Real Peace

Reading:
Jeremiah Chapter 25: v.15-32

1.Introduction

One of the most popular words on the lips of politicians, newscasters and ordinary people these days is the word PEACE. Second only to the word love or sex, this word peace is on virtually everyone's lips. People long for peace. We have Peace Marches, Peace Conferences, Peace Processes, Peace Talks, Peace Agreements: but still there is no peace in the world. People also long for:

Peace of Mind
Peace in the Home
Peace at Work
Peace in the Community
Peace in the Nation & between Nations
World Peace...

Yes, everyone wants peace: but every news bulletin tells of war. The list is long and Afghanistan is simply the latest example. No sooner has the fighting stopped in one place when it breaks out in another. When will it end? Everyone says they want peace; but fighting on all fronts is all we see.

Why is peace so difficult to obtain; especially if it's in such great demand? Why is it that in spite of all the efforts of governments down through the ages, mankind is still unable to be at peace?

Man’s Achievements:
Man has climbed the world's highest mountains: plumbed the deepest oceans: penetrated earth's densest forests and caves: unlocked the secrets of the atom and even walked on the moon. But we are unable to produce peace on earth. Why is this? We can store vast amounts of information on tiny silicon chips: catalogue the DNA code of every criminal in the world: bounce messages off satellites circling high up in the sky: but we are unable to unlock the secret of peace.

Commenting on the unbelieving mind of mankind as a whole the Bible says:

Isaiah 59: 2: “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear...
7: Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8: The way of PEACE they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know PEACE.”

Why is this? Why can't we find the way of peace? Why is every peace process doomed to failure? Are we trying an impossible task? It's not for want of money, or commitment, or effort, or will. Oh no, man has spent fortunes on trying to make peace on earth. We've attended hundreds of peace conferences, walked tens of thousands of miles in peace marches, discussed peace more often than any other subject on the face of the earth and signed peace treatise by the score. But still there is no peace on earth. Places like Korea, Vietnam, Biafra, Cambodia, the Falklands, Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Gulf, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, all remind us that peace is a haunting dream which none of the world's greatest minds can bring about. That is a deflating, painful and undeniable fact. Nations may keep the peace - for a few years - by pointing the barrel of a gun at each others cities - but threatening another's extinction can hardly be called peace. Sooner or later the fighting will break out again: trade battles, debt disputes, conflicts over land, tussles for power or prestige; all these things usually end in tension and war!

2. The Cup of War

In the book of Jeremiah we are introduced to prophecy which partly explains what is happening behind the scenes: a prophecy we do well to ponder. Jeremiah, incidentally was a prophet to the nations of the world: not just a prophet to Israel or Judah. Yahweh said to him:

Jeremiah 1:

5: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

The Wine Cup of War!

Jeremiah 25: 15: “For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the WINE CUP of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
16: And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
17: Then took I the CUP at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
18: To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
19: Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
20: And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
21: Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon
22: And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
23: Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
24: And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
25: And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
26: And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD, WHICH ARE UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
27: Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
28: And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
29: For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
30: Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31: A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.
32: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.”

The Saviour reiterates the same theme when He said:

Matthew 24: 6: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8: All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

Revelation 6: 4: “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to TAKE PEACE FROM THE EARTH, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”

How true these prophecies are. A great whirlwind of war is blowing up and nation after nation is drinking from that deadly wine cup of God’s Wrath!. The ‘SWORD OF WAR’ is sweeping the earth! and there is absolutely nothing the politicians can do about it - absolutely nothing!

3. No Peace to the Wicked

But why is there no peace on earth? What is the reason? The answer is simple: because man is wicked and sinful and has no wish whatsoever to give up his evil ways; that’s why.

Isaiah 59:

2: “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear...
7: Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8: The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.”

As long as individuals, families, communities or nations rebel against the Almighty and His commandments, they will not know peace. That is the verdict of the Almighty God! We do well to pay attention. This fact is repeated in Scripture:

“There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.” (Isaiah 48:22) There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” (Isaiah 57:21)

4. Peace is a Spiritual Product

But, you will say, surely God wants people to live in peace. Yes, God wants every soul on earth and entire nations to be at peace. But there are three lessons we must learn first:

The first is: Peace is a spiritual fruit, a divine product. It is made in heaven by God Himself. That is the first fact.
The second is: Man is no more able to produce peace than he can produce a tree, an apple, an orange, a grape or a bird.
The third is: If we want peace we must work in harmony with the Creator's laws: just as every gardener and horticulturist does. We must work to existing divine principles. We must learn to obey God's commandments. Break His commandments and they will break you. This is summarised in the verse which says:

Galatians 5:

22:“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, PEACE, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith...”

In short, if you want peace you must tune in to the LORD God of Israel, the Creator of the mighty universe. That is the first step we must take if real peace is to be obtained. Refusal to take it is a sure recipe for war!

Isaiah 27: 5: “Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me;
and he shall make peace with me.”

When you accept Yahweh’s offer of mercy and salvation, He gives you His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Peace.Unless we acknowledge these facts: that peace cometh from the LORD of heaven and earth, that peace is a spiritual product which mankind is not able to produce, real peace will never be ours.

