Russell Moore on "Christlessness Is Peace"

Russell Moore provides a very thoughtful reflection on the true peace that Christ brings (and the means by which he brings it). Here's an excerpt:

The sound of Christmas, in the biblical text, isn’t the sound of sleigh-bells jingling, but the clanging swords and strangled babies and demon screams. It’s awful.

But in the midst of all that horror, there’s peace. This peace isn’t tranquility and stillness, but the dynamism of the shalom of God’s new creation. It is not merely the perfunctory “good will to men” but peace between the ruler of the universe and those “with whom he is pleased” (Lk. 2:14).

In the gospel, that peaces comes only through war. This isn’t violence, the way we think of it, flesh and blood against flesh and blood. It is the Spirit of Jesus marching as to war against the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). It is the blood of Christ silencing the accusations of the ancient dragon (Rev. 12:10-11). This is why the Apostle Paul can say, without contradiction, that the “God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20).

Read the whole reflection here.