The Prince of Peace

Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah in Chapter 9

I'm going to read verses 6 & 7 this is

God's holy and Infallible word for unto us a child is born

Unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder and His name will be called wonderful counselor mighty

God everlasting father prince of peace of The increase of his government and peace there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever the zeal of the

Lord of hosts will perform this The Lord be pleased with our study of his word pray with me now.

Oh Lord we Come with great expectancy Rehearsing your

First advent and longing for your second Help us.

Oh Lord to to see more of your glory and grandeur Help us to see the the magnitude the the specter of your reign and rule

And also the humility of the way you've come. Oh Their hearts would be satisfied with your goodness and we ask this all in Jesus name.

Amen Please be seated Today we have an occasional message.

This is our fourth Advent Sunday, I will not be doing a full exposition of this section.

We're really going to focus on the prince of peace Language, it's found at the bottom of verse 6 but we have to Set things in motion

If you turn back with me to Isaiah chapter 7 we have

What's known as the? Emmanuel prophecy, I'm just gonna read a verse or two there

Emmanuel prophecy Isaiah 7 14 says therefore the

Lord himself Will give you a sign Behold the

Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and Shall call his name

Emmanuel Now when we get to and you can turn back now to chapter 9

You may know that the Jewish skeptics reduced this just to a prophecy about Hezekiah But chapter 7 the idea of Emmanuel God with us is

Add some force to the argument that this may have some reference to Hezekiah certainly

But it finds its ultimate fulfillment and realization in the

Lord Jesus Christ as a Kaia was a righteous king and he did bring peace and restoration to Judah and particularly he fought nobly against idolatry

But Hezekiah is dead and buried Hezekiah's kingdom didn't go on without end.

There was no increase in his government So the language of Isaiah 9 speaks of grander things than even of a good king in Israel Hezekiah Turn over to chapter 11 really quickly

This entered into our liturgy today a bit It says in chapter 11 there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse It's of course referring to the

Davidic line and the stem of Jesse's rod is no doubt the

Lord Jesus Christ and A branch capital B. You remember our study in Zechariah the capital

B branch look forward to the Lord Jesus Christ a

Branch shall grow out of its roots the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the

Lord all of these are embodied in the person and work of Christ now turn over to Isaiah 53

There may have been other suffering servants But but none like Christ Isaiah 53

Who has believed our report? This is verse 1 and To whom has the arm of the

Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant

And as a root out of dry ground he has no form or comeliness

And when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him he is despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and We hid as it were our faces from him

He was despised and we did not see him Did we did not esteem him surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows

Yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted

But who can be said who can be said who it could be said of other than Christ verse 5

But he was wounded for our transgressions He was bruised for our iniquities

The chastisement for our peace was upon him

And by his stripes we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the

Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all

He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet.

He opened not his mouth He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is silent

So he opened not his mouth He was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare his

Generation for he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people he was stricken and They made his grave with the wicked

Do you remember the thieves on the cross? But with the rich at his death, do you remember the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea could that be said of Hezekiah?

No, this is about the Lord Jesus Christ Because he had no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief When you make his soul an offering for sin

He shall see his seed and shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the

Lord shall prosper in his hand He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied

By his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many

For he shall bear their iniquities Who could it be said of in the world who has borne the iniquities of God's people?

only one person the Lord Jesus Christ Therefore I'll divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors

Now let's go back to Isaiah Chapter 9 There are real historical events

There is a king of promise and Hezekiah is a good king There are suffering servants of God But all of these like the

Psalms may refer to someone like David in a local sense But they have eyes to the future about the revelation of Jesus Christ That's what's happening

In our text and now this theme is very familiar to us today. Look again at the promise in verse 6

This is the promise for unto us a child is born unto us a

Son is given. It's almost got a present feel to it, doesn't it? This is 700 plus years

Before the arrival of Christ in the incarnation The promise of God so real it is if it's happening now in Isaiah Unto us a child is born as we learned last week the birth of the promised

Son has been prominent in Israel since her founding and how much more so we consider the promise to to provide a serpent crushing seed of the woman a woman a baby born of a virgin as we see in the

Emanuel prophecy Unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and The government

