Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
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Adam sinned and all mankind was separated from God the Father. Adam and the woman, Eve were evicted from the Garden and the presence of God. Then death spread to all mankind because all sinned and became enemies of God. It was in the DNA!
When Jesus came and through His atoning work on the cross reconciled us with the Father, all who would receive that incredible gift became ‘friends of God’. {Joh.15:15} For while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. {Rom.5:10} Jesus who spoke today's verse to the disciples, then and now, was and is the ultimate Peacemaker!
War lives in the heart and it then manifests in the flesh. The first, and worst war—truly a world war—took place when Adam and Eve sinned. It was an act of aggression against the Lord. David had an understanding of this principle when he prayed: "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight." {Ps.51:3-4} There is either peace or there is war. So It is always one or the other and it rarely, if ever, has been peace!
Sometimes the war is ‘cold’ but it is still war. It is not peace if it is a temporary cease fire. What passes for peace in the world is generally just one or both of the different sides taking time to reload. Don’t be deceived. A very good example of that is the Korean War. Started in the middle of 1950 when the North invaded the South it has never officially ended. The shooting ceased three years later with an armistice signed by North Korea, China and South Korea, the United States and other UN nations. There is no actual peace there! We believers, the children of God have been instructed to appraise all things spiritually. {1Cor.2:15}
Now we who have recognized and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, have been given a ministry of reconciliation and are called and equipped to be His ambassadors. {2Cor.5:18-20} We are to bring His message of peace to all we meet. The terms of peace, the glorious, total and eternal peace that the Lord offers to all are simple—total and unconditional surrender! You have to give all to get all!
Consider the words of the Peacemaker faced with His death on the cross. Jesus Himself did indeed surrender all to accomplish peace with the Father on our behalf by going to the cross. The sacrificial Lamb of God offering Himself for our salvation praying on His way to the crucifixion: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as You will.” {Mat.26:39} That is the proclamation of peace!
It is indeed a battle of the wills, so let us join in singing a prayerful chorus of that beautiful old hymn by Judson W. Van DeVenter (1896), “I Surrender All” — let it be the anthem of our hearts!
“For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ... but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,” (1 Corinthians 1:18,27)
WE HAVE PEACE WITH THE FATHER THROUGH JESUS |
