Advent 2025: Peace
Advent dox
Call to worship:
OT:
pastor bobby owens
Isaiah 40.1-11
NT:
pastor andrew loginow
Romans 15.4-13, collect, & candle
song:
hark the herald
Historical reading:
pastor zachary mcguire
apostles creed
song:
o holy night
Confession & Pardon:
dr. brett eckel
song:
Sing we the song of Emmanuel
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Advent 2025: Peace
Introduction
Advent is a season of anticipation. We’re anticipating Christmas. We’re all anticipating Christmas in different ways, aren’t we? Kids are anticipating presents on Christmas morning.
Maybe you’re anxiously anticipating the fights about politics, or religion, or which family gets preference for the Christmas gathering. Maybe you’re anticipating the grief of a lonely holiday, or another Christmas without that dear loved one – the one without whom Christmas hasn’t been the same. We’re all anticipating Christmas, but what’s often missing in our anticipation is peace. Peace is a buzzword this time of year, but is often absent in our hearts, heads, and homes.
Every year on the 2nd Sunday of Advent we pause and consider the peace of Advent. Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, which means, “coming.” We begin each liturgical calendar together celebrating the coming, or advent, of the Lord Jesus. Much like Lent, during Advent each year we intentionally anticipate, we prepare, we force ourselves to feel the longing, the desire for the coming Christ.
Each Advent season we intentionally inhabit the anticipation, the longing, the desire of God’s old covenant people as they looked forward to the coming Messiah, the Christ. This was present from the garden all the way through the closing pages of the Old Testament and beyond, and we feel this anticipation, this longing, this desire in Isaiah’s prophecy. Isaiah ministered during the 8th century BC (740-680 BC) during a time of personal, liturgical, and political turmoil and uncertainty. David’s kingdom was divided between Judah and Israel, Assyria was on the rise and would take Israel captive in Isaiah’s day, and even worse the people of Israel were unfaithful to God, practicing pagan idolatry. Even those who did make right sacrifices to the Lord, did so not out of love and obedience to God, but out of rote cultural tradition – law-abiding sacrifices with hearts of stone.
Amid this personal and political uncertainty, the prophet Isaiah preaches the gospel of peace. Isaiah leaves us this massive anthology of the holiness, sovereignty, judgment, and grace of God. At the center of Isaiah’s tome is the Lord Jesus Christ, the coming King, the Son of David, the Suffering Servant, the one who will bring the new heavens and the new earth – the Prince of Peace.
Isa 9.6-7
We read from Isaiah 9.6-7, which predicts the birth of a child – for to us a child is born, to us a son is given. Some scholars say this was originally referring to Ahaz and his son Hezekiah, and while there may have been some immediate application, because Hezekiah was definitely better than Ahaz, we know this prophecy was not ultimately about Hezekiah because Hezekiah’s sin would lead to the Babylonian captivity. Not only that, but the titles given in verse 6 are not true of Hezekiah. This coming son would be Wonderful Counselor – he would not only give wisdom but would be wisdom himself. Many of Israel and Judah’s kings were intelligent, but foolish, including Hezekiah, but not this coming king, he is wisdom, the Wonderful Counselor.
Not only that, but this son will himself be Mighty God (אֵ֣ל גִּבּ֔וֹר)– identified with God Himself. He will also be Everlasting Father. Lest we fall into heresy, we must note this is not the Trinitarian title Father but speaks to protection and provision of a father. Unlike the kings of Isaiah’s day, this son, this king will protect his people and provide for his people. And this son will be Prince of Peace (שַׂר־שָׁלֽוֹם) – he will rule and reign in peace, not just for Israel, but for all nations.
This imagery of a son born, a child given, harkens us back to the 1st gospel promise of Genesis 3.15 – the protoevangelium: the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. The promise further developed in the covenant to Abraham that through him and his son all the nations of the earth would be blessed. The promise even further revealed in the covenant to King David who would have a son who would sit on his throne forever. The New Testament clearly reveals that all these promises are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The book of Isaiah is quoted over 20 times in the New Testament with Jesus as our guiding hermeneutical principle. Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor – Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1.24). Jesus is Mighty God – the Word who is God who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1.1, 14). Jesus is our Everlasting Father – the Good Shepherd who protects and provides for his people. And Jesus is the Prince of Peace – the royal one who brings peace with God by justification through faith (Rom 5.1) and who will bring peace to the world (Rev 21-22).
Isa 26.3-4, 12
Isaiah further develops the theme of this Prince and His peace in chapter 26. Verses 3-4 say:
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in yhwh forever for yh yhwh is an everlasting rock.
