“13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
Luke 2:13-14 NKJV
The angels were declaring the good news: on earth peace, goodwill towards men! They weren’t saying that there would be peace on earth among men, but rather that there was now peace and goodwill toward men from God. You should never feel like God is mad at you. He’s never angry with you. Because of Jesus, He’s at peace with you.
Because of Adam’s sin, there was a major sin problem – but Jesus came to deal with it (Romans 5:18-19)! Through Jesus, sin has been dealt with (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2), and it should no longer the dominant factor in our lives (Romans 6:14) or in our relationship with God. We should not be relating to God based on our sin. Under the Old Covenant, there was a constant focus on sin, and the people had to regularly bring sacrifices for their sins. But Jesus was The Sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Jesus bore our punishment for sin so that we could be reconciled to God permanently and forever. Jesus came so that we could have peace with God!
This peace only comes through what Jesus did for us on the cross (Colossians 1:20). God was angry at sin, and sin had to be dealt with. God dealt with sin through Jesus and is extending peace and goodwill toward all mankind. All our sin – past, present, and future-tense (Hebrews 10:10, 14; and 12:23) – was placed on Jesus on the cross. All judgment against our sin was placed on Jesus (John 12:32) on the cross.
Knowing that God is at peace with us helps us to come boldly and confidently to Him at any time (Hebrews 4:16) – even when we’ve messed up really badly and feel ashamed. Because of Jesus, we can be bold and confident, knowing that God accepts us and we are at peace with Him.
“Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
Romans 5:1 NET Bible
