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Title:
The
Prince of Peace
Author: Henry
Gariepy
“For
unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”
Isaiah 9:6
Peace
often seems to be the most sought for and, at the same time, the most
elusive treasure. The great
cry of the world is for peace. The
diligent and devoted effort of so many word leaders and diplomats is on
behalf of peace. Yet
history seems to mock their effort and confirm the futility of man’s
search for peace. A famous
French historian estimated that there had been 3,130 years of war in
contrast to 227 years of peace from the fifteenth century before Christ
to his own day. The world had seen 13 years of war for every year of peace.
Today
nuclear destruction threatens civilization as cities and nations stand
only by sufferance and often seem headed on a collision course with
annihilation. Every new
generation is born under the ominous cloud that threatens to unleash a
nuclear holocaust. In the
next deadly game of war, the score will be kept in units of a million
corpses.
This
is not only the era of the split atom but of the split personality as
well. Man is beset by
neuroses and psychoses that undermine his peace within.
The fears of man are so many and varied that psychologists have
charted them all the way from a to z: acrophobia, fear of heights, to
zoophobia, fear of animals. People
cannot sleep. Americans are
the champion insomniacs, consuming billions of pills a year.
The classic words of Henry Thoreau seem more apposite to our age
than to his time, “The mass of mean lead lives of quiet
desperation.”
The
heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.
Peace is not so much an external climate as it is an inward
experience. It gives inner
equilibrium to the life amidst the disquietude without.
As the Prince of Peace, Jesus imparts His peace that applies to
three primary relationships.
First,
He enables us to have peace with God by His work of
reconciliation. Sin
separated and estranged man from God.
The cross of Calvary was a great bridge across the impassable
chasm of sin. It led the
way from man’s fallen condition back to His Holy Creator.
Augustine wrote:
“Thou
has made us for Thyself, and the heart of man
is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”
Second,
Jesus enables us to have peace within ourselves.
He resolves the inner conflicts, cross-purposes, and tensions
which act as bandits robbing us of serenity.
He quells the civil war within the heart, between the carnal and
the spiritual nature, by the power and work of the Holy Spirit.
When
we are at peace with God and with ourselves, then we will be at peace I
the third area of relationship – with others.
Having truly discovered the Fatherhood of God we will learn to
practice the brotherhood of man. When the vertical relationship is right
then the horizontal relationship will take on its proper perspective.
The
four exalted titles of this text speak to us of four divine attributes
of our Lord. Wonderful
Counselor speaks of His omniscience.
Mighty God declares His divine attribute of omnipotence.
Everlasting Father or “Father of Eternity” indicates there is no
point in time or space where He is not present, expressing His attribute
of omnipresence. And Prince
of Peace relates to our positive well-being, and His attribute of
omnificence – unlimited in His creative bounty on our behalf.
The
Prophet Isaiah elsewhere gives us the secret of peace:
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast
because he trusts in You” (26.3).
When our hearts and minds are centered on Christ, we will know
His serenity amid storms.
Prince
of Peace, so attune my heart that there will be
no disharmony of desire, no discord of selfishness.
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100
Portraits of Christ, Portrait Forty-Eight “The Prince of Peace”
Henry Gariepy
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