

Now, what did he look at? I would assume he began to look at the reality of his circumstances. He started to think, oh, I'm walking on water. Oh, there's waves. There's the reality of this world. And he sank.

Now, praise God, Jesus in his graciousness goes and lifts him back up and puts him back in the boat. But I believe there's an analogy in this great story that's given to us. And it's that if we can keep our focus and our attention upon Christ, our circumstances don't matter because he is the God of those circumstances.

And we look to this promise. For unto us a child is born, and to us a son is given. And he is the God of the waves. He's the God of the water. So if he wants me to walk on water, I'll walk on water. If he wants me to avoid the waves, I can avoid the waves.

But we tend to look at the waves and the water and the reality of our circumstances. And that's when we don't have internal peace, right? We begin to battle within ourselves. Look to Christ. Not just for an initial salvation.

Ah, but look to Christ eternally. Continue to look to your Savior, and we have peace. What better way to look to our Savior than the ordinance of the Lord's Supper? So now let's prepare our hearts to go to the table.

As I say most weeks, this is not a time for penance. This is not a time for you to get your life straight and all of that fun stuff. This is a time for you to worship God for what he has done through Christ.

This is a time for us to look back in remembrance of what Christ has done on the cross. The blood shed for you and I. His body given up for us. But then looking around and seeing the unity that we have with our brothers and sisters.

And then looking forward to the great hope to come.

The great peace.

The ultimate everlasting peace that we'll eventually rest in. And this is a great beautiful picture, isn't it? If you are a child of God, if you are in good standing with an evangelical church, you are welcome to this table.

We have a table over here and here for those that don't know what we do. Here in a moment as soon as we pray, Pastor Jeremiah will be over here. I'll be over on this side. If you need prayer, if you need some intercessory prayer, you just want to talk, we're there.

You're not interrupting us. It's time for us to pray with you, to talk to you. Please come to us. But this is a time for us to go, get the elements, come back to your seat, pray as a family, pray individually.

And then take the elements as God leads. And then we'll come back together, sing the doxology and close out our service. But let this be a worshipful time. So let's pray that God will be honored in it.

Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you once again. We are so grateful for the sacrifice of your Son. For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. And we've seen that work itself out. Your promises are true.

And God, we see the life of Christ that was lived perfectly, that He laid down His life, took the penalty of sin that we deserved, and then defeated death. But God, right now as we partake of these elements, it would be a time of worship, that it would be a time of remembrance and looking towards the future.