Let’s Talk About Peace: What is It? The God of Peace, The Prince of Peace
God is a God of peace. Many references are made to this. Here are just a few:
Isaiah 9:6 (NIV): “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Romans 16:20 (NIV): “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
Romans 15:33 (NIV): “Now the God of Peace be with you all.”
Philippians 4:9 (NIV): “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of Peace shall be with you.”
II Thessalonians 3:16 (NIV): “Now the Lord of Peace himself give you peace always, by all means. The Lord be with you all.”
Hebrews 13:20-21 (NIV): “Now the God of Peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Notice in Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is prophesied as the “Prince of Peace.” In order to understand this concept, let’s look at a few definitions:
*Prince: a head person, captain (that has rule), governor, keeper, lord, master, ruler, steward. Son of a ruler; any male member in certain royal families; the ruler of principality; a distinguished and powerful person.
*Master: one who has control or disposal of something; one has charge of some special thing; one who gains victory, becomes expert in; to control, to govern; largest, most important; clearly outstanding.
*Steward: attendant who looks after the personal needs of passengers aboard ship; someone who maintains order; someone who is responsible; person put in charge, keeper.
*Peace: a state of security.
*Security: freedom from danger or anxiety; completely safe; sure, certain, fixed firmly, positive, settled, assured, immovable.
*Insecurity: not safe; liable to collapse; give way; endangered; exposed; risky, shaky, unguarded, anxious, concerned, fearful, troubled, worried, doubtful, questionable.
Since Jesus is the “Prince of Peace,” He is the owner, the ruler, the one who has control of, the one who maintains order of, and the keeper of peace!! Isn’t that good?! And guess what?! Jesus isn’t a stingy ruler – He has turned over HIS PEACE to us! According to John 14:27 (AMP), “Peace I leave with you; My (own) peace I now give and bequest to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid – stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.” Jesus, who OWNS PEACE, has given it to us!
In order to REALLY get this concept – let’s look at some more definitions:
*Give: to offer as a present, to put into someone’s hands; to provide with; to produce, to grant, to administer; to allow, permit, to distribute.
*Give (in the Greek): bestow, bring forth, commit, deliver, grant, offer, put.
*Bequeath: to will, to hand down.
Just as with the other fruits, when we were born again this fruit (seed) was placed inside of us; but this fruit, unlike the others, is the property of ONLY God Almighty! He is the ONLY one who has the authority or the ability give, bestow upon us, deliver to us, put into our hands – this peace! And He did that for us when He provided a way of salvation for us!
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel a little silly when I get revelations like this one. Peace isn’t something that we need to pray for – we already have it inside us – we just need to learn how to develop it, to cultivate it and cause it to grow in our lives! We’ll look at what peace does, what the purposes / functions of peace are, so we will understand how important this fruit is in our lives!