Day 3: Prince of Peace

The last two days, the title of Jesus we’ve studied was taken from Isaiah 9:6:

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on his shoulders; and his name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

The title we particularly looked at was Wonderful Counsellor. Today, we are beginning to look at another title taken from that same verse, Prince of Peace.

We have to understand that the word "prince" in the scriptures always designates a ruler. It's not just a family inheritance of a title but it represents someone who is an active ruler, responsible for government. There's a certain emphasis on government in that prophecy. It says "a child will be born, a son will be given, the government will rest on his shoulders." This is the first feature that's brought out of this wonderful child who's to come. And so, let's look at that last of the four titles there which particularly emphasizes His character as a ruler, the Prince [or ruler] of Peace.

There are two things in our experience and in human history that can never be separated one from the other. The first is righteous government and the second is peace. This is true of individuals, of nations, of whole civilizations. Only insofar as there is righteous government can there be peace. We've got a very limited and incomplete picture of peace in our contemporary society. We talk about peace as long as there isn't open war. As long as nations are not actually fighting one another with military weapons we say there's peace. But, that's really ridiculous. While there's bitterness, hatred, calumny, accusation, systematic attempts to undermine other nations and to outdo them, to bring them down -- that's not peace. The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, implies a lot more than that. Its root meaning is completeness and it also contains the thought of order. So, true peace is order and completeness.

Now, the good news of the gospel -- and remember the word gospel means ‘good news’ -- is the establishment of God's righteous government called, in the scriptures, his kingdom. Many of us have missed this for many years. That's what the good news is, that God is going to establish his righteous government through Jesus.

Let's look at the proclamation of the gospel as it's given in various passages, for example in Matthew 3:1-2:

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

He was the first one to proclaim the message. He said God's kingdom, his government is coming.

In Matthew 4:17 we read the first words that Jesus actually is recorded as preaching publicly:

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

The government. Matthew 4:23:

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”

Notice that the good news is the kingdom, that God's government is coming to Earth and that we're going to be able to enjoy the benefits of that government.

Again, in Matthew 24:14 Jesus describes his program to bring this age to a close and he says this:

“...this gospel [or this good news] of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

All nations have a right to hear at least once that God's going to set up his kingdom in the person of the King, the Prince of Peace, Jesus. And that's the only hope for peace for humanity.