Advent Week Two: Peace
How the Advents of Christ Bring Peace to Our Souls and Our World
Sketch the picture of the world prior to the fall. Adam and Eve are within the garden, enjoying fellowship with God and one another. Then Eve encounters the dragon/serpent/accuser – Satan.
She is tempted by him and falls. Adam joins her in this fall and immediately they realize their nakedness. They are vulnerable. They are exposed. And so they dart away and find covering.
They hear God in the cool of the morning, walking among the garden. This once would have been cause for great joy and fellowship, but now it strikes fear in their hearts. They have become fearful of God and fearful of one another – even in the perfect environment. (Sometimes we think we will have peace once we create just the perfect life situation – but here we see Adam & Eve in the perfect environment – naked and afraid. No peace to be had.) There is now, no longer peace with God or man. Adam and Eve cover themselves, separate in distrust, and hide from God. Uncertainty begins to brew. They are vulnerable – exposed – and there’s no telling for certain what will happen now.
God calls out to them, and Adam responds. They discuss what happened and God reveals the consequences of their sin to each creature – Adam, Eve and the Serpent. But he also foretells of a time when one day, a child from Adam & Eve will crush the head of the serpent – and the curse along with its progenitor will be overcome.
However, because of their sin and God’s desire to redeem humanity, he sends Adam & Eve out of the garden. Within the garden is a tree of life, and whoever eats of that tree will live forever we’re told. So were Adam & Eve permitted to continue living in the garden, they would live forever in fear and separation from God and one another. In other words, they would bring Hell upon themselves.
So God clothes them – he makes a temporary covering for them. The first death recorded in the scriptures is that of the animal sacrifice made to cover Adam & Eve by God. Next God walks them out of the garden and sets up the first armed creature in the Bible – a terrible and holy cherubim who wields a flaming sword and stands guard day and night. And so we begin to see signs that there is a rupture between God and man. But it is God’s compassion and mercy – his desire to see men redeemed and restored that drives his placing of the guard. He is protecting Adam & Eve and their future children from the warped proclivity of their heart – He knows that now the hearts of men are warped and the temptation to eat of the trees within the garden would be strong and there is little men would not do to accomplish what is in their heart.
When we next hear of Adam and Eve in Genesis 4 – we learn of their two sons. Cain & Abel. And from this short story we discover that the curse’s effect has fallen to the children of Adam & Eve as well.
We learn that though God has removed humanity from the garden, he is still fairly familiar with the family. Adam & Eve have raised their sons to worship God and God is content to still deal with humanity directly – though we must remember the temporary animal coverings they needed to do so – things were still muted.
As the story goes Cain worked the ground as a sort of gardener and Abel tended to the animals as a kind of shepherd or animal husband. It was their custom to make offerings to God. However, in this story we see that God rejects Cain’s offering while accepting Abel’s offering. Human worship is a flawed thing now. What was once natural – pleasing God in stewarding the earth with him – is now complicated and broken. Something in Cain’s heart showed up in his offering to God and it was rejected. (God has always delighted not in sacrifices but in contrite and longing hearts.)
Cain, frustrated with God’s rejection of his offering, seeks to solve the problem apart from God – He kills his brother. And so begins the long trajectory of broken worship of God and it’s fruit, broken relationship with our fellow humans.
Again and again, God offers reconciliation and relationship but again and again the prophets, priests and kings of men turn away from God to worship idols, false gods, and their own power and as a result the world falls into waves of war and undue suffering. As we read through the Old Testament we see this again and again and again. A potential hero is raised, and within a few chapters he’s caught up in his own desires and turns away from God, bringing frustration, separation, and destruction into the world.
Yet, throughout the pages of the Old Testament God promises us again and again that he is faithful – that he will fulfill the promise he made to our first parents in the garden. His prophets, many of them bringing hard news to the people of Israel, also reminded them of these promises, calling the faithful of God to look forward to the day when peace between God and man is restored and the Lord reigns with us in his eternal kingdom.
