The Prince of Peace

The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, had a vision of the coming of a Prince of Peace. He wrote:

A child has been born for us, a son given to us;
Authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named
Wonder Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace
For the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness
From this time onward and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this (Isaiah 9.6-7)

When Isaiah first spoke these words, there was much darkness. The Assyrian king, Tiglath-pileser III, in the years 734-732 BC, had conquered the northern provinces of Israel, Zebulun and the land of Napthtali (Isaiah 9.1) and had turned them into Assyrian provinces. Yet amidst the darkness Isaiah declared that light will come to Israel’s darkness. Indeed, he was so certain of the coming of light that he used what is known as a ‘prophetic past tense’ and spoke of it as a present event. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9.2). Isaiah described the coming of the Messiah in terms of light bursting forth on the darkness of Galilee (Isaiah 9.1). However, the light that came to the darkness of northern Israel was not restricted to Israel. For Jesus came to bring light to the world in general. In the words of John, “In him was life and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and darkness did not overcome it” (John 1.4-5).

Yet in our present world there is still much darkness. Wars continue to abound. Currently the bloodiest war in Europe is the war in Ukraine. According to Wikipedia, more than 12,000 Ukrainian solders have been killed. However, this bears no relationship to the number of Russian soldiers who have died in that war. It is estimated that almost 2 million Russian soldiers have died. Then in the Democratic Republic of Congo some 6 million have been killed. To quote the First World poet, Robert Graves, “War’s Hell!”. War is such a dreadful business, for it only brings pain, misery and waste. To quote another First World War poet, G.A. Studdert Kennedy:

Waste of Muscle, waste of Brain,
Waste of Patience, waste of Pain,
Waste of Manhood, waste of Health,
Waste of Beauty, waste of Wealth,
Waste of Blood, and waste of Tears,
Waste of Youth’s most precious years,
Waste of ways the Saints have trod,
Waste of Glory, waste of God – War!

In my father’s family, his father, George Beasley, was a gunner with the rank of Seargent in the Anti-Aircraft Section of the Royal Garrison Artillery. Sadly he died at the age of 27 following an accident involving a military lorry. My father’s mother then married George Murray. He too was in the British Army and fought at Gallipoli. He returned severely wounded. He had been through some of the worst battles and suffered from the effect of having been gassed. What’s more, I can remember tiny fragments of shrapnel which had entered his forehead in that battle and which for years kept on emerging as he combed his hair. War is indeed a dreadful business.

As Christians we long for the day when the Prince of Peace will establish his kingdom and “uphold it with justice and with righteousness”. How we long for the day when people “shall beat their swords into ploughshare, and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war no more” (Isaiah 2.4: see also Micah 4.3). We long for the day when “death will be no more, mourning and crying will be no more” (Revelation 21.4).