Peace
It's Christmas time! I can hear strains of Silent Night in my head as I sit at my desk and write to you -- "sleep in heavenly peace."
It seems like peace is something we hear a lot about at Christmas time. But I'm not sure we really know what God meant in Luke 2:14 when he had the angels announce: "Peace on earth, good will toward men" at the birth of Jesus.
NOT WORLD PEACE
I have a feeling most people think God meant World Peace, no more war, nations and peoples all getting along and being nice.
But if that were true, what did He mean in Matthew 10:34 when He said, "Don't think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword."?
No, Jesus came as a sword -- the Word of God -- and He knew it would be confrontative. That it was sharp and would pierce to the dividing of the soul and spirit and be a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). Jesus knew that as His disciples, we would be in a FIGHT here on this earth -- the fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:12).
This "peace on earth, goodwill toward men" doesn't mean world peace or peace between people. It means peace between man and God. Jesus was the evidence of God's goodwill toward mankind. A reconciliation with the Father, that could only happen when the price for sin was paid.
The word peace in the Hebrew means "wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken." That's what Jesus brought us. Wholeness, completeness in every realm -- in the form of restored fellowship with God.
Before Jesus came to earth, mankind was separated from God by sin. Mankind's relationship with God was broken, and no matter what they did -- try to keep laws, offer sacrifices, be good, wash hands, etc. -- they couldn't fix the broken realtionship because of their sin nature. They needed a savior.
RESTORATION HAS COME
So this peace, the good news that the angels brought to earth that day, was that a savior had come! Supernatural PEACE had come to earth. God's peace, His restoration of perfect fellowship -- wholeness -- had come to make it's home in the heart of whosoever would believe on Jesus.
So I wish you a PEACE-filled Christmas...you are perfectly loved, perfectly reconciled to Almighty God through Jesus Christ, God with us. Wholeness has been bought and paid for for you.
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SOME REALLY BIG NEWS
One of the ministries that KJM supports is Project 16:15 (www.project1615.org), which is currently involved in taking the Gospel into some amazing (if not downright dangerous!) places in Central Asia. One of those places is Uzbekistan.
The Uzbek people were the largest people group in the world without a Bible in their own language. UNTIL NOW. Below are pictures of the very first Uzbek Bible (no really, that one in the picture is the FIRST ONE -- I got to hold it in my hands!). I'm so excited about what God has done!
You'll notice that it looks like a plain notebook -- and that's what it is! That makes it easier for distribution. Members of the underground church in Uzbekistan pass the Bibles out almost as fast as they are printed. There are 4 printing presses hidden in 4 homes, and each press can print about 50 Bibles per week with a two-person team. None of them know where any of the other presses are.
If you're interested in giving toward the printing costs of this on-going project in Uzbekistan, you can send donations marked "Uzbek Bibles" through KJM (give below), or go directly to the Project 1615 website (www.project1615.org). It's exciting to be a part of bringing the Word to the precious people of this oppressed nation!
