BEATITUDES (9) Blessed Are the Peacemakers

​“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Mt 5:9)
 
Review
We’ve been talking about the 8 beatitudes Jesus taught on the Mount. Last Sunday, we focused on the sixth blessing. Jesus said,
 
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Mt 5:8).
 
As Christians, it’s very important to guard our hearts since they are where we meet God and everything we do flows from them. So, we’re to be very careful in guarding our hearts from sin and worldly things and in storing up good things from God in them since “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart…” (Lk 6:45).
 
To have pure hearts means that they are spotless without being polluted by sin or mixed with worldly things. In order to be pure in heart, we’re to rely on Jesus’ blood that washes away all our sins and purifies us. We can’t make ourselves clean. Only Jesus can do that. When it comes to the matter of sin, there’s nothing we can do.
 
But there are things that we can do to keep our hearts clean. We can try to keep them clean by casting down our idols that we love more than or put before God. James warns us about double-mindedness. To be double-minded means that we have two different things that are opposite to each other at the same time in our hearts.
 
We think we can love the world and God at the same time but the Bible says otherwise. James clearly reveals that being a friend of the world is the same as being an enemy of God, and friendship with the world means enmity against God. That’s because God wants our whole hearts, not a portion of them.
 
So, to keep our hearts pure, we need to rely on Jesus and remain in Him first, and remove every obstacle that hinders our relationship with God. That’s how we prepare for the day of Jesus’ return. When He comes back, we’ll be like Him in His resurrection and see God face to face. Those who have this hope purify themselves in accordance with God’s holiness.
 
Blessed Are the Peacemakers
All right. Now, let’s move on to the seventh beatitude. Let’s read today’s verse together again.
 
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Mt 5:9)
 
Here, we find one of the important characteristics that define being a Christian—peace. Christians can be defined as those who have peace with God and with others. But what does that mean?
 
The first thing that comes to mind when we think of the word ‘peace’ might be a state of mind. When everything is going well and there’s nothing to worry about, we feel peace.
 
But, even though God gives us that kind of peace in our minds, I don’t think that’s the kind of peace Jesus talks about here. What Jesus was referring to when He said that we’re to ‘make’ peace is the peace that exists in our relationships. So, peace in the Bible is more like a relational term.
 
The meaning of peace in the Bible refers to the state in which our relationships with God and others are good. It refers to a condition in which there are no obstacles between us and God or between us and those around us.
 
Peace with God
We’re often told that the most important thing in Christian life is our relationship with God and that’s true. When I listened to a lecture during Discipleship Training School, one of the speakers said that every problem we have essentially comes from broken relationships. After thinking about that statement, I couldn’t help but agree with it.
 
Every problem we go through on earth comes from relationships. Sin severed our relationship with God and it affected all the other relationships we have—with others, with ourselves, and with God’s creation.
 
We were made in the image of God to take care of others with love and respect according to God’s standard but sin makes us live a self-centered life, not God-centered, which causes many of the problems we see in relationships.
 
So, the most important relationship we have is our relationship with God. We live in this world with a lot of horizontal relationships—with ourselves, family members, friends, coworkers and so on.
 
All these horizontal relationships we have depend upon the one vertical relationship we have—our relationship with God. Only when our relationship with God is good, can we see who we truly are in Him and see others as His image, which makes us love and care for them. That’s why a peaceful relationship with God is the most important relationship we should keep building in Christian life.
 
The Obstacle: Sin
However, there’s one obstacle that keeps us from having a close relationship with God—sin.
 
The definition of sin is to turn away from God, denying His lordship over our lives. It doesn’t simply mean our outward actions because it essentially refers to our internal state of mind.
 
Sin is for us to be the lord of our own lives and sit in God’s place instead of Him while dragging Him down from His position as the Creator of the world. So, sin by nature severs our relationship with God. Just as darkness can’t coexist with light, those who remain in sin can never go closer to God, who is holy.
 
The prophet Isaiah said, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Is 59:2)
 
The apostle Paul asked, “what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Co 6:14).
 
The structure of the tabernacle and the temple of the Lord does a great job describing this separation. They both had a space called ‘the holy place’, which is divided into two parts—the holy place and the Most Holy Place, which is also called the Holy of holies.
 
In the Old Testament, even though priests could serve in the first part, no one could enter the second part except for the high priest, who was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place just one day a year on the Day of Atonement.
 
These two places were divided by a thick curtain, which clearly represents our separation from God because of sin.
 
Jesus Christ: An Atoning Sacrifice
However, the curtain was torn in two when Jesus Christ breathed His last breath on the cross, which means that the barrier of sin collapsed and consequently our relationship with God was restored.
 
Now in Christ Jesus, we can boldly go before God’s throne of grace and experience His presence deeply wherever we are, because He bore all our sins, shed His precious blood to pay the ransom for them, and died on the cross. That’s why the Bible calls Jesus ‘a sacrifice of atonement’ or ‘an atoning sacrifice.’
 
