For our Scripture reading tonight, we read a familiar passage, especially associated with this time of year, from Isaiah chapter 9, to read together verses 1 through 7 of Isaiah chapter 9. And tonight we want to focus on one of the titles given to our Lord in verse 6. Prince of Peace. Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9, verses 1-7 as we give our attention to the Word of God. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past, He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future, He will honor Galilee of the Gentiles by the way of the sea along the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. And the government will be on His shoulders and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over His kingdom, establishing it and upholding it with justice and righteousness. from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Dear people of God, what an amazing prophecy is before us. These titles in verse 6 speak of Christ's dominion and rule. He is indeed the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. These titles are also His virtues or we could say His qualifications for exercising dominion. And indeed, as verse 7 says, He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing it and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on forever. But also notice right before that, it says, of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end. Tonight, we want to consider specifically that His dominion or rule is in the realm of perfect peace. Jesus Christ is called a prince along with the other things. He is the great leader, the perfect ruler, who alone establishes and provides perfect peace and beloved as far as the believer is concerned. This is why He came. As far as the believer is concerned, Jesus Christ came to establish, to provide perfect peace, even as the angels sang glory to God in the highest peace on earth, goodwill toward men. I preach to you this Word of God tonight. The coming of Christ. The advent of peace. And very simply, we want to consider these two things. First of all, the need for Christ's peace. And secondly, the nature of Christ's peace. It's interesting, and no doubt you've noticed this, maybe many of you throughout your lives, that this time of year, more than throughout the rest of the year, people call for peace. At least some kind of peace. It's the holidays. We're supposed to be jolly. We're supposed to get along, so let's put aside our petty differences for a while and do that. Let's get along. It's a time for peace. Peace in our families. Peace with our acquaintances. Peace in our nation. And peace with other nations. There is a need for peace. This is indeed true. This is not something we can test. There is a need for peace. But you see, the world wants peace in another way too. Wouldn't it be great if we lived in a world where there was only good news to report? But of course, that would mean most of our media would be out of a job, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it be wonderful if only good things happened? But again, that's more like a make-believe world, isn't it? The kind in the storybooks that end and they lived happily ever after. But as it is, the news media is filled with reports of robberies and murders and kidnappings and rapes and earthquakes and hurricanes and stock market crashes and the need for cures for diseases and terrorism and so much more. But Isaiah prophesied about the Prince of Peace. Now, if you think about it, this is really kind of a magic name in a world of woe and unrest. Ever since sin entered the world, Man has always suffered from war and from wounds and from weakness. And this has always come in different shapes and sizes throughout the ages. And we even experience these things today. We mentioned the things already that are often reported in the news. But we could add to it. We could also highlight the drug war and the AIDS war and the cancer war and the abortion war and the homosexual war and the war on terrorism and many other things. There are things that hit closer to home, at least for some of us. There is discord and disunity in the home, maybe between husband and wife or between parents and children or between brothers and sisters. The same thing is true in the church as sometimes brothers and sisters in Christ are at each other's throats in a sense. Children and young people battle with peer pressure as well as the devil's temptations of life. And when we talk about peace so often, we're talking about, in our estimation, in our idea, we're talking about getting along. We're talking about bridging a division or separation, maybe one that has been caused by fighting and unrest. And of course, when the fighting ends, then there is peace. At the end of a war, there's usually some kind of a peace treaty as well. What do we mean by a peaceful life? Well, a peaceful life is one in which there is tranquility and contentment, according, again, to our estimation. A life with no problems. Peace means that everything is calm and comfortable. But even though we must admit that we have it good today, very good, we must also admit that there's not much of that kind of peace, really. Not today and not back in Isaiah's day. He preached to a decaying, torn up society during a time of war and killing and captivity. Isaiah lived and worked in a bad world as he talks about the people walking in darkness and those living in the land of the shadow of death. Beloved, we don't live in an imaginary, make-believe world. We don't. Today, as in Isaiah's day, we need peace. We need peace in our families. We need peace with our neighbors. We need peace with our enemies. We need peace with our own brothers. Why is this? Well, the answer is simple. Sin. after sin entered the world, God said there would be a lack of peace. He said that there would be enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. He said that there would be pain and childbearing. He said, cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. And He said, for dust you are, and to dust you will return. Sin is the root and the cause of all the suffering and unrest and problems in the world today and throughout