Advent Day 22: Isaiah 9:1-7

Week 4: The Light of Peace

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, let us turn our eyes and our hearts toward the peace that Jesus brought into our lives through his birth, life, death and resurrection. This week, we’ll dig into the news of Jesus’ birth and discover how He has brought peace into our hearts.

Read & Journal

As you have the first three Sundays of Advent, turn your attention to Isaiah 9:1-7. Meditate on these verses.

• As you reread these familiar verses, does anything stick out to you that you hadn’t noticed before? Why does it stick out?

• Look over the list of Jesus’ characteristics you’ve been compiling each Sunday over the past few weeks. Is there anything you would add this week as you reread the passage?

• As you think over the past week, which aspects of His character has God displayed in your life? Take time to praise God for specific ways He has displayed those characteristics in your life this week.

• As you look over the passage, take note of any words or phrases that point to the idea of peace. How has Jesus been your peace this week?

Ponder

We often think of peace as the absence of conflict. In our minds, peace is a sense of tranquility and calmness. But in Scripture, the idea of peace has more to do with a sense of wholeness or completeness, even wellbeing. As such, it carries with it an idea of reconciliation, of the myriad parts being brought back together and becoming one. So, in the Bible, peace doesn’t simply denote a feeling; it points to wholeness and completeness, of taking action to restore a broken relationship.

Isaiah’s prophecy gives the Messiah the title “Prince of Peace” (v. 6) and declares that the peace the Messiah brings will be eternal (v. 7). To Isaiah’s immediate audience, a people living in great darkness, these words were meant to inspire hope. Light, joy, and end to war and conflict—these were all things the people longed for daily. And if we’re honest, they’re the things we long for too.

But the peace Jesus brought into the world—the peace He longs to give us—isn’t just some outward sense of calm, an end to conflict or a utopia where everyone suddenly magically gets along and thinks the same things. The peace Jesus gives us is first about wholeness. He wants to restore the broken relationship between us and God, and only Jesus, the only sinless one, can do that. Our sin oppresses and binds, but Jesus invites us to wholeness and freedom. While sin will ultimately destroy us, Jesus calls us to be restored—and that restoration can only be found in Him.

Peace is a reality, and it is only truly found in Jesus. This week as we prepare to celebrate His birth, let us also choose to rest in the peace that only He can provide. While the chaos of the world swirls around us, we can be whole and complete, peaceful because we’re resting in the One who is our peace.