HOPE OF ALL THE EARTH
On Earth Peace
December 11, 2025
SCRIPTURE
LUKE 2:13-14
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
LUKE 2:13-14
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
December 25, 1914, is perhaps one of the most famous Christmas Days in history. Known as the "Christmas truce," soldiers all along the Western Front of World War I climbed out of their trenches and crossed over No Man's Land to exchange prisoners, food, and even small gifts. They also sang carols, had joint burial services, and even played a famous football match.
One German officer recorded, "So after all, the Christmas festival--the festival of love--caused the hated enemies to be friends for a short time." Unfortunately, it truly was only for a short time. Within days the truce was a mere memory, and the increasingly bitter conflict had begun again. Indeed, the following year, as the war went on, such truces were fewer and rarer, and by 1916, they were all but nonexistent.
It has been estimated that, since 1939, there have been only twenty-six days of continuous, unbroken peace across this planet—and some scholars believe that figure to be optimistic.
Up until the twentieth century, there was a widespread belief that humankind was morally evolving and that, very soon, war would be obsolete and we would truly know peace on earth. In a horrifying refutation of that belief, the twentieth century was undoubtedly the bloodiest in human history, with two global wars and innumerable localised conflicts. Even at the time of this writing, conflict rages in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, and various other places besides—perhaps even frighteningly close to the homes of those reading these words.
In light of all this human-generated violence, the angelic promise of peace seems laughable, insane, impossible; in fact, it may even seem offensive—until we realise that the peace of which the angels assure us is something far deeper and far higher than simply an absence of conflict between nations. This peace is even greater and more significant than good relations with those around us on a personal level.
The peace the angels promised with the birth of Christ is peace between God and the people God loves. It is the re-creation, the remaking, the re-forging of a relationship that was broken by the fall of humanity. It is the enabling, by grace, to live in union with God, no longer alienated from him, no longer running and hiding from him like Adam and Eve did. It is the knowledge that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus; the certainty that in his amazing love, lavished upon us, we should be called children of God; the absolute assurance that nothing we could ever face, nothing we could ever do, nowhere we could ever go will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This peace is not merely the absence of conflict. It's not a tenuous treaty signed between nations or a football match played between warring trenches. It is peace with God--the healing of a wound that stretches back to Eden, the restoration of that which was once so terribly broken. This peace is available in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, even if we are in the middle of a warzone. It can't be stolen from us, and we can't be excluded from it because it has been perfectly won for us by Christ.
One German officer recorded, "So after all, the Christmas festival--the festival of love--caused the hated enemies to be friends for a short time." Unfortunately, it truly was only for a short time. Within days the truce was a mere memory, and the increasingly bitter conflict had begun again. Indeed, the following year, as the war went on, such truces were fewer and rarer, and by 1916, they were all but nonexistent.
It has been estimated that, since 1939, there have been only twenty-six days of continuous, unbroken peace across this planet—and some scholars believe that figure to be optimistic.
Up until the twentieth century, there was a widespread belief that humankind was morally evolving and that, very soon, war would be obsolete and we would truly know peace on earth. In a horrifying refutation of that belief, the twentieth century was undoubtedly the bloodiest in human history, with two global wars and innumerable localised conflicts. Even at the time of this writing, conflict rages in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, and various other places besides—perhaps even frighteningly close to the homes of those reading these words.
In light of all this human-generated violence, the angelic promise of peace seems laughable, insane, impossible; in fact, it may even seem offensive—until we realise that the peace of which the angels assure us is something far deeper and far higher than simply an absence of conflict between nations. This peace is even greater and more significant than good relations with those around us on a personal level.
The peace the angels promised with the birth of Christ is peace between God and the people God loves. It is the re-creation, the remaking, the re-forging of a relationship that was broken by the fall of humanity. It is the enabling, by grace, to live in union with God, no longer alienated from him, no longer running and hiding from him like Adam and Eve did. It is the knowledge that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus; the certainty that in his amazing love, lavished upon us, we should be called children of God; the absolute assurance that nothing we could ever face, nothing we could ever do, nowhere we could ever go will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This peace is not merely the absence of conflict. It's not a tenuous treaty signed between nations or a football match played between warring trenches. It is peace with God--the healing of a wound that stretches back to Eden, the restoration of that which was once so terribly broken. This peace is available in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, even if we are in the middle of a warzone. It can't be stolen from us, and we can't be excluded from it because it has been perfectly won for us by Christ.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION OR DISCUSSION
Have you heard before about the Christmas truce during WWI? What are your thoughts on it?
If peace is not simply an absence of conflict, then what is it?
Sometimes those who work for peace are called "divisive." Is it divisive to work actively for peace? Why or why not?
Have you heard before about the Christmas truce during WWI? What are your thoughts on it?
If peace is not simply an absence of conflict, then what is it?
Sometimes those who work for peace are called "divisive." Is it divisive to work actively for peace? Why or why not?
PRAYER
Write a prayer about the kind of peacemaker you would like to be.
Write a prayer about the kind of peacemaker you would like to be.