Jesus, Our Lord God and Faithful Promise Keeper
I want to take you back to two of the prophets in the Old Testament – Micah and Malachi.
Micah 5:2-5
But you, Bethlehem and Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.’ Therefore He shall give them up, until the time who she is in labor has given birth; then the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth; and this One shall be peace.
These verses from Micah speaks of the coming of Jesus, and we’ll get to that in a moment, for now, I want you to specifically focus on the last section of the last verse: “…and this One shall be peace.” (Even though here is so many amazing things to say about these verses.) Keep that in mind, whilst we also have a look at a few verses in the last book of the Old Testament; Malachi, who speaks of the great day of God.
Malachi 4: 1-3
For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will stumble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘that shall leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
In both instances Micah, somewhat 700 years before the birth of John the Baptist in Luke chapter 1 and Malachi, roughly 400 years before Luke chapter 1, gives us a vivid picture of two occurrences – judgement and salvation.
There are three things I want you to remember thus far:
- “…and this One shall be peace.” (Micah 5:5)
- “…the Sun of Righteousness shall arise.” (Malachi 4:2)
- Judgement & Salvation – the theme we see in both Micah and Malachi
Judgement; where the proud and all who do wickedly will be uprooted and stand before the Lord. We need to understand that the Lord is holy, He is righteous, good, just and almighty and if it weren’t for Jesus none of us would have even had the opportunity to consider something as redeeming as salvation to exist.
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
That, of course, also brings me to the other occurance – salvation. Salvation, which is only to be found in Jesus Christ, salvation from sin – because, yes, we are all sinners! And without God’s grace and love and intolerance of sin, we would’ve died in our sin with no alternative, with an eternal life in hell being our only outcome. Jesus promises to return one day and it saddens me to think that even now, today, with some given an alternative they still continue in wickedness and choose to live a life full of sin without repentance and without grabbing hold with both hands what Jesus wants to offer them, promises to offer them – LIFE!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 14:6
Jesus said to them; I am the way, the truth and the life.”
Now, I’ve mentioned Luke chapter 1 a few times, and you’ll be amazed to see what’s about to come. I’m so excited to share this with you today. In the beginning of Luke we read of an old man, Zacharia and his barren wife, Elizabeth, who “…were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” (Luke 1:6) They held on to the prophecies of the coming Messiah mentioned in the Old Testament, they stood firm on the promises of the Lord such as mentioned in Micah and Malachi and after their son John the Baptist was born Zacharia was overcome with joy, and filled with the Holy Spirit he prophesied, saying the following:
Luke 1:68-79
Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, 69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, 70 as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, 71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, 72 to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, 73 the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: 74 To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. 76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, 78 through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Reaffrimed, we see the calling on John the Baptist’s life – to prepare the way for the coming Messiah, the promised Saviour. But even more so, through Zacharia’s prophecy we get a summary of what Jesus has come to do. Let’s have a look!
First of all, we need to realise we need saving. As mentioned above – we’re all sinners! The mind is set on things of the flesh, of the world – things that corrupt that which is good and holy! And it’s evident, just look at the world around you, look at the people around you: Adultery, hatred, drunkeness, selfishness, greed, murder, crime, envy, hatred, etc. abounds. And in most instances is a heart filled with pride and ignorance behind the denial of realising our utmost dire need of a Saviour! Only God is perfectly good, holy and righteous – and also our only way to salvation is through Him, through Jesus Christ! (John 3:16)
Romans 5:2
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
Now, in Luke 1 verse 79 it states that we are to be guided in a way of peace. To fully understand our need for guidance in the way of peace, we need to realise why peace is needed, and ultimately why peace is initially absent.
Luke 1:68-79 gives us an answer to my above-mentioned dilemma and it’s as much applicable to our lives now, as it was then and as it will always be:
- verse 71a: The need of saving from enemies
- verse 71b: Being hated
- verse 75: Living in fear
- verse 77: Sin
- verse 79a: Darkness/opression
- verse 79b: Mortality
Stop and think for a moment on the list above; you and I both know many people experience the same things Zacharia prophesied of a few years ago. You might be one of them. You might feel like an outcast or might be part of a difficult family with an abusive mother or father. You might feel hated and set aside by friends, colleagues or your community. Negativity, crime, disasters and evil dominates the news, justifiably a cause for fear, or fear of the unkown. With everything that’s going on in the world so many live with uncertainty of what’s to come, if whether they’ll still have a job in a week, or a month, if whether they’ll be able to provide for their family.
