Righteousness and Peace Have Kissed

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they shall be called sons of God.

Let’s consider our great Peacemaker, Jesus.  As we have discovered in the beatitudes, except for mourning over sin, which Jesus cannot do, Jesus is our example for each of them.  Now, just a reminder, lest I lose some of you who are thinking – wait a minute, Jesus wasn’t poor in spirit either.  Well, Jesus showed us what poor in spirit looks like as He showed us His dependency on the Father, didn’t He?

Let’s look at His example.  He confronted those who misrepresented God; He turned over the tables in the temple; He refused to be politically correct and obey Sabbath rules that were not ordained by God; He exposed hypocrisy; He created division; He didn’t appease.  Consider Paul or Peter and the other disciples as the book of Acts records how they spread the gospel of peace throughout the known world.  Did the religious rulers and those who clung to the ways of the world consider them peacemakers?  Absolutely not. These followers of Jesus provoked riots and anger.

So, how can we call Jesus or any of His followers peacemakers?  What did they do that provoked peace?  Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, "your God reigns!"

Remember what the angels proclaimed to the Shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth?  Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" God has goodwill toward men – and He sent Jesus to proclaim peace – to make peace by making a way for man and God to be reconciled to one another – a way for man to have peace with God.  That’s a peacemaker.  And we see Jesus doing that over and over again, as He offered forgiveness to the adulteress, as He called tax collectors to follow Him, as He continually, over and over and over again pointed to the love of God and the power of God and the peace of God.

Jesus didn’t avoid conflict.  He stirred conflict – Why?  To cause division; to divide; to separate righteousness from unrighteousness.  I love Psalm 85:10 Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.  Only God, through our Lord Jesus, can bring these together.  

Only a peacemaker can do that – God requires truth; God requires righteousness.  A peacemaker brings mercy to the truth about us; a peacemaker shows how we can have peace in spite of God’s pure righteousness. Peacemakers are blessed people.