Peace on Earth, Good Will To Men
As we go into the Christmas season, we will hear many voices raised in song to the peace and joy God desired for people, his special creation. The reality was that few recognized the Savior who brought that peace. (Luke 19:42) Coming to His special city Jerusalem at the end of His earthly life, Jesus broke down and wept. Instead of peace, judgment would come. Jesus could see the city in ruins because they had rejected the payment of the Holy God for their sins…. “you didn’t know the moment when God was visiting you.” (Luke 19:44)
In the Old Testament, the prophet Elisha looked intently at Hazael and wept. (II Kings 8:12) Elisha could see that Hazael would become the king of Aram and butcher many Israelites. As we look into the faces we pass, can we see the pain that sin is causing in their lives? The horror of an eternity without Christ? Does what we read in the newspaper and see on the news break our hearts, and move us to prayer? I remember weeping bitterly as I read about the life of a man who organized the abortion clinic in State College because I was moved by his pain.
Our God is a Holy God, who hates what sin does to His creation. In the next scene Jesus is driving out the money changers in His fury. (Luke 19:45-46) Perversion of what was to be the house of prayer violated God’s house and separated Gentiles from the opportunity to worship as the Gentile court was taken over as a robber’s den. Do people who peddle sin in our communities make us angry? What will we do about it? Will we pray for them this Christmas season, and offer them the peace that God so graciously has given us? (John 1:12)
Carol
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