Where is True Peace?

“Ah! soul, are you here without comfort or rest, marching down the rough pathway of time? Make Jesus your Friend ere the shadows grow dark. Oh, accept this sweet peace so sublime! Peace! Peace! Wonderful peace! Coming down from the Father above! Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray, in fathomless billows of love.” – This is the content of Hymn 469. The lyrics of this Hymn enable us to realize that True Peace is found only within Jesus.

I. The spiritual peace and physical peace.
The Jewish people refer to peace as “Shalom.” This denotes that this peace is coming from the ‘grace of God.’ The Romans refer to peace as “Pax,” which denotes the feeling of triumph, peace and stability experienced when they conquered the world with the power. Hence, “Shalom,” the peace that the Jewish people refer to is a spiritual peace and an emotional peace. On the contrary, “Pax” that the Romans refer to is the physical peace created by power. Because “peace” in English originated from Pax from Romans, this also denotes physical and quantitative peace. Even though the word “peace” may look the same, we can see from the word origin that the characteristic and the content are totally different. The world today is desperately trying for peaceful coexistence, but that is “peace” ruled by power and not “Shalom.” True “Shalom” cannot be established with the theory such as “weapons limitation agreement,” “reduction of military spending,” or the “balance of military power.” The “Shalom” that the love and grace of God dwell in cannot be established there. In 1973, Henry Kissinger, the United States Secretary of State and Le Duc Tho, the representative of Vietnam received the Nobel Peace Prize for their achievements in entering into a Peace Treaty. However, we know today that their Peace Treaty did not give true peace to the people of Vietnam. It is because “Shalom” which consists of God given peace and love cannot be established at the political negotiation tables or exchange. Thus, the world we live in may seem like stable and peaceful on the outside, but when we look deep into it, we know that all of us have issues, problems, and concerns, and are under uncomfortable circumstances. Hence, there may be “Pax” of the Romans but not “Shalom” of the Jews.

II. Diseased peace and true peace.
There are diseased peace and the true peace on this earth. I will shed light on them through the images of our Lord. Jesus wept 3 times—once when he saw the City of Jerusalem, once when Lazarus died and also at the Mount Gethsemane. We can say that the reason that Jesus wept for Lazarus was due to a personal affection. The tears shed at the Mount Gethsemane were spiritual and religious tears. We can say that the tears shed when Jesus wept for the City of Jerusalem are patriotic tears for the love for his people and his nation. The City of Jerusalem seemed like a beautiful city filled with peace on the outside, but the City of Jerusalem that our Lord Jesus saw was not the City of Peace. It was a city that was making its steps closer toward destruction. Maybe it was peaceful but Jesus saw diseased peace, and the people were living under the misconception that this peace was healthy and everlasting peace when it was really a diseased peace. That was why Jesus shed tears with such saddened heart. The people of Jerusalem did not realize that the city that they live in was critically ill. We must remember and understand that when we say that Jerusalem was diseased, the people who live there are diseased as well. Moreover, the reason that our generation is diseased is because all of us are diseased; and the church is corrupt and diseased because the people who are entering and exiting the church are corrupt and diseased. Ultimately, the City of Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the Armed Forces led by General Titus of Rome, and more than 1 million Jewish people were ghastly killed. Do you see the tears of Jesus shed when he saw this scene of destruction 70 years prior and wept toward the City of Jerusalem?

III. What is the way to abandon diseased peace and acquire true peace?
We now live on the thin ice created by diseased peace. The household as well as the businesses are like that. The lives of the people in this nation are like that. The City of Sodom and Gomorrah are old stories of the past. The wickedness that is a few hundred folds denser than what was like in Sodom and Gomorrah are overlaid and deeply penetrated in the cities of Korea. The morals of the people are corrupt, the relationship between a man and a woman, and the value of sexuality have been collapsed and only distrust, jealousy, envy, hatred and selfishness for one another remain. We see in Lk 19:28 that Jesus is entering into the City of Jerusalem riding on a colt. This is the procession that Jesus is entering as the Prince of Peace into the City of Jerusalem that lost peace. However, the people of Jerusalem paid absolutely no attention to the peace that Jesus is bringing into the city. It means that they only paid attention to the man-made peace but paid absolutely no attention to Jesus. If so, how do we abandon diseased peace and acquire true peace? It is to pray while loving only God and the Word of God contained in both Testaments. When we do that, we can overcome ourselves, defeat wickedness and defeat our enemy Satan the Devil. Because we have Jesus the Prince of Peace in our hearts, all of us can enjoy healthy peace and blessed lives.

Conclusion:
Jesus said in Jn 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” We must accept Jesus into our hearts and receive “Shalom” that contains True Peace, the everlasting consolation of our Lord, love and true stability as a gift. I sincerely hope that the blessings of Shalom, the True Peace that God gives will fill all of us, our households, families and the church.