Jesus: Prince of Peace

In this message from Isaiah 9:6, David Platt reminds us that God Has Provided True and Ultimate Peace through Jesus, the Prince of Peace. 

Explore more content from Radical.

Chapters

• 0:00 Real Stories Of Pain And Longing
• 3:51 Christmas Claims Supernatural Peace
• 6:49 Prophecy And The Prince Of Peace
• 10:22 What Shalom Really Means
• 13:46 The Three Arenas Of Conflict
• 16:38 From Eden’s Peace To Our Rebellion
• 21:53 Only God Can End The Core Conflict
• 24:46 Pierced For Our Peace
• 28:18 Peace Received By Faith, Not Works
• 31:45 Peace With God, Others, And The World
• 33:43 Prayer Of Trust And Closing Resources

Transcript

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You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author, and teacher David Platt.

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I just want to give you a glimpse into interactions I've had with specific people over the last couple of weeks. So I'm not going to use people's real names for the sake of their privacy, but let me just briefly introduce you to them and their longing for peace. I had a conversation with Michael, who from the outside looks extremely successful in life, in marriage, family, work, everything. Yet he told me, David, I've hit a wall, and I just feel empty and even depressed in deep ways that I can't really explain or describe. I talked with Wesley, a teenager who's surrounded by people who love him, yet always feels lonely. And he has a pervasive sense of guilt and shame when he looks at everybody else around him, whether in person or on social media, and never feels like he measures up. I think about Maria, who's grieving as she spends her first Christmas without James, her husband of 42 years. Or Jada, a single mom who just lost her job and doesn't have the means to give presents to her six children. I've spoken with Stephen and Sophia, who were hurting and heartbroken, over an adult child who's struggling deeply and is far from family this Christmas. I've talked with John, whose wife Esther has been in and out of the hospital over recent months and is currently paralyzed in a hospital bed they've had to bring into their home. I talked with Malik, whose 2025 has been filled with months of chronic debilitating pain. I spoke with Susan, who's experiencing the onset of dementia in her older age as her memory is fading in really frustrating ways. Or I think about Darren, who I've known for many years, who looks like the epitome of health on the outside, but had a headache last week that wouldn't go away, that led to a trip to the ER one night that led to the discovery of a brain tumor that led to surgery a couple of days ago surrounded by his wife and two daughters. I wrote in an Uber with a man named Ahmed, who's from a Muslim country where there's no freedom of religion. And though he's Muslim, ten years ago, he wrote an article about the need for freedom in his country. It got published, caused rioting in the streets. He was beaten, ended up in a hospital, after which he immediately fled his country, and he hasn't been able to go back to see his wife or kids in the last 10 years. And they've been denied visas to come here 25 different times. Then, finally, I think about a text this week from a pastor named Joseph in northern Nigeria, who this Christmas his preaching is performing a mass funeral for people in his community who were attacked by militants, forced to dig their own graves, and then killed and their bodies thrown in those graves. So I really don't mean to be a downer, but I do mean to be real. These are conversations I've had the last couple of weeks. And I'm thinking none of them need trite holiday trivialities right now. And I'm assuming you don't either. I obviously don't know everything that's going on in your life, but I'm guessing you can identify at some level with these longings for peace. Do you want peace in a world of war and senseless evil and rampant injustice? Are you struggling physically, mentally, or emotionally in any way right now? Do you have any relationships with family, friends, where there's tension or division or hurt or heartbreak? Think about a couple I was talking with in the between services tonight who are like, we needed this time together to hear what God was saying to us. Do you have any voids that you long to fill? Is there any frustration or turmoil inside you where you're aching for rest and peace? And if so, then I want you to hear loud and clear in this moment that Christmas is night, not trite holiday triviality. No, Christmas is the greatest news in the world for every longing you have inside of you for peace. And I want you to hear loud and clear in the next few minutes that you can walk away from this place tonight with a supernatural peace, either for the first time ever or for the first time in a while, or in a fresh way that has power to calm your soul, not just today and tomorrow, but forever. And I know that's a bold claim, but please just listen closely for the next few minutes, and I promise that your perspective and life can look so different in a world of chaos if you just believe what I'm about to show you that comes straight from God. Over 700 years before Jesus even came, God spoke about him through a man named Isaiah, which side note is part of the reason we know the Bible is not just another religious book. It contains thousands of prophecies of the future that are fulfilled with uncanny precision, including over 300 references written over hundreds of years before Jesus even came, that he specifically fulfilled in his life and his death and his resurrection. The odds of that happening by chance are tiny. Josh McDowell puts it this way: imagine the state of Texas is covered with silver dollars two feet deep, and one of them is marked. All of them are thoroughly mixed. A blindfolded man is instructed to reach down and pick up the marked coin on his first try. The chances of him getting that one silver dollar are the same as Jesus fulfilling just eight of those prophecies, and he fulfilled all 300 of them. In the words of Arc Fruel, the very dimension of the sheer fulfillment of prophecy of the Old Testament scriptures should be enough to convince anyone that we are dealing with a supernatural piece of literature. And one of the places that talks about Jesus' coming is Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, where we read. So this was written seven centuries before he came. Let's say this verse out loud together. Isaiah 9, 6. Will you read it with me? For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Then let me just read the verse that comes after. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. There is so much here that we don't have time to dive into tonight. But I want you just to think with me about this name of Jesus right here. Prince of peace. So the word prince here means a ruler who has authority and power to do something or make something a reality. And the word peace here is the Hebrew word shalom. Can you say that out loud with me? Shalom. This is this is already worth your time. You're learning Hebrew on Christmas Eve. So shalom, and this word's so good, it's really hard to translate into one English word. So peace is the best attempt, but a fuller definition would be complete peace, justice, calmness, and goodness without any conflict, turmoil, chaos, or evil. Is that not a beautiful word? And it's why, so it's why I wanted to read the next verse, verse 7, because we read words like government and throne and kingdom that are talking about this power and authority to bring justice and righteousness, to make everything right. So the Bible is promising here a child who will be born, a son who will be given, who has watch this, authority and power to bring complete peace, justice, calmness, and goodness without any conflict, turmoil, chaos, or evil. Which again is a really bold claim. Like, how is that actually possible for one person to bring complete peace to a world filled with conflict, turmoil, chaos, and evil? Well, let me show you how. I want you to think about this with me. If you take all the conflict and turmoil and chaos and evil, you can imagine. You can divide it into three categories. First would be just conflict in the world in general, which we all see and experience in wars and injustice and evil in the world. And second would be conflict in our relationships with each other, which we all experience. And third would be conflict within ourselves, all sorts of inner conflict we experience in our minds, our bodies, our emotions. So all of conflict falls into one or more of these three categories. But here's the question: What's at the core of all this conflict? In other words, where does it all come from? Because if we have any hope of peace instead of conflict in any of these ways, we're gonna have to address whatever's at the core. And that question leads us all the way back to the beginning of creation, where we see how all of this conflict, all the lack of peace we're familiar with in the world, it all started at one point. Let me show it to you. Because in the beginning, God designed the world in total peace. There was no conflict. God created man and woman, they experienced shalom in the world. Over and over again. In the first chapter of the Bible, we read, everything was good. Here's how the last verse in Genesis 1 ends. God saw everything that He made, and behold, it was very good. Like very shalom. And Genesis 2 describes how man and woman experienced peace in the world, and peace in relationship with each other, and peace within themselves. Everything was right at every level. It was shalom. Do you know why? Because at the core, they had peace with God until Genesis 3. And this is the point where it all collapsed. God, their creator, had said, Eat from any tree in the garden. They're giving you all these trees full of all this fruit for you to enjoy. Except for this one tree. And the man and the woman said, No. We know better than you what's best for us. And Genesis 3:6 says, When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was a delight to the eyes, the tree was to be desired to make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Feel the weight of what's happening here. Up until this point, everything in all creation responded to the good voice of the Creator, who said to the stars, you go there, and they obeyed. Said to the oceans, you stop there, and they obeyed. To swarming creatures of all kinds, responding with complete peace and obedience to God until you get to man and woman, and man and woman have the audacity to look at God in the face and say, No, we're doing things our way. And man and woman experienced conflict with God. They chose it over peace with God. And watch what immediately happened. The very next verse, the eyes of both of them were open. They knew they were naked. They soaked fig leaves together, they made themselves loincloths. Do you see this? Immediately they started experiencing conflict within themselves. They felt guilt, shame, fear. None of those things were there before this. And then they immediately experienced conflict in their relationship with each other. Listen to Genesis chapter 3, verse 12. Adam starts blaming Eve. The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate. The chapter goes on to describe them clashing with each other. That's the word that we see in the Hebrew there. They're contrary to each other. And then by the next chapter, we see murder introduced into the world that is now wrought with evil, suffering, chaos, and death. Do you see this? The core of all conflict that we experience in this world comes back to the conflict we have chosen with God. This is Adam and Eve's story. No. This is our story. Every single one of us has had the audacity to look God in the face and say, either I'm gonna live like you're not even there, like you don't even exist, or I'm gonna live like I know better than you what's best for my life. Either way, I'm choosing my way. We've all chosen conflict with our Creator. In ways that