Weekly Devotional 13th of December 2024
by Bruce Billington
Advent Devotional – Week 3 Peace
This week we will continue with the Advent – the coming of Christ, or the Incarnation. This third session is looking at the third great gift of the Advent which is peace.
There is a wonderful word for peace in the Old Testament – it is shalom and is translated there more than 250 times. Shalom is a very powerful and expressive word. It is not just the opposite of war, but the absence of any disturbance that takes away any disturbance of the peace at all.
It speaks of bodily health, prosperity, contentedness, peaceful sleep, safe travels on going away, and good relations between all nations and people. When Moses passed on this blessing to Aaron and his sons, he uttered the well-known phrase.
Numbers 6:24-26, – “The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’” (my highlight).
Shalom is the gift of God and can only be received when in His presence. In the New Testament, we can embrace the ultimate expression of shalom when we embrace the coming of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:5-6) and receive salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus, the Mediator of peace and His coming established the Kingdom of God, and He is the bearer of reconciliation (Romans 5:1, Colossians 1:20).
Luke picks this up in a beautiful expression of the coming of Christ when he says,
Luke 2:13-14 – “13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Of interest, V13, describing the incarnation, is the only time in the New Testament Scriptures where it says a multitude of the heavenly hosts were praising God. This reveals what an incredible event the coming of Christ to earth represented.
The verse first reveals what is happening in heaven and then goes to celebrating the results on earth and gathers them all into one beautiful word – peace i.e., shalom.
Speaking of this Adam Clarke’s comments deserve to be expressed fully when he said,
The design of God, in the incarnation, was to manifest the hidden glories of his nature and to reconcile men to each other and to himself. The angels therefore declare that this incarnation shall manifest and promote the glory of God, not only in the highest heavens, among the highest orders of beings, but in the highest and most exalted degrees.
For in this astonishing display of God’s mercy, attributes of the Divine nature which had not been and could not be known in any other way should be now exhibited in the fullness of their glory, that even the angels should have fresh objects to contemplate, and new glories to exult in. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is an infinite and eternal benefit. Heaven and earth both partake of the fruits of it, and through it angels and men become one family.
Focusing on peace, we can state that this peace is both obtained and maintained through communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. If we enter this, we can deepen our participation in the peace of God as we apply His ways to our lives.
The Scriptures tell us to be at peace with one another (Mark 9:50). We are also taught that the Kingdom of God is about righteousness and peace (Romans 14:17) and again, we find that peace is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
One of the mandates we are given on this earth is to bring this amazing peace into all our human relationships. This has only become possible through the coming of Christ to this earth. The incarnation brings God’s goodwill to dwell among us.
We have great reasons to praise Him, contemplate this in wonder, take it into our hearts, and express it in all our relationships.
God bless you and bring you peace.
Bruce Billington