You made a promise long ago:
Peace was promised to Isaiah.
Peace was promised to Your people.
Israel expected a prince
Born into privilege and power,
But received a babe,
Born into a lowly stable.
There was no room in the inns,
No room in their hearts for a poor carpenter father
And his humble wife,
Dirty from traveling dusty roads.
Your Son, their prince,
Fed the masses,
Healed the blind,
Dined with cheaters,
And rebuked their leaders.
Where was their prince?
Where was their peace?
They expected a lion to silence the roaring jaws of oppression and affliction,
But Your Son, their prince, Jesus,
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
Opened not His mouth.
On that dark day of the cross,
When the curtain in the temple tore,
The Promised Prince gave up His spirit.
All was chaos.
Peace seemed distant.
As Soldiers jeered, a mother’s tears
Fell softly in the night.
But that was not the end.
Your promises would be kept.
Your son did not stay on the cross,
He did not stay in the tomb.
He is a prince after all, a Prince of Peace.
He is the Lion.
He is the Lamb.
In him, the two are met-
The gentle and humble,
The power and might,
The babe and the Savior,
The flesh and the God.
We find peace in Your Son, who hung in our place,
Who put His hands where ours belonged,
On the rough wood of the cross.
He cancelled the roar of our guilt with the might of His silence,
So that we could know You, our God.
He rose from the darkness of the tomb,
Conquering death with His light.
He is our promised peace.
Our Prince waiting for His people.
We will embrace Him, our Wonderful Counselor,
Press our faces to His holy robe,
And find our Might God,
Everlasting Father,
Our perfect Prince of Peace.
Amen
The Lord of all arrived to reclaim his lost brothers and sisters. He came with mighty power and strength, but exercised gentleness and humility. Through him all things were created and yet when he arrived, it was into a dusty manger in the silence of the night.
The Jews expected a mighty warrior to rescue them from their captors, but they were vastly misled by their own perception of what exactly they needed rescued from. It wasn’t physical, worldly power from which they were freed, but from ugly, spiritual death- being separated from God, the source of love and peace and hope.
Jesus brought peace that comes with knowing one can now stand before the throne of God justified through Him, being free to love and live peacefully in a way that is unsurpassed by anything in this physical world; knowing that there is a treasure being stored into our hearts that is untouchable. Not by time, not by theft, not by anything that we are physically bound to. God, our loving and holy Creator, through the might and humility of Jesus Christ, closed the gap that separated us from Him. Bringing peace to what was once chaos and turmoil.
Paintings by Rachel Justice
Words by Brittanie Richendollar