lead to all kinds of efforts to try to fix ourselves and to overcome the conflict we feel inside us in ways that lead to conflict with others and conflict in the world. Don't miss this. Do not believe the headlines that your algorithm is sending you. The greatest problem in the world is not this political party or that politician or this world leader or that economic system or power players or big business or corrupt corporations or countries. It's our hearts. It's conflict that each of us has chosen with God that plays out in different ways in all of our lives and that will eventually lead all of us to the ultimate penalty of sin against God, death in this world. Which means that if any of us have any real hope of real peace now and forever, then we need somebody who can address this core problem, our conflict with God. And who has the power to do that? Who has the power to bring peace with God in a way that leads to peace in the world? Do you have that power? Does any other person you know or have ever heard of have that power? No. Only God has the authority and power to remove conflict with God. And this is the stunning message of Christmas. This is what Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6 is saying. That the mighty God, with all the authority and power to bring complete peace, has come to us. To you and to me. Which leads to the question well, how? How can this child, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, how can he bring complete peace at the core of who we are in this world? And Isaiah answers that question 44 chapters later in Isaiah 53, in another prophecy about Jesus. Watch this. The Bible says he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. Do you see this? This is how Jesus solves the problem at the core of our hearts. He would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. This is Isaiah telling us why Jesus came and how Jesus brings peace at the core of who we are. He came to live the life you and I could not live, a life of total peace with God. He had no transgression or iniquity in his life, which means that he did not deserve to die. But he chose to die on a cross to pay the price for our transgressions, to die for your and my iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement, the punishment for sin. He died in our place. Then three days later, he rose from the grave, conquering sin and death in order to bring us what? This is the audience participation part of our program. It's the punchline. In order to bring us peace. Anybody want to guess what Hebrew word that is? Boom, you're a Hebrew scholar, shalom. He died to bring us complete peace, justice, calmness, and goodness without any conflict, turmoil, chaos, or evil. By his wounds, we are made whole with God. Which is why, when you get when you get to the story of Jesus' birth in the New Testament, you'll never guess. When the angels are thumbing through all the songs that they could sing, what is their selection that night, as they're announcing his birth to shepherds, Luke 2.13 says, suddenly there was the with the angel, a multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth. Drop the mic, peace among those with whom he is placed. Same word, he came to bring peace. Shalom. So how do we receive this? How do we count it among those who experience this peace? And the answer the Bible gives is beautiful. So people read this. Among those with whom he is pleased. And start thinking, okay, that means we have to work hard to clean ourselves up. Fix ourselves like Gabby was saying in that story she was telling earlier. Like what what good works do I need to perform in order to please God? What boxes do I need to check off? But that is not what God says. God says that peace with him is possible one way. Follow this. It's possible simply by trusting in who Jesus is and what he came to do for you. Let me show you this. Romans 5.1. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see this? The path to justification. That means to be made right with God. The path to peace with God is paved by faith, by trust in Jesus as the Christ. That title means the one God had promised all these years and the Lord of your life. So get the picture. Faith is confessing. God, I have chosen conflict with you. But I'm choosing to lay down my arms in light of your love for me. Faith is saying, I believe that Jesus has died for my sin. And I trust him as the promised prince, the promised prince who has authority to bring me peace with you. Which then followed us. Opens the door to peace with others. As one forgiven by God, you now have supernatural power to forgive others. As one loved by the God you offended. You have supernatural power to love those who offend you. As one reconciled to God, you have supernatural power to reconcile with others. Jesus is our peace who breaks down dividing walls of hostility with others. Which then ultimately leads the way to peace in this world. Not immediately, of course. As long as we live in a world of sin where conflict with God remains, we'll be surrounded by turmoil, chaos, and evil. But you can face this chaotic world with the peace of God at the core of your being. Colossians 3.15. I love this verse. Let the peace of the promised Christ rule in your hearts. Philippians 4. Don't be anxious. You're free from being anxious, worrying about anything. And everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, beyond what you can imagine, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. His peace will protect you amidst anything that comes at you in this world. Because you know that one day all the conflict and all the turmoil and all the chaos and all the evil in this world will be no more. Listen to this. How the Bible describes heaven, a place where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Follow this. You can have peace today because you know and you're confident the day is coming when the conflict and turmoil and chaos and evil of this world will be no more. And can I just point out that this kind of peace is