We can only experience the peace of this Prince, perfect peace if God keeps us. Peace always begins with God Himself; in humility we must acknowledge peace starts with God’s initiative. What we must do is keep our minds stayed on him. How do we keep our minds stayed on God?
Trust Him – trust in Him forever for He is an everlasting rock. Trust His promises. Trust the promise of promises – the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Trust in God is the only place we find peace.
Verse 12 says that the Lord will ordain peace for his people. Again, peace derives from God’s initiative – from His eternal decrees carried out in His works of creation and providence, His covenants, beginning with the covenant of redemption in eternity past through the New Covenant of Christ. Even to the point where all our works, the good works done by God’s people throughout the ages, these works of peace are done by God Himself. We can be tempted to opt for a smaller view of God than Isaiah reveals here because we’re proud; we like the idea of autonomy; we want to think that we’re responsible for the good we do, but this is actually good news for us because God will not let Himself down. God loves Himself too much to abdicate His own glory so we can know for sure that He will keep His promises; He will do good through His people, because He’s promised peace.
Isa 32.17-18
Later in Isaiah 32.17-18 the prophet turns the diamond slightly to reveal more glory of the Prince of Peace:
And the effect of righteousness will be peace and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
The people in Isaiah’s day were complacent toward God, but God promised He would pour out His Spirit on them and the result would be righteousness and the effect of this righteousness would be peace, quietness, and trust forever.
God’s promise was fulfilled when, at his baptism, the Father poured the Holy Spirit out on the Lord Jesus at the inauguration of his ministry. And then after Jesus ascended to Heaven, he poured the Holy Spirit out on his church at Pentecost. The effect of Jesus’ righteousness, his sinlessness – through his life, death, and resurrection – and his pouring of the Spirit is peace, quietness, and trust. We have peace with God. We can live quiet, obedient, faithful lives. God gives us trust in His Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.
We know our world is not at peace yet, but in our hearts, in our homes, in our church the peace of God has broken through. Pastor Kevin has quoted the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon who said, “Joy is peace dancing, and peace is joy resting.” Through the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration by the preaching of the gospel we have and live in peace – we have resting joy. Our homes, our church can be a peaceful resting place for weary suffers and sinners because by the Word and sacraments we experience the good news of peace with God.
Isa 52.7; 54.10; 55.12
Isaiah speaks of this good news in chapter 52.7:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
Those beautiful feet that brought good news – those beautiful baby feet that the virgin Mary labored and pushed and nursed. Those beautiful 12-year-old feet that taught good news in the temple. Those beautiful feet that went into the water to be baptized by John and then wandered out into the wilderness alone to be tempted. Those beautiful feet that healed the sick, fed the hungry, exorcised demons, and preached the gospel of God.
Those beautiful feet that walked up to the upper room to wash the feet of his disciples and broke the bread and raised the cup. Those beautiful feet that sweat like blood in Gethsemane. Those beautiful feet that were pierced as he suffered under Pontius Pilate. Those beautiful feet that were crucified, dead, and buried. Those beautiful feet that walked out of the tomb on the 3rd day.
Isaiah 54.10 says those beautiful feet would bring a covenant of peace. The new and final covenant. Isaiah 55.12 says that those beautiful feet will bring us out in joy and lead us forth in peace.
The New Testament makes clear to us that this good news of peace is that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. In Romans 10 St. Paul interprets the prophet’s words through the lens of Jesus:
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
The good news of peace is preached in the gospel, and our response is faith and repentance. We receive this good news by faith. We hear it so we know it. By God’s grace we assent to it, we confess it and do not deny it. And by God’s grace we trust Jesus – we rest in the Prince of Peace.
And we repent of sin. We humble ourselves; we crucify our pride. We confess our sin, and we turn from our sin. Every week, every day, every moment – faith and repentance. We breath in faith and we breath out repentance because the good news of Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection is not only the message of peace with God, but also the means to peace with God.
Conclusion
Each Advent season we intentionally inhabit the anticipation, the longing, the desire of God’s old covenant people as the looked forward to the coming Messiah, the Christ. We do this not only to rightly feel the joy of Christmas – the incarnation of the Son of God, but also because, like our Old Testament brothers and sisters, we’re waiting too, we’re anticipating too, we’re longing too, we desire too. We’re anticipating the 2nd advent, the 2nd coming of the Lord Jesus when he will raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new – “from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.”
We live in the time between the advents. We already experience peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, but we’re waiting, longing, anticipating, hoping for the day when the Lord Jesus returns to wipe away every tear from our eyes and make everything sad untrue. And that’s why the gospel of Jesus is such good news! The late Dr. Tim Keller said, “Easter proves that Christmas is real.” Easter also proves that the 2nd coming of Christ is real. The Prince of Peace has come, and the Prince of Peace is coming again.