So, we come to another time of Christmas. Many aboard spaceship Earth send tidings of peace and good will. But the prospects for the times, sadly, are not joyful upon this tremblous sphere. The only one who can spread such tidings –and make joyous times a reality--is relegated to the status of one religious figure among many by those who cry for peace. They, as a matter of fact, do all within their politically correct power to remove mention of Him from the season of celebration that has for centuries bore His holy name.

The incessant plea for there to be peace is, itself, prophetic in nature. The peace today’s earth-dwellers seek above all other is centered around the terrifying prospects of war that threatens to erupt from the most sensitive geographical location on the planet. God considers this place the center of the world. He deals with man based upon their treatment of how they deal with Israel in general, and with Jerusalem in particular.

The Bible is replete with those who deal treacherously, seeking to establish hegemony over the region. The Lord will not allow tranquility to reign so long as that tranquility is based upon establishing governance that does not include Him as sovereign in the matter. One prophecy about such surreptitious “peace” powerfully thunders God’s Word on the matters involved.

“[To wit], the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and [there is] no peace, saith the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 13:16)

The Lord God condemns all who try to establish their wicked man-made peace within His land.

“The way of peace they know not; and [there is] no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.” (Isaiah 59:8)

Israel’s God states in no uncertain terms the truth about the false peacemakers: “[There is] no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.” (Isaiah 48:22)  His judgment is certain, and He minces no words in pronouncing what will happen to those who force man-made peace upon Israel and to the people of Israel herself who sign on to that pseudo-guarantee of peace and safety.

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

The prophet Jeremiah speaks for the Lord in pointing the finger of judgment at Israel, which has throughout history turned to others than their God for security. Modern Israel, in particular, seems at this moment to be at the end of the Almighty’s finger of condemnation. Israel’s leadership more and more observably leans toward a quick fix to the nation’s increasingly unpopular position among earth’s nation-states. It is a man-made pseudo remedy to which Israel’s God speaks directly: “For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when [there is] no peace.” (Jeremiah 8:11)

The present road to false peace will eventuate in devastation – to which the prophet Daniel speaks. The ultimate false peacemaker is the subject of Daniel’s forewarning. The Antichrist.

“And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many…” (Daniel 8:23-25c)

But, thankfully, that isn’t the end of the story for Israel or the world. Daniel gives the outcome of Antichrist’s false peacemaking that results in unprecedented devastation.

“…he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” (Daniel 8:25d)

Antichrist and all of the phony peacemakers of history will be crushed and ground to powder. They will be blown away by the winds of history into the dustbin of eternity. Daniel foretells the final destruction of the false purveyors of peace talk through interpreting Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’s strange dream of a man-image that represented the four great kingdoms that would rule over earth until Christ’s return:

“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:34-35)

Nahum the prophet gives the final Word of God about the resolution to the long search for peace. Again, peace on earth centers around Israel, Jerusalem, and the Prince of Peace, that great earthly power-crushing stone--the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.” (Nahum 1:5)

PEACE is the purpose for which the Christ-child was born--to bring peace to humanity by providing sin-destroying reconciliation to God the Father through Christ’s shed blood on Calvary’s cross. God chose that the Redeemer, His Son Jesus, would become the God-man through Israel. That’s why we are commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). Only when the Prince of Peace reigns and rules will there be peace on Earth, good will toward men.