HIS PEACE WILL NEVER END

Isa.9:7 – His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.

The peace of God is the characteristic of the kingdom of God. The word peace in Hebrew is shalom. It carries a wide range of meanings including peace; completeness; welfare; and health. This peace begins in our hearts when Christ first comes into our lives. His peace effects our whole being; our spirit, our soul, and our body. There is a sense of peace in our inner man that bathes our whole being in God’s shalom. Jesus told His disciples that they would have trouble in the world but to take courage because He had overcome the world. The peace of God overcomes all the stress that we face in our crazy world. Here is how Chrysostom describes this prophetic word.

“No one could say this of a mere man, as is obvious even to those who are very eager to show how stubborn they can be. No man from the beginning of time has been called God the Mighty or Father of the world to come or the Prince of peace. For Isaiah said, “There is no end of his peace.” And what did happen makes it clear that this peace has spread over the whole earth and sea, over the world where people dwell and where no one lives, over mountains, woodlands and hills, starting from that day on which he was going to leave his disciples and said to them, “My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.”
Why did Christ speak in this way? Because the peace which comes from a human being is easily destroyed and subject to many changes. But Christ’s peace is strong, unshaken, firm, fixed, steadfast, immune to death and unending.”

I have tended to miss this amazing promise in Isaiah because of the magnitude of Isa.9:6. The promise of Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace is what makes this promise so precious and powerful. We are kept by this peace in our day to day world and this peace of God will be the overwhelming characteristic in this world when Jesus returns to reign as King. This Christmas I plan to saturate myself in the peace of God, join with me as we allow the Lord to bring His healing power into our lives through His shalom.