“Peace for our time”.
Those words were joyfully shared outside 10 Downing Street in London by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on September 30, 1938, just hours after returning from a meeting with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler.
“My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time [emphasis added]. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.”
His speech was greeted with shouts and cheers! That very next spring, in March of 1939, th rest of Czechoslovakia fell into Hitler’s hands. While the rest of the world struggled to wake up, the Second World War more formally began with his invasion of Poland on September 1 of 1939, just eleven months after Chamberlain’s recommendation that his countrymen “go home and sleep quietly in your beds.”
So much for peace. There was nothing in Chamberlain’s words to guarantee the kind of peace he was promoting.
Here’s a different question. When you think of your salvation and the assurance that it is real, does that bring you peace? Or does it make you uneasy and unsure of your future? Does it make you focus on your sins and stress about what you need to accomplish?
Isaiah 53 is a beautiful and well-known passage of prophecy about Jesus and his life and death for us. In the middle of this chapter, a diamond is hidden. In referring to and describing Jesus’ death on the cross, a small bit of information is shared that doesn’t get enough attention.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 NIV
He was pierced, He was crushed, The punishment was upon Him.
Wait, What?
What punishment? The one that “brought us peace”. That sacrifice was identified as the one that brought us peace. Jesus intends for us to rest easy in 0ur salvation, trusting in what He did for us. Loving Him for the way He proved His love for us. We can have peace! We can be confident in our future! Isaiah was and so can we.
Jesus, let me never forget that You meant for the gift of your life was meant to bring us peace! Let me lean on you today, safe and secure from all alarms.