Will be on his shoulder The government in Hebrew is the misrah and that means dominion

It means a rule it means an

Empire in Governing means to rule to have power and the

Jewish people anticipated a messianic rule Which was expected to bring about peace

And righteousness Today our theme is the

Prince of Peace Christ has come to win the peace and his government is a government which extends the borders of peace and Enlarges the peace within his people

This government is divinely ordained rule Leadership in Particular in relation to the

Messiah's reign Isaiah promised a king

Israel with her inability probably to see it in its fullness could not envisage the greatness of the kingdom of God and today

The Jews in some measure reject Jesus as Messiah Because he did not inaugurate an immediate earthly kingdom there in Canaan It's part of their rejection.

They also Reject the language of Isaiah 53. They reject Isaiah 9 all these different ways

We have to have eyes to see and these eyes have to be from faith We have to have ears to hear and these ears only hear if we have faith and believe

Do we believe that Isaiah 700 plus years prior to the birth of Christ is prophesying about Christ or not

He is most certainly is preaching and proclaiming

Far beyond where their eyes could see about the promise of the

Sun coming into the world The next language there that I want us to consider really quickly just as an aside is

The government will be upon his shoulder I'll see if you children see if you recognize this word from our

Bible reading at some point And also our even our singing today The word shoulder is shake him

Shake him Shake him that sound familiar the shoulder is the place of bearing burdens or responsibilities husbands and fathers and moms and leaders of Organizations and businesses you carry heavy burdens on your shoulders

Husbands and fathers take on more and more Heavy burdens and responsibilities relieve your wife and your family and you take them upon your broad shoulders

But this dominion this rule this divine kingship is placed on the shoulder

Of the one who has the strongest shoulders of all The one who can bear the weight and the responsibility perfectly the

Lord Jesus Christ Even in the

Old Testament leaders are often depicted as carrying the weight of their people

Oh People of God today. We must realize that Jesus Christ has carried our weight on his shoulders check him

He has borne our griefs and borne our sorrows. Yay He is even born our sin on the cross

He's taken it away from us as far as the East is from the West The Lord Jesus Christ has taken the check em the shoulder responsibility on himself

After all, that's what the good Kings would do they would go and fight from the front with their people

This is what Christ has come and he has done just as an aside the government

Will be upon his shoulder Are you heavy laden? Are you burdened?

Come and bring your burden and your hardship and your grief and your sorrow and your guilt and your shame

And bring it to the Lord Jesus Christ He can take

All of that and bear the heavy load we can lay it down and let him carry it

With us for us Continuing into our section

Now we have the names of God and we don't have time To go through each of these today and we've spent time in former years on Many of them could it be said of an earthly King that his name would be called wonderful counselor

And the order in Hebrew God mighty Everlasting Father the

Prince of Peace Title the message is the

Prince of Peace our second point for consideration today is the Prince of Peace The Lord Jesus Christ, what is peace

Would you like some peace in your life, I would love it Well as we learned this morning, apparently it is our present possession in Christ Peace is completeness soundness a wholeness it is a shalom is a

Multi -faceted Hebrew word that encompasses a range of meanings related to peace and completeness

But it signifies not only the absence of conflict But also the presence of blessings

Christ has taken away our sins and he's given us his righteousness

You see how it works both sides It's just not the absence of war

It's the every man his own vine and fig tree. It's every person blessed in Christ He not only takes away our guilt and our shame.

He gives us freedom and liberty and a bold confidence in him

It's not only the absence of conflict but also the presence of Blessings and this is all -encompassing health safety

Prosperity Shalom in the Bible is used to describe harmonious relationships between individuals

Nations and maybe most importantly, of course between God and his people

In ancient Israel and even today shalom is a common greeting and for farewell

Reflecting a desire for the recipients overall well -being the concept of shalom is deeply rooted into and this is important the covenant relationship between God and his people where peace is a divine gift that results in blessings obedience

Walking and righteousness the pursuit of shalom was central to every aspect of the

Old Covenant life holding great influence over their customs their laws their ethics and all of their community

Interactions so today I ask you

How is your peace Now the world is striving after some psychological inner tranquility

That's not what this piece is it could include that The world is is seeking just a relief from her problems.

