8
Peace ... continued ~
When Jesus returns and sits on his Father’s
throne, only then will peace, love and
harmony prevail in this world. Jesus will
destroy wickedness and transform the earth.
Mankind cannot bring peace. Man’s rule only
produces injustice, sickness, poverty and
death, which will continue until the prince of
peace returns. “No-one living in Zion will say,
‘I am ill’, and the sins of those who dwell
there will be forgiven” (Isaiah 33:24 NIV).
“The mountains will bring prosperity to the
people, the hills the fruit of righteousness;
in his days the righteous will flourish. All
nations will be blessed through him, and they
will call him blessed” (Psalm 72:3,7,17 NIV -
read the whole Psalm).
Wars, food shortages, earthquakes, just to
mention a few evils, have put mankind in a
terrible muddle. God knows the answer, and
we can also know the answer if we read the
Bible.
Look at the book of Daniel: “In the time of
those kings, the God of heaven will set up a
kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will
it be left to another people. It will crush all
those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but
it will itself endure for ever” (Daniel 2:44).
The kingdom mentioned in this verse is God’s
kingdom and its ruler is Jesus Christ. When
Jesus rules, peace shall be here for ever.
Sacrifices
| Bro Gaius Egwu (Ohafia, Nigeria)
Think about the boy who
gave away his lunch to a
crowd of five thousand
hungry people. The people
had trailed Jesus to a
grassy mountain side,
apparently so engrossed in
listening to him that they
forgot to think ahead, they hadn’t brought
food. One boy’s few loaves and fish only high-
lighted the crowds vast need. “But what are
they among so many?” Andrew asked, but the
boy offered his lunch anyway.
He gave what he had because he knew
everyone was hungry, and sharing seemed like
the right thing to do; perhaps he knew that
Jesus could do miraculous things - but how
could he imagine what Jesus was about to do
with his small gift? Jesus called for everyone
to sit down. He took the boy’s lunch, gave
thanks and a meal was served. How the boy’s
faith in Jesus must have grown then!
We have to learn a lesson from this boy. When
you are surrounded by even great needs,
come forward with your morsel. Give willingly
because it is the right thing to do. Give trust-
ingly to the one who knows how to apply small
gifts to great needs. Let your faith grow as you
watch Him take your offering, and do not
worry whether there will be anything left for
yourself. Now think about the Father who was
asked to sacrifice his son to God. What God
asked of Abraham appals us: “Go to the moun-
tain. Offer your only son, who you love, as a
burnt offering to me.”
Abraham was familiar with sacrifices. He often
offered sheep or cattle at significant moments
when he felt God near. But this request for his
son was quite unexpected. Why would God
give a promised son and then take him away
so cruelly? There appeared to be no reason at
all for the request. Yet Abraham obeyed. He
took Isaac to the mountain; he tied Isaac and
laid him on the altar. In Abraham’s mind, the
sacrifice was made: he reached for a knife to
finish the task. The Bible, the word of God,
tells us that God was testing Abraham when
God saw that Abraham had truly given up his
son, he ended the test and spared Isaac’s life.
God saw more in Abraham’s offering than the
sacrifice itself. He saw godly fear in Abraham’s
heart and that is what pleased Him most. God
rewarded Abraham with the promise of a great
posterity that would be a blessing to all
nations. We can learn a lesson from Abraham:
consider that sometimes God may ask you to