Another Alabama National Guard unit is on its way to Afghanistan. News reports announced a suicide bombing in Pakistan that claimed 23 lives. In Iraq, another roadside bomb killed an American soldier. Taliban forces are dug in in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, and insurgents continue to disrupt life in Iraq. Despite America’s efforts, peace seems an elusive goal. But still we pray for peace in our time.
In 1953, President Eisenhower tapped General Motors (GM) head Charles Erwin Wilson to be secretary of defense.During his confirmation hearings, Wilson told senators that famous line, “What is good for General Motors is good for the United States.” Now GM stands on the brink of bankruptcy. Not even billions of dollars of government aid has been able to secure its economic future.
GM is but one symptom of the economic chaos ripping dreams into shreds. National unemployment nears double-digit figures. Retirement accounts are barely half of what they were two years ago. Cutbacks, closings, foreclosures — these are everyday events now and hardly make the news.
Old economic maxims have given way to a new economic reality. And in the midst of the chaos, there is a longing for stability, for economic peace in our time.
Not many years ago, in the typical American family, the father worked outside the home and the mother stayed home to care for the children. No more. Today more than three out of four mothers with children over the age of 5 work outside the home. For most, it is a necessity, not a choice. The new reality introduces a whole array of problems not known by past generations. Busy, busy, busy. We wonder if the hecticness will ever end. Again we long for peace in our time.
When Jesus was born the angels declared, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased” (Luke 2:14). As Messiah, Jesus was to usher in God’s reign of peace. The same Greek word used here for peace, “eirene,” is used to describe cessation of national conflict (Acts 12:20). The word is also used to describe domestic tranquility (1 Cor. 7:15) and interpersonal conflict (Rom. 14:19).
Like “shalom,” the Hebrew word for peace, eirene conveys the idea of God’s desire for His people to live in the highest possible state of His grace. God wants His people to know wholeness, well-being, soundness, success and more. All of this is conveyed in the concept of peace in both the Hebrew and the Greek words.
This peace that Jesus brings is the peace He offered His disciples. In John 14:27, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you.” His peace was to be enough to keep them from being afraid or troubled.
In John 16:33, Jesus urged His disciples to rely on His peace in the midst of troubles that come in the course of life. And in John 20:21, the peace that Jesus gives was to be the strength that empowered His followers to go into all the world. After saying “I give you My peace,” He commanded “as the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
The greatest part of peace that Jesus makes possible is peace with God. Romans 3 describes all people as falling short of the glory of God. All are called unrighteous, enemies of God. Yet the apostle Paul wrote in Chapter 5 that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 1).
Over and over again, Paul taught that God offers reconciliation to all who have faith in Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:18, he wrote, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ.”
How did He make this reconciliation possible? “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). “That God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19).
Why did He do it? “God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25–26). “God demonstrated His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
What are the results of reconciliation? “But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Col. 1:22). “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).
While reconciliation to God and peace with God are offered to all, they are appropriate only to those who believe or have faith in Jesus. Romans 3:22 says, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
In Romans 10:9, Paul wrote, “If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Three verses later, he added, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The apostle John, in his first letter, described this transformation like this, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God! And this is what we are!”
Using the same analogy, Paul wrote, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17).
Remember, in the midst of conflict, we are children of God. In the midst of uncertainty, we are co-heirs with Jesus Christ. In the midst of chaos and confusion, we have peace with God. In all circumstances, we have God’s peace in us.
Certainly those who believe in Jesus Christ do have peace in our time.
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