Peace

 

What does peace have to do with Christmas? Why do songs contain this word and idea? Why did the angels from heaven proclaim this as part of their herald to the shepherds? Is peace possible in our world? Today’s word study around Christmas, as you have guessed by now, is peace. Let’s consider what peace is, then answer these questions.

In Luke 2:14, the angels proclaimed—heralded—the birth of the Messiah. Prophets and angels foretold the Messiah’s coming for millennia. Prophets and angels taught the Jews to expect His coming. They did not expect the Messiah to come as an infant son of a carpenter from a small town. The Jews expected the Messiah to come with power and authority as a warrior king to oust the Romans from the Jewish lands and reestablish the throne of David. What the angels proclaimed to the shepherds that night, as recorded by Luke in chapter two, did not match the expectations of the Jews. The response from the shepherds of awe and worship showed Jesus transcended status, income, lineage, and education. When the shepherds understood the angels’ proclamation, they felt a sense of peace from God.

The host of angels in Luke 2:14 declared, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men on whom His favor rests!” It is fitting that the angels began heralding by exclaiming about God. No one is greater than God, and their proclamation relayed that. Their heralding began like Jesus started the Lord’s Prayer. Both began with a statement about God’s ultimacy and His worthiness of praise. Jesus said, “God’s name is holy,” and the angels sang, “Glory and honor is due to God.” The angels, by starting their proclamation this way, acknowledged God and His sending of them to make this proclamation. It led people to take notice of what they said.

What was the message about which the angels proclaimed? They said, “Peace to men on earth on whom God’s favor rests.” If you are like me, I have sung this song each year and proclaimed God and acknowledged God’s peace, but I have not studied what this whole phrase means. The last prepositional phrase in this sentence affects each of us individually. It tells us to whom God gives peace. First, though, what is the peace God gives? This peace the angels proclaimed God gives comes from the Greek word eirene, which comes from eiro. Eiro means to join and make whole. Peace is a gift from God that makes a person whole. God’s peace is a wholeness that comes from Jesus saving a person by belief in Him as God’s Son—the Savior of humanity. When Jesus saves a person, He makes it possible for a person to have a right (righteous) relationship with God through His forgiveness of his or her sins. As the person grows to know God more each day and grows to be more like Jesus, God grows that person increasingly closer to perfection. That perfection will be complete when the believer enters heaven upon his or her death when his or her glorification occurs. When that happens, the person becomes completely whole, at peace. For now, while still alive on earth, God gives the believer peace and makes him or her whole in heart, mind, and spirit. The person has peace through trust in God and hope in his or her future perfection in heaven.

That thought leads us to understand the last prepositional phrase. The angels sang about peace on earth for men on whom God’s favor rests. The “favor” of God means His goodwill, satisfaction, and good pleasure in the person. How does one get God’s good pleasure, His “well done?” Until a person believes in Jesus and He forgives him or her of his or her sins, God is not pleased with the person; He is not satisfied. The person carries the result of sin in his or her life and God cannot be where sin is, since holiness and sin cannot be in the same place. For this reason, God sent Jesus to earth. Jesus came to cleanse each believer in Him of their wrongdoings (sins) and the stain and guilt of those sins. When cleansed by Jesus, a person can be in the same place with God because Jesus removed the sin stain and guilt from him or her (justification) and provided forgiveness of those sins through His sacrifice of Himself on the cross. How can we have peace with God? By believing in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Who is to receive the peace of God about what the angels heralded? Any person God favors—each person who believes in Jesus as the Messiah.

Peace is for anyone who believes in Jesus the Messiah. The angels sang this truth. Luke wrote about the gospel of peace in Acts 1:36. Micah prophesied about the Messiah being the Israelites’ peace in Micah 5:5. Peace came from heaven that first Christmas when Jesus was born. The Peacemaker entered the world in bodily form when the Son of God came to live incarnate with humanity. God was no longer merely God of and for us. In Jesus, He was Emmanuel—God with us. God continues to be God with us for each believer by the Holy Spirit of Christ dwelling in him or her.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem entitled I Hear the Bells on Christmas Day became a Christmas carol. It aptly expresses this peace.

I heard the bells on Christmas day,

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet, the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

 

I thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along th’unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to me.

