Our Prince of Peace

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men! Luke 2:14

Isaiah tells us that Jesus will be our Prince of Peace, and just like the Jewish people waiting for the Messiah’s arrival, we truly do not understand who He truly is and came to be to us. Using today’s definition of the word peace, we see Jesus as bringing with Him freedom from conflict and war and instead instituting tranquility in all areas of our lives. It’s like the Pharisees when they thought the Messiah was coming to free them from the Romans and bring freedom and peace. We only see Jesus bringing outside peace into this world.

Jesus’ Hebrew name for Prince of Peace is Sar Shalom, Sar meaning prince, chief, captain, principal, someone in authority. But literally it translates as “one that turns the head.” And for most people in power, their position means they can turn peoples heads to their will. However Sar is also the root word in the name Sarah. Now Sarah wasn’t a princess or captain or over anyone, but the lady did turn heads of those in power. Two Pharaohs when they saw her wanted her for their harams and she was in her 60’s and near 90 at the time. Sarah turned those in powers head because of her beauty.

Shalom is a word with great depth. It means to restore, make something whole and complete. When you put the two words together you have a Prince that will turn peoples heads and He can make them whole, complete and restore them to their fulness. A much better definition that describes Jesus giving us peace not from the outside in, but from the inside out. As a matter of fact in John 14:27 Jesus tells us that He has given us His very own peace, a peace that the world will never understand without a relationship with Jesus. That peace that will never leave us nor forsake us, the kind of peace that can walk in this world without anxiety or stress.

This Christmas let’s turn some heads when people see His peace ruling in not only our lives, but in our hearts. When someone sees Him, they will want to have what we have, a relationship with Jesus. And we can tell them about the greatest Christmas gift they can give themselves. Let’s pray for opportunities to be able to show people the true Prince of Peace and celebrate Christmas as it was always intended to be.