Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Chapter 5: He is our peace...
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. - Matthew 5:8-10
Who is a peacemaker? You may see a peace maker as one who separates fights amongst men, but Jesus was not referring to that type of peace. Such a peace is temporary, because two fighting can only live in peace for a short while and disagree again, besides if it was this kind of peace Jesus referred to then all it will take for me to become a son of God will be to go out in the streets and look for two people fighting and have them shake hands. On the contrary, we believe in him and he gives us the power to become sons of God. What is this power? The gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, and the salvation of both the hearer of the word and the preacher. As we come to God through Christ, we can testify to the fact that 'now', we feel something different namely a refreshing assurance of an everlasting friendship never to be broken again, the peace of God that passes all understanding. We not only testify to this peace but we walk in it for the rest of our lives as Christians and we will reign in it in our eternal existence with God the father when Christ returns.
You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.-Acts 10:35-37
As long as mankind wears Adams falling body as an outer shell, there will be no peaceful Utopia established on this earth. All that comes from this flesh is always going to bring pain and destruction, but within our spirits the inner essence of Christ's life for those who have received him inherit an eternal living and have eternal peace. It is these who have been made peacemakers, those who are now privileged to preach the gospel of peace, even the good news, which reconciles man to his maker, this is the real peace.
Christ is the only Prince of Peace for this reason, because he is the first peacemaker, any other person trying to bring a different peace is an impostor. In Christ there is no need for a temporary sacrifice of a lambs blood and there is no drawing of the wrath of God to those who live in but do not cling to or depend on Adams body. Our peace in Christ is like living water, making us to thirst no more for the things in this world, prosperity preachers please take note.
Man has always had a longing to reach a higher deity. Let us go back thousands of years to a place called Shinar. In genesis 11:1-9 There was a man called Nimrod who the bible says was a Mighty hunter before the Lord, he tried to build a tower up to heaven, in other words tried to reach where God dwells.
The passage emphasizes that because mankind spoke one language and were united, they thought that their attempt to build a tower to heaven perhaps to find God would be possible. God saw what they where doing, which in our futilely moral minds we may see as a good thing, but God saw their unity, how they lived as one and that they spoke a common language and that because of this unity they could succeed in building this tower to heaven but of course not to his dwelling, probably into space. What did the lord do? He confounded their languages and set confusion in their midst that their plans may fail and they did fail!!! Wow....but to attempt to live in unity in order to achieve a common positive goal ordinarily is supposed to be a good thing isn't it!?? Well, Adolph Hitler too thought he could unite europe and bring peace to the people therein by eliminating the jews ironically, and all others in history who have made an attempt at peace and unity, outside of Christ Jesus have failed disastrously!!
From the time of the fall of Adam, God had other plans. You have to see that it would have been extremely easy for him to erase the chart of creation and start all over again. However in order to put the evil one to shame, he let mankind to continue because he had a powerful purpose, a plan to reconcile man back to himself and establish an everlasting peace between us and him. It is so exciting because this means that though we do not deserve Gods intervention and his mercy, he still saw it necessary to save us. You and I am so special to God that he had to make sure that we had been born into this world, and then he saved you and I also given all an opportunity to enjoy this previlage of salvation, though not all will accept it, Oh God you are patient in your mercy!!
Now I see a powerful reason why he did not destroy everything in the beginning and start over, he waited thousands of years for the likes of you and me to know him, then to save us out of this land which is fast becoming enstranged to Gods righteous truth and followers before he destroys the earth. Do you see why God will not allow Nimrod succeed? Because of me and you! It is only Christ who can unite man back to his maker, and it was not yet time to send Christ so that this unity between man and his maker may be establised at the time Nimrod was attempting to reach heaven, only Jesus can take a man to heaven.
Nimrod probably did not know that his tower will only end up in space but God knew the real intent of his heart and scattered all Nimrods plans because God was against it. Reaching God had to be done by believing his word who as we now know is Jesus Christ, but Nimrod tried to achieve this by the arm of flesh. Note however that in the old testament the person of Christ was the spoken word of God, not the name Jesus as we know him now e.g Abraham did not know the name Jesus but yet he was called righteous and his generations saved. However the angel that appeared to mary called him Emmanuel = God with us (Jesus yeshua=the lord is salvation + Christ=anointed one), so we call him Jesus today not ignorantly but with an understanding that is given through his Spirit, an understanding that gives eternal life to he who believes. This is why any attempt as we so clearly see today in our world, at peace will always be met with futility once it is not the Peace of Jesus Christ being shared, namely the gospel.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a]have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.- Romans 5:1-2
Let us no longer ask, "why did this terrible thing happen?", anymore Or make statements like "if we do this we can make the world a better place"! You on your own can not give yourself a better future, talkless of the world around you. There is always someone to thank, when talking about your success in this life. After what Christ did, is there any other thing you can add or do to his finished work to make the world a batter place? Christ did not come to make the world a better place, he came to call the few whom he will show the narrow gate to dwell with forever. Such statements are unscriptural and we can not make this world a better place because this world and everything that clings to it is going to pass away and a new one will be established by God alone.
