Unwrapping Peace
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On Christmas Day, 1863, a beautiful poem was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; A poem that would be set to music 9 years later and become a very beloved Christmas Song. It was entitled “I heard the bells on Christmas Day”, and like many of our most loved songs, it has a story behind it. The poem was written during the civil war, a time when things looked bleak indeed in the world, at least in the United States.
Bleaker still for Longfellow. Two years earlier, his wife Fannie had died from burns after her dress caught fire. Henry himself tried to put out the flames, and was burned badly so that he could not even attend her funeral. Tragedy struck again for Longfellow, as his son Charley was badly injured in the war and nearly paralyzed. SO on Christmas Day, in the midst of a very bleak time in his life, Longfellow wrote this now famous poem, you know as the song “I heard the bells on Christmas Day”. We no longer sing the parts about the war, but I want to read the poem in full for you to set the stage for unwrapping the peace of God that we all so desperately need.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and mild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."
We can feel the anguish of Longfellow in this poem, in which listening is a them throughout. Longfellow is listening to the bells, that on Christmas Day play carols that are familiar and sweet, and focus on peace on earth. And here on Christmas Day he is contemplating how these bells keep rolling out their song, undaunted by the chaos of the world around them. The bells seem to be drowned out by the terrors of war. A country is at war with itself and there is hate, such that Longfellow bows his head and says there is no peace on earth, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men. Yet as though to correct him in his thinking, the bells ring louder and deeper. God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth, good will to men.
As beautiful as the poem is, and the song it became, in it is something not quite complete. You see, there are a number of places in scripture that speak of peace that will come. Several of them are commonly recited at Christmas time, as Longfellow refers to. Let me share a few of them:
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 among those with whom he is pleased!”
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ”
As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
And Jesus is the one to bring peace and reconciliation. Col1.19-20
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
So what is Longfellow missing in his poem? Well, first, let me say I love it and am in no way diminishing its power. I find it very moving and I love it. However, if a person does not first understand the most paramount aspect of the peace we need, the full power of the poem, and these verses I just read, will be lost to that person.
The reason is that while Longfellow rightly pointed out the lack of peace on earth in his time, especially in light of the war, that lack of peace is but a symptom of the real problem people have. The real problem is a lack of peace with God.
It began in the garden of Eden, where our first parents, and the representatives for the whole human race, Adam and Eve, sinned. That means they missed the mark. They violated the law of God, and this angered God. And through that sin, death came in to the world:
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
So death came into the world through that first sin. And every human after has to face the fact and reality of death. Not only did death come, but loss of peace with God. God and man had a perfect relationship, and that was destroyed when the first man sinned. To this, some have said “No fair! Why should the whole race of humans suffer because of the sin of one man? And the answer comes in the form of representation, or headship. Adam perfectly represented the human race, and as our representative, he did what the rest of the race would have done, which is to sin. But even if you did have a problem with inheriting sin from Adam, you still could not get away from the problem of your own sins, because every one of us has violated God’s law.
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Now, all have sinned, and the wages of sin is death. Rom6.23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you were here last week, you heard me say this, but wages are what we are paid for the work or deeds we have done. And if you are a good worker, your wages are usually higher. Unfortunately, we are all skilled in sinning, so our wages are coming to us. Unless we have some way to atone, or cover, or pay for our sins, we are all in deep trouble. And that is because no deeds we can do can somehow offset our evil deeds, our sins against a holy God.
However, there is good news! Rom5.8
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
For those who understand that Jesus died for sinners, and put faith in Him as their only rescue from the wrath of God, that wrath that is being stored up agains all the unrighteous, for all who declare Him King and Lord, and believe He was raised from the dead, His death pays the price of the sins of those who believe. And when Jesus was raised from the dead, that was proof that God accepted His death as payment for the sins of us who are saved.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Of course, this seems to simple for some people. The transaction is most certainly unequal. Jesus, the perfect and sinless one, who died, took on the sins of the world, and in return He gives His own righteousness to those who believe. If that seems too good to be true, it isn’t. God has promised this in His true Word. He promised it in the Old Covenant, and fulfilled it in Christ, the Messiah of Israel foretold to the people.
