By: Bailey QueenChristmas is here again. There is likely a number of things that come to mind when you think of this season. It could be you opening presents as a kid on Christmas morning, making cookies with loved ones, and making memories with those that you love most.
One thing that comes to mind for me is the tradition of celebrating Christmas at my grandparents. I was blessed to have grown up in a Christian family that tried to make the birth of Christ the focal point of the gathering. Ever since I can remember, before we open presents, the grandchildren would take turns reading about the birth of Christ in Luke 2. They always made it a point to remember what the reason for the holiday was.
A question that will be asked again in this Christmas season is, “What is Christmas all about?” Most of us know the Christmas story whether we heard it in Sunday School or we heard it explained in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Our automatic response is usually, “Jesus came to die for my sins,” or “Jesus came because He loved me.” These are good responses, but I want us as a church to think deeper about the meaning of Christmas. There is a deeper meaning of the Advent season that we can take away that can change us beyond the season. I don’t want us to reflect on it and then move on from Advent on December 26th, but rather we should allow it to change what we think, change our hearts, and strengthen our faith.
As I have prepared for the Advent season, a word that is often thrown around during the season is “peace.” I started thinking about what that means for us as believers. What do we learn about peace through Advent, and how does this change us? The passage that I immediately thought about was Luke 2:14. This was the message being proclaimed by the angels after the birth announcement of Christ to the Shepherds. Luke 2:14 says,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
This passage holds so much hope for the Christian that will be overlooked because of the frequency in which we have heard it. This verse in Luke reminds us that God’s peace is among His people at all times. I am reminded of the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14, that His name shall be Immanuel, which means God with us. It is promised to us that God will step down in human form and dwell among wicked sinners like us through Jesus. Where the presence of God is there will His peace also be. Since Christ is among His people, His peace is also among His people.
What is the reason for this peace? The peace starts from the promise made to us in Genesis 3. The promise, which God makes with us, that God would send someone greater to bruise the head of the serpent and to deal a fatal blow to sin, Satan, and death. This greater somebody is His son Jesus.
Throughout scripture, this promised Messiah is spoken of in the whole storyline of scripture with a hopeful expectation that He would come to save His people. This Messiah, Jesus came in the form of a servant (Phil 2:7) to be among a people who were bound to sin and to reconcile them to Himself. Jesus’ perfect life, death on the cross, and defeat of death is the redemption to buy His people back from the Sin to which they were once bound.
The peace that comes from the Advent season is the peace that we see in Ephesians 1:22 where we are told Jesus, “...has placed all things under His feet...” Through Jesus, He has placed death, sin, fear, wickedness, and Satan all under His feet. God’s enemy is placed under His feet, while His people are in the palm of His hand.
This is the peace that is being spoken of in Luke 2. Whenever we feel like we are losing, that the darkness seems to be all around us, take heart because Jesus has overcome the world and darkness. Jesus has placed all things under His feet, so whatever can happen to us in this world is already subjected to Jesus.
There will be many seasons of life that feel like we are on the losing end but, there is a hope coming. The hope for us today is the second advent of when Jesus returns to this world to be with His people and restore all things. The eager longing, and expectation of the coming Messiah in the Old Testament is an example that we should seek to follow. The expectation of the first advent is the expectation we should have for the second advent. God’s people should have an expectation for the coming of Jesus, but we can have a peace that they didn’t have because we know how all of it ends.
In Revelation 21-22, we are told of a new world that will be renewed to God’s original intention for the world that was set in the Garden of Eden before the fall in Genesis 3. We are told of a place that the God head will dwell in complete, unhindered communion with His people in the way He intended it for all of eternity.
This fellowship will be unhindered because there will be absolutely zero sin or any ounce of wickedness in this new world where there will be complete peace. There will be no more fear, no more guilt, no more shame, no more sin to distract us from the Savior in this new world where we will be in perfect communion and rest with Jesus. The peace for His people in the hope that we have in the promise of God that there is a coming hope for us.
Christian, may we not lose heart in this life. May we run this race with our eyes fixed on Christ, our hope alone. The finished work, and the promise given to His people is our hope. Where there is hope, there is also our peace on earth with His people. May you not forget this hope or let it get shuffled into the busyness of the Holiday, but allow this hope to give your soul peace for which it longs.