“The Prince of Peace” - Peace from what?

• Peace from the Guilt of Sin - All who are “under the law” are unsaved, and they will face God’s judgment unless God saves them by His grace. The Greek word for “guilty” in Rom 3:19 is a compound word meaning “under judgment”: ... “all the world may become guilty before God”. This judgment is also spoken of in 2 Thess 1:9, where it depicts the awful punishment of those who remain in their sins – guilty – and under the wrath of God. Those who are guilty are likewise still “in the flesh”, or “carnally minded” – in other words, they are unsaved. God gives His Spirit to those whom He saves – that is, those whose sins have been forgiven and who have been clothed with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. These most blessed of all human beings have been justified by the sovereign will of the Triune God, as Rom 5:1 asserts.

Rom 3:19 “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”

2 Thess 1:9 “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;”

Rom 8:6-9 “For to be carnally minded is death [which refers to Hell]; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal [unsaved] mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

Rom 5:1 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

• Peace from Spiritual Death - Eph 2:1-5 is a clear illustration of the incomprehensible salvation which God has so lavishly bestowed on unworthy sinners. As this passage affirms, man is spiritually dead in his soul, which is housed in a body that is physically alive. The reason we know this applies to all individuals who were born after Adam and Eve sinned. In order for Christ to save anybody He had to become their “peace”.

Rom. 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned ...”

Eph 2:1-5 “And you hath he quickened [made alive spiritually], who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)”

Eph 2:14-17 “For he [Christ] is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.”

• Peace from Hell - Lastly, we want to discuss the peace from Hell. Who are the “wicked”, and why does God say they have “no peace” in Isa 57:20-21? The Hebrew word for “troubled” is the same as for “cast up”. Those waters “cast up mire and dirt”, signifying total filth and pollution. That’s an accurate picture of man’s total sinfulness – which is why he deserves eternal damnation in Hell. The “pit” – like the “sea” – are pictures of Hell itself. In fact, in the New Testament Hell is referred to as a “Lake of Fire”. Both in body and soul, unsaved man is a picture of turbulent degradation. The Bible maintains that the reason man is “wicked” – the reason he is in the “sea” of God’s wrath – is because he has violated the Bible, God’s Law Book, time and time again. Wonderfully, today is still the day of salvation! We can still cry out to God and read His blessed Word, the Bible, to find His everlasting peace.

Isa 57:20-21 “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”

Psa 40:2 “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock [rock is Christ], and established my goings.”