The Prince of Peace

The more you study the scriptures, the more you find startling things that at first don’t seem right. You have to stop and ponder them awhile in order to understand them. One of these is the Savior’s statement in Matthew: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. (Matt 10:34). Now, this is the man we called the Prince of Peace! What is going on here? The Prince of Peace declares that He has come with a sword?

If we back up a little this begins to make more sense. Jesus is giving his apostles instructions before he sends them out to preach the gospel and he is warning them that they are going to encounter persecution. “Expect it!” He is saying.

We see this still today. Where ever the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, the adversary fights it in any way he can. He causes parents to refuse to let their children join the Church or children to turn against parents who have decided to join. While the Savior knows that His gospel is peace, He also knows that the acceptance of that gospel is going to cause havoc. Therefore, the gospel is a sword that divides truth from error, good from evil, and light from dark. But it also can separate families, separate us from our comfort zone, or separate us from the material things we love in the world. Sometimes our peace needs to be disturbed so that we can grow!

Sometimes we mistakenly think that if we are doing what we should be doing everything will just work out happily ever after. But often when we are pursuing righteousness, the adversary will do all in his power to thwart us and we will experience times of trouble. We will feel the sword cutting into our lives. But if we hang on to truth, eventually things will work out. Truth will triumph. Peace will triumph. Jesus Christ will triumph.