When the birth pains are over...

Isaiah 55:12:

“For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

This passage proclaims the joyous life in the Kingdom of God.  When Jesus reigns upon the earth we will see everything respond with glory.  Romans 8:22 says: “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”  Creation groans because it is subjected to the futility of man’s sin.  It doesn’t groan in hopeless suffering, but as an expectant mother who is longing to give birth.  That time will come when Christ reigns and even the earth itself will respond in praise and glory from being finally righteously ruled by the Creator and Redeemer of planet earth…Jesus Christ.  When you think of the beauty of the earth remember, she is still in labor pains…if you have trusted in Jesus Christ you will see her in her restored splendor as she flowers under the hand of her One True Master.This has been a minute for the Bible.

God has done His works in us...

Isaiah 26:12:

Lord, You will establish peace for us,
For You have also done all our works in us.

This passage foretells the victorious culmination of Israel’s long and turbulent History.  While the rulers of the age would squabble and plan, prepare and bargain, with the threats all around them the Lord had a different message.  They would be disciplined by being taken off to the Babylonian Captivity but there is a time, yet future for us, when the LORD will establish peace for Israel.  That will be the full peace of the millennial Messianic Kingdom wherein God will provide all that He promised Israel, proving that all God’s promises are “YES!” in Christ.

But there is an indirect application for us in the church today.  Just as all of Israel’s best efforts to create and maintain peace were a failure on the national front, so our best efforts for creating peace in our lives will result in failure.  Light a candle, take a bath, listen to some quiet music.  All these things just provide a temporary illusion of peace.  The only true peace comes from the Lord’s work within us.  The paraphrase the Lord Jesus:  A branch can produce no fruit on it’s own…it can only stay close to the life-giving vine.

Justified Peace

Romans 5:1:

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…

Justified translates the Greek word dikaiow and means to be declared righteous. This is different than being righteous.  Nobody is righteous before the Lord as all are touched by the death dripping guilt of our sin stain.  Yet a person is DECLARED righteous by accepting the perfect payment of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross.  The result of this declaration of righteousness is a complete and total peace between the Saved Saint and the Righteous God.  Bad days and good days, through all of life’s ups and downs, nothing can take the peace that comes from the eternally valid sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  We all have growing to do, and will likely walk in sin from time to time…but we can never lose the peace that exists between us and God, because we didn’t make, earn it, or maintain it…it is a grace gift of our loving God.

He Cares, He Can

Philippians 4:6-7 New King James Version (NKJV)

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

“Don’t worry about it!” The voice of the used car dealer rang in my ears as I sat by my broken-down car, wishing that I had worried about it while I was on the car lot.  The fact was that he didn’t know much about the car he was selling, nor have the care or power to fix anything.  His direction that I shouldn’t worry turned out to be especially hollow.  But when the Lord tells us not to be anxious, we should listen.  The Greek word merimnao means to be troubled with cares and we are here COMMANDED with a present active imperative not to be troubled by our cares.  But why?  What are we to do with our burdens and fears?  We are meant to make our requests known to God.  This tells us two very important things about the Lord.  First, he Cares.  Second, He can.  The Lord commands us not to be burdened with our worries – because for Him they are light, and we were never meant to bear them.