Having Heavenly Peace on Earth
An all-creatures Bible Message

Having Heavenly Peace on Earth
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
22 January 2017
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Isaiah 9:1-7
Matthew 4:12-25

Having heavenly peace on earth is something we sang or heard about on Christmas, and cards greeted people with “peace on earth”.
 
But the problem is that we don’t have peace on earth; most people may want to be having heavenly peace on earth, but the way they live says that they want to continue to have violence on earth, for they eat the products of suffering and death: animal flesh and secretions.
 
Each and every one of us can begin to have peace on earth, if we really want it, and the easiest way to accomplish this begins with what we eat and wear; yes, with what we eat and wear.
 
If we don’t eat any animal products, aren’t we having heavenly peace on earth as far as our relationship with animals is concerned?
 
If we stop eating animal products and only eat the plant foods that God created for us to eat, then the demand for animal products will decrease, and farmers will begin to switch from raising animals to growing plant foods.
 
And we are already seeing some of the large animal agriculture industries beginning to buy existing vegan food companies or producing their own vegan products to retain their share of the food industry market; and the more this continues to happen, the more we’ll begin having heavenly peace on earth.
 
Furthermore, the more people that eat only plant foods, the more we’ll begin to see fewer animal hunters and fish killers, and the hearts and souls of the people will begin to soften, and we’ll be having heavenly peace on earth to an even greater extent.
 
But, we have another large problem to tackle: ending the warring madness that is plaguing our earth.
 
And like with making war on animals so humans can eat them, our warring madness begins with hardness of heart and soul, and the desire to have something that is not ours or to force our will on others.
 
These kinds of feelings also lead some people into killing other people, which includes acts of terrorism.
 
We all need to feel the pain and suffering of others, whether they are humans or other animals, and have the desire to do everything we can to end their pain and suffering.
 
This is also how we begin to become the peacemaking children of God that He calls us to be.
 
Let’s think about these things as we look at Isaiah 9:1-7…

1. But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

God allows the world to suffer because we are not following His heavenly will, but instead following the ways of the devil, whose violence, pain, suffering, bloodshed, and death have been plaguing the earth for thousands of years.
 
We believe that the Lord is waiting for us to change our ways and, when we do, He will once again help free creation from its present corruption and we and the animals will begin having heavenly peace on earth.

2. The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.

The people who walk in darkness are the people who desire to live in the corrupt ways of this world, and the light they see will be the Lord offering them the peace of heaven, if they repent and return to Him.
 
When Jesus came to earth, this is what He did.

3. Thou shalt multiply the nation,
Thou shalt increase their gladness;
They will be glad in Thy presence
As with the gladness of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

The more we live in the heavenly will of God and help free creation from its present corruption, the more this peaceful way of living will spread around the world; this is a team effort between us and God, and the more of us who do this, the sooner we’ll be having heavenly peace on earth.

4. For Thou shalt break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.
 
5. For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

This will happen when we begin to end our warring madness against other humans and the other animals that share this world with us.
 
And remember that it is not only soldiers who have weapons of war, which will be turned into plant farming equipment; but it is also those who brutalize and kill animals, who have clothing soaked in blood which God will burn up.
 
Furthermore, when God begins to do this, we doubt that any of us would want to be wearing the garments soaked in other people’s blood.
 
Then Isaiah tells us about Jesus’ coming some 2000 years ago, but the world appears to have paid very little attention to Him or His message.

6. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

And since Isaiah seems to have known that only some of the people would recognize Jesus as Messiah, and follow His teachings, he tells us about what will happen when He returns at some future date.

7. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
NASB

This is finally when we will be having heavenly peace on earth.
 
But, we are not to sit back and do nothing to hasten His return; we should be working now to end the corruption of creation.
 
Let’s think more about what we should be doing to be having heavenly peace on earth, as we look at Matthew 4:12-25…

12. Now when He heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee;

Jesus was obviously very saddened by the news about His cousin John, just as we would be with anyone close to us.
 
Unfortunately, most of the people in the world are only saddened by those close to them, and not about all the violence committed against humans and other animals all around the world every day.

13. and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.
 
14. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
 
15. "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — 
 
16. "The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light,
And to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death,
Upon them a light dawned."

We believe that this same heavenly light has shined upon every single person in the world, but only a small percentage of them have repented of their worldly ways and become the peacemaking children of God that we are all called to be.
 
This is why we are not having heavenly peace on earth.

17. From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Have each of us responded to this call?
 
If not, then that is why we are not having heavenly peace on earth.

18. And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
 
19. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
 
20. And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him.

We believe one of the major problems in the church today is that they fail to see the significance in this passage of Scripture; Jesus is calling Peter and Andrew away from their worldly way of earning a living, with its suffering and death, to become evangelists who will bring everlasting life in heaven.
 
Like Jesus, they are being called to lead us in heavenly ways, so that we all could be having heavenly peace on earth, but unfortunately relatively few people respond and we remain in this violent world with all its suffering and death.

21. And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.
 
22. And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Jesus knew that He would need more than just a couple of people to help with the ministry, so He asked others, and to this very day, He is still seeking others to help with the ministry of leading people to Him and the kingdom of God.

23. And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

The healings were acts of compassion, but they were also to help wake other people up to the presence of the Holy Spirit in their midst, so that they would hopefully respond.

24. And the news about Him went out into all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, taken with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.

The news is still going out today, and it’s going out all over the world, but because of people’s hardness of heart, relatively few people, including clergy, are truly repenting and becoming peacemaking children of God.

25. And great multitudes followed Him from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
NASB

Unfortunately, we believe that most of these people were coming out to see Jesus perform some miracles, and failing to see the true miracle of the presence of Jesus and His gift of the kingdom of God.
 
If we really want to be having heavenly peace on earth, then we need to respond to Jesus’ call and repent of our worldly ways and seek to become peacemaking children of God who live in His heavenly will.
 
And if we live this way, setting the example of the peaceful way of living without any pain or mourning or death, just as it is in heaven, then some others will begin to follow us, and as we grow in numbers, we will begin having heavenly peace on earth as it is in heaven.
 
Amen?
 
Amen.

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