EMMANUEL -- GOD WITH US: JESUS BRINGS PEACE (LUKE 2:8-14)

EMMANUEL -- DIOS CON NOSOTROS: JESÚS TRAE PAZ

Pastor Maria Khaleel

When the angels sang of peace on earth, the earth was anything but peaceful. There was no peace for Rome’s war machine, constantly on the move to conquer and control its conquests, and there was certainly no peace for Rome’s enemies. There was no peace in Israel that first Christmas, as the Jews were commanded to comply with a Roman census, and had to travel to their home towns and pay a heavy tax, and they were caught up in the hustle and bustle of overcrowded towns and cities. There would be no peace after Jesus’ birth, when King Herod, ordered the massacre of all children 2 and under.

Yet in the midst of all this turmoil and fear, the angels declare a message of peace on earth. This was not an earthly peace, it was a peace that this new born baby, Jesus, who would be called Emmanuel, God with us, would bring. Jesus made a way for us to have peace with God, and to walk in the peace of God regardless of our circumstances.