Why isn't peace on the earth?

by Barbara Latta

Glory to god in the highest and on earth, peace and good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).

This verse is quoted each Christmas and  interpreted as if Jesus’ birth would bring peace to the earth. But the angels were saying that peace has been given from God to mankind because the Savior had been born to bring peace between God and man. The wrath of God against sin was poured out at the cross (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Jesus absorbed the wrath of God against mankind’s sin because God loved His creation so much He Himself paid the price which was death.

The angels proclaimed the birth of the Son of God to bring peace to men not peace to the earth. Jesus Himself said he came to not to bring peace but a sword; a sword dividing people who believe and those who do not (Matthew 10:34).

Shootings abound all over the country. Politicians call for gun control as if taking weapons away from people who are already breaking the law would cause them to obey the law to get rid of their guns.

After the tragedy in California this week headlines in papers have said “Why isn’t God doing

anything about it; He isn’t answering prayers.”

What these uninformed people do not realize is God gave control of the earth to Adam and Eve at creation (Genesis 1:28). They disobeyed God and gave the dominion God had bestowed upon them to Satan.

Satan retained that dominion on the earth until Jesus died and was resurrected. Christ went into hell to disarm the devil and buy back what mankind lost (Colossians 1:13). Before He ascended into heaven, Jesus gave His disciples the authority He had (Matthew 28:18-19).

The problem is we do not dig into the Word to find out what we have been given so therefore we do not use it. We act as if God is in heaven pulling the strings on puppets, so when something tragic happens it must be His fault.

God gave choice to man. Man can choose to do evil or good. When evil is the choice the populations blames God because He didn’t do anything about it. But God put us in charge of the earth (Psalm 115:16) and we are not doing enough to stop the spread of evil. We can’t simply fold our hands and pray to God to stop things. We need to pray for revelation

knowledge of what we need to do ((Ephesians 1:17), stand on the Word for protection (Psalm 91), and spread the gospel around the world to change people’s hearts (Mark 16:15).

The earth will only have peace when the Prince of peace rules the earth (Revelation 21:3). Until then we must stand against evil and trust God for peace in our hearts. When more people have peace in their hearts, violence will stop.

God loves you and sent His Son to give us peace. Do you have peace in your heart? If not, all you have to do is ask Jesus to come in and forgive your sin. Then peace will be yours.

For more teaching on this subject, read Andrew Wommack's article, The War is Over.

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