He Brought Peace

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

I recently read that some historians estimate there have been 14,351 wars, 3.64 billion people killed in those wars, and only 292 years of peace since 3,600 B.C. If those numbers are true, it means that in the last 5,614 years there has been peace only 5% of the time.

What if I told you that a king who could change all of that was coming to us riding on a donkey, would you be a little skeptical? Would it help if I told you that I was talking about a different kind of peace?

How about peace for that battle that rages inside of you? The apostle Paul talked about it. He described it as the conflict you fight between the good you want to do, but don’t, and the evil you don’t want to do, but do. Do you recognize that struggle? How many times has it put you at odds with God? How many peace treaties with God have you broken? Now if I told you about that King who would lead the charge for peace, would you still be skeptical or would you yearn for that peacemaker?

Jesus is that peacemaker! We are in the Holy Week celebrating His triumphal entry into Jerusalem to do battle with the worst enemy known to mankind—sin, death, and the devil. In that battle, Jesus suffered and died. But there was purpose in it. “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteousness, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18). He wasn’t defeated by death. He triumphed in the resurrection—your sins are no longer held against you. “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them” [2 Corinthians 5:19a].

Because Jesus was crucified, and risen, the weapons of the enemy have been destroyed, and his power defeated! I say, “Hallelujah!” What do you say?

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Romans 5:1