Peace on Earth

As we celebrate Christmas, this once in a worldtime occasion, the day that God came to earth as a human, it is important that we remember more than just the events. The events are of course important, but events in themselves are just history. These events are more than just history, for these events changed the course of History. These events are the pivotal point in all history. Our science books have gone to great lengths in the last 20 years to try to rewrite the history that has been known for quite some time, but almost 2006 years ago, time was restarted. All time in the Western world led up to this point and we remembered it by calling it the time BC, Before Christ. But did you ever notice that the time after Christ’s birth isn’t AC, but it is AD, because AD stands for Anno Domini which in Latin is a shortened form for they year of our Lord. Because once Christ has come, every year is a year of our Lord. We cannot mark time as After Christ, because Christ is not done. He is still our Lord, and he is still active. And it began in a stable over 2000 years ago.

Put yourself in this scene. It is late at night, you and your friends may be warming yourselves by a fire, you may be lying down with a rock as a pillow as your sheep have all retired for the night in the fields around you. You have already taken a roll call and you are sure they are all safe.
Luke 2:9-20 [9] Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Suddenly an Angel appears, and they were frightened, no terrified. The Glory of the Lord shone around them. The glory of the Lord, this is what filled the tent of meeting when Moses led the people on the exodus; this is what surrounded Moses when he was up on mount Sinai. This is what filled the cloud that led the people across the Red Sea. This was considered the presence of God, and now it is surrounding you, as a shepherd in this field. Terrified. Frightened. Awestruck. [10] But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: [11] to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. [12] This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."

Do not be afraid, says the angel. Why not? Because I am bringing you good news of Great Joy …for who? For all the people. For the savior has been born.
God showed up to make an announcement. I am Here. The I Am has come to earth to bring great joy for everybody. And he has come as a child. Do not be afraid; be joyful and hopeful, for God is Here.

[13] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
[14] "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"
Suddenly this one angel turned into a crowd, a multitude of angels all praising God. This loud host proclaiming Glory to God, Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward humanity. You see this is the proclamation that comes with Jesus. This is what he has come to do, to glorify God, to bring Peace on Earth, to bring goodwill to humanity. Have we forgotten this? When we remember the little baby who grew up to be a man, have we forgotten this glory to God, this peace on earth, this goodwill toward men? What ever happened to that? You know, some have said that Christmas is just another day; there is nothing special about it really. But apparently, it was special enough for a host of angels to shout Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, goodwill for humanity. This was a pretty special day. But have we forgotten.

Did Jesus fail in His mission? Did he not do what he was supposed to do? Well we know he glorified his father in heaven, we can check that off the list, but what about this Peace on Earth and this goodwill toward men stuff. Did he bring Peace on Earth?

We have just survived the bloodiest century this planet has ever seen with more wars on a global level than ever before. We have invented more ways to hurt people than probably ever conceived in the days of Jesus. How can we say we have Peace?

God is often misunderstood. Remember when Jesus was walking into Jerusalem for the last time and his disciples asked him if he was going to restore the Kingdom of Israel at this time. They misunderstood his mission and thought he would lead a revolt. Remember when Jesus said that if they destroy this temple he will raise it up in three days referring to his body being the temple of the Holy Spirit. He was misunderstood, and so too has this proclamation been misunderstood, for Jesus did not come to set down as an authority over the whole world… at least not yet…One day, that will be a reality as the rest of the Bible declares, but he has still brought peace to this world. It is a peace that is available to everyone, yet not everyone finds it. It is a peace that everyone needs, for it is a peace in your soul.

Peace from the restlessness that comes from trusting in yourself. Peace from the anxiety of never being good enough. Peace from the distress of a world where things never go right. Peace from a battle that wages between what we should do and what we do do. Peace that passes all understanding. Peace given by Christ to those who know him. It is available to all, but it is only available through him. For he is the Prince of Peace. He is the one that can calm your soul and give peace to your Spirit. This is the Peace he has brought. One day, he will bring another, but this is the peace you can have today.

How do you get this peace? Well, let’s consider a case in point. Consider again those shepherds who were just moments ago terrified. They were not at peace. So what did they do?
[15] When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us."
They decided to see for themselves if it was true. You see they needed to. Because they knew they could never get peace without it. They had just had an encounter with God that had terrified them, and they had to verify that it was true. [16] So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.
They found things just as it had been told to them. You see, this is how you can get peace also. Seek to find Jesus. Search him out and see if it is true. He has peace waiting for you if you want it. And if you want it bad enough you will seek it, and you will find Jesus, ready to give you Peace for your weary soul.

Now if you have already had this peace. If you know the truth of peace on earth in your life because you have verified the truth of Jesus, what’s next for you? As we continue our case study we see, [17] When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; [18] and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.

Now it's time to tell people. Tell them what God has done; how he has been real in your life; how you have experienced him, just as the shepherds told of their experience. And people will be amazed at what God has done. And then [20] The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Then, glorify God. This is a day to glorify God for he has done excellent things. He has come to earth to give us peace, let us give him praise! Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus!