"Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all." (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

Isaiah's great prophecy of Christ's first advent identified "his name |as| Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). The peace He brings is personal, as we see in our text: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). But it is also effective in society at large, a fact borne out in verse 5 of "Crown Him with Many Crowns."

Crown Him the Lord of peace, Whose peace a scepter sways
From pole to pole, that wars may cease, And all be prayer and praise!
His reign shall know no end, And round His pierced feet
Fair flowers of Paradise extend Their fragrance ever sweet.

"Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom" (Hebrews 1:8). The King of this kingdom is none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As the angel announced the birth of Christ, he prophesied: "And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:33). "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4).

Perhaps the best thing about His eternal, righteous, peaceful kingdom is that we will be there. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7). "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:5)! JDM