Speaking of the king Asa the Bible says:

2 Chronicles 14: 2: “And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God:
3: For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves:
4: And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.
5: Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.
6: And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had NO WAR in those years; because the LORD had given him rest.”

Of good king Jehoshaphat the Bible says:

2 Chronicles 17: 3: “And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim;
4: But sought to the LORD God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel…
9: And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.
10: And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made NO WAR against Jehoshaphat.”

5. Peace through the Barrel of a Gun

Terrorists throughout the world foolishly suppose that they can shoot their way to peace. Religious fanatics (of all faiths) are guilty of this enormous error. Using bullets, bombs and threatening bulletins they vainly suppose that they can obtain peace through war. This is a colossal ideological error.. Man will never attain peace through violence. It is impossible to over stress this fact. Violence can no more produce peace on earth than a husband's beating a wife will produce love and respect. True peace is not obtained that way. To be sure, to war with a bully will stop him from beating up a weaker person; but true peace between the bully and his victim is still a long way off. The same applies to violent nations. We may stop them plundering weaker neighbours; but enmity is not eradicated that way. All we achieve, (though it is better than violence, bloodshed and rape) is the sullen silence of restrained hatred. That state is better than open war of course, but it's not 'real peace' by any stretch of the imagination.

6. The Antichrist Brings Peace

The world, nevertheless, vainly imagines it can attain peace without God. This delusion will be strengthened when the Antichrist appears on the stage of time. For when he comes he is going to bring what appears to be a period of full employment, peace and prosperity. Speaking through the prophet Daniel the Most High says this about this being:

Daniel 8: 25: “And through his (the Little Horn) policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by PEACE shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.”

Daniel 11: 21: “And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.”

As Hitler did in the 1930s, the Antichrist will arrive on the world scene and give the nations work. ‘Through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand.’ and ‘by PEACE shall destroy many.’ But, again like Hitler's peace, work and prosperity plans, the end result will be devastating war and death for millions. That was a counterfeit peace, deadly from concept to conclusion.

7. Is Real Peace Possible Now?

Yes, real peace is possible right now: not to the whole world, or even to whole nations, or even to whole families, but to INDIVIDUALS. As we said above, Yahweh the Almighty God of Israel wants individuals to have peace; but He will only grant it to those who yield their lives to Him and obey His commandments. The following texts make this fact clear.

Job 22: 21: “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.”
Isaiah 27: 5: “Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.”
John 14: 27: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
John 16: 33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Romans 5: 1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”

Yeshua is Yahweh’s Channel of Peace

Isaiah 9: 6: “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, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the PRINCE OF PEACE.”
2 Thessalonians 3: 16: “Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.”
1 Timothy 1: 2: “Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.”
2 Peter 1: 2: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,”
Titus 1: 4: “To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.”
Philemon 1: 3: “Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

8. Peace at the Messiah’s Return

Will peace ever come to the whole world? Yes it will. Peace will come to the whole world when the Prince of Peace arrives. Until then the nations have absolutely no chance whatsoever of making or keeping real peace. The unpalatable fact is: It is not in man's power to produce the spiritual fruit of peace. To be sure the nations will, periodically, stop fighting; and the strong will threaten the weak if they so much as open their mouths; but that is not real peace by any means. Such temporary spells of quiet terror are soon shattered by war in one form or the other. Nevertheless, I am delighted to tell you that real and lasting peace on earth is prophesied. It will come when the Prince of Peace, the Good Shepherd arrives. And when it comes it will last forever! See The Coming Millennium.

Ezekiel 34: 20: “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
21: Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
22: Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
23: And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
24: And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
25: And I will make with them a COVENANT OF PEACE, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
26: And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
27: And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.
28: And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.
29: And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
30: Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD.
31: And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.”

Isaiah 9: 7: “Of the increase of his government and PEACE there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

9. Meanwhile what do we do?

The answer is simple: we humbly walk with God, resting in Him, trusting Him totally, ever conscious that if we want peace, it must come from Him. We cannot make peace with anyone until we make peace with God. Above all, we must never fall into the foolish error that we can fight our way to peace. That is the way of the ignorant fanatic and dictator - religious or otherwise. That way always leads to bloodshed, sorrow and death. It may bring a short-lived cessation of fighting; but it is not true peace of heart and soul. It is just like two boxers taking a short rest between rounds. Remember 'peace is a divine product' and all who ignore that fact will, sooner or later, be at war with themselves, with their relatives and with the world at large. We can summarise this as follows:

Walk humbly with God:
Micah 6: 8: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
Be spiritually minded:
Romans 8: 6: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace,”
Preach the Gospel of Peace
Ephesians 6: 15: “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace:”
Learn to Love And Obey Yahweh’s Law
Psalm 119: 165: “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

These steps will ensure the Almighty’s blessing on your life.

“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee PEACE.”
(Numbers 6: 24-26)

AMEN!

In the Son’s Name — For the Father’s glory.

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Matthew 24:	6: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8: All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
Revelation 6:	4: “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to TAKE PEACE FROM THE EARTH, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”

Daniel 8:	25: “And through his (the Little Horn) policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by PEACE shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.”
Daniel 11:	21: “And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.”