all times. Now, I don't mean to say that we are not responsible. We are the sin that lives in us. We are responsible for all of this. And sin causes unrest and battle inside each one of us individually as well. Even as Paul says, For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do. This I keep on doing. And he also talks about another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. You see, congregation, sin causes personal unrest. It also causes social unrest through injustice, self-seeking, dishonesty, a love of power, and a lack of love. Sin also causes national unrest. You see, by nature, we are not peacemakers, but war makers. And Paul outlines that fact in Galatians 5 when he lists the works of the flesh, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, rebelries, and the like. These are the things that hardly make for peace. Because of these, we need peace with our enemies, we need peace with our neighbors, and we need peace with our own brothers and sisters. But the reason these things characterize our sinful nature is because by nature, we also, and most importantly, and this is the point that I'm trying to make, we need peace with God. We need peace with God. That's what sin damaged. Man's peace, unity, and communion and fellowship with God. Man's lack of peace in every other area and situation of life flows from a lack of peace with God. In sin, man is at war with God. In sin, man no longer sees Him as the sovereign ruler over all and the one from whom all blessings flow. In sin, man has placed himself and his own strength and his own knowledge and his own everything against God. In sin, along with the kings and rulers of the earth in Psalm 2, man takes his stand against the Lord and against His anointed. In sin, man despises God's peace agreement, which is His law. I have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, therefore, this is my peace agreement. In sin, man has no fear and no reverence for who God is and what He is able to do. And in sin, man is headed for the peaceless destination called eternal hell. Yet, congregation, God is merciful and gracious. And Jesus Christ came to restore peace. We just sang of that reconciliation with Hark the Herald. And that was Isaiah's message of comfort for those who needed a little good news back then. And that same good news is still effective for us today. He says in verse 2 again, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. And what is that light? Verse 6 says, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. As we said this morning briefly, darkness represents Satan and evil. And therefore, darkness represents a lack of peace. It represents separation from God and it points to insecurity and dread. Whereas light is a reference to God, to His presence, to His salvation. Light points to peace, security, and the removal of that dread. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. But in the second place, having considered that need, at least as far as the earthly need as well, all those different ways we've talked about, What is the nature of Christ's peace? Was Christ's peace merely the fact that this Prince of Peace would put an end to all the warring and fighting and that He would set His people free physically? And that He would rule His people on this earth sitting on a physical throne? Is that what the character of Christ's peace was all about, the nature of His peace? Well, the Israelites, especially in Isaiah's day, would have said, yes, yes. You've hit the nail on the head. That's it. After all, Isaiah also says that this child, this Prince of Peace, would come to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from the darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion. As well, the Jews in Jesus' day, as well as His disciples, thought this is what the Messiah was to be. And even today, congregation, as we said a moment ago, Again, the world calls for peace. Peace from hostilities. Peace from diseases. Peace from so many material and physical situations of life. But Jesus Christ didn't come to bring earthly peace to a world shrouded in sin. What I mean to say is He did not come to make peace. To make a peace agreement with sin. The cross is proof of that. We confessed earlier in the service, He was crucified, dead, and was buried. And here, some 2,000 years later, the news reports are as depressing as ever. And as far as the world is concerned, there is no peace. But do you know what? That's good news for the believer. Why? Because Jesus said in John 14, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, and neither let it be afraid. Beloved, we are not to desire, first of all, our number one goal is not to be peace as the world gives, as the world calls for. How did our Lord establish the peace that He came to bring? Through war. Now, boys and girls, that might seem like it doesn't make sense. He came to make peace through war. But He said in Matthew 10, verse 34, Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. You see, Christ came as a baby in Bethlehem, not to sing a nice, peaceful Christmas carol, but to declare war. And the sword that He wielded was His cross. Beloved, our Prince of Peace came to declare war against that which separates us from God. Against that which severed that beautiful relationship of peace between God and man. He came to declare war against our three sworn enemies, as the Catechism says, the devil, the world, and our own flesh. He didn't come to bring a superficial peace or outward worldly peace. Christ's peace is not simply a truce for a little while. But this prince, this leader, this ruler who took Israel out of captivity rescues the Christian from slavery to sin and Satan. You see, congregation, he did not come to compromise with the sin that tries to prevent true peace. And neither are you and I to compromise with it. But he came to conquer and destroy the sin that tries to prevent true peace. The peace that He came to establish was much more than temporarily stopping the hostilities between warring nations and even between brothers and sisters. In fact, our Lord issues this warning, He who loves father or mother or brother or sister more than me is not worthy of me. Our Savior's task was far greater than just to release the Jews from the oppression of the Romans. His task was far greater than just healing the leper or giving sight to the blind. God's only begotten Son came to restore peace between God and His people, our greatest need. