Prince of Peace!

For Friday, March 15, 2024:

Isaiah 9:6 NLT, speaking as a prophet of the Lord: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor (or Wonderful, Counselor), Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah isn’t all gloom and doom. He speaks of the Lord enlarging the nation of Israel, and its people celebrating, full of joy, like at harvest time. God will bring the Israelites out of slavery and lift burdens from them. The Lord will cause other nation’s aggression to cease.

Verse 5 is one of my favorites: “The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire.” In other words, wars will end; violence will cease. People will no longer have to live in perpetual fear.

I pray that wars could end. If Russia would just go home, Ukraine could start rebuilding! If Hamas would release the hostages, Israel would lose motivation to continue the fighting. Israel wants to eliminate Hamas, who attacked Israel, killed over 1,100, wounded another 3,400, and captured about 240 hostages, with 130 individuals still being held prisoner. Most Palestinians don’t like Hamas either. Hamas is the reason Israel attacked Gaza resulting in the death of over 31,000, mostly innocent civilians. The rest of the world has condemned all the fighting and killing.

Jesus arrived to shine a light into a dark world. The Bible says that in the end, governments will bow down to Jesus, not the other way around! “Everlasting Father” describes Jesus. The Good News is that he is eternal! He’s also the “Prince of Peace,” Prince of a joyful world!

We should all put our faith, hope and trust in the Prince of Peace!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship