[Isaiah 9:6]
Anxiety always breeds more anxiety. It seems to multiply like dirty laundry in a house full of girls. Dad comes home, stressed from a day at work, and after a little bit, everyone else is stressed too. They don’t even know why. Children come home stressed about tests or relationship issues, and after a while everyone in the home is stressed. Your boss is stressed about meeting quarterly goals and it trickles down to everyone in the workplace. Anxiety always breeds more anxiety.
We live in a world full of anxiety. Sometimes if feels like we live in a world that is fueled by anxiety. Turn on the news and you will quickly feel your pulse quicken and you blood pressure rise. They have learned that anxiety sells. So, they are continually coming up with new names to make every weather phenomenon sound like a disaster. You go to work, and when there’s no anxiety people start to create anxiety about something—worrying about the weather or cutbacks or what other people are thinking.
We are in the midst of a season that is categorized by anxiety—the Christmas season. People are anxious about how much money they have, how many presents they have to buy, how many parties they are going to, how many meals they have to prepare, how much traveling they have to do. We are anxious, the people around us are anxious, and anxiety continues to breed more anxiety.
It’s ironic, isn’t it? That this season characterized by anxiety is a season centered on worshiping the Prince of PEACE. As we attempt to celebrate the Prince of Peace, who was born in a manger, we find ourselves filled with anxiety and surrounded in a culture of anxiety. Something doesn’t seem right, does it?
Not only is this child the Prince of Peace, but his peace is supposed to spread. Let’s re-read Isaiah 9:6 but then finally get to the next verse. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6–7, NIV). This Prince of Peace will not only reign for a short period of time and in a small place. His kingdom will never end and His kingdom will continue to increase for all eternity. And, his kingdom is a kingdom of Peace because He is the Prince of Peace. That means his peace will continue to spread. His peace will always breed more peace.
The primary way Jesus kingdom brings peace is through reconciliation with God. Later on in Isaiah, he continues to talk about the Messiah and he writes, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4–5, NIV). We can have peace with God because Jesus bore the punishment, the pain, the sorrow, and the anxiety of our sin. He bore it upon himself on the cross so that we could have peace.
Apart from salvation in Christ there is no peace. That’s why there’s so little peace in the world, because there’s so little salvation in Christ. Apart from salvation in Christ we are enemies of God and under God’s wrath. Our hearts and our consciences know this and are in turmoil. There can be no peace in a person’s heart apart from Christ. Their conscience will continue to convict them of their guilt and sin. Their hearts will continue to cry out in pain as they continue down the path of sin. Their souls will continue to be crushed under the heavy weight of sin that bears down on them. If God is against you, who can be for you?
There is no peace apart from Christ. He is the one who bore the weight and penalty of our sin on the cross so that we would be at peace with God. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Romans 5:1, NIV). Now that we have peace with God, God is for us. If God is for us, who can be against us? There is powerful peace here.
If you take some time to think about it, what causes the most anxiety in your life? When it’s all boiled down, there are two things that cause the majority of our anxiety: Sin and Fear.
Sin always causes anxiety within us. I was not a very good child in middle school and I did not have very good friends. They were trouble-makers and liked to steal things. I remember the first time they talked me into stealing something. My anxiety levels were off the chart for the next day or so. What about when we lie to someone? There’s an anxiety attached to the possibility of someone finding out the lie. Every sin is this way. Sin always causes anxiety within us.
Even unintentional sin causes anxiety within us. Think about the last time you held your frustration in for a long time and ended up blowing up on someone. How did you feel afterward? Did you feel at peace? No! You felt guilt, shame, regret. You felt anxiety over what happened. Quite possibly you continued to beat yourself up about what happened, which caused further anxiety.
Yet, because of Christ’s powerful work on the cross, he has given us peace. When we fall into sin, and anxiety automatically comes creeping up on us, rather than trying to pay for our sin by beating ourselves up (which will never work), we need to leave that sin at the cross and trust in Christ’s forgiveness. When we do that we begin to truly experience peace. We experience peace because our sins have been forgiven—cleansed—and their power has been removed. The anxiety of sin is canceled through Christ’s work that has brought us peace with God.
We also have anxiety because of fear. We fear the future. We fear what may happen to us. We fear not being able to support our families. We fear failing an exam. We fear getting injured. And all of these fears cause great anxiety to swell up inside us. Then you read a passage that says, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD for ever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.” (Isaiah 26:3–4, NIV). Wow. That should stir your heart. Those who trust in the Lord, will be kept in perfect peace. Why? Because they trust in the Lord and do not live in fear. They trust in the Lord because Jesus Christ has given them peace with God. Now God is for them. And if God is for them, who can be against them? So, they trust God and live in perfect peace.
That doesn’t mean that nothing will ever happen in our lives. We will have trials and tribulations in this life. At times things will seem to go from bad to worse. Yet, in the midst of those seasons, Jesus tells us, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NIV). The peace that Christ offers us is so powerful that we can have that peace in the midst of trials and tribulations. The world doesn’t have that. When things go wrong, they are full of anxiety because they have no one to trust. Yet, we have a God in whom we can trust. He is the God who has overcome the world. He is the God who gave us His only Son. He is the God who is for us. How can anything else be against us? That’s why we can have peace in the midst of trials and tribulations.
Yet, that peace doesn’t just come automatically. When trials come, anxiety will come immediately on their heels, wanting to take control of things. So, we need to do something about it. We need to take action so that anxiety doesn’t gain control over our lives, but peace begins to reign. So, Paul tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5–7, NIV). We come to God in prayer with all of our anxieties because we trust Him and we know that He is for us and not against us. We throw all of our fears and anxieties on Him because He is the only One who can do anything about them anyway. And as we do that, the peace of God begins to reign in our hearts—a peace that is much deeper than anyone can explain or understand—a peace that the world will never know apart from Christ.
There is something powerful about having a peace that is internal. When peace is internal it cannot be taken away from you by the world. It is rock solid and unmovable peace that is unaffected by what’s going on around it. It’s a peace that can exist in the midst of utter and absolute chaos.
This peace is also powerful because it doesn’t remain internal. It starts off on the inside but eventually works its way out into the world around us. Jesus said, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45, NIV). We could rephrase this to speak about peace by saying, “The peaceful person brings peaceful things out of the peace stored up in his heart. Out of the overflow of a peaceful heart, the mouth speaks peaceful things, and actions are peaceful.” The peace we have on the inside will necessarily begin to overflow onto our surroundings, bringing peace into our families, our churches, our communities, and peace on earth. In the same way anxiety breeds more anxiety, peace breeds more peace.
This is what is so powerful about Jesus being called the Prince of Peace and the promise that “of the increase of his…peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:7). Because of the work of this child, born in a manger—the Son of God—peace will eventually reign throughout all of the earth. We’re not there yet. There’s plenty of turmoil and anxiety and tension throughout all the earth. But the Prince of Peace is ruling and reigning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has established his kingdom of peace on this earth and that kingdom is growing until one day it fills the entire earth and bring peace on earth.
That kingdom of peace grows through the spread and proclamation of the gospel. As hearts are transformed and reconciled with God, people find peace with God. People begin to experience the peace of having their sins forgiven and their hearts and minds transformed. People begin to experience the peace of knowing that they can trust God because He is for them and not against them. People begin to experience a peace the overflows from their hearts onto the world around them. As the gospel spreads, and peace reigns more fully in the hearts of mankind, we will begin to see the powerful peace of Jesus Christ reign on the earth. So, come Lord Jesus!