I just want to have peace But what Christ has done is he has won the peace by Confronting the cosmic war he has

Confronted the great enemy himself Satan He has confronted the twin enemies of sin and death and this

Conquering King has won the battle. He's conquered it with his love

The peace has been won by Christ The people of God operate in the first place from a place of peace a comprehensive wholeness and wellness a soundness a health a contentment now

What may be most prominent for us to think about today? is

We have peace with God To properly understand

God you have to see him in his holiness You have to see that he has an unwavering standard of righteousness and we forget this sometimes

God doesn't ever compromise his holiness. Did you know that? So we're sinners and he likes us as yeah, he loves you

But he's never compromised his holiness not one jot not one tittle

So, so how can we have peace with God? well

Apparently he's been pleased to lay the burden of our sin as has already been mentioned the weight of our guilt

He was pleased to bruise him He was pleased to make

Jesus to be the offering for our sins So Jesus doesn't come into the world to sing.

Happy Christmas music he comes into the world to fight a war and to win

The battle has raged Satan takes him into the wilderness to tempt him like our forefathers

At every turn he faced opposition even his closest disciples

Abandoned him and alone he goes to the cross you see the godly

King the one who's the ruler and Dominionist over peace he's willing to carry the load

To go to the cross to bear its shame to experience the just wrath of his father

So that you might have peace And we're evangelizing people.

We're talking to people trying to disciple people. We need to tell them The story of how

Christ has come to win the peace to reconcile men and and women children

To God no need to turn there, but I'm just gonna read something that always pops into my mind in this connection from the 2nd

Corinthian letter Paul says we do not commend ourselves

Again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf That you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart

For if we are beside ourselves it is for God or if we are of sound mind it is for you

For the love of Christ compels us. Oh That a

PC that these people of God would be compelled by the love of Christ To move and to act and to worship and to obey and to repent of sin and to serve with gladness

Oh that we would be compelled Holy Spirit compel us your people to do this work

Paul continues Because we judge thus that if one died for all then all died and He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and Rose again

Therefore from now on we regard no one according to the flesh even though we have known

Christ according to the flesh Yet now we know him thus no longer therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation

Christ has won the right to make us new creatures

The old things have passed away all things are becoming new Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ And he has given us the ministry of Reconciliation we go out like the ancient heralds and we run into town and As the town criers we say the victory has been won

The victory has been won That's what we should be doing in this season the whole world has come to our party to celebrate

The king has come not to give little kids nice toys The king has come to win the victory

To win and secure the peace through the vanquishing of his and our enemies on the cross

To to destroy the enemy of sin and death Christ has vanquished all three the devil the sin in our life the shame the guilt

He's taken it all and here it is that is that God was in Christ Reconciling the world to himself

Not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of Reconciliation Oh In Seminole County in Longwood the victory has been won the victory has been won now then we are

Ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. This is our message

To the world that's not at peace. We implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him

Hallelujah Amen now, let's go back You didn't ever leave.

Did you Isaiah chapter 9 rods coming forth?

From Jesse a Prince a ruler a leader a captain reflective of the hierarchical nature of the ancient world

That authority would be centralized and Even hereditary.

Can you imagine how that flies against our own sensibilities? But it doesn't seem fitting that the

Son of God would be the heir That the Sun would be the

Prince of Peace That the Sun would take up the sword and run into battle and to win

Doesn't it seem fitting that he should have all glory and honor and praise? That takes us to the third point today

And that is the proliferation of his reign Can never be said of David or Solomon and all of his splendor even righteous

Hezekiah of the increase of his government and Peace there will be no end now one of the challenges for us today is we can have a soaring rhetoric about the glories of Christ and It's appropriate for us to think about even the cosmic nature of Christ's victory

What he has done But there's something else we also need to think of the expansion of his kingdom on the more micro scale the nation's we could go back and read in Isaiah 55 the

Gentiles are coming in to the kingdom of God we can make much of that grand theme

Every tongue every tribe every nation the worldwide mission of God to bring in the harvest

We could spend some time on that. But what about the enlargement of the kingdom?

