Marching With the Prince Of Peace

Posted on December 13, 2023 by Elizabeth Welte in Freedom Fighters

“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” – Isaiah 11:1-2 (NKJV)

 

Allow me to start this off with a prayer for illumination, written by 16^th century theologian and author of The Heidelberg Catechism, Zacharias Ursinus. “Heavenly Father, may you grant us to comprehend Your Holy Word according to Your divine will, that we may learn from it to put all our confidence in You alone, and withdraw it from all other creatures; moreover, that also our old man with all his lusts may be crucified more and more each day, and that we may offer ourselves to You as a living sacrifice, to the glory of Your holy name and to the edification of our neighbor, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen”

 

Have you ever noticed that the Bible isn’t arranged by topic? If it were, then you could easily go to all the places where we would see what God has to say specifically about any particular topic. With the season of Advent upon us, and this being the week of “Peace,” you could just go to the right-hand side of your Bible, and pull on the colorful tab that takes you right to Isaiah 11:1, where you will read how God’s redemptive plan of salvation is gonna get it’s jump start. The NKJV puts it like this, “And a Shoot goes out from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” Now the Book of Isaiah isn’t the only place you’ll find God’s plan of salvation (there’s Genesis 3 to consider) but it would probably be one of the verses you find under the topic of peace.

 

However, if we want topical stuff to read then a good devotional book, or two, could be useful with your Advent mediations. I’m going through Paul David Tripp’s Come Let Us Adore Him and a liturgy compiled by Jonathan Gibson titled, O Come, O Come Emmanuel this year. And the funny thing with them is the coincidence (ha-ha) of topic, and it’s a topic that I’ve called “Marching with the Prince of Peace.” Tripp’s devo for today speaks to how we can see the march of God’s grace throughout the Old Testament despite His people being disloyal and rebellious. Gibson’s compilation contains all the familiar battle cries for that march.

 

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.” – Isaiah 1:18

 

Tripp will go on to say how the life of Jesus was a march as well and that the destination of that march was written into the very plot of God’s redemptive story. Gibson will share the Nicene Creed, within it, the very purpose of that destination. If you know your Scriptures, you see that 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 clearly speaks to this as well. So, a march that starts with God knowing that He was going to make atonement for us, first by showing Adam and Eve that it takes a bloody sacrifice because of sin, to the crowds who surrounded Jesus as He cried out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”, as God the Father shows the world what He was willing to sacrifice so His creation could be cleansed of its sin. When you take it all in, “Ho-Ho-Ho, Merry Christmas” seems so light weight of a battle cry doesn’t it?

 

But then there’s this question in the Gibson compilation that lends itself from the pages of The Heidelberg Catechism, question #37 to be exact, “What do you understand by the word “suffered?”  At first, the question seems to ask us about our suffering, but it is the furthest thing from it. It speaks to what Jesus had to suffer and that the march to it was well beyond the Via Dolorosa. The worded answer starts with, “That during His whole life on earth…” If you know your Scripture, then you know that being born in a manger was tough, and having Herod the Great wanting you dead because three wise men told him that a prophecy had come true, was a whole different situation.

 

Tripp will begin to wrap up his devotional for today with this statement, “The Christmas story is about a God of glorious grace on the march, invading human history with the grace of redemption.” And what better way to lead that march than with this battle cry from Galatians 4:4-7, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

 

Amen?

 

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris is a child of El Elyon, a son, a husband, a father, and has recently become a grandpop. He has an education in Biblical doctrine and is a graduate of The Colony of Mercy, 11/2003. He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net.

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This Week’s Verse to Memorize:  “The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of salvation; The fear of the Lord is His treasure.” Isiah 33:5-6