Before I was a believer, like most Jews, one of my objections to Jesus being the Messiah was that there is no peace. We thought that the Messiah was supposed to bring peace to the world. Now that I do believe that Jesus is the Messiah, I have peace! I have peace with God, who says that Jesus is His Son, and the Holy Spirit in me bears witness to that truth. Before, I did not believe that Jesus is the Son of God; and I did not have peace. There is not peace in the world today, but increasing lawlessness and fear. There is not peace in Israel today, but war, with all of its heavy cost. But for those who believe in the name of the Son of God, we know that everything will be all right! The Messiah has come, and He gives believers peace.
We read in the New Testament that Jesus says that He did not come to bring peace to the world, but a sword. (Mt 10:34-39) But to all who believe in Him, He gives the peace that the Father promises; and the Holy Spirit living in the believers comforts the believer with this amazing peace, a peace that gives the sure hope that the day will come when the whole world will be in peace: no more wars; no more crime; everything/one is healthy; no more suffering; no more tears; no more sickness; animals also living in peace with people and with other animals; every person sitting under his own figtree and vine, with none to make them afraid; worshipping our Creator and our Redeemer without fear. Only the Son of God, Jesus Christ takes away the fear of death, for by Him is the resurrection from the dead unto everlasting life for those who love God the Father and His beloved Son. (Is 2:4; 11; Mic 4:1-4; Lk 1:67-75; Jn 14:25-28; 11:20-27; 16:31-33; 20:30-31; Rom 5:1-5; Heb 2:9-15; Rev 21:1-8)
When I began to read the Bible as the Word of God, I saw in the book of Daniel that there would be wars – not peace — until the end, after the Messiah came [the first time]. (Dan 9:24-27) I read in Ps 110: the Lord of King David would sit at YHVH God’s right hand until He made His enemies His footstool: again, no peace after the Messiah went back to Heaven. These things are written in the Tanach, the Bible that the Jewish people accept as “kosher”!
Jews and Christians are told by God to overcome the enemy – whether with carnal weapons, or with spiritual weapons. But, the truth be told, we are not fully capable of doing so: not only by disobedience, but by the knowledge that life does matter, and none of us are completely innocent from deserving death ourselves. We are not righteous; we do not love as we are commanded by the God who is love. Joshua and the Israelis were told to wipe out the Canaanites – men, women, children (Dt 7:1-6; 20:16-18) – and for seven years they waged war, when they basically said, “we can’t do this anymore”. (Josh 13:1; 23:11-13; Judg 1:28; 2:1-7, 20-23; 3:1-4) Not only was the enemy difficult to defeat, but the Israelis themselves were sinners, unfaithful to YHVH and to His covenant with them. He did not give Israel the complete victory; and the people were weary from the toils and costs of war, and of killing and being killed.
Sinners cannot defeat sinners in a world that does have – praise the Lord! – a holy and righteous God who alone can give victory and complete peace! As the people of God by His choice not based on our righteousness, neither Jews nor Christians have “the stomach” for destroying all of our enemies ourselves. As disciples of Jesus we are commanded to love even our enemies. But we do want God to do it; and He will — in His time, and by His righteous judgments. (Is 11; Ps 94; Jude 1:14-15; Rev 6:9-11; 11:15-19)
Jesus Christ/Yeshua the Messiah was born in Israel to save sinners from our sinful nature and from our sins. (1Jn 3:8; 1Tim 1:15) His name is Yeshua because He is the Savior of His sinful people and nation – among the Jews and among all the Gentiles who are called by His name.
Until there is a full restoration of His people in covenant relationship back to the Father through Yeshua/Jesus the Son, there can be no peace, no security, no permanence, and the land will always have its enemies, and Gentile nations will restrict the knowledge and the worship of the one true God. We see this increasingly today as there is a dramatic falling away from the truth and the knowledge of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. And the activist opposers are violent towards the truth itself, and towards those who believe it.
Is 9:6-7 “For unto us a child is born, 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. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and righteousness from that time forward, and forever. The zeal of YHVH of Hosts/Armies will perform this!”
This “child”, this “Son”, is called by names that only can be applied to YHVH God Himself. A child was born; and He is the Son of God who came into the world, given by the Father to Israel, and to the rest of humanity, to save sinners and to put away all that is in opposition to the Sovereign Creator of the Universe. NOTHING is too difficult for Him!
Yeshua/Jesus will return in great power and glory to restore the Kingdom of YHVH God to Israel and over all the nations, and will sit on the Throne of David, as Isaiah prophesied and as Gabriel the angel announced to Mary before she conceived. (Ps 89:19-37)
Mt 1:18-23 “Now the birth of Yeshua the Messiah was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins.’ So all this was done that it might be fulfilled what was spoken by YHVH through the prophet, saying, ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel’, which is translated, God with us.”
Lk 1:30-35 “Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call His name Yeshua. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and YHVH GOD will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the House of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.’ “Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man!?’” “And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’”
Although Jesus/Yeshua was the Lord and the Son of God at His birth, He was not known to be with absolute certainty by even His closest disciples until after His resurrection from the dead. Yeshua/Jesus did not “evolve” into becoming who His is: He Is Who He Is! And His sinless life and particular miracles and signs proved it! (Prov 30:4; Lk 2:11; 24:18-27; Jn 20:18-29; Mk 16:1-14; Acts 13:26-33; Rom 1:1-4; Mt 17:1-9; 3:16-17; Jn 5:16-30)
Lk 2:8-14 “Now there were in the same region shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their sheep by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of YHVH shone around them; and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men!’”
This proclamation by the angels of God offering peace and good will toward all humankind still rings out today: anyone who repents and believes in the name of Jesus Christ/Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of God, will have peace now in measure, with the certainty of God bringing to full-fillment this promise to Earth, and to all the creation, of His peace filling the world that He created and made for His glory. (Rom 8:14-25) Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Jn 3:13-17 “No one has ascended to Heaven but He who came down from Heaven, the Son of Man who is in Heaven. (Dan 7:13-14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but inherit everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
This is good news until today: today, do not harden your hearts, but believe the gospel and be saved from your sins through faith in Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.
We cannot separate the birth of Jesus/Yeshua from His death and His resurrection and His coming again. They are all of a piece in God’s good news of His plan of redemption for all of eternity. (1Cor 11:26; 1Pt 1:19-20; Rev 13:8; Jn 18:11) He was born that He would die to take away the sin of the world. God with us! the Prince of Peace! Joy to the world!
That God came to us in the flesh in the person of His Son, Yeshua/Jesus, is something to wondered at and celebrated every day all year. But there are particular times which focus on the mighty acts of God in history on behalf of His people, and we are free to bear witness and testify to the wonderful works of God.