Sin; evaluate your life, truly evaluate your heart and mind. Ask the Holy Spirit to lay bare your sins before you, read the Scriptures and realise how far we fall short of the glory of God. Look at the life that Jesus lived and know that none but Christ is without spot, without blemish – without sin. (Psalm 14:1-3; Romans 5:2, Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 15:19)
Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
And then of course darkness, the absence of light. In a figurative sense; more and more people are overcome by depression, anxiety, more and more people are hopeless and fail to see the need to be alive. They live in this endless cycle of routines and habits without experiencing fulfillment from any of it, without experiencing true joy!
Lastly, death. Mortality. How accurate is the desciption in verse 79. For many the thought of their mortality follows them around like a shadow, whilst others are caught up in the race of escaping death, avoiding it or afraid of the day when it’s their turn…
How many boxes were ticked in your head while reading through that list? How much of it are you experiencing in your life right now at this moment? Which of it is applicable to you?
All these are reasons of our need for peace, and even more so – our need for a Saviour! Hold on and bear with me a while longer. Look at the following Scirptures:
Isaiah 9:6b
His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
and…
2 Timothy 1:10
…but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
How amazing and comforting is it see and know that Jesus is both! Both our Peace and our Saviour! Wow!
Now, before Jesus we were alienated from God, we were living a life of which much can be resembled by the list above. And a life alienated from God is a life that will ultimately end in destruction. As we know that Jesus will one day return and take those who believed in Him, walked worthy while on earth and pursued a life as instructed by Scirptures, with Him to live eternally in heaven.
John 14:1-3
Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
Whilst those who continue to live in sin and pride and choose not to grab hold of the salvation found in only Jesus will surely experience the wrath of God to come.
Ephesians 5: 6-7
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.
Now, how does this all fit in together? Micah, Malachi, Luke – how is everything connected? How is peace to be found in our circumstances today, how did Zacharia find peace? Let’s look at Luke 1:68-79 again and see how God through Jesus, our Saviour, our Prince of Peace provides promised salvation and peace:
- verse 68: We are redeemed – through Jesus’ sacrifice we can have a relationship with God and we’re no longer alienated from Him. (Colossians 1:19-23)
- verse 69: We can find salvation – our debt is paid through Jesus and we can live knowing that the consequences of our sin is taken upon Him. (Isaiah 44:22)
- verses 70, 72 & 73: God is faithful and we see the fulfillment of promises made since the beginning and all throughout Scriptures. (Psalm 111:9)
- verse 71a: Deliverance from enemies – albeit physically and/or finding peace through Christ in the middle of the storm. (John 14:27)
- verse 71b: Deliverance from hatred – again, albeit physically and/or finding the peace and joy promised only in Jesus that we will even be able to sing songs of praises in jail (or difficult situations, while being persecuted) like Paul and Silas in Acts 16:25-34. (Isaiah 32:17)
- verse 74: We can serve God without fear! (Hebrews 4:16)
- verse 75: We can serve God in holiness and righteousness – the Holy Spirit is our Helper, along with the Word of God as our guideline and the example Jesus set for us. (John 14:26 & 1 Peter 2:24)
- verse 79a: Through salvation in Christ we have deliverance from darkness, from death! (Colossians 1:12-14 & 1 Corinthians 50-58)
- verse 79b, all of the above concluding that we can be guided in a way of peace! (Philippians 4:4-7)
Therefore,
Jesus, our one true Peace (Micah 5:5) – a promised fulfilled so that we can be guided in a way of peace (Luke 1:79), through sanctification to God through Christ, be removed from darkness and sin, and be conveyed unto light and worship God in righteousness! (Malachi 4:2 & Luke 1:75).
How amazing! Praise be to God that He provides in all of our needs, that He remains faithful throughout the years! That He keeps His promises! That He sent unto us the promised Saviour, Jesus Christ, so that we can proclaim with confidence that He is the one and only true God – faithful and holy!
To conclude, I want to encourage and remind you today that you are called and you are chosen (2 Peter 2:9-10). God’s been faithful to His promises and He continues to be faithful! We are great sinners, but Jesus is an even greater Saviour! He stands at the door, knocking, waiting for you to open (Revelations 2:20), to wake-up and realise time is short, to realise that whilst living in sin and in unrepentance you cannot inherit the coming, promised Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). And also for you to realise that only Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
Therefore, take the Word, hear, listen and believe! Put away your sins and previous life, repent. Be baptised and follow the life you are called to live in Christ, as explained in the Holy Word of God and through the help of the Holy Spirit. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8)! Thereby, we can have peace with God and peace even in the middle of a raging storm (Romans 5:1).
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