Peace Prophesied
“Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord ... to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:76-79).
It was thus that Zacharias, being filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke of his infant son John. How great and wonderful are the blessings which he prophesied should come to men by the advent into the world of the Lord Jesus Christ; blessings having the TENDER MERCY OF OUR GOD as their source.
These blessings are: —
1. LIGHT for those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.
2. REMISSION OF SINS.
3. THE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATION, and these three leading up to what cannot be known without them —
4. THE WAY OF PEACE.
Do we know that our sins are all forgiven, with the certain knowledge of it? If so, we have been guided into the way of peace! Could anything be more blessed than to be assured of the possession of all these things, in the Lord Jesus Christ? It was John’s mission to announce the advent of the Lord Jesus, the One who would bring these blessings to men.
Peace Proposed
Luke 2:1-20
All the world was set in motion by a decree of Augustus, but he little thought that it was to bring about the fulfillment of God’s Word by His prophet, for Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem according to Micah 5:2.
That despised and unnoticed Babe was the Eternal Son of the Father — the Son of God — the Creator, and Upholder of all things! God come down to men, and to be a man to reach them!
To the humble shepherds on the hillsides of Judea appeared a multitude of angels praising God and saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men” (Luke 2:14 JND).
Glory is ascribed to God in the highest, and PEACE is announced for the earth in connection with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But “peace on earth” depended on the earth’s acceptance of the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord, and lasting peace is impossible otherwise. Has He been received in this way by the world? Most assuredly not. In short, “His life was taken from the earth” (Acts 8:33). and with Him all hopes of peace for earth have been taken too, until He comes again in judgment. Only then will He establish peace with righteousness as its basis.
Peace Possessed
Luke 2:25-32
But the fact remains, that the peace which the world had refused can be had and enjoyed by every individual ready to receive the Lord as Savior. As an example of this, peace entered Simeon’s soul, when the infant Jesus was brought by the parents into the temple. Simeon took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation” (Luke 2:29-30). So it will be with all who take the Lord Jesus as their Savior. In Him both salvation and peace are found.
Peace Pretended
Luke 11:14-22
In spite of the fact that the Jews did not receive Him, Jesus went about doing good among them, but the Pharisees attributed His miracles to the devil. But the fact is, man was under the power of Satan, and the Lord Jesus came to break Satan’s power. “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils” (Luke 11:21-22).
From this we learn that there is a kind of peace which the devil ministers to his dupes. He is “the strong man armed, the world is his “palace,” and unsaved sinners are his “goods.” The Lord Jesus came to give peace, but they blasphemed against Him. The truth is that “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isa. 57:21).
Peace Precluded (on Earth)
Luke 12:49-53
The manifest rejection of the Lord in Luke 11 prepares us for the surprise in Luke 12:49-53, where there seems to be a contradiction of the announcement of the angel in Luke 2, “Peace on earth.” “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay: but rather division.”
This is startling, but it confirms that the rejection of the Lord is wholly incompatible with the realization of peace on earth. Therefore, when His rejection came clearly into view, the Lord plainly repudiates any idea of peace on earth being possible. For those who receive Him, there is indeed peace to be enjoyed, but this poor “earth” may look in vain for it until after judgment has cleared out of His kingdom “all things that offend, and them which do iniquity” (Matt. 13:41). It is only “when [His] judgments are in the earth,” that “the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:9).
Peace Perpetuated (in Heaven)
Luke 19:37-44
“And when He was come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: PEACE IN HEAVEN, and glory in the highest.”
It was now no longer “peace on earth” but “peace in heaven.” And why this striking change? Because the Lord was going there after that He had risen from the dead. Peace follows Him, and wherever He is received, peace must be.
Peace Postponed
Luke 19:41-44
“And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes...because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”
Poor Jerusalem! The time of her visitation by the Prince of Peace had come, but she remained sullen and unapproachable. She did not know the time of her visitation, and in this she was as the world of today! The tender heart of the blessed Lord was filled with grief as He looked down from the Mount of Olives upon the guilty city, and He wept over it.
But we may comfort our hearts with the contemplation of the fact that in a future day it will be different, and Jerusalem will not only know the Lord (the city where He was crucified) as Lord and King, but from that then blessed spot will flow peace to the whole world?
Then, indeed shall Jerusalem know “THE THINGS THAT BELONG UNTO THY PEACE.”
Peace Proclaimed
Luke 24:36
Before Jesus spoke the gladdening words “Peace be unto you,” He made peace “by the blood of His cross,” meeting all the just claims of a holy God. God, in consequence of this, has raised Him from the dead. He was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification, that being justified by faith we might have PEACE WITH GOD through our Lord Jesus Christ. So that what the world lost by the rejection of the Lord, the individual believer can have and enjoy by faith on the blessed Savior, who ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
To sum up, then, what has been before us as gleaned from the gospel of Luke:
was prophesied by Zacharias,
was proposed by the angels,
was possessed by Simeon,
is pretended by Satan,
is precluded from earth during Christ’s rejection,
is perpetuated in heaven,
is postponed for Jerusalem until she shall receive the returning King,
is proclaimed to believers now that Christ has risen;
and it may be added, is personified in heaven, where peace is established, for “HE IS OUR PEACE” (Eph. 2:14).
J. C. Trench (adapted)