“Peace to You!”

We live in unprecedented times of worldwide uncertainty.

Trying to think back to a time in history when humanity faced similar uncertainty took me back around 2,000 years ago. After hundreds of centuries of awaiting the Messiah who would come and rescue them, some had believed that the Messiah had arrived. Those committed followers walked with Him, ate with Him, and saw Him perform incredible miracles; from healing the sick to raising the dead back to life! All their hopes were set upon Him; He was their hero. Many had “left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:11).

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But then after three amazing years, events quickly took a sudden turn. “Our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see” (Luke 24:20-24).

Those three days seemed longer than the glorious three years that preceded them. So we felt like it was all over, everything we had set our hope upon for the last three years just vanished in an instant. We lived in agonizing uncertainty. Our hearts were so gripped with fear that we hid behind tightly locked doors, fearing the Jews, the Romans, just about everything. Our Savior had come, but he had died. He was gone.

It was behind those locked doors that we gathered, reminiscing about the great times that had passed, trying to make sense of what just transpired three days ago, clueless about what was to come. Peter couldn’t get over having denied the Lord three times. John couldn’t get over the horrendous scene of the cross and the Lord crying out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me!” Had His Father whom He spoke of so often, so fondly, really forsaken Him? Was this the end of our amazing Teacher? We were heartbroken and distraught, burdened with guilt that we had all abandoned Him out of fear.

It is in the midst of all this pain and confusion that suddenly… He appeared in our midst! Yes, the Lord Himself! And then He said those words… “Peace to you!” To be honest, we were terrified! He comforted us like only He can and then asked to eat with us! Oh, it was the good old days again, but not just the good old days, things were just about to take another drastic turn. But this time it wouldn’t be one of fear, it would be a glorious turn.

As He had promised, in the days that followed, the Holy Spirit began to bring to our remembrance all that He had taught us (John 14:26). He had said that He will give us His peace; a peace that isn’t like the world’s (John 14:27). He said that we will continue to have troubles in this world, but that He had spoken these things so that we might have peace and trust that He had overcome the world (John 16:33).

We began to recall that when He was born, the angels sang a glorious song, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased” (Luke 2:14). And we recalled that many times when He would perform miracles, He would tell people to “Go in peace” (Luke 7:50, Luke 8:48).

When we were young, we were taught that the Messiah would be the Prince of Shalom; the Prince of Peace; a peace that will not end (Is. 9:6-7). And the Prophet Isaiah also taught us that God gives perfect peace to those who steadfastly set their minds on Him (Is. 26:3). And we sang with David, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Psalms 4:8).

Now we can go into the world, face rulers, hardships, persecutions, prisons and death to deliver the Gospel of Peace, for the Prince of Peace is with us and dwells in us!

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My friends, this peace, “shalom” in Hebrew and “eiréné” in Greek is so much more than what usually comes to mind when we think of peace. This peace is not just the opposite of war, neither is it some emotional state that fluctuates with our fluctuating circumstances. This peace that the Lord has given us, is truly one which transcends all understanding, as the Apostle Paul described it (Php 4:7).

This peace means a unity of things that are scattered or confused. Isn’t that how we usually feel when we are worried? Don’t we feel confused, lost, and at many times can’t find words to describe how we feel? It’s like we are out of tune with ourselves. Peace is the sense of harmony that we long for in our off-tune world. Sin disrupted the beautiful symphony that God had created; creating enmity between man and God, man and neighbor, man and creation, and man with himself. As Timothy Keller puts it, “Sin disrupts shalom.”

That is why the Prince of Peace Himself came, leaving us a Gospel of Peace; the good news that harmony can be restored again to our lives through our unity with Him! The Prince of Peace brings everything scattered back together in Himself; for through His death on our behalf on the cross, Christ in whom “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell… reconciled to Himself all things… making peace by the blood of the cross” (Col 1:19-20).

When we experience this peace, we will experience an inner harmony that cannot be described in words. Without understanding this unfathomable peace, we will never understand how Paul was able to speak of joy and peace while in chains, or how Paul and Silas were praying and singing in prison, or how Peter was sleeping in such peace in prison that the angel had to strike him to wake him up!

Oh my friends, how we need such peace during these tumultuous times! As we approach Easter in a season of uncertainty, let us not lose sight of the uncertainty that the first disciples had and the true lasting peace that Jesus left them and us. If you have not yet experienced this peace, it is not far from you! The Prince of Peace invites you into relationship with Him; a relationship that will totally transform your life!

And for those of you who have experienced this peace but it seems to have drifted away or been clouded over by panic, He understands and is waiting for your return and will surely restore your peace.

May we be filled with “great joy” as the disciples who saw the resurrected Jesus felt (Luke 24:52) and may we be faithful ambassadors who “put on the readiness given by the Gospel of peace” (Eph 6:15) to a distraught world at such a time as this.

Only then will we be able to sing David’s harmonious psalms, like Psalm 91, from a truly harmonious soul.

* This blog post is also available in Arabic.