"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:14 (KJV)

As we light our second candle of Advent this week we celebrate Peace.

“Peace on earth”— a common Christmas slogan that can leave us a bit confused and depressed as we look around our world today and see anything but peace on earth.

In my deep study of peace this week, I found it interesting God, using a choir of His angels, announced His “peace on earth” through the advent of Jesus to shepherds. (Luke 2:14) 

Shepherds have always been an integral part of the Christmas story. We read about them in books, they show up in the stanzas of well-known Christmas songs and there’s bound to be a few church members dressed up like them in Christmas plays across the world this season. 

But I never considered why God proclaimed the good news to these shepherds until this year.

One of the beauties of being a Christian today is we have the whole story from start to finish tucked within the pages of the Bible open in our laps. 

And as I flipped the pages past Jesus’ birth, past His earthly ministry, His crucifixion, and resurrection in my pursuit of studying peace, I found myself in Philippians 4:7 where Paul is writing about it and the irony of his wording stood out to me:

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philip. 4:7 (ESV)

The word guard then prompted a memory of a verse I recently studied in 1 Peter 2:25 (NLT) where Peter tells us that Jesus is our Shepherd and Guardian of our souls.

Like the earthly shepherds who were “keeping watch over their flock” throughout that very dark night in Judea (Luke 2:8), our Great Shepherd guards our souls, hearts, and minds with the peace of God throughout the day and night as well.

So what does “peace on earth” really mean?

As I see the story of God’s peace flow within His Great Book, it’s as if God chose these lowly shepherds that night for a clear message for us today:

See how they guarded and cared deeply for their flocks they were watching that night? 
Well I’m giving you my Great Shepherd born this night as the Guardian of your soul and He cares deeply for you. 
So as you’re living out life today in anything but peace on earth, as conflicts arise within your relationships, wars are breaking out, and evil is spreading rampantly, the peace on earth brought by the advent of My Son reconciles you, as a sinner, to Me Your Holy God.
And through this peace you will have the Holy Spirit indwell within you so you can live with an inner peace that “surpasses all understanding.” 
My child, I have sent My Child, The Prince of Peace, to guard your soul from the prince of this world. 

As God spoke this message into the depths of my heart this week, my soul sang out the beginning of this angelic song the angels sang that glorious night…. Gloria in excelsis Deo! Glory to God in the highest!

So we know Jesus brought this peace, so how do we get it? 

If you’ve never accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, please receive Him today. Believe in faith that He is God’s Son born on earth to take on the penalty of your sins through His death on the cross and redeem you with God.

And if you are a Christian, yet living without peace, Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) how to find it:

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Friend, there won’t be true “peace on earth” until Jesus returns in His second Advent when He will make all things right again. But I pray you can find His first Advent “peace on earth” and let it stand guard over your hearts, souls, and minds this Christmas season. Gloria in excelsis Deo!

God, we thank You for the gift of Your Son and the peace we can have with You because of Him. I pray right now for anyone who doesn't know Jesus as their Savior that they will accept His free gift of salvation today. And Lord, I also pray for my friend who may be struggling today as a Christian but struggling to find Your peace. I pray the Holy Spirit will wrap His arms around her and lead her to You where she can find the peace Jesus freely came to give and that surpasses all understanding. In Jesus' name, Amen.