THE PRINCE OF PEACE

In a world beset with strife and conflict, where suffering millions endure the consequences of war, it is refreshing to consider the One who is the Prince of Peace. It is He, the Son of David, who will exalt rule to a level which has never been seen. When his sceptre holds sway, all will be at peace.

In the gospel, it is already seen that those who trust Him have peace with God, but the title to which our attention turns here points us forward to the day when He will reign over this world and remove all causes of unrest and violence. Zechariah writes, ‘the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be...to the ends of the earth’, 9.10.

Micah picks up the refrain, not only writing of the peace that He will bring, but also emphasising how this is brought about. ‘This man shall be the peace’, 5. 5, and little wonder that ‘now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth’, v. 4. Where He is, where His rule holds sway, it is impossible for there to be anything but peace. This will touch even the animal creation for ‘the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid’, Isa. 11.6. With such rule the world willblos- som, waste will cease, destruction will be no more and famine will never be a scourge.

But for believers today, He has brought peace into the soul. As the storm on the lake was silenced and as the man called Legion was released from the power of demons, the Lord Jesus showed himself to be the peace bringer. As the newly liberated follower of the Master sat at His feet, clothed and in his right mind there was evidence of a new-found peace. As the woman with the issue of blood stretched out her hand to touch His garment, twelve years of agony were over and peace flooded her soul, Mark 5.15, 24

The world longs for peace and yet refuses the One who will bring it. Leaders debate, treaties are signed, promises are made and proclamations ring out. All are to no avail! But when the Prince of Peace comes He will bring righteous rule and then the world and all those in it will enjoy a peace that is secure.