Peace on earth and good will toward men! By: James Lantz
There was a multitude of angels who appeared to the shepherds in Bethlehem who were watching their flocks that night long ago. God’s plan to redeem His fallen man was unfolding and the multitude of angels were dispatched, glorifying God in the highest and declaring God’s gift of peace and good will toward men! Luke 2:14 YLT Glory in the highest to God, and upon earth peace, among men–good will. Jesus, the Holy Child, the Son of God, the Prince of peace, the Son of man, the Word became flesh was lying in a manger in Bethlehem! Weymouth’s New Testament, an excellent translation, qualifies this peace to be among men who please God. The only way we can please God and be at peace with God is to believe what He says and act on His words!
Luke 2:14 WYT “Glory be to God in the highest Heavens, And on earth peace among men who please Him!”
Luke 2:14 NLT “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Luke 2:14 CJB “In the highest heaven, glory to God! And on earth, peace among people of good will!”
God has made peace with every fallen sinful man who will accept and receive His Son Jesus, the Christ! The Greek word eirene ( i-ray’-nay ) translated as peace in the above scripture means to join, prosperity, one, quietness, rest, and to set at one again. Wow! We have been rejoined to the Father through Jesus Christ! Jesus had humbled himself and laid aside His deity powers and became a man like us. Phil. 2:7A CJB On the contrary, he emptied himself, in that he took the form of a slave by becoming like human beings are. Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost and that includes every one of us. Rom. 5:12 NLT When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Peter preached this message of peace through
God made peace with man through Jesus Christ!
Jesus Christ to the Gentiles at Cornelius’ house. He began his message, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. Peter told them how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. Peter brought six Jewish brethren along to witness what God would do for these Gentiles who desired to know God. Acts 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Jesus had a previous agreement with the Heavenly Father to give His life, shed His holy blood, take our punishment, rise from the dead, thus making peace between God and man. This was unheard of, far beyond what anyone could ask or think, the righteous Son of God dying for the rankest sinner. 2 Cor. 5:21 NLT For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. This awesome amazing grace that God made available to every man is neither deserved nor earned. Jesus is God’s gift to everyone who will receive Him. We receive Jesus (the Word) through faith. If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. We confess that we are saved and then we become saved. Faith does not say, who will go up to heaven and bring Christ down for us, nor will faith say, who will go down to the place of the dead to bring Christ back from the dead for us. God has already sent Jesus down to the earth and He has already raised Jesus up from the dead. We are to believe that we receive, eternal life, healing, protection, preservation, provision, deliverance, and wholeness now! God counts those who believe Him to be righteous! We cannot make God accept us because of something that we do. God has offered to accept us because of something He did! God accepts sinners only because they have faith in what He did through Jesus Christ! 1 John 5:1 NLT Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. Rom. 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: There is no peace for the wicked! The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. (Isaiah 57:20&21) Rom. 3:16&17 Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: The traditional view of what is wicked or evil is shaped by the society in which we live and tends to emphasize what is seen and felt but God looks at the heart. Pride is of the heart and does not want to yield to anyone, including the Lord Jesus. Hatred is the very opposite of God. God calls unbelief evil, especially the kind that has knowledge of God’s power and ability but just refuses to believe. The ten spies brought back an evil report after searching out the promised land saying that we are not able to overcome the obstacles in our path. Their evil report poisoned the minds of the people causing them to speak against what God said and therefore die an early death in the wilderness. The ten ring leaders who said we are unable to go up into this good land received a harsher punishment. Num. 14:37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord. Those who draw back from God’s plan for their life after they have been enlightened are in for trouble. This trouble can only be overcome through repentance and purpose to obey God. Heb. 10:39 CJB However, we are not the kind who shrink back and are destroyed; on the contrary, we keep trusting and thus preserve our lives! God is much more forgiving of the kind of unbelief that comes from ignorance as seen with Saul of Tarsus. 1 Tim. 1:13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. As soon as Saul saw Jesus in the vision and understood that he could serve Jesus and live or resist Him and die, he chose Jesus. Those who refuse to use what God has given them to bless God’s kingdom are called wicked! Mt. 25:30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Sins from the heart like pride, selfishness, unbelief, covetousness, and worry will be judged quicker than sins of the flesh.
Jesus said again, When I go away My peace will stay with you. Do not let your heart be troubled nor afraid! Everyone of us has to deal with the challenges of living in this curse filled earth, full of devils and crazy people, and yet we are commanded to not worry or be afraid. John 14:1 CJB Don’t let yourselves be disturbed. Trust in God and trust in me. We who are at peace with God through Jesus Christ have God’s blessing on us! When we were born from above we became a new creature in Christ Jesus and instantly received the life and nature of God. We received Jesus’ DNA and all of the fruit of the Spirit was placed in us. Gal. 5:22&23 GNT But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. We were made complete in Christ Jesus the moment we were born again, but just as a natural baby needs to develop and grow, so also must this new creature grow up in order to use what God has given him. Grace and peace shall be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. Trouble can be all around us, but like the Apostle Paul, we are not to let it get inside us. 2 Cor. 4:8&9 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
Hold fast to your peace just like you have to hold fast to your confession of faith. Holding on to your peace and maintaining it is part of fighting the good fight of faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing God’s word! Fear, or lack of peace, comes the very same way. Do not allow Satan’s thoughts to loop (go round and round) in your mind. God says to attend to His words, incline your ears unto His sayings, do not let them depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart. Pro. 4:22-24 NLT for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Guard your heart above everything else! Our minds are the doorway to our heart and the eye gate and the ear gate gives access to our mind. Keeping evil out of our heart begins by keeping our eyes from looking on evil and our ears from hearing evil. David said, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes and he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. The new testament elaborates on how to win this fight that is being waged against our minds. We are to cast down every imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor. 10:3-6) We have been given supernatural weapons to tear down strongholds in the mind and to speak our deliverance! Jesus showed us how to wield the sword of the Spirit against the temptations hurled at Him in the wilderness. When your peace is being challenged you say, I have Jesus peace and victory is mine!
