The Gospel of Peace
by
Greg Hocking
In the light of recent and ongoing conflicts worldwide,
I want to raise the question, is peace possible? The age old question
was raised by King David in Psalm 2:1 ‘Why do the nations rage?' Jesus
warned ‘And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.’ (Mathew 24:26).
The foremost body in keeping world peace is the United Nations, the
charter of the U.N. is: “To save succeeding generations from the scourge
of war.” So how have they done so far? According to Rosemary Righter
“during its first four decades, the U.N. proved manifestly incapable of
preventing close to 150 conflicts, including more than 125 in the Third
World, which cost some 22 million lives.”
“The only reason for the absence of major wars on the scale of World War
II or World War I is attributable not so much to U.N. influence, but to
nuclear deterrence.” Writes Alex Seita. Is peace simply an absence of
conflict? I think not, so long as there is an absence of peace in the
human heart the words of Christ will continually echo through the
corridors of time: ‘There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and
on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the
sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the
things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens
will be shaken.’ (Luke 21:25-26) ‘Many would be offended and shall
betray one another, and shall hate one another.’ (Mathew 24:10).
Can peace be produced in a world full of conflict? The bible say’s it
can. We are going to explore these issues, and try to bring some meaning
to today’s world of conflict.
We shall start our search for peace in (Mathew 5:9) ‘Blessed are the
peacemakers.' This tells us that the first step is that:
1)Peace must be produced.
In a world of conflict we must be ambassadors of peace.
We as Christians have a responsibility to teach peace, because were
taught of the Lord.
‘All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the
peace of thy children.’ (Isaiah 54:13) Notice the word great. This is
our duty and obligation to teach great peace.
In Psalm 119:165 we are told; 'Great peace have those who love thy law.'
In Philippians 4:7 it tells us the path to peace, 'the peace of God,
which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Jesus Christ.’
This involves allowing God's word to be the arbitrator; the word
literally means to be an umpire. The Middle-East conflict in particular
needs a dose of this.
The most important ingredient is wisdom from above. In the book of James
it tells us about the heavenly wisdom solution 'The wisdom that is from
above is first of all pure, then peaceable.' (James 3:17).
In John 14:27 we are told he has left his peace with us. ‘Peace leave
with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world gives give I unto
you’. He left it for us, but we have left it out of all our so-called
peace negotiations. Not only are we to make peace but:
2)Peace must be pursued.
We need to pursue peace in order to produce it, like anything in life
that is worth having we have to put up a bit of a chase.
Psalm 34:14 encourages us to ‘seek peace and pursue it.’ So it’s not
enough just to seek peace, the United Nations undoubtedly seeks peace,
but they certainly don’t pursue it.
Peace talks are exactly that all talk, why don’t they invite the Prince
of peace the next time they convene? The reason why they don’t is
because we don’t pray for peace.
3)Peace must be prayed for.
We are exhorted to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6)
Seek the peace of the city and pray for it, for in the peace thereof you
shall have peace. (Jer29:7).
Acts 9:31 'Then the churches had rest, and were the churches edified,
and multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord.’ When there is rest in
our midst, our churches grow rapidly. If you want your church to be
edified and multiplied you must pray for this to happen.
4) Peace must be preached.
Ephesians 2:17 'He Came and preached peace to you which were afar off,
and to them that were nigh.'
Isaiah 52:7 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet that bring
good news, that proclaim peace.'
When Christ rose from the dead, he appeared to them all together, and
the first thing he said was 'peace be unto you,' (Luke 24:36).
About the Author
The author is a lay preacher and is available for
preaching engagements on the subject of revival.
You can contact us at
www.revivalmagazine.org.
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