1 Jn 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1Jn 4:10)
 
Paul also said in Romans 3:25,
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood - to be received by faith…” (Rm 3:25)
 
These are important verses in understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ and the blessings it has brought us—especially in our relationship with God.
 
God presented His Son as a sacrifice of atonement. That means Jesus broke the thick barrier of sin by being crucified as a sacrifice of atonement. This reminds us of what happened on the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament.
 
On the Day of Atonement, one pure and spotless goat was sacrificed for all the Israelites’ sins. A high priest went into the Most Holy Place with the blood of the goat and sprinkled it on what’s called ‘the atonement cover.’ In doing so, all the Israelites’ sins were forgiven.
 
Here, both the high priest and the goat represent Jesus because He entered the Most Holy Place on our behalf as our eternal High Priest with His own blood to atone for all people’s sins. As Hebrews 9:11-12 says,
 
“When Christ came as high priest… He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (Heb 9:11-12)
 
And Hebrews 10:19-20 explains what happened as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice.
 
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body” (Heb 10:19-20)
 
This is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus obtained eternal redemption once for all by shedding His blood on the cross. By doing so, He opened a new and living way through the curtain through which we can also enter the Most Holy Place, where we can directly experience the presence of God.
 
We were sinners but now we’re children of God. We were dead, but now we’re alive. We lived in darkness, but God has brought us out of the darkness into the kingdom of light. All these changes happened when Jesus died on the cross as our atoning sacrifice. Since His blood perfectly atoned for all our sins, God can justify those who believe in Him without requiring them to pay the price for their sins, which would be impossible.
 
So, what Jesus’ sacrifice brought us is reconciliation with God. Here, reconciliation is a very important subject that’s directly connected to the concept of peace with God.
 
Reconciliation is where two different sides that are in conflict with each other become like one. That’s what we received in Christ. Sin brought separation, but the cross resulted in reconciliation. Sin severed our relationship with God and made a huge gap between us and God but the cross has laid a bridge that connects us with God again.
 
Paul said in Romans 5 and 2 Corinthians 5, and “we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation… one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people” (Rom 5:11, 18)
 
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ… God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them…” (2 Co 5:18-19)
 
We were sinners who deserved death, but we became alive because Jesus was punished on our behalf. The suffering of the cross was ours, but Jesus endured it to give us true peace with God. That’s what the prophet Isaiah proclaimed about the Messiah who would come as the suffering servant of God. Isaiah 53:5-6 says,
 
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Is 53:5-6).
 
We are able to enjoy peace because the punishment for our sins was placed on Jesus. Because He suffered on our behalf, we could be healed. Because Jesus experienced deep separation from God, as we know from when He shouted on the cross, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mk 15:34), now we can recover friendship with God.
 
Jesus Christ: Prince of Peace
So, Jesus is enough to be called the Prince of Peace. The prophet Isaiah said that a child would be born, a Son would be given, and He would be called Prince of Peace. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace because He has brought all people on earth peace with God.
 
The apostle Paul also said,
“He himself is our peace… He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Eph 2:14, 16-17)
 
Now, we have access to our heavenly Father on the foundation of the peace that Jesus achieved on the cross.
 
Paul also said in Romans 5,
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand…” (Rm 5:1-2)
 
All of these passages show what great peace we’ve received from God through Jesus Christ. Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us on the cross. He was cursed, nailed, abandoned, crushed, and speared on the cross.
 
That’s what we deserved. But Jesus gave us His great love by His grace, which we don’t deserve, so that we might not receive what we did deserve because of our sin.
 
That’s the Son of God whom we believe in. And we call Him not only Savior but also Lord. Then, how should we live on earth as those who have received this enormous grace and who enjoy peace with God through Jesus Christ?
 
We’re to live as peacemakers on earth, following the example of Jesus. That’s how we who come to have access to God and call Him ‘Abba, Father’ through Jesus Christ should live. That’s what we’ll discuss next Sunday.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Closing Prayer]
Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us this opportunity to listen to Your Word. We want to thank You for sending Jesus to pay for our sins. We thank you for the sacrificial love Your Son showed on the cross. We profess that Jesus is the only way through which we can have a peaceful relationship with You.
 
God of peace, please fill our hearts with Your love and peace so that we can be peacemakers who deliver the peace Jesus has given us to those around us.
 
Allow us to be more aware of Your presence so that we boldly go before You, relying on the precious blood of Jesus Christ that completely atoned for all our sins. Let us be filled with Your peace so that it can overflow wherever we are, and so that all those around us can also experience heavenly peace through us.
 
We thank you and love you, Lord. We pray in the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1. Have you experienced deep peace with God in your life? When? How has it affected your other relationships?
 
2. What are some obstacles that keep you from deeply experiencing God’s presence and peace with Him in your life nowadays? How do you think you can recover them?