The Joshua Victor Theory

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The Beatitudes are 9 deep and powerful statements that open Jesus’ longest recorded Sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. They set the tone and picture the life of Jesus Christ reflected in the lives of the believers, or followers of Jesus. In other words, they paint the picture of how your life is modeled after the life of Jesus Christ, and what the blessings are of being attached to His life. This life is very obviously different from the desires and examples of the world. Today, we’ll zoom in on one Beatitude in particular: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” To be called sons of God shows that peacemakers reflect one of God’s key qualities. How is God a peacemaker, and how do we reflect that? Colossians 1 describes how Jesus makes peace. Jesus is the image of the invisible God —meaning that what we see in Jesus Christ is the exact imprint of God’s nature (Colossians 1:15; He...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Peace is an important word in the Bible, appearing 375 times. Peace is something that seems self-explanatory to us, as the absence of warfare or fighting. I think almost every grade school child has at some point expressed prayers or longings for world peace. So when we read various passages in the Gospels that you heard tonight, we may be puzzled. In particular I mean that Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). Doesn’t He want peace? Is Jesus an advocate of war? But then what can He mean by saying “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God?” Or in the Gospel of John, where He says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you”? Which is it? Peace or no peace? To help sort things out, let’s briefly treat each of the various pass...