Prince of Peace

Raymond Serrano / General

Intro
Good evening church! It’s a blessing to be here back home for the Christmas
season and a honor/privilege to be able to preach the word here at LTF where
I’ve grown up more and more in the Lord. Tonight I’ve been tasked with the
going in depth on the name Prince of Peace we see in Isaiah 9:6 so let’s get into
the scripture here.

Context
Isaiah was a “major” prophet who pushed back on the corruption of Israel, its
kings, and its false prophets by having a message that spoke of the coming
judgment of God by way of the Assyrians and later Babylonians. However as we
see so often with God and Israel in the Old Testament there was always another
message of a coming redemption, hope and peace as was promised time and
time again to the forefathers of Israel.

(Future King from the line of David 2 Samuel 7: 8-16)

2 Samuel 7:8–16 NASB95

“Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of
hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My
people Israel.

“I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies
from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great
men who are on the earth.

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“I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they
may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict
them any more as formerly,

even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I
will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also declares to you that the
LORD will make a house for you.

“When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up
your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his
kingdom.

“He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his
kingdom forever.

“I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I
will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men,

but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul,
whom I removed from before you.

“Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall
be established forever.” ’ ”

(Lead Israel to Obedience under the laws given at Mt. Sinai to Moses Exodus 19 :
3-6)

Exodus 19:3–6 NASB95

Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying,
“Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel:

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on
eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself.

‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you
shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;

and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the

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words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

(God’s blessing to the nations Genesis 12 : 1-3)

Genesis 12:1–3 NASB95

Now the LORD said to Abram,

“Go forth from your country,

And from your relatives

And from your father’s house,

To the land which I will show you;

And I will make you a great nation,

And I will bless you,

And make your name great;

And so you shall be a blessing;

And I will bless those who bless you,

And the one who curses you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Throughout the wars, resettling, exiles and every calamity that came upon Israel
they were always promised peace. A little difficult to be “at peace” when the
world is crumbling around you, much like we see going on today. But what does
that word “peace” mean?

Body

Well the Oxford dictionary defines peace as “Freedom from disturbance or

mental calm/serenity”. But what is a disturbance? Oxford describes a
disturbance as “A disruption of healthy functioning”. In 2 Samuel 7 God makes a

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covenant with David promising a king that will come from David’s line and
establish a kingdom forever, a kingdom that will settle Israel where they will
“live in their own place and not be disturbed again” A promise of peace for the
people of Israel who were a Nomadic people before settling in Jerusalem. But as
we see in Isaiah Jerusalem would be a place where they’d be once again
disturbed, ransacked, ravaged and ultimately displaced for a time. In Isaiah we
see that this promised King who is the Son of God will have the government rest
on His shoulders.

Isaiah (Vol. I) Chapter 9

Unto us a child is born (comp. ch. 7:14–16, where the promise of “a child,” “a
son,” is first made—a child who was, like this Child, to be “God with us”). The
government shall be upon his shoulder. The word translated “government”
(misrah) occurs only here and in ver. 7. It is probably to be connected with sar.
“prince,” and Israel. Government was regarded as a burden, to be borne on the
back or shoulders, and was sometimes symbolized by a key laid upon the
shoulder

As God governed everything from the beginning so will His Son who will reign in
God’s eternal kingdom but it seems like there would be a burden of having the
government on His shoulders. But how many times as a child do we look up at
our parents not fully comprehending the burdens they have but still manage to
feel some sort of safety or security simply because they seem to have control of
it? This is what God is promising the people of Israel who are facing down the
barrel of exile and displacement. But God in His infinite wisdom promises them
peace. The Child here will be called Prince of Peace, he will take the burdens of
the government away from the children of Israel and instead give them Peace.
Which the previous kings of Israel were regularly overcome by their burdens. We
can see that with David and Solomon who were great Kings of Israel but had
issues handling the burdens of government which overcame them and they had
a lack of peace and even moreso unnecessary suffering. As seen in 2 Samuel
24:1-17 where David wanting to know how many people he’s governing takes a
census, But this show of pride doesn’t sit well with the Lord and as a result of
this census God sends a plague for 3 days that kills 70,000 people. Cause how
many of us know that sometimes a burden doesn’t come from the outward