Within your heart Within the individual the little children in our midst our families this little church

It says in verse 7 of the increase of his government and peace

There will be no end and what I want to point out to you today is when we have the government on his shoulder when we recognize and submit to his glorious authoritative and gracious reign

The increase of his government and peace is felt in a very tangible way in the life of the individual

Christian Let me explain if you want peace from the

Prince of Peace submit to his authority

Children if you want to have a peaceful existence in your family home

Submit to the lawful authority of your parents Do you remember what

Jesus said to Paul? Stop kicking against the goats

They explain this to you guys in Sunday school recently kicking against the goats is an agrarian term and The farmer would have a stick with a pointed end like my older son would run around poking his younger siblings

It's been a while. I had to get you and When the oxen was not going where it needed to go, they'd crack them on the rear end and poke them with a stick

Punctured their skin it hurt him and the oxen in their rebellion and their

Hardheartedness would kick against it and would stick in their feet and the lower parts of their legs

Whatever you call their hooves or whatever it is Paul in his conversion to Christ Christ says don't you go kicking against the goats?

You can't resist me and Jesus Christ says to the world you stop kicking against the goats

You cannot resist me or my authority and so on that macro comes down to the micro

I ask you where are you in your individual life kicking against the goats?

Where are you resisting his reign and rule in those areas and their implications, that's where you have no peace

It's interesting, isn't it the cosmic violence in the heavens All the way down to our problems

Christ is our peace in every step and every thing Christ is the answer submit to his government

And as you know, but I believe There's going to be an never -ending proliferation of His government and peace because Christians are going to submit more fully

Unbelievers are going to kiss the Sun and repent and believe

Nations who formerly Rejected to him. I believe the gospel will triumph in Saudi Arabia and all those places that seem so far away

I believe Christ and his authority and his power and his strength and his might and his purposes and his love for his creation

Is going to massively Transform the earth with his gospel

It may not happen for a thousand years but it will happen a

The increase of his government and everlasting peace

There will be no end Stay where you are.

I'm going to just remind you of Psalm 2 we forget the terrors of the

Lord and we think about God at his mercy and the person of Christ who saved sinners

But but we have to understand there is a big judgment also For those who continue to kick against the goads

There's no peace out there without Christ why do the nation's rage and The people plot a vain thing the kings of earth have set themselves and the rulers take counsel together

Against the Lord against his anointing saying let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us

Isn't that? Unbelieving Humanity, isn't that the world as we know it?

We're just gonna silence this Christian talk this Bible this authority. It's just gonna be silenced.

We'll make it go away What is the response of our

Lord? Who has the broadest shoulders? Who has a government and authority and power that is limitless.

What does he say? How does he respond He who sits in the heavens shall laugh

The Lord shall hold them in derision then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure

Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion The Davidic line is going to run through Christ and Christ is going to occupy that throne forever

I will declare the decree the Lord has said to me. You are my son today.

I begotten you ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession and I Venture some speculation that in the ascension of our

Lord Jesus Christ. He said to his father I'll take the nations now for my inheritance

Oh Righteous father. I have done the work that you have sent me to do.

Give me my inheritance You will break them with a rod of iron

Dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel lest they repent It concludes now therefore

Be wise O Kings be instructed you judges of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling

Kiss the Son That language means worship adore the

Son Lest he be angry and you perish in his way When his wrath is kindled but a little

But how does it end blessed Are all those who put their trust in him.

He is their prince of peace He's gonna wage a vicious war of war of judgment kiss the

Son and He'll be your prince Well The time is running short.

I have to conclude my last line Look briefly at the proliferation of his reign which is comprehensive in my view extends into eternity the full glorification of all of his people

The new heavens and new earth the end of Revelation all of that swept up in this idea of the proliferation of his reign and finally the power to perform

Upon throne of David and over his kingdom. He's going to order it and Establish it with justice and judgment from that time forward even

Forever How will it be accomplished? It says the zeal

Of the Lord of hosts will perform this

Now when we think of zeal we think about it maybe in a singularly positive light

We think that person is a zealous Christian they're very excited about the things of the

Lord But this word has a greater depth of meaning than that and I think we lose the the actual intensity the actual intensity of zeal

The intensity of the Lord's zeal is so strong for the righteous that nothing will stop him from Redeeming them and saving them and being their peace that intensity is so strong equally against those who rebel against him and Anger and wrath there's a sign still up for that church that says

God's not angry. Does it still say it? God's angry with the wicked every day

But what about you? The burden that you carry is gone

And you might take it up you might after the Sandbags have already been loaded.