 

And in despair I bowed by 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.”

 

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice and chime, a chant sublime,

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Peace is possible because God gives it to people who have believed in Jesus for salvation. That cold night for the shepherds in Luke 2 seemed to be like any other night protecting their sheep. It was unlike any night before or after for them. Angels came from heaven proclaiming God’s glory and His peace to all who believe in Him for salvation. The shepherds reacted initially with fear. They reacted in another way, too. Luke recorded the shepherds’ response upon hearing the angels’ proclamation. He wrote in 2:15-17,

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” So, they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the Baby, who was lying in a manger. After they had seen the Child, they spread the message they had received about Him. (BSB)

Peace is still possible. Wadsworth wrote the poem two years after his wife died and while the Civil War raged. He penned his poem to focus on the peace God gives. Though days seemed dark, he thought of God, who is Light and greater than anything that confronts us. We, like the shepherds, upon hearing the angel’s message today, should proclaim about God’s glory, His Son’s birth, and His peace to anyone who will believe. I promise, like people hearing the shepherds’ testimony in verse eighteen, people will be amazed. Some will then believe and receive salvation from their sins and its guilt.

Offer peace. Herald the birth of Jesus the Messiah.

Noel

 

What does noel mean? In the Christmas story, what purpose does the word serve? Is it in the Bible? These and more questions arise about the word noel as I sing the Christmas carol called The First Noel. You know the first verse:

The first noel, the angels did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay. In fields where they lay keeping their sheep on a cold winter’s night that was so deep. Noel. Noel. Noel. Noel. Born is the King of Israel.

This carol gives us a first hint of what noel is. First, let's examine the word's etymology.

Noel comes from the Old Latin word (natus) meaning to be born. The Church carried natas forward into Church Latin (natalis) referring to the birthday of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. As time passed, the word became noel, a variant of the Old French nael, came to mean the feast of the nativity. Middle English translated noel nowel, a shout of joy or a Christmas song. Considering each of the translations through history, noel is a shout of joy by verbal proclamation, including songs, of the birth, the nativity (natus), of the Christ child, Jesus the Messiah.

Is the word noel in the Bible? The word noel is not stated explicitly in the Bible. Noel defines the activity of the angels. Luke 2:9-14 is not the first noel of the Bible. The angel proclaimed the Messiah’s birth to Mary in Luke 1:26-28. He spoke to Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, in Matthew 1:20-25. Before the New Testament, God foretold many prophets Himself and through His messengers about the Messiah’s birth in Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6. Micah writes of God’s foretelling of the Messiah in Micah 5:2. These are all prophecies foretelling the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. They are a proclamation of great joy. The proclamations of good news for the Hebrews and all people of the birth of the One God promised. None who heard the proclamations foretelling Jesus’ birth remained unchanged. Each knew they had encountered God. These people carried God’s promise in their hearts and waited expectantly for the Christ child.

When Mary’s birth pains ceased and Jesus was born, the angels proclaimed that good news. Luke 2:9-14 records their proclamation of God’s fulfillment of His promises. The angel of the Lord (a messenger from God) stood before the lowly shepherds in the field with their sheep. These men “were terrified.” The shepherds recognized they saw a messenger from God. How did they know this? The “glory of the Lord shone around them.” The Jews understood this phenomenon. Their shared history evoked images of Moses embodying the glory of the Lord, having spent time with Him on the mountain and in the tabernacle. The Israelites asked Moses to cover his face because they feared being struck dead by God because of looking directly at God’s glory. This fear carried over to the worship in the tabernacle and, later, the temple. God told the Levites to tie a rope around the chief priest’s waist to pull him out of the Holy of Holies should he not return from offering what was required of him. If the chief priest entered into God’s presence (the Holy of Holies) without having ritually cleansed himself, he would die.

The Hebrews recognized the presence of God, so when the shepherds of Luke 2 saw the angel of the Lord, they absolutely were terrified. The shepherds recognized they saw the glory of God in His messenger and feared they would die because of being in the presence of God’s glory. Instead, the angel surprised the shepherds by telling them not to be afraid, but aware and joyous. The angel said in Luke 2:10-11, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people: Today in the city of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord.” The shepherds had no reason to fear when the glory of the Lord rested upon the angels. The angels brought the good news of great joy that the Savior, of whom prophets and angels foretold for millennia, was just born. They heralded the proclamation, the good news of the birthday of the Christ. These describe what the word noel means. Proclamation in word of the good news of the Messiah’s birth.