only possible through faith in Jesus? And I say this with all due respect for my atheistic or agnostic friends, but they don't have this peace because that worldview doesn't provide this peace. If you're an atheist or agnostic, you believe in a world of ultimately natural causes, which means that in the end, there will be no justice. No wrongs made right, no hope of meaning beyond the grave. It just is what it is. And we continue in this cycle. And if that's you, I would just ask you to consider why you have this innate desire in you for justice and meaning and hope and peace if this world is all there is. And for all kinds of adherence of all kinds of other religions, again, I say this sincerely with respect, but all the religions of the world hold out hope that if you do enough good or right things, if you follow a certain path, then at some point in this life or additional lives, you'll achieve peace. But what if peace was never intended, meant to be achieved by us as creation? Hasn't this been our problem since the beginning? Our prideful, futile efforts to fix ourselves instead of being achieved by us. What if the peace we long for can only be received humbly by the Creator who loves us? Put down your pride and receive your Creator's gift of peace that he longs for you to experience. And longs is the right word. You remember Isaiah 9:7? Talking about the increase of his government and peace there'll be no end, justice and righteousness forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. What language? God is zealous, God's passionate about bringing peace to this world, about bringing peace to your heart. And he has done it. He's made the way for you to experience a peace with him that, did you see it, will never end. Forevermore. Like, and not just will never end, did you of the increase of his peace. Like it will just keep getting more and more and more. Increasing peace, justice, calmness, goodness, it just gets better and better and better forever and ever and ever. It makes me think about how C.S. Lewis ends that last paragraph in the last book of the Narnia series. Remember? He writes, The things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us, this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them, it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page. Now at last, they were beginning chapter one of the great story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before. Yes. And all of this is why Christmas is not mere entrite tradition or a fairy tale excuse to gather with friends and family for food and gifts. It is a celebration of the greatest news in the world for real people who long for real peace in their hearts and in this world that will last forever. To bring it home, it's the greatest news in the world for Joseph and Andre and Danielle in Nigeria to know tonight that mass burials and kidnappings and persecution and evil will not be the end of the story for all those who trust in Jesus. And Ahmed can know that complete freedom from oppression, ultimate reunion with family and friends will be a reality for all those who trust in Jesus as the Prince of Peace. And Maria can know that it won't be long until she'll be with James again because they both trusted in the Prince of Peace who conquered sin and death on their behalf so they could be forever with him. And Jada can know that the Prince of Peace promises to never ever leave her alone as a single mom. And Stephen and Sophia can hold on to hope amidst the heartbreak in their home. And John and Esther and Malik and Susan and Darren can know that disease and dementia and cancer and tumors and pain and paralysis, they're all ultimately passing away. And Wesley, this teenager can know he's not alone. And he is completely free from all his efforts to try and measure up with the world around him because he has peace with the God who made him. And Michael can know that all the success in this world will never compare with the shalom that Jesus alone can provide for him. And it's not just good news for all of them. It's good news for you. Which leads to a question I want to ask every person than the sound of my voice right now. Not the person beside you, in front of you, behind you, but right where you're sitting right now. Do you personally know Jesus as the Prince of Peace? Notice, I'm not asking if you call yourself a Christian. Or if you've been to church before, or if you do a certain number of good things. I'm asking, have you trusted in Jesus to bring you peace with God? To restore you, your heart to right relationship with God. I cannot think of a more important question to ask on this Christmas Eve, knowing that not one of us is guaranteed to be breathing on Christmas morning. So are you right with God right now? And the good news is there's not a list of things you have to do. Clean yourself up. I love the way Gabby put it. God loves you intensely, and he has made the way for you to be right with him, to experience peace with him now and forever by faith. They're trusting in him. So if the answer to this question is not a resounding yes in your heart, then I want to invite you. I don't believe it's an accident that any person is here right now. You've been brought here by God Himself to hear the greatest news in the world that you might have peace with him today. So I just want to invite everyone to take a moment right now, just to close your eyes. And I ask you to do this just to put aside every distraction and to think about this question. Do you personally know Jesus as the Prince of Peace? And if the answer to that question is not a resounding yes in your heart, and I want to invite you just to say to God right now, God, you say this in your heart. God, I confess I've chosen conflict with you. But today I believe that you have made the way for peace with you. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead so I can have life with you as my Lord. So I am turning to you and trusting in you as the Prince of Peace.

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