World Peace Lk 2:14 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

Many people are praying for world peace. Many others are looking for world peace. There are 3 things missing for world peace.

During this season, people often quote or misquote, as the case may be, the verse found in Lk. 2:14, which says, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”  The verse is often misquoted as, “… and on earth peace toward men of good will.”  That is a major change.  Nonetheless, the peace men desire and that was spoken of here is elusive.

It seems that the more the world talks about world peace, the more guns go off and bombs explode.  Every peace treaty ever signed between nations has been broken, with the exception of maybe one or two.  The reason is that we do not and will not have peace on earth until three requirements are met.  Those requirements are found in the Bible.

We will not have peace on earth without:

1. Glory to God – Lk 2:14. Men glorify themselves and their accomplishments, not God.  In Rom 1:21, we find, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”  And since God does not get the glory, men don’t get the peace they desire. In this country, every attempt is being made to remove God from the public eye and ear.  With an attitude like that, things are going to get pretty rough.

2. Purity – Jas. 3:17. In this verse, purity precedes peace.  Likewise, in the earth, purity will precede peace.  When a society becomes impure, it eventually gets destroyed.  Look at Sodom and Gomorrah, for example.  Look what happened to Israel when it went into idolatry and sexual immorality.  As Titus 1:15 says, “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”

3. Righteousness – Heb. 7:2. In this verse, Melchizedec was the king of Salem.  Thus his name means first, King of righteousness, then king of peace.  Therefore, unless you first have righteousness, you will not have peace.  The men in this earth are incapable of producing righteousness.  As the Bible says, “there is none righteous, no, not one,” (Rom 3:10).  And because men are unrighteous, the Bible also says that the whole world lieth in wickedness (1 Jn 5:19).  Hence, the peace men desire escapes them though they say they want it.

When we see these three things in the earth, then and only then will we have peace on earth.  But since men refuse to give glory to God, to be pure and to be righteous, the more they pursue peace, the bloodier the wars become.  As 1 Thes. 5:3 says, “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”  So, rather than look for peace on earth, you might want to keep your eyes open for “sudden destruction.”  It’s coming.

Consequently, what are we to do about this problem?  Well, for Christians, there is only one thing we can do.  Keep “your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,” (Eph 6:15).  While we can’t bring peace to the earth, we can bring peace to the individual.  If we will tell others about Jesus, they can receive him.  And when they receive him, they will have peace, individually.

They can have:

• “Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. 5:1;
• “The fruit of the Spirit [which] is love, joy, peace…” Gal. 5:22; and
• “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” Phil. 4:6-7.

Conclusion: With a peace like that we can wait for the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6) to show up and bring us the peace in this world that everyone says they are looking for.  Following the terrible destruction of the Tribulation, Jesus Christ will set up a kingdom of peace in which there is glory to God, purity and righteousness.  Therefore, we will be without war in this earth for 1000 years straight. At the end of that 1000 years, there will be one more war in which the devil is cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:7-10) and then we will have peace for eternity.  Praise God!