Isaiah 7-11
The gospel works miracles that fix the broken, heal the hurting, and restore the fallen. I’ve seen the gospel bring a supernatural peace that cannot be explained apart from a working of God. I’ve watched as decaying marriages find hope and strength again. I’ve watched children learn to love neglectful parents, parents be reconciled to wayward children, and entire families start over again when they get saved.
As a pastor, I shepherded members who differed, fought, struggled, repented, and reconciled when the gospel grabbed them. I’ve watched new believers return to people they’ve harmed to ask for forgiveness and healing. I’ve even read of people who were jailed for their faith, but who sought a relationship with their jailers for the sake of the gospel.
More personally, I’ve ministered to people whose internal agonies have found peace when they met Christ, the Immanuel, “God with us.” I, too (and perhaps you) have experienced that peace that gives hope in life and security in death – that is, a peace that affects eternity.
All of this is the work of the one Isaiah called the “Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6). Somehow, the baby born of a virgin in Bethlehem brings a peace the world cannot understand nor duplicate. That’s a sweet, gracious gift to us.
RESPONSE: Lean on the Prince of Peace today.