If you are concerned about your sins and your alienation form God, you should be! And the only remedy for you is to call on Him. Rom10.13
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
And by doing this you can have peace with God: Rom5.1
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
What is reconciliation? Peace. You see, Longfellow was not wrong to want peace in his life. To want to be at peace with losing his wife. To be at peace when his son was injured, when the nation was at war with itself. But these examples of not being at peace are only symptoms of the real problem. The real problem is that mankind needs to be at peace with God. You cannot be at peace with people while you are at enmity with God. People will always be at war with each other unless they come to terms. Terms of peace have to be achieved, terms that both sides agree to.
Usually, coming to terms of peace is contingent on the most powerful laying down the terms. If you submit to these terms, you can have peace. After World War 2, Japan came to the table wanting peace. They were weak, and they needed to do something very important before peace would be granted. Do any of you remember what it was that Japan had to do to get peace?
Surrender. Complete surrender. When you are weakened and want peace, and the one your are enemies with demands surrender, you either surrender or die or stay at war until you cease to exist. And mankind in its sin is at war with God. How do we come to peace with God? Complete surrender. You have to give up your war against Him. You have to submit entirely to His terms of peace. And He has only given one way to be at peace, and that is through the cross of Jesus Christ.
Humans have always known there is an unrest, a lack of peace amongst ourselves, and with God himself. It isn’t only that our sin disappoints him, it shows our hatred towards him. What does it take to get to the point of complete surrender? We must be humiliated. So moved into a place of brokenness and shame over our sins that we have no where to go except to Christ Alone through faith alone.
Without the intervention of God, and His Spirit, and His calling us through His Word, we will never get to that point. Japan had to come to that table, and sign the surrender documents to have their peace. It was utterly humiliating to them to do so, and yet, when they came to that place of humiliation, peace came immediately. They went from enemy to eventually friends. It was no easy path to get there, but now in Japan our nation enjoys a mutually beneficial relationship. Trade and diplomacy are well between nations that once were fierce enemies.
This can happen between you and God. He will come to terms of peace with you. It can only happen, though, if you humble yourself and come in complete surrender to Jesus.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
There is only one way to make peace with God, and that is through Jesus Christ. He is the promised Messiah of Israel, and God in His graciousness extends the salvation to all who submit to Him. Yet there is no other way to make peace with God. John14.6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you would have peace with God, then you must surrender. This was the peace that was prophesied by Isaiah9.6-7
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
It is the peace announced to the shepherds: Luke2.8-20
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and 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 among those with whom he is pleased!”
When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
This is the peace Paul wrote about in Rom5.1
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is the peace, that for the one who believes, cannot be taken away:
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And that is the peace that Longfellow attempted to convey in his great poem, a peace that, like bells ringing in the crisp air on a Christmas Day, though the darkness of the world around us may attempt to drown out this message, ring, peal more loud and deep, “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will toward men.”
The message has been preached, has it been heard by your ears? If it has been heard, has it been received? Do not delay in responding to this good news today, that you can have peace with God through Jesus!
There was once a passionate gospel preacher named George Whitfield, whose preaching some say was used by God to bring 10% of the population of the colonies of the US coming to faith in Christ. Whitfield would plead with people to come to Jesus. I plead with him, and beg you to come to Jesus. Whitfield invited people to “Come, all of you, come, and behold Him stretched out for you; see His hand and feet nailed to the cross. O, come, come, my friends, and nail your sins to it! Come, come and see His side pierced; there is a fountain open for sin, and for uncleaness;
O, wash, wash and be clean: come and see His head crowned with thorns, and all for you. Can you think of a panting, bleeding, dying Jesus, and not be filled with pity toward Him? He underwent all this for you. Come to Him by faith; lay hold on Him: there is mercy for every soul of you that will come unto HIm. Then do not delay; fly unto the arms of this Jesus, and you shall be made clean in His blood…Come, then, unto Christ, everyone who hears me;
I offer Jesus Christ, pardon, and salvation to all you will accept it. Come, o you drunkards, lay aside your cups… come and drink of the water which Christ will give you, and then you will thirst no more. Come, o you thieves; let him that has stolen, steal no more, but fly unto Christ, and He will receive you. Come unto Him, O you harlots; lay aside your lusts and turn unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon you; He will cleanse you of all your sins and wash you in His blood. Come, all you liars; come, all you Pharisees, come, all you fornicators, adulterers, swearers, and blasphemers; come to Christ, and He will take away all your filth;
He will cleanse you from your pollution, and your sins shall be done away. Come, come, my guilty brethren; I beseech you for Christ’s sake, and for your immortal soul’s sake, to come unto Christ...