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life in our place. He perfectly fulfilled that peace agreement called the law. And therefore, as God's people, we are no longer in bondage to the law as a means of salvation. But we enjoy the freedom of the law in which to express our gratitude. And Jesus Christ paid the punishment of our sin as He was crucified, died, and was buried. With His sword, the cross, our Lord opened the only way, congregation, the only way that men may find peace with God. In fact, He made peace with God for those who believe and He did that on the basis of His everlasting righteousness. He has removed the guilt of our sin. He has removed the wrath of God from us. Therefore, He has also removed the enmity between God and His children. And congregation, this peace is not fake like much of the peace the world calls for, the world promotes at Christmastime. Again, He said, this is not peace like the world gives. This peace lasts beyond the New Year longer than many New Year's resolutions, huh? It is forever peace with God. There is no end. Jesus Christ has reconciled with the Father those who would believe on Him by true faith. How? By that same dying that the world says proved His defeat. Beloved, that was not Christ's defeat on the cross. That was His victory. Christ's substitutionary atoning sacrifice brings us peace. Isaiah says in another place, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him. The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And Paul says, therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, God's grace transforms us from war makers to peace makers. Paul characterizes peacemakers in that same chapter, Galatians chapter 5, as those who possess the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Beloved, the peace Christ came to establish begins in the heart. There can be no peace between men and nations if there is no peace in the heart, and there can be no peace in the heart if there is no peace with God. So many, especially again during this season of the year, cry out for superficial, temporary peace. But for them, there is no true peace, all because they have no peace with God. And they have no peace with God because they have not received the Prince of Peace by true faith. And these are the same ones who continue to look around at the suffering and the disease and the unrest in the world, and they continue to cry out, well, where is the peace? We just don't see it. But for those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith, we know that Christ has restored us to peace with God. The sacraments, the baptismal fire at the Lord's table are proof of that. But that does not yet mean, does it, that we have reached that final kingdom of peace. We look forward to that final kingdom of peace when, as Scripture says, the wolf will live with the lamb, the cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra. And the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain. For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. That's the final kingdom of peace. That inheritance which we expectantly look forward to. But until that time, we continue to live in a world that experiences suffering and pain and injustice where there is no peace, it seems. Now, how do we balance that? How do we understand that? Congregation, because of the Prince of Peace, who has brought us peace with God, we can live in peace in the midst of all of these things. And the truth is, God's people, those who are at peace with God, are often more at peace with regard to these other situations of life. But in confidence, we can say with the psalmist in Psalm 56, Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, I will praise His Word. In God, I have put my trust. I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? There is so much in this life that makes for a restless and miserable and disquieted life. Yet for those who are in Christ Jesus, He gives peace to our souls. That's the peace that He came to bring to men, to God's people, as the angels sang to the shepherds. God gave His Son to us to bring us peace with God. But those who reject that peace reject the Savior. And those who reject the Savior reject His salvation. And for them, apart from repentance and faith, there will be the eternal battle of hell as they suffer the wrath and punishment of God against their sin. that will be eternal unrest. But for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by God's grace and live under the dominion of the Prince of Peace, theirs is the peace that passes understanding in this life, which looks forward to the eternal peace of the next life, which will be ushered in, beloved, when our faith becomes sight. The clouds are rolled back as a scroll. We shall hear the blast of the trumpet and our Lord Jesus Christ will come again on the clouds of glory. And beloved, as we anxiously look forward to that day, only God's believers can truly say we will live happily ever after. The coming of Christ. The advent of peace. People of God, now that's good news, isn't it? Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we thank You and praise You that we may have the assurance that You have filled our needs, our greatest needs. For we were lost, but we have been found by Your loving grace. We were at enmity with You, but You have restored us to fellowship and peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, may that peace guard, guide, and direct us each and every day of our lives that when we are tempted to become restless, when we are anxious, when we are upset, when we are angry, that by the power of Your Holy Spirit we might remember the peace that God's people enjoy with our Heavenly Father both now and forever. Father, we thank You and praise You for Your grace, Your mercy, and Your peace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you.