The Names of Christ
"NAMES OF CHRIST"© -is a book written by Dr. James Modlish
-reprinted here with the author's permission-

Lesson Fifteen

Prince of Peace
(Isaiah 9:6)

Introduction: Winston Churchill gives this clever peace parable:

Once upon a time all the animals in the zoo decided they would disarm, and they arranged to hold a conference to decide the matter. The rhinoceros said that the use of teeth in war was barbarous and horrible, and ought strictly to be prohibited by general consent. Horns, which were mainly defensive weapons, would, of course, have to be tolerated. The buffalo, stag, and porcupine said they would vote with the rhino; but the lion and the tiger took a different view. They defended teeth, and even claws, as honorable weapons.

Then the bear spoke. He proposed that both teeth and horns should be banned. It would be quite enough if animals would be allowed to give each other a good hug when they quarreled. No one could object to that. It was so fraternal, and would be a great step toward peace.

However, all the other animals were offended with the bear, and they fell into a perfect panic.

This illustration demonstrates perfectly the problem today with world peace - no absolute authority! As long as that condition exist there will be "wars and rumors of war."

There are several things that the title "Prince of Peace" reminds us of: 

I. THE FUTILITY OF MAN'S EFFORTS (Eze. 13:10-16)

The untempered mortar is a picture of the philosophies of man. without God, the wall will collapse.

According to the Canadian Army Journal, a former president of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences, aided by historians from England, Egypt, German, and India came up with some fantastic figures and findings:

Since 3600 B.C. the world has known only 292 years of peace. During this period there have been 14,531 wars, large and small, in which 3,640,000,000 people have been killed. The value of the destruction would pay for a golden belt around the world 97.2 miles in width and about 33 feet thick.

Since 650 B.C. there have been 16,656 arms races, only 16 of which have not ended in war. The remainder have ended in the economic collapse of the countries concerned.

From 1500 B.C. to present more than 10,000 peace treaties of peace, meant to remain in force forever, were concluded. The average time they remained in force was two years.

War is the result of:

A. The lust of men - (Jam. 4:12)
B. Punishment for sin - (Judg. 5:8) - Peace comes as a result of righteousness (Ps. 37:4,11,37; Pro. 16:7) 

II. THE DESPERATE NEED OF THE LORDS INTERVENTION

"Russia now has satellites in space carrying multiple nuclear warheads that are capable of obliterating the population of the whole earth. The U.S. has atomic submarines in every ocean carrying atomic warheads that are capable of obliterating Russia and China. One submarine can loose in 16 minutes more explosive force than all the bombs and ammunition exploded by all the nations in the six years World War II."

If God does not intervene it is only a matter of time before man will destroy himself There are several things that Jesus said that must precede the Lords intervention:

A. Many False Christs - (Matt. 24:5) There have been over 100 religious leaders in different parts of the world in the last 50 years who have claimed to be Christ and the Saviour of the world.

B. Increase in wars - (Matt. 24:6) What Emil Ludwig call "annihilating statistics," he presents in the following ghastly summary of WW 1:

"Ten million men killed. a parade of these dead men, marching ten abreast from sunrise to sunset, with a new rank passing every two seconds, would take forty-six days to pass by a given spot!

To this number should be added 13,000,000 missing.

There were also 10,000,000 refugees and 6,000,000 children who had lost their fathers. The daily loss of human life amounted to 16,585. The cost of the war came to a total of $338,000,000,000 -in other words, $20,000 for every hour since the birth of Christ. The war itself cost $9,000,000 an hour to wage. In those four years, Europe lost all savings it had accumulated during a century! "

By far the most costly war in terms of human life was World War II (1939-45), in which the total number of fatalities, including battle deaths and civilians of all countries, is estimated to have been 54,800,000, assuming 25,000,000 U.S.S.R. fatalities and 7,800,000 Chinese civilians killed. The country which suffered most was Poland with 6,028,000 or 22.2 percent of her population of 27,007,000 killed.

C. Famines, pestilence, earthquakes - (Matt. 24:7) In the 9th century, there was one major earthquake; in the 11th century, two; in the 13th century, three; in the 16th, two; 17th, two; 18th, five (including the Lisbon); and in the 19th century, nine major earthquakes. So far in the 20th century, there have been over 40 (including the Peking quake).

From the World Almanac comes another set of facts: there were only 6 earthquakes of strength between 1800 to 1896. But in each decade from 1897 until 1947, there were either 2 or 3, and in the decade from 1947 to 1956, there were 7. From 1957 to 1966 there were 17.

Time magazine's front cover for its Sept. 1, 1975 issue was a split earth with this inscription: "FORECAST: EARTHQUAKE." Since that date to the end of 1976, there have been 24 significant earthquakes - in China, Guatemala, Italy, Indonesia, Soviet Central Asia, and many other places.

The year 1976 experiences at least 50 significant quakes (intensity 6.5) and 18 major quakes (over 7.0). An estimated 695,000 deaths - the highest in modem history; in were in Germany. It was Hitler's aim not only to exterminate all the Germany Jews, but to kill all Jews in Europe. His reign of terror, in which five to six million Jews were killed, is one of the blackest in the pages of history. When Hitler was through with them, six out of every 10 Jews in Europe were killed. 

III. THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST

After viewing the desperate condition of the world today we are reminded that only a Holy, all powerful God could rectify the situation. Many look forward to the promise of Isaiah 2:4, "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

That day will never come until there is one final authority on earth - The Lord Jesus Christ.

Consider:

A. Peace comes from God - (Ps. 29:11; 1 Cor. 14:33)
B. Jesus Christ is the only one who can enforce a lasting peace - (Rev. 19:15)
C. The only real peace available in this age is a spiritual one - (Eph. 2:14; Phil. 4:7; Col. 3:15) 

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