"Glory to God in the highest
heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests" (Luke 2:14,
NIV).
How is it that God in infinite wisdom should send a son as a helpless
one in a lowly place to challenge the power and consequences of sin in the
fallen world? Would not God’s deliberate
gift of love to intervene with peace, surely be met with violence? Could the outcome of such a plan with its
rejection of lofty credentials and its limited access to power possibly result
in anything but failure? Centuries had
come and gone with the power of armies and weaponry being the prevailing
guarantor of borders, culture and change along with the position of heritage as
a close associate in that controlling ability to reign. How could a tiny baby now lying in a manger
initiate any process of change? Even if
he could rise from this meager beginning, how could he ever hope to muster the
position to challenge the weight of these age old realities? Yes, there are exceptions of the small and
weak securing the extra unbelievable strength, the special circumstance and
even finding the unexpected cowardice of the seemingly invincible to win an
occasional victory but in the vastness of countless battles in history, Yet, it does not seem like a reasonable or
victorious plan to send an offering of peace to combat the violence of sin and
death. God’s plan might seem illogical
to humankind but it would change the world forever.
The way of violence come early, even against the threat of the tiny
undiscovered king, as hundreds were killed to silence the one unfound. Violence usually reacts in two ways; it
overreaches and maims the many in the pursuit of the intended as Herod did or
it strikes one to affect many as the Sanhedrin did. Thus it struck to end the son’s life on a
cross by one of most vicious of history’s brutal acts of cruelty, and in an
ironic twist it affected many with a different result.
God in sending His son to be born on earth chose this peaceful entrance
in a humble place to bring a different reality to the world. Now by the son’s death, no one would now be
denied the birthright, with all persons gaining access to godly heritage the
same way. Furthermore the weakest would
be the strongest in their guaranteed transcendence beyond the power of all
violence because of the resurrection of the sacrificial and liberating
Son. Improbable to the world; The Incarnation
begins in the womb of a virgin who believes and who later treasures it all in
her heart, pondering the angels, her husband support, the shepherds, the
promise, the place and the baby she delivered and laid in a manger.
Peace came as Jesus was born there and it was
victorious over sin on the cross, gaining the power to destroy forever violence
and death as the Christ rose again granting peace with God to all who believe. God’s
indescribable favor came on that Christmas night and the peace His Son secured
and secures for evermore, now rests on all people everywhere. No wonder the angels could not keep quiet as
they proclaimed “Glory to God in the highest” as the begotten Son entered this
world setting in motion God’s ultimate and victorious peace plan. For Jesus Christ is not a peace written in
words on parchment with ink but a living peace freely granted to all who would
believe for now and for eternity, The peace of Christ passes all understanding
because His peace secured in His grace ends all the amenity and strife from our
sin and striving granting us peace all our days on earth flowing in peace in
His presence forever. Thanks, be to God.
“For Christ himself has brought peace to
us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the
cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with
its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by
creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both
groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each
other was put to death” (Ephesians 2:14-16, NLT).
Suggested Reading … Ephesians 2
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