By Todd Paetznick, December 5, 2024

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”  

(Luke 2:14 NKJV)

Peace on earth?  

Peace is not a present reality.  Since the time of the original proclamation by the angels around 2,000 years ago, there has been nearly continuous war and violence all over the world.  We only have to look at our favorite news source to know that there are still wars in the Middle East, in Eastern Europe, or between people living in our own country.  If anything, it feels like there is less peace today than ever.

What were the angels talking about?  

Jesus himself said,  “Do [you] suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division” (Luke 12:51 NKJV). It does not sound like Jesus received the same message from the angels.

Later, Jesus said about the future, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet. “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. “All these [are] the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:6-8 NKJV).  Even Jesus expected that there would be war up to the end.

Was the message of the angels wrong?

The angels announcing peace on earth were not announcing the end of war between nations or violent struggles between people. War and violence have existed in human history from its beginning and will continue until the end of time.  No, the angels were announcing peace between God and the people.  

The Holiness of God

The thoughts, actions, and desires of people in opposition to God form an infinitely distant gap between God and humanity.  This conflict is not fought with guns and bombs, but the outcome is eternal death for those who oppose God.  It was for making peace and bridging the opposition gap that Jesus was sent to earth.  Being the second member of the Godhead, Jesus was uniquely able to make a way to achieve peace where there was no other way.  Regardless of how pious and morally good a person may seem, their goodness can never be good enough.  God’s standard for good is perfection; holiness.  

God is holy, but “holy” does not mean much to most of us.  The purest thing we can imagine has no flaws or imperfections.  God is purer.  Not just purer than what we can imagine but the purest.  Nothing exists that is purer or more holy than God.

I grew up with dogs of the Samoyed breed.  Samoyed’s are all white dogs, except for their black nose and eyes.  They appear pure white until they go outside in freshly fallen snow and seem very dirty.  But even snowflakes, as pure as they seem, have a speck of dust at their core.  Despite my not-so-perfect analogy, dirty is how we would perceive ourselves in the presence of a holy God.  Upon seeing God, the prophet Isaiah immediately became aware of how impure and dirty he was. “Then I said [Isaiah], ‘Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of armies’” (Isaiah 6:5 NASB20).  It is not until we experience something more pure and holy that we realize how unclean and impure we are without any way to become clean and pure.  

This brings us back to the angel’s announcement of peace. Even more than any human can understand, the angels recognized God’s holiness and the infinite distance between a holy God and dirty people. Physical dirtiness is not the issue; the issue is moral dirtiness. Our evil thoughts, actions, and desires make us morally dirty and infinitely separated from God. The peace and goodwill announced by the angels would be made possible by the gift of God becoming a man.