King of the Carols - Hark the Herald Angels Sing - Peace, what Peace?

 

 

What kind of Peace?
 

1. Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th'angelic hosts proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

 
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"

Some of us are old enough to remember the "Liberation  Theology" of the 1970s. This peculiar strand of thinking said that Christians should put all their energies into helping to set the oppressed free. In other words the church should adopt a political agenda and work for the freedom of all enslaved peoples.

They would have read the words of the Christmas angels, "on earth peace" to mean, "Jesus and his people should work for peace and freedom and democracy."

But is that what the angels meant when they sang "peace on earth?"

Well Yes, and No.

First Yes.

 Horizontal Peace 

Every follower of Jesus ought to be a peacemaker, in our homes, neighbourhoods, places of work and churches. It is profoundly unChrist like to be a mischief maker and a warmonger. 

Christians walk softly, and most esepcially in the fold.

So, yes, we are all for peace! 

And where given the chance of working for peace in the wider world, we should do what we can and to pray for "those in authority that we may all live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." (1 Timothy 2:2) 

And we look forward to the day when the Prince of Peace will, return and in the words of another carol:

when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling.

Vertical Peace

So yes, we are called to work for peace, but also No! No, the angels were not talking mainly about horizontal peace, peace between men or between nations. They were singing mostly about peace between God and sinners. As our carol says:

Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!

The biggest relationship breakdown in the universe is not between this man and that woman, this nation and that country. The biggest disruption is between God and mankind. 

God is angry with us for our deliberate walking out on him, our deliberate wrongdoing, and we, on our part don't want him in our lives: we hide from him, suppress the knowledge of him and fail to give him thanks.

Mankind is at war with God!

Peace by his Blood

But God sent his Son into the world to act as a go-between, a priest, a reconciller, a peace-maker. And though we were his enemies, God sent his beloved Son, "through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Colossians 1:20).

Our sin, which alienated us from God was paid for by the atoning death of Jesus Christ, so that God could turn his face towards us and we could be reconciled with God. What an amazing act of grace and kindess!

Be reconciled to God

So the message of the angels is not about horizontal peace - as important as that might be,  the angels were declaring to the Shepherds that Jesus Christ was going to give to us the precious gift of peace with God.

And so our message to the world this Christmas, the message that should ring out from the church, and from every Christian man, woman and child is "Be reconciled to God!" (2 Corinthians 5:20)

And this peace is a joyful message for the whole of the world:

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th'angelic hosts proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

Here is a simple way we can all share that message this very week. If every Christian in the UK put up an  advertisement on their Facebook page for their church's online carol service - think how many friends could be reached with the Gospel! 

I do that every Saturday, Christmas or not Christmas! Let the world know where they can hear the Gospel the next day - in secret if they do not want anyone to know they are listening.

Let's take up these rare opportunities while we have them.

A SONG FOR THE DAY

Here's an old spiritual song more about the inside heart peace God gives to his people in their hearts than the peace God has made with us through his Son. We need this kind of peace too, that comes from the Holy Spirit who assures us that we are loved by God through all the storms and uncertainties of life.

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our Father in heaven,

We thank you for the peace with experience here in the West, the peace we so often take for granted. We thank you for stable government and the absence of war on our streets.

We pray for world leaders that they may work for peace, and we pray that the decisions they make will enable us  all to live peaceably in all godliness.

We thank you for the peace that comes through your Son, the Lord Jesus and through his death on the cross.

Help us to share the  Gospel with a lost world and to urge them to be "reconciled to God."

We ask this in Jesus' Name,

Amen.