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circumstance but instead it comes from our sinful nature and what is residing
inside of us like pride. So in a quick recap, the people of Israel at this time are
facing destruction due to corruption, have never known true peace, and after
switching from the judges to kings governing system they are experiencing the
same issues God warned them they would. Isn’t it kind of funny? Pastor Ray
spoke on Sunday about getting what we want and how it could or would
negatively affect us. Like the new car you get that makes you feel ok for skipping
church rather than that metro card because you can’t get very far with the metro
card. The people of Israel did the same thing. They clamored and cried out to
Samuel to tell God they want a king to be like the other nations, knowing full
well that God called them to be set apart which is why they had a different set of
rules from their neighboring peoples. But it wasn’t a rejection of Samuel or a
desire to really be like the other nations, it was a rejection of God’s rule and
authority that they wanted. And isn’t God great? Throughout all this He’s sitting
on His throne in control of it all and He promises them a King that will bring
them peace and rule in the laws that God set before them. But they’re gonna
have to go through some growing pains first before that could happen. Just like
us, just like those relationships or jobs or material things we have where we ask
God for someone and He promises them to us but we gotta go through some
growing pains before we’re able to accept them the way God intended. God
gives us everything we need, all the peace we could ever want we just simply
have to open His word, read it and pray and draw near to Him. It doesn’t mean
that things will change immediately but as you develop the habit and
consistency you’ll start to see that those issues before start to become smaller
because you have a real understanding of who God is. My God parted the Red
Sea so His people could walk on dry ground, He can handle my marriage issues.
My God raised the dead, made the lame walk and the blind see, He can handle
the problems I’m having with money and my job. But you’ll never know that
until you develop that relationship with God, with the Prince of Peace who has
been given freely to us.

(Anecdote)

When I was younger my family had went to a conference in Ohio, 6 people

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driving in a small car for about 9 hours before Apple Carplay, there wasn’t a lot
of peace there I’ll tell you that much. But when we got to the conference the
speaker said something that I really never understood until I got much older and
really experienced it. He said “In the eye of the storm there is peace” As a child I
could never understand how there would be peace in the eye of a hurricane, as if
the winds and rain would stop as the eye got to your position and then they’d
resume again once it passed. But as I’ve gotten older and have been able to
identify the storms and understand that my peace comes from Jesus Christ my
Savior and Redeemer I can stand in the middle of the storm praising and
worshipping knowing that He is the storm maker and He is in complete control
so why should I worry?

Philippians 4:4–7 NASB95

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

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 comprehension, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus, our Prince of Peace. The word peace is used in the Bible
about 400 times depending on the translation whereas the word disturbance
(which is the antithesis to peace) is used 12 times. God promised us His son,   
Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace to show us that when we are in Him we don’t
have to worry. Now understand this, that doesn’t mean disturbances won’t
come. It is still a part of our lives but the peace of God is infinitely stronger than
any disturbance we could ever encounter because in the eye of the storm there
is peace.

Call to Action

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We need to start asking ourselves where we are looking for peace? Is it in your
home, a job, a person, social media, money? Maybe we get to thinking that if we
can just clean up one aspect of our lives ourselves then the peace will start to
flow in what we consider “Our kingdoms”. We all fall victim to it, thinking that we
have the necessary tools in our own strength to find peace through the storm.
And it’s partially right, we do have the tools but not because of our own strength
but because our Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Wonderful Counselor and
Prince of Peace sits on the throne and gave us His word. His word that is alive
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. That exposes our
innermost thoughts and desires and orients us back to the will of the Living God
creator and sustainer of the universe. If you are having issues with peace or feel
like the world is crumbling around you don’t panic, the Creator of the world has
given you a peace that can overcome any obstacle. Because He didn’t say there
wouldn’t be storms but we know that in the eye of the storm there is peace.

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