On This Day: In the Peace of God's Pleasure

   And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
   “Glory to God in the highest,
       and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:8-14)

   Two things I have mostly seen in distorted forms are peace and pleasure. Peace is usually superficial peace-keeping, while pleasure is often sinful self-centered (sexual) indulgence.

   Because peace is so central to Jesus coming into the world, it is no wonder that Satan wants to give the wrong impression. God will never give his peace to a world that loves darkness because its deeds are evil.

   Instead, Jesus came to bring “good news of great joy” to the earth because “a Savior” had been born, “who is Christ the Lord”. And it is in this good news of salvation that people come to have peace with God even while we are still here on earth.

   Decades after Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, Paul wrote, 

   Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).   

   This is what distinguishes the ones in whom God delights from those who “loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). Our “peace with God’ is not only “through our Lord Jesus Christ”, but it is through being “justified by faith”. The temple curtain was torn in two at Jesus’ death to show that we now have “access by faith” into the most holy place of God’s presence, but only by the grace of God.

   Note also that the “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” is our response to the angels’ “Glory to God in the highest”. God’s glory is the reason we have so great a salvation. God’s work is to the measure of what gives him glory. It is to the glory of God in the highest that his Son would come into the world for the purpose of laying down his life as the sacrifice for sin so we would be justified by grace through faith and rejoice in hope (the confident expection of future glory) of the glory of God. We see God’s glory in giving us so great a salvation, and we look forward to the glory we will experience with him when Jesus returns and we see him as he is (see I John 3:1-3). 

   As we live in such a peace-destroying time, it is fitting that we who are God’s beloved children ought to bless one another as exemplified by the apostles, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13). 

   Joy and hope are central to what we call the Christmas Story. Jesus’ birth was announced as “good news of great joy”. Jesus came into the world as the “Prince of Peace”, not because he would bring peace to the world, but that he would bring sinners into the kingdom of God where they would experience peace with his Father.

   The thing for each of us is that, when Jesus shines light on our sinful condition, does it drive us to run for darkness because we prefer our sinful indulgences, or does it call us to run into the light to be washed clean of sin so we can live in the righteousness of faith and experience peace with God our Creator? 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)