For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7
That night (shortly after Jesus’s birth) there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. Luke 2:8-20
Today we begin week three of a four-week Devotional Series entitled, “Christmas: Foretold & Fulfilled.” In this series we will examine the original Christmas Story. The series will look at many of the details we find in the Gospel accounts concerning the birth of Christ but each week we will focus on one Old Testament passage that foretells something of the birth of Christ. We will then see the Old Testament passage fulfilled in the part of the New Testament story of Christmas that is being featured that week. The goal of this devotional series is to help those who interact with it to be overwhelming amazed at how spectacular the intervention of God is in the original Christmas story of Scripture (Old & New Testaments) so that they become established in the expectation that God will spectacularly intervene in the story of their lives and the challenging details it includes. Each week has five devotionals (Monday through Friday). Week One: God’s Son Provided. Week two: The Messiah’s Arrival. Week three: The Prince of Peace. Week four: Opposition Opportunities. We begin week three: The Prince of Peace, with the following:
In our Luke passage we meet the shepherds and angels who become the focal point on that first Christmas night just after the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Father's Christmas gift to us. The highlighted portion of our Isaiah passage nicely expresses this with these words, “For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us.” There are many important things that make up who Jesus Christ, God's Christmas gift, is to us. There are a set of designations regarding who Jesus is that we will be looking at on Wednesday from our Isaiah passage. One of those designations, “Prince of Peace,” is where the title of this week’s devotional set comes from. In last Friday’s devotional, our Micah passage ended with these words: “This One will be our peace.” It was said that how this one is our “peace” is multi-faceted. We concluded that the most important way the one spoken of in Micah is our peace, is in his role as the “Savior.”
At the very center of who Jesus is, is the fact that Jesus Christ is indeed the Savior of the World. It is in the taking away the sin of the world as our Savior that Jesus Christ becomes our peace. Let’s go back to the shepherds and angels. The first angel announced to the shepherds that the Savior had been born. The angelic host that joined the scene made it clear that the path to peace on earth is open because of the Savior’s birth. Our Isaiah passage also says that there will be no end to the increase of his (the Prince of Peace) peace. “Peace” is truly a predominate theme in the Christmas story of Scripture.
We live in a broken world that needs the peace that comes from being fixed. Since shortly after the dawn of time this has been true. Our brokenness is why we need a Savior. Jesus Christ was born in a stable as both the Savior of the world and the Prince of Peace. This original Christmas event was announced by an angel to a lowly group of shepherds. What great words were spoken to the frightened shepherds by the angel, “'Don’t be afraid!' he said. ‘I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.’” Just like the shepherds we need “Good News” to move us from fear to joy. The birth of Christ is "Good News" because Jesus Christ came as the Savior of the World to bring peace to the world.
A Savior is one who rescues and redeems. A Savior does not reach down from above with a Heavenly hand and swat this broken, messed up world and send it into oblivion. A Savior comes down from above as God, the Son, in human form. He goes from a baby in a manger to the Savior on the cross with human hands stretched wide in the sacrifice of himself for the sins of the world and in welcome to all who will embrace the "Good News" of who he is and what he has done. What a wonderful thing it is to move from fear to joy because we have peace with God through our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Lord, truly the "good news" of Christ's birth has brought great joy to me. I am redeemed from sin, fear is gone, and you are fixing my brokenness. Thank you for not swatting this broken world with the hand of judgment. Thank you, Jesus, for being the Savior of the world and the Prince of Peace instead. Thank you for being my Savior and my Peace. Amen!
