NAMES AND TITLES OF CHRIST
PRINCE OF PEACE
DR. JIM DIXON
ISAIAH 9:6-7
SEPTEMBER 21, 1997
With the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, on August 31 of this year, the House of Windsor is said to be in shambles. The Queen, Elizabeth II, is described as aloof and out of touch with her own people. Her son, Prince Charles, has fallen out of favor with the people in the wake of his public acknowledgement of his own adultery with Camilla Parker Bowles. Some say that he is unsuited for the throne.
Prince William and Prince Harry wait in the wings and Diana is bigger in death than she ever was in life. But some believe that the British monarchy with its thousand-year-old throne is teetering on the brink of extinction. But, of course, this is not so. The British monarchy will continue simply because the western world is enamored with royalty.
Even here in the United States, many people are absolutely fascinated with kings and queens and princes and princesses. Of course, the British monarchy has no real power. Even over its own people, the British monarchy has no true power. For most people in the United States of America, the British monarchy is simply an idle curiosity.
The Bible tells us that there is another monarchy, a monarchy with great power, a monarchy, the Bible tells us, that has all power. The Bible warns us that if we approach this monarchy with idle curiosity, there will be eternal consequences. The Bible is referring to the kingdom of heaven. The Bible is referring to the kingdom of Christ, the monarchy of the Son of God.
This morning we examine one of the royal titles of Christ, that title being the “Prince of Peace,” Sar Shalom. As we examine this title, I have two teachings. The first teaching is this. Jesus Christ reigns. Jesus Christ rules.
You see, in the western world, the title “prince” simply refers to any male member of any royal family. Princes are not on the throne, but they are close to the throne. Some princes will someday ascend the throne. Some will not. But this is a totally western understanding of the title “prince,” because, you see, in the ancient and biblical world, the title prince was not used to describe those who were near the throne. The title prince was used to describe the person on the throne. The title prince simply meant “to rule.”
The king was called “Prince.” The queen was called “Princess.” If you look in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word, the Semitic word for prince is the word czar. This word is related to the Latin word Caesar. It is also related to the Russian word czar or czarina. The word czar simply means “to rule.” The prince was one who rules. This is the word that is used in Isaiah 9 to describe our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Czar. He rules.
Now, the Greek word in the New Testament for prince is the word “archon.” It’s related to our English word monarch. The word archon simply means to “rule.” This word is used of our Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 1:5; in Acts 3:15 and in Hebrews 2:10. Jesus Christ is Prince. He is Archon. He rules.
The Bible would have us to understand that even today, right now at this moment, Jesus Christ reigns in heaven. He reigns with his Father. He is enthroned. The Bible tells us that one day Jesus Christ will reign and rule on earth. But the Bible is also clear that Jesus Christ does not rule on earth today. Not now. Someone else rules on earth today.
Perhaps some of you have heard of the ancient kingdom of Walachia. Walachia occupied the geological land space that is now part of southern Romania. The year was 1456 when a man named Vladimir V ascended the throne of Walachia. The people were terrified. The people were terrified because they knew that Vladimir V was insane. He was brilliant but he was insane, and he was wholly evil. He reigned for six years, and it was a reign of terror such as the world had never known. He literally, in that 6-year., drove wooden stakes through the hearts of 40,000 people. He butchered men, women, and children. He slaughtered foreigners and he butchered his own citizens. He killed members of the royal court and members of his own family. He was arbitrary and capricious, and no one was safe from his whim.
Historians today refer to Vladimir V as “Vlad the Impaler.” But that is not what the people of Wallachia called him. They called him “Draculaya.” Many literary historians believe that Bram Stoker patterned his Dracula novel partly on the life of Vladimir V. The name Dracula, the name Draculaya, is a Romanian word. It’s a Wallachian word which simply means “son of the devil.”
Isn’t that a horrible thought? That the devil could be enthroned, that the devil could reign, or the devil could rule? And yet the Bible tells us that the devil is enthroned on this earth. The devil is enthroned in this world and the devil does reign on this earth. Satan rules now on this earth.
I know that’s a very difficult concept for many of you, but the teaching of holy scripture is clear, and that is why this world, the Bible tells us, is in darkness, because Satan is the archon. He is the prince of this world. Jesus Christ so titled Satan in John, chapter 12; John, chapter 14; John, chapter 16. Jesus said, “Satan is the prince of this world, archon. He rules. He longs to lead men and women into ruin. He entices the world with materialism and hedonism and self and ego and ascensionism, all of which lead to ruin. He has influenced the world’s philosophies and theologies. He has influenced the morals and ethics of this world. He is engaged in a battle for the human soul. He wants to capture your soul and he wants to capture my soul He is the archon of this world.
But the Bible says that Satan is a usurper, that Jesus Christ is the real and true Prince. He is the real and true Archon and one day He will come again, and Satan will be cast down and Jesus Christ will rule on earth as He now reigns in heaven. In the meantime, the Bible tells us that the kingdom of Jesus Christ has invaded this world. His kingdom has come into this world. Even now today Jesus Christ reigns wherever one individual place Him on the throne of his or her heart. His kingdom has already invaded this world.
Jesus tells us that His kingdom is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, planted in this world. But when it is grown, it will be the greatest of shrubs. He tells us that His kingdom is meant to grow in this world as light in the darkness. The Bible tells us that we who believe in Jesus Christ are called to be part of that growth. We’re called to grow the kingdom of Christ. We’re called to grow the reign of Christ. How do we do this? How do we grow the kingdom of Christ in this world?
Throughout history, Christians have sometimes erred, and some have tried to grow the kingdom of Christ politically. Of course, that began with Constantine the Great in the dawn of Christendom as legislation favorable to Christians was passed and decreed. An attempt was made to legislate Christian values in the world. In the 16th century, the great reformer, John Calvin tried to bring in the kingdom of Christ politically in the city of Geneva, Switzerland, where he took over the government and he blended ecclesiastical and civil law into one government, and he sought to enforce the word of God. A hideous thing happened. People began to be incarcerated and even killed simply because they didn’t have a biblical theology. You see, the kingdom of Jesus Christ is not meant in this age of the world to be grown politically.
Some Christians have tried to grow the kingdom of Christ in this world militarily and I know that’s hard to believe but when you look back at history and the Crusades, and there’s no doubt that from Richard the Lionhearted, from Richard I to Frederick I, they sought to grow the kingdom of Christ militarily from the Knights Templar to the Knights of St. John. They sought to grow the kingdom of Christ militarily. Frederick Barbarossa as did Charlemagne before him, Charles the Great, drove their enemies into rivers, forcing Christian baptism upon them. It was hideous because the kingdom of Jesus Christ is not meant to grow in this world militarily.
I think most of you are sitting there and you know the kingdom of Christ is meant to grow spiritually. It’s meant to grow spiritually, not politically or militarily, but spiritually, through prayer and the gospel, through prayer and evangelism. The kingdom, the reign of Christ is meant to grow in this world.
We’re going to deal next week with the subject of evangelism as we take the title of Christ, the Apostle, and we examine what it means to be an apostolic church, what it means to be a congregation sent forth. But this week I would like to remind you that if we would grow the kingdom of Christ spiritually, we must be women and men of prayer. To grow the kingdom spiritually involves prayer and evangelism. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” He taught us to pray for the coming of His kingdom and He was not speaking eschatologically but existentially. Thy kingdom come NOW… We are to pray that He might reign NOW, that He might reign over the hearts of men and women, that He might reign in our hearts. We are to pray that people in our community would embrace His reign. We are to pray that people in our nation would embrace His reign because He is the Archon. He is the Prince.
We are to pray that people in this world, the world over, of every tribe and tongue and people and nation would embrace His reign. “Thy kingdom come…” This charge has been laid upon the church, that we might pray. Even evangelism must be preceded by prayer and bathed in prayer. Otherwise, our heart is not prepared to evangelize, and the peoples’ hearts are not prepared to receive. Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray, therefore.” Pray that the Lord of the Harvest would send more laborers into His field. We must pray. Jesus said, “If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, ask whatever you will, pray whatever you will, and it will be done for you. By this My Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.” Prayer is effectual when it has to do with the bearing of fruit.
We are called to pray first for His kingdom. You pray “Thy kingdom come” before you say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” You even pray “Thy kingdom come” before you say, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” We begin with prayer for His reign, that He would reign in our community, in our nation and in our world, that people would embrace His reign. This is where prayer begins. In Matthew, chapter 6, we are told that if we seek first His kingdom, we will be given everything we need. So, if you pray first for His reign… If you pray first for His kingdom, all those other things you are praying for will be taken care of if you just pray first for His kingdom, pray first for His reign.
We are going to try to mobilize our congregation in prayer this upcoming year. Gene showed you the sheet in your Grace Notes which says “PRAY” and which says, “HIS KINGDOM COME.” We want to take the first quarter of the year and pray for our community, that people in our community would embrace the reign of Christ. We want to take the second quarter of this upcoming year to pray for the cities of America, for this nation, that people all across this nation would embrace the reign of Christ and there would be a revival in our time. We want to take the third quarter of the year and pray for all the nations. We want to pray for the world, that the gospel would go forth in power, and women and men would embrace the reign of Christ the world over. We want to take the fourth quarter of the year and pray for the persecuted church globally.
We invite you to be part of this concert of prayer. On the back of this sheet, it gives some of the prayer strategies. We’re going to be encouraging you to pick two or three individuals or families, maybe three, maybe five, but a few families, a few individuals that you know don’t know Jesus Christ and to begin to pray for them every single day, every single day. We’re going to encourage you to form prayer triplets and with prayer partners, intercede together for the reign of Christ, praying “Thy kingdom come…”
You see, prayer has not been tried and found wanting by the church of Jesus Christ. It just simply hasn’t been tried, not in our generation. And so, we want to mobilize an army of prayer warriors and we’re inviting you and God is calling you to be part of this. He would remind us that when we pray “Thy kingdom come,” we are really praying for the peace of Christ to come because He is the Prince of Peace, and His reign brings peace.
Have you ever driven the road from Seattle to Vancouver? Barb and I did years ago. There at the U.S./Canadian border, there is a beautiful park called the Peace Arch Park. It celebrates the peace that exists between the United States and Canada. There’s a plaque there and the plaque says, “Children of a common mother.” Of course, it is a fact that the nations of Canada and the United States were both birthed through the womb of Great Britain. It is appropriate and right that we celebrate the peace that exists between us, partly because peace is so rare in this world. International peace, rare.
Historians tell us that from 3600 BC to today, in all of those years, there have been more than 14,000 international wars, more than 14,000 wars between nations, taking collectively the lives of 3,650,000,000 people. Isn’t that incredible? We are a warring race. In all of recorded history, historians tell us there have only been 262 years absolutely free of any war between nations. Only 262 years in recorded history.
Of course, 58 years ago this month, on September 1, 1939, the first shots of World War II were fired. This is the century that has made war global, truly global. I think most of you know that more people have died in war in this century, the 20th century, than any prior century. Here we are at the dawn of a new millennium and the dawn of a new century, the 21st century, and peace has not come. I think we all know we desperately need the return of Jesus Christ. He will, the Bible promises, “beat our swords into plowshares, our spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” He is the Prince of Peace.
But when we call Him the Prince of Peace, Sar Shalom, we are not referring primarily to the international peace that will come when Christ returns to this world. When we call Him the Prince of Peace, we are referring primarily to the personal peace that He gives to all who embrace His reign. You see, this title Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace, is not given to Christ at His second coming. It is given to Christ at His first coming because even now as we live in the gap between His first and second coming, He is offering peace through the gospel to all who embrace His reign, to all who embrace Him as Lord and Savior. We pray for that reign and that peace.
Is there any peace like the peace Christ offers? The peace of knowing your sin is forgiven and you’ve been washed whiter than snow. Don’t you want everyone in the world to know that peace. Don’t you want everyone in your community to know that peace? To know that their sin is forgiven? To have the peace of knowing they are forgiven, and they have become children of God and they have an, an inheritance laid up for heaven in them and it is sealed. The peace of knowing that “all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.” No one offers the peace that Christ offers. He says, “My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid.” That only happens when we embrace His reign. What a privilege we have to take the gospel to the nations, to take the gospel to this community and thereby bring peace. We pray for this. We must bathe it in prayer. We must become a community of prayer because prayer has great power and prayer changes things.
You know, a couple of years ago, Barb and I made a covenant together that we would increase our prayer life together. We have begun to pray very specifically for many things. I’ve got to tell you; we marvel today at the answer to prayer we’ve seen. It’s such an incredible joy to see God work. We have prayed for so many things in ministry and in the lives of people, and we’ve seen God work in power as we invite His reign. That’s what we’re all to do together. That’s what God is calling us as a congregation to do, to become men and women of prayer, praying “Thy kingdom come.” He’s the Archon. He is the Prince of Peace and all who embrace His reign find peace. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.