But who could ever possibly bring lasting peace between God and man? And how could they do it? The tree of life was locked away and faded into obscurity. And besides, every person born of man and woman seems to be plagued by the same patterns of sin and self/other destruction. Sure David was a great King, but even he had his flaws – and many of them were amplified in his son, King Solomon who was himself blessed by God with inspired wisdom. The wisdom God gave him seemed to amplify his brokenness as much as it amplified his righteousness.
How would we ever have peace?
Enter Mary.
It is true that mankind has fallen. And it is true that every child of humanity will be plagued by the same temptations and corruptions as their parents. And so God does the unthinkable. He enters into the story. But not as God alone. God becomes man. He who created all that ever was and all that ever will be. He that sustains all creation by the power of his word. He who could not be contained in the entire universe, takes on flesh and blood and becomes a child in her womb. God the Son takes on flesh.
God enters into the story of humanity, because of his great love and his promise to redeem the world and set things right to Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:15.)
Christ’s first coming answers the ache of every faithful human heart for thousands of years. “How can we ever have peace with God again? What hope do we have?” Christ becomes our second representative before God. Just as Adam represented us in the garden, so Christ represents us in the world. And where all of our forefathers failed – Jesus remains faithful!
Jesus grows in wisdom and stature and begins his ministry, ushering in a new way of life beginning at his Baptism at the hands of John the Baptist. It is here that God pronounces his love & acceptance of Christ – his Son – and here the Holy Spirit falls on Jesus. Here we see the turning of the old ways into the glories of the new ways. The temporary makes way for the eternal. Here we see the man covered in animal skin, coming from the wilderness submit to the man who comes from heaven, clothed in righteousness, to take away the sins of the world.
And that is exactly what Christ does. Hebrews tell us that He was tempted and tried in every way, just as we are, yet he was without sin. Where we fail, and where all those who came before Jesus failed, he did not. He loved God perfectly and fully and loved his neighbors as himself.
He took on himself the burden of humanity and he carried it on the cross up atop of the mountain of Golgotha. Where he was nailed to the tree of death in our place as our representative. He was crushed by the weight of our sin and there the God man tasted death. He who was without sin. He who was clothed in righteousness. He who was holy – without spot or blemish – drank the full cup of sin and death on our behalf. The second Adam did what the first one failed to do. He took full responsibility for our fallen state and took the burden on himself.
But three days later that tree of death became a tree of life. For Jesus was raised from the dead. He had overcome sin, and death. In drinking the consequences of sin down to the last drop, life sprung forth from the grave. The light and life of God is greater than the darkness and death of man. So Jesus, fully God and fully man rescued humanity from the cycle of deception, death and darkness. He rescued us from our sins. As our representative he restored our relationship with God so that all of us in Him are counted righteous, clean, restored, free and loved. In him we are called co-heirs. Adopted sons and daughters of God. What once separated us – our sin – has been dealt with once and for all in Christ! Glory to God!
And so Christ’s first Advent makes it possible for everyone in this room to know Peace with God. To stand before our holy God, free from shame or fear. Free from guilt or worry. When God looks upon us in Christ, he sees only the radiating holiness of His Son. We are no longer clothed by the skin of a sacrificial animal, we are clothed in righteousness – Christ’s righteousness – and so can stand before God and dwell with him in peace. Our future is secure in him. Praise God!
And yet, though Christ has come – Though he has begun his kingdom on that hill of Golgotha – that Kingdom we learned about last week to which all Kingdoms flow in Isaiah’s prophecy – though we the new creation has started and we have be reborn as children of God if we are in Christ – the world is not yet full of peace, is it?
Our hearts still yearn. Our world still jolts and jitters. Brother rises against brother. Friends betray friends. Family forsakes us. We fail even our own modest expectations of ourselves. Don’t we?
