Did the Lord Jesus
Come to Give Us Peace?
“Do not think that I came to send peace on Earth:
I came not to send peace, but the sword.”
Matthew 10:34
“Think ye that I am come to give peace on Earth?
I tell you, no; but separation.
For there shall be from henceforth
five in one house divided:
three against two and two against three.
The father against the son,
and the son against his father;
the mother against the daughter,
and the daughter against the mother;
the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law;
and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law.”
Luke 12:51-53
Not once, but twice in the Gospels the Lord Jesus has told us that He DID NOT — in His First Coming — come to give the world peace.
Can it get any clearer?
The Lord has told us specifically that He came to give us division.
For the individual who believes in Christ, is peace attainable?
Yes, but for the world, no!
And He would be the dividing line. For until He reigns on Earth as He does in Heaven, we will have NO PEACE!
We can see the various dividing lines as Jesus spoke of clearly in the current conflict in Iraq. Note each of the levels in regard to belief in Jesus. Some are complete; some are halfway; some are devoid. But in each and every instance, Jesus is the dividing line — whether the participants know it or not!
Strictly in regard to Jesus and Jesus only, we can see it in:
* the pope against the president (total faith vs. halfway faith).
* the president against the dictator (halfway faith vs. no faith).
* the people in demonstrations against the president (no faith vs. halfway faith).
* the president against the UN (halfway faith vs. no faith).
* the UN against the coalition (no faith vs. some faith).
* the military against the dictator (some faith vs. no faith).
* the dictator against his own people (no faith vs. no faith).
* the islamic believer against the Christian believer (severely misplaced faith vs. halfway faith).
* Israel against the terrorists who call themselves “freedom” fighters (rejection of faith vs. no faith).
* the secularist against the evangelical “apocalyptic” believer (no faith vs. mistaken misplaced faith).
* the media against the propaganda machine (either side: no faith vs. no faith).
* the solider against the innocent civilian (some faith vs. some faith).
* the terrorist disguised as a civilian against the soldier in uniform (no faith vs. some faith).
* the “information” minister against reality (no faith vs. subjective faith).
* the Truth against false beliefs that go unchallenged (real faith vs. blind faith).
It goes on and on.
In each and every instance, how much one believes and how much one does not provides a critical factor in the decisions one makes as a human being. And in those decisions, the eternal fate of every single person is decided — whether good or bad, even in regard to eternal rewards which can be won or lost, accumulated or degraded.
This is what the Lord meant by His very statement.
This is what a conflict like Iraq brings out in every individual.
Those who believe in Him will take every precaution to please Him.
Those who do not will throw every caution to the wind in favor of self-survival and aggrandizement if possible.
Those in between take just as serious a risk, as the Lord Jesus warned, “because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth” Apocalypse 3:16.
Jesus did not come to give the world peace — but division.
We are now — as a world — totally divided along every single possible line for or against Him in every possible varying degree: from the pope’s total belief to the Iraqi citizen who only sees Jesus as one of the “prophets” to a coalition foot soldier who propagates demonic music as a weapon against his enemy.
“These things I have spoken to you,
that in Me you may have peace.
In the world you shall have distress:
but have confidence,
I have overcome the world!”
John 16:33
Until Jesus returns and reigns as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we will not have peace of any kind — only the peace that passes all understanding within our own souls and consciences as a believer in Christ.
So if the Lord is not the One who has come to give us peace, has He given us an alternative until He returns and reigns?
And, if so, who or what is that alternative?
In our next installments, we will see if we can recognize this alternative, and answer two critical questions:
1. “Can we tap into this resource and secure the peace on Earth He has stated He will one day grant the world?”
2. “Or did we already miss this opportunity and, if so, is the world now resigned to a fate that is unchangeable?”
© 2003 Agnus Dei Presents!
