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What the Bible says about Peacemakers as the Sons of God
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Jeremiah 29:7

The first two points in how to survive exile have to do with feeding the flock and getting ourselves back into spiritual shape. The third point deals with going to the world and increasing our numbers. The fourth concerns our witness to the world and our response to it.

Paul advises us to do it in peace. Live peaceably with all men as far as lies within you (see Romans 12:16-21). This is an important point because peace trickles down. Peace in the nation will trickle down to peace among citizens. If we live in an environment of peace, we can accomplish the overcoming, the growing, and the producing of fruit. As James writes, "Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace" (James 3:18).

We have to be among the peacemakers, even while living in a world full of strife. We should seek God's hand in this, asking Him to give peace so that we can have the time—and not the distractions of strife—to use in producing fruit, getting our families in order, and increasing our numbers. If there is no peace, those things become much harder to do. We need to be peacemakers, which is one of Christ's beatitudes: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9). It is vital that we have peace.

"Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). He we see how important peace is to producing holiness. If we fail in this, we will not see God! Peace is vital. In James 4, the apostle curses the recipients of his epistle, calling them adulterers and adulteresses because they were full of strife with one another. They were at war with each other. They were not producing peace. They were certainly not producing righteousness.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
How to Survive Exile

Matthew 5:9

Jesus says that peacemakers "shall be called sons of God." Once we understand the Bible's usage of the words "sons" and "children," we can easily see that this beatitude does not apply to worldly people. Both "sons" and "children" not only describe those who are literal descendents, but also those who show the characteristics of a predecessor who is not necessarily a biological ancestor. For instance, in John 8:38, 41, 44, Jesus tells the Jews that Satan is their father. Their attitudes and conduct revealed who their true spiritual father was; they were in Satan's image. Those who fit the Matthew 5:9 description of godly peacemakers reveal that they are in the image and likeness of God!

As Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, God is called the God of peace (Hebrews 13:20). When we add the thought of Hebrews 2:11, interesting ramifications concerning us surface: "For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren." If indeed we are His children and therefore united in the spiritual body of Christ, we will show the same peaceable disposition of the One who is the Head. Thus He has no shame in calling us brethren. Through us, His characteristics are being manifested to the church and to the world.

Peacemaking is more complex and involved than it first appears because it entails the way we live all of life. This produces peace both passively and actively: passively, because we are not a cause of disruption, and actively, because we create peace by drawing others to emulate our example and by them seeking for the tranquillity and pleasure we have as a result. Though a Christian has little or no control over others in mediating peace between disputing parties, this should not deter him from living the peacemaking way. It is the way a person lives that will prepare him to be a much more active and authoritative peacemaker in the World Tomorrow when Christ returns. Peacemaking is indeed a high standard and a worthy vocation, yielding a wonderful reward that is worth bending our every effort to submit to God and seek His glorification.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part 7: Blessed Are the Peacemakers

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

We play a part in making peace with God by choosing to be reconciled to Him. This is perhaps the first step in becoming a peacemaker.

Paul essentially refers to himself as the one to whom the word and ministry of reconciliation have been given as a portion of his function as an apostle of Jesus Christ. However, the thought does not end there because we are also being prepared to assist in causing the reconciliation of the world to God. This is a second major, time-consuming step toward being a peacemaker. The sanctification process of a Christian's conversion creates within us the ability to be a peacemaker in the godly mold.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part 7: Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Colossians 1:18-20

Paul explains how Jesus made peace. He did this by reconciling all things to Himself or to the Father through His own shedding of blood (verse 20).

We must understand the context. Paul is talking about Jesus Christ in His most elevated, most excellent sense. He is God doing these things for us.

The Father has given Christ divine glory and responsibility because of the redemptive work He did in reconciling us to Him. That is one of the big factors that make Christ special because He volunteered (Philippians 2:5-8) to come down here as a Man, as a Servant, and He gave Himself throughout His life, living a godly life with no sin. Then He gave Himself on the cross or tree for our sins. And so the Father has highly exalted Him for all of the sacrifices He made to reconcile humanity to Him.

Paul tells us in so many words that the Son, Jesus Christ, is the Great Peacemaker, the Great Reconciler. He is great because He did the impossible, what no other man could do: to reconcile everyone, not just some, but all to the Father. That is what the Father is heading toward in His Plan. He wants all to come to repentance (II Peter 3:9), and it is available to all through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Certainly, they must accept it, each in his own time or order, as Paul says in I Corinthians 15:23. But God is looking for total reconciliation, or as close as possible, with all humanity. However, He has given free moral agency to people, so there will probably be some who reject Him. We know for sure that Judas Iscariot the son of perdition, is doomed. The Beast and the False Prophet will be sent into the Lake of Fire, so human reconciliation with God will not be total.

But it is God's goal that all will be reconciled to Him. Christ made it possible; He provided the means for total reconciliation. It does not mean that everybody will accept it or claim it, but what He did is valid for all should they choose to accept it.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Peacemakers


 




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