Though Christ has come, and though his kingdom has been established things are still not quite what they will be. So God has given us His Holy Spirit, He has wed himself to each of us in Christ to enable us and empower us to walk differently from the rest of the world. He has given us the Spirit so that we might learn to walk in Christ’s righteousness in the midst of a world still reeling with sin. He has given us the Spirit so that we might have a sure hope – just as Christ who came before us did – that one day all will be fully and totally made right.
And just like Christ, because of the Spirit, we are able to bring about a new way of life.
Because of the Spirit…
We are able to see, savor and share truth.
We are able to be gracious to our enemies.
We are able to forgive those who wrong us.
We are able to repent when we go astray.
We are able to overcome sins which have plagued us since our youth.
We are able to be kind in the face of a raging world.
We are able to draw from a deep well of peace in a world still very much set aflame and find rest for our weary souls.
But our hearts still long for a richer, deeper, fuller peace. Don’t they?
And that longing is in anticipation of the second Advent of Christ – his second arrival. That arrival will mark the final defeat of all who oppose the Kingdom and seek to bring temptation, death and destruction to the children of God and his creation.
First he came like a babe in the womb. Next he will come like a victorious warrior King.
First he came like a comforter and counselor. Next he will come like a righteous Judge.
First he came to drink the cup of death. Next he will come, casting away Satan & all who belong to him into eternal death.
Then, when Christ returns, there will be no end to peace on earth or goodwill to men. Then our sins and follies will be forgotten. Then there will be no stranger and no shame. Then there will be no lurking serpent – crawling down low and accusing us from afar. Then will be only the full embodiment of all God’s Kingdom forever. Amen?
So what do we do now? In the in between as we await the return?
Christ was born into the midst of war. C.S. Lewis said it this way in his book Mere Christianity:
“Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The rightful king of the world, Jesus, has landed. He has lived, died, and rose again sending the Holy Spirit to fill us. And now he calls us to follow in his footsteps sowing seeds of discord through things like loving our neighbor, blessing those who persecute us, praying for those who have ill-will toward us, giving generously to God and man expecting nothing in return, speaking the truth in love, fasting and feasting, exercising self-control, living lives of love – not fear, raising families that love God and love others, gathering for worship to hear his word, take his body & blood, and lift our voices with singing – singing joyfully – proclaiming with gladness that the Lord has come until he comes again.
Christ has set us free. We are being conformed to his image. We are ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, declaring peace to a world hell-bent on war. War with ourselves. War with our neighbors. War with our humanity. And we are called to walk in the midst of it all declaring “peace on Earth, and goodwill to mankind.”
To a world scratching and clawing to cobble together some temporary peace, Christ has given us the mission of living in eternal peace and calling all who would come to join us as we look forward and anticipate his return. The second advent.
Begin where you are. If you have not yet believed the gospel of Jesus Christ – that apart from him you are stuck spinning your wheels in sin – turn to him and repent. Start there. Confess your need for salvation from yourself, confess your guilt as someone who has positioned him or herself against the rightful King. Ask his forgiveness and he will gladly give it.
And then, set to work living as people of peace. Strive to become peacemakers in whatever role God has you.
If you are a child – the one command God has given you specifically is to honor and obey your parents in the Lord. Most of what you need to learn about loving God and loving neighbor can be learned by following those wise instructions. All the other commands apply to you, but in his wisdom God knew fewer rules are easier to pay attention to - so work at that one until you’ve got it - then the rest will come.
If you are a Father or Mother – Grandpa or Grandpa, raise your children in the fear and love of the Lord. Model faithfulness and repentance. Help them to know that we serve a gracious and just King and help them to learn how to grow.
If you are a single adult or even married without kids, Paul says you’ve got a unique role and ability to pour yourself out in loving the bride of Christ in a way us married-with-kid folk could never dream. Resist being a consumer and follow Christ, by the Spirit, and offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God.
And to all of us, may we pray without ceasing until the Lord comes again. May he find us ready, looking and living, expectantly whether we cross the Jordan of death or see him break forth through the heavens above. May he look at each one of us covered by the righteousness of Christ and say, “Well done.”
Would you join me in prayer?
