The Savior of Peace
Advent - Peace • Sermon • Submitted
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As this years advent season draws to a close we look at the word peace. If you were to ask anyone in the world they all would say they desire peace. Of course what that peace would look like would change from each perspective. Yet peace is desired by all. In today’s passage Zechariah gives three ways that the Messiah will bring Peace. This prophecy shows a great growth in Zechariah's faith. If you remember just 9 months prior he was promised that his wife would have a son and due to his doubt the angel struck him mute. He may also have been deaf during this time because at the birth of John the Baptist the people made signs to him rather than just speaking to him. In either case Zechariah has had 9 months of silence to be pondering the promises of God. The Holy Spirit has obviously been working in him and he makes 3 prophecies about the Messiah bringing peace to the world.
And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Peace of Salvation
Peace of Salvation
And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;
redeemed his people - paying a price to secure the release of someone freeing them from a debt enslavement or other binding obligation.
horn of salvation - horns symbolized power thus this phrase means power of salvation
Its easy to see then the Jewish expectation that the Messiah would overthrow the Roman Government using his military might and thus redeem his people and save them from their enemies.
Yet this expectation of the Jews is like any other expectation man has of God. God has shown time and time again that his desires and thoughts are way greater than our own. God was not thinking about freeing them from Roman rule rather he was going to free them from the rule of Satan and sin in their lives.
Thus the enemy here is not the Romans but Satan and his followers, who are trying to kill steal and destroy the people of God.
The Redemption is Jesus death as the sacrificial lamb of God slain to pay the price for our sins and free us of our debt to God that we might not have to die for our sins but through the blood payment of Christ our sins are paid for and we are declared righteous before God.
The horn of salvation is the power Christ demonstrated when He raised himself from the dead by his own might proving his power over hell, death and the grave. We can be assured of our resurrection because Christ was first raised from the dead.
Man has been at war within himself since Adam first sinned against God. Paul says the Spirit and the flesh war within us Galatians 5:17
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
The first way Jesus brings peace is by redeeming us from the penalty of sin. We call this Salvation.
Peace through Mercy
Peace through Mercy
to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,
The second form of peace is mercy. Notice Zachariah says the covenant of Abraham promised mercy. Yet the covenant found in Genesis only mentions that his descendant will be a blessing unto all the nations. How does this blessing become a mercy to the forefathers such as Abraham himself. The answer is found in Galatians 3:8 and 3:14
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
The blessing of the Abrahamic covenant is that we would be justified by faith not by works, and that we would receive the very Spirit of God to live within us. We deserve to be judged by our works but God in his mercy judges us by our faith in his Son Jesus. Not only that but in his mercy he gives us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us and guide us into truth and righteousness.
Yet this mercy is for us so what about Abraham and all the saints of old.
Remember that Hebrews 11 tells us that though they had less knowledge of the plan of salvation through Jesus, they still placed their faith in God that He would provide a way of salvation. God in his mercy responds by crediting their faith to them as righteousness. Thus we all are saved by our faith not condemned by our works as we justly deserve.
We deserve to be eternally separated from the righteous holy God, yet God in his mercy established a path for salvation not based upon our own righteousness but rather upon his righteousness. All we have to do is admit our own sin and need of a savior. Then place our trust in Jesus as that Savior and acknowledge him as Lord, master of our lives. Then we can experience the peace of mercy, knowing we do not have to earn our salvation but it is a free gift of God.
Peace of Service
Peace of Service
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
The final peace Jesus brings is that of Service, specifically fearless service.
Zechariah does not elaborate on this concept of serving God without fear but as I thought about this passage this one kept coming to my mind. To worship God and serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all our days.
How can we possibly serve God without fear after all even the proverbs says
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
If fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom then would it not be foolish to serve God without fear.
First we must understand the fear of the lord describes a respect for God. It is the idea of a child respecting his father. Why does the child respect or fear the father, because the child knows the power of the father and knows the consequences of disobedience. In the same way we fear God because we know his power far outweighs our own and we know our sin and the consequences for disobedience.
Yet there is coming a day when all sin will be removed from us and we will be able to serve God with no fear of punishment no concern for the greater power of God for we will be holy and righteous and perfect, thus the power of God will not be a source of fear but of praise. We will no longer worry about God’s ability to know everything about us what we say what we do, because it will mean he knows how much we love him and we will sing his praises forevermore. How I long to obtain the peace of service, to worship and serve God without concern for my sin or my failures but to be wholly devoted to him. Oh what a day that will be.
Invitation
Invitation
My question for you this morning is do you know the peace of the Lord this morning. Do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, have you experienced his mercy and do you long for the peace of service? Are you tired of fighting the battle against your sin alone. Will you accept him today? It’s simple just admit that you’ve sinned against God, that you are not perfect, and you can’t fix it on your own. Place your trust in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross as payment of your sin debt, and accept him as Lord and master of your life and you will be saved. For those of you that are Christians I ask you who are sharing the peace of God with. Are you a shining light of Christ to those around you or are you hiding the light under the basket. Let your light shine and let people see God’s work in your life share your story with someone and give them the Peace of Christ this Christmas. Let us pray.