Now, consider again the song, The First Noel.

The first Noel the angel did say

Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;

in fields where they lay keeping their sheep,

on a cold winter’s night that was so deep.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,

Born is the King of Israel

 

They looked up and saw a star

shining in the east, beyond them far;

and to the earth it gave great light,

and so it continued both day and night.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,

Born is the King of Israel.

Even to this day, the proclamation of the Messiah’s birth continues to ring from one people group to another and from one nation to another. The foretelling of Jesus’ ex birth is no longer. Instead, the punctuation of His birth is an exclamation. It proclaims the salvation He gives to any person who believes in Him as the Messiah, the Savior from sin and death. Jesus’ birth was not an afterthought. From before creation, God planned to save His creation—people made in His image—because of His great love for us. Paul explains this in Ephesians 1:3-5 when he wrote to the church at Ephesus. He wrote,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love, He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will. (Berean Study Bible)

God’s love for His creation began before He created people. He heralded His love by His messengers—prophets and angels—in the Old Testament. He proclaimed the birth of His Son, Jesus, with angels. God does not mean for the proclamation to end since Jesus already was born and later crucified, risen to back to life, ascended to heaven, and now sitting at the Father’s right hand. No, the proclamation days have not ended. Jesus instructed His disciples (any person who has believed in Him and been saved) about this in Matthew 28:18-20. He said,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Any person who has ever believed in Jesus for salvation is His disciple. To each of them, to us, He issues this commission. Christian disciples must herald the good news of Jesus' birth and the salvation He offers by their teaching, preaching, singing, and any other means possible. Love came down that day and continues to come from God. He wants all people to know of His great love and the salvation belief in Jesus as God’s Son gives.

Be the Herald. Sing Noel!

Relationships in the Lord’s Prayer

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

— Matthew 6:14

 

Notice, this verse immediately follows the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus didn’t say feed people as God has fed you. He didn’t say keep other people from being tempted as God has you. In the prayer, Jesus acknowledged God—His holiness, supremacy, reign, power, love, mercy, forgiveness, and wisdom. 

 

The only time in the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus speaks about what a person is to do is in relation to forgiving another person. In the rest of this prayer, Jesus speaks about what God does, can do, or will do in relation to us.

 

Why is it significant that Jesus spoke about our action in a prayer to God? Why did He choose to speak to us about forgiving a person?

 

In each of the other parts of this prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray to God recognizing who He is and the most important things we need. He emphasized our relationship to God.  When we pray, we are expressing our relationship with God. Just like when we speak with people with whom we are in relationship, we speak with God through prayer. 

 

Still, why did Jesus include the phrase about us forgiving as God forgives? God created us for relationship. We desire relationship with Him and other people. In every other part of this prayer, Jesus spoke about our relationship with God in recognition of who He is. If we do not forgive people, it disrupts our relationships with God and people. Unforgiveness is like a seismic shift in the earth’s core. We don’t fit together well with God and people if we harbor hatred, anger, or grudges. 

 

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to recognize who God is and who we are in relationship to Him. In doing this, our relationship with God stays intact and not fractured. Jesus, in this prayer, also reminded us God forgives and restores relationship with us, and that we must forgive and restore relationships with people as God forgives us.

 

Jesus emphasized this by pointing it out in verse 14. He said, if you forgive people their wrongs against you, then God will forgive you. Is God’s forgiveness conditional? It’s conditioned on our repentance and confession. When we need to forgive someone, all the fault for the break in relationship is not on the other person. We have erred, too. When we forgive the person, we end up recognizing our part in the fractured relationship. This recognition leads us to confession and repentance to God. Forgiving others renews relationship with the person and with God. Verse 14, then, is accurate; we forgive others, then God forgives us.

 

“Forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us” (Matt 6:12). 

 

We pray in recognition of who God is. We forgive in recognition of God’s forgiving us. Both are about relationships. God created us for vertical and horizontal relationships. Forgiving renews vertical and horizontal relationships as does regular talking with God and significant people in our lives.