We know that when we were innocent as children we wanted the world to be good and we wanted people to be fair and kind to one another. Somehow as we age we still want to hope that someday everyone will live in harmony as one. But we also observed that as we grew older, every attempt to do or hope for good outside of Christ always brings about the possibility of an evil reward.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
- Isaiah 64:6
At a time, It worried our minds that certain things that could easily be settled by a few good words had to be settled by wars and the murder of innocent millions. These wars seemed to be fought for good causes but had the most negatively devastating effect on those who participated in it on both sides. Almost right after birth our innocence was taking away from us, it did not take too long before we became contemporaries of the worldly system because in this world there is no peace and in this world, peace is taking out of everything that seems peaceful.
Though in a subtle reality, coming into this world in Adams body (shell), we are expected to share with the world the evil mysteries that are embedded within our falling flesh, in this world it would be counted as a norm. We are not of this world, notice how when you come into Christ you are cast out of the worlds system and all your ways are rejected by men and not accepted or understood? This is because being in Christ is not expected of you in this world, it is not a norm.
34Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.35For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
- Matthew 10:33-35
Christ gives peace to those who believe in him alone, but the world does not have peace because they do not believe in him who gives peace and they have the sword and are divided.
So we must be ware of utopists and self acclaimed liberals who bring the Judgement of Gods wrath upon themselves, who try to establish a different peace on this earth outside of Jesus! They reject Christ's finished work and offer a false hope and a false change. There is no peace outside Christ. He is the one who broke down the wall of hostility and established peace between God the father and his children, who are the creation of his own hands. He is blessed and he is the first Son of God who made us also sons.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby
-Ephesians 2:14-16
Again Jesus says:
Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. - Luke 12:50-52
Why? Because the word of God separates the carnal minded from the Spiritual minded, the wheat from the chaff, the goats from the sheep. This is the division that Luke 12:50 emphasizes, those who have received Christ have his peace which enables them to rest on his promises but not so those who continue to reject Christ in rebellion. Hence A father who is unsaved will hate his saved son or an unsaved daughter may hate her saved mother, because they don't understand the peace that dwells within the their kin, they do not know Christ.
This is why those religious bodies who claim to be religions of peace, who emphasis mediation and peaceful coexistence amongst man always resort to kill each other and fight to prove to one another that they are a true religion, they will kill and say they are protecting their powerless god little do they know that if their god is so powerful he will not need human protection. You do not need to lift a finger to defend your beliefs if Gods peace is in you, the God you worship is alive so you should not get angry at an unbeliever who persecutes you if you have the peace of the living God established by Jesus.
This is what will happen to those who reject Christ and advocate for a false world peace:
While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.-1 Thessalonians 5:2-4
In order words the sword will fall on them (The sword here referees to the coming wrath of God).
Why? Because Christ is our only standard for peace. There is and will never be anything like world peace. Beware of those who come in the name of the world system, their peace will always come to nothing. They may go to rwanda but the rwandans will continue to hate each other, they may go to serbia but the waring factions will continue to fight after they have left serbia, even in their homes there is no peace. Everywhere they go in order to try to establish the false peace, their peace will always turn out to be a counterfeit babel peace with a false sense of unity.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the "WORLD" gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.-John 14:26-28
Jesus establishes everlasting peace WITHIN us, so he is our peace.
It is through his peace that those who came before and where executed for preaching the gospel were able to accomplish that for which God had sent them. In hardship and persecution he is our peace and we cannot be broken, in good times and elevation he is our peace and can not fall into temptation because we are content with him alone and truly "Godliness with contentment is great gain". He is our peace so our bodies do not burn with lust, he is our peace so we need not lie.... what can man do? He is our peace so we find the freedom to love, and we do good freely and praise God for being able to do the good we could not do when we did not have Christ's peace.
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
-John 16:32-33
Note that without Christ's peace, no amount of the blessings that so called prosperity preachers are presenting to you will make you happy. You think of it, if you have a new born baby and you do not have peace will you be happy? Or a new house and no peace, or a husband and no peace, or cars, jobs, money and no peace. Satan has no peace to offer you so he tries to offer you exactly what he offered Christ on the mount. Do you see pastors doing the very same thing? Do you see their members offering their other members riches of this world? This is why I have told you that our supernatural blessing is Christ alone period. Once you have received Christ into your heart you have received the peace of God that passes all understanding, a peace that gives a long and joyous life even unto eternity to those who trust in the lord.
Now that we have peace, we have a mandate to go into the world and preach the good news of this peace.
Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.John 20:20
Blessings to the reader who understands and obeys Gods word.