There will be peace
The Bible begins with God creating Heaven and Earth and pronouncing everything good. The Garden of Eden was a perfect paradise of peace. But then, the enemy entered the garden, questioning God, His Word, and His goodness. The Devil deceived Eve, she disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit, and then Adam rebelled against God’s command doing the same. Their eyes were open. They were ashamed and ran and hid from God. Their relationship with God has changed, now running away and hiding from him rather than enjoying His fellowship in peace. Their relationship with each other has changed, as there is now conflict at the very core. Their relationship with the world has changed as they are removed from the garden and forbidden to enter. The world itself is now cursed and challenging and frustrating. The peace in their lives, with each other and God, has been shattered.
In that first gospel message, there is a promise that the Seed of the Woman will come and destroy the Devil and his works. He is the hope of restoring that peace. Later in Genesis, God promised Abraham a people and a land; all nations will be blessed in the coming seed. But we don’t find it realized. God delivers Israel out of Egyptian bondage, where there is no peace, and brings them into the land of promise, where there is hope for peace, but it is not accomplished because they didn’t drive the enemies out of the land. God gave them a good king in David, with a promise of David’s throne, and it looks like his son Solomon brought that peace. There was blessing, wealth, security, and happiness (1 Kings 4:20). But, because of Solomon’s sin and failure, it did not last. His death brought division, splitting the kingdom, idolatry, and false promises of false peace (Jer. 6:14, 22-23).
God’s people still looked for peace in the coming Messiah (Psalms 29:11). Their hope was in the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:9-7). In the gospel of Luke, we read of the angelic announcement of the birth of the Messiah proclaiming “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 1:76-79; Luke 2:11-14). In Luke 12:51, Jesus surprises by saying, “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.” How can this be? Because the peace Jesus is bringing is more than an absence of conflict with the Romans, wealth, and societal flourishing. There is a greater enemy, and there will be no peace until the cause of all suffering is dealt with. Jesus came to pay for the sins of His people. Christ is the author of peace that the world cannot give (1 Corinthians 14:33; John 14:27) and provides us peace with God (Romans 5:1-10). One day, God will create a new heaven and a new earth. There will be no sin, thus no division or disunity, war, need, or loneliness. There will be peace.