You might go grab them again and walk around with them. But in reality positionally The burden has been lifted

We have to walk in that peace We have to believe it's there we have to operate as though it's there it's not a a fairytale idea the reality for the people of God is that they have the

Comprehensive Shalom of Christ himself. We have to walk in it.

That's a little bit harder a couple words to conclude

Oh people of God today as we

Begin to be very distracted about our family activities Let's truly rejoice that the

Lord is King He reigns and rules us

His kingdom continues to grow numerically and exponentially, but it gets heavier because in each of us he's doing a work and His kingdom is growing within each person in the faith each family each little church

So we all we have to think about the expansion and width. We also have to think about the depth The Lord is deepening his kingdom in his people.

We should rejoice in this Should also be noted

I Think of you I just looked at you Gina you're caring for your little baby every act of faith and obedience

Every child nurtured Every psalm sung every sacrament partaken of every true sermon preached our battle cries and emblems of Christ's victory

The cosmic level all that stuff whatever's happening in that great spiritual war and the victory of Christ and what's already been accomplished there are little battles that are being won in the hearts and lives of you his people and the enemy knows of their defeat

He knows he's defeated Every righteous act is the expansion of God's kingdom.

Isn't it exciting? Every soul saved every marriage in Christ every covenant child born

Every scripture devotion read every prayer offered every psalm sung every hymn all of these things are victory

Emblems badges banners Second I'm urging all of us to really take this to heart

To stop kicking against the goads. We need to submit to his government. Whatever the consequence

We need to flee whatever sin that is in our lives We need to walk in his righteousness that we may enjoy the serenity of his peace

We're in conflict and we're at odds because we're not walking in his ways. We're doing it to ourselves

It's a self -sabotage of our peace relent Stop being hard -hearted kiss the

Sun walk in his ways and find and enjoy The serenity and peace that comes with that greater level of faithfulness

You're really gonna run into some more opposition from without but that peace that won't be bothered by it third

I would like us to meditate on What I believe is what a man ought to be

Because Christ shows us what he is We need to meditate on his might

His sheer power and also in the tenderness of his love

Husbands you could defeat any enemy who could come to your house to cause your family harm

But you are like the tender loving father Like Christ to the people that you are entrusted to care for We need to be men who have that range of strength

There's a lot of saber -rattling, but we need strong men who tenderly love their wives and their children

Finally we need to resolve in this season to not forget

What's happened here for unto us a Child is born through unto us the

Son is given The government is on his shoulder

His name is wonderful counselor the mighty God the

Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace the King of Kings and Lord of Lords The Lord Jesus we rejoice that you have come and we long for the day

When you will come again the Prince of Peace Let's go to the

Lord now in prayer Lord we

We have many tribulations and trials and in our life

And we know that it may even get worse for us as we try to To follow more closely after you

But Oh Lord, we cling to these promises. We know that you are

God and you keep your promises and Oh Lord Jesus, we ask that you would be

Prince of Peace to us in the grandest and most spectacular of ways, but also in the most humble and ordinary ways

Oh Lord reveal to us in the power of your spirit where we have not accepted your reign and rule and that you would enable us to repent and This will be joy filled for us because we'll be be more in keeping with our new nature and our love for you

Lord help us to function as citizens and servants in your kingdom in a way that is pleasing in your sight

Oh Lord Help us and energize our psalm singing our reading of Scripture our prayers our care for our children all that we do

In your name to see it Amplified and to see its effect even in the world

That more and more may come to know you Oh Lord give us a boldness in our witness and to run into the town and cry that that Jesus Christ has come and he's

King and he has conquered with his love and Poor men women and children to submit and to turn in faith and walk with him

Oh Lord give us a Passion and a zeal for this great kingdom work. We ask this all in Jesus name.