Peace Prophesied

Imagine for a moment that you live in a wartorn country under constant threat of being exiled. At any moment, your family could be marched off to a foreign land to be slaves to a foreign ruler. This was the constant threat that the divided Israeli kingdoms lived under.

When you try to think of the future, it’s hard to picture. What will the world be like by the time your children or grandchildren are grown up? Can you imagine what it must have been like to hear the prophet Isaiah proclaiming that a “Prince of Peace” was coming to reestablish the throne of David and uphold it with justice and righteousness forevermore? That the government would be on His shoulders?

The Israelites longed for a king who would unite the divided kingdoms, reestablish strong boundaries around Israel, and make them the mighty people of God they believed that they could be. What they longed for was a king with a sword and a mighty horse, but what they got was a humble rabbi with a staff and a donkey. In those days, people would’ve heard this and longed for someone to deliver them from oppression and establish a reign of peace among the nations. And not only that; they would have expected to see it happen in their time. But history tells us Jesus didn't establish His kingdom in the way people thought He would. We can still see political unrest and chaos between nations today.

Even so, the Israelites had this promise that a Prince of Peace would save them and rule in their land. For centuries, they passed these words down from generation to generation just waiting for the day He would come. It would be 700 years after Isaiah’s prophecy before the angel would appear to Mary and tell her about Jesus.

The Israelites longed for a promise that hadn’t been fulfilled. They had been told that peace was coming, and it hadn’t come yet. But they couldn’t imagine the scope of the peace that Jesus would eventually bring. In fact, the peace that Jesus brought was an offense to them, not because it was a lesser peace, but because it was an unimaginably greater peace. Not just peace for a nation, but peace for the nations. Not peace simply between men, but between God and humanity. The debt of sin would be forgiven once and for all by King Jesus. The Israelites wanted a messiah who would settle the wars going on around them, but Jesus came that He might settle the ultimate war going on within them and within each of us. Jesus’ life and His atoning sacrifice made it possible for man to be at peace with God. His resurrection established Him as the enthroned Lord of the Nations, the True Lord of every human heart. Our Mighty God. Our Prince of Peace.