This verse is describing a time still future when, according to the Bible, Jesus Christ will rule this world for 1,000 years in a reign of righteousness and peace. Difficult to believe? Yes, when we look at the mayhem that currently prevails; so how can it be brought about?
The root cause of injustice and unrest is sin, which entered the world when the first man and woman listened to the devil rather than God. Restoration of righteousness and peace therefore necessitated a solution to the sin problem. That solution was provided by the God who had been offended by sin; He sent His own sinless Son into the world to pay sin’s price. This Jesus did in His sacrificial death on the cross.
The attractive town of Crieff, in Perthshire, is famous for the Drovers’ Tryst. Tryst is a Scots word that means ‘agreed meeting place’. Cattle owners and drovers from the highlands and islands of northern Scotland journeyed many miles there, suffering significant hardships, to meet buyers and strike deals with them.
The cross of Christ is also a meeting place. It’s there that God’s faithfulness to His own holy character and His love for a world of sinners met. Peace with God is available because all the claims of God’s righteousness against sin were satisfied there in the death of Christ; He ‘suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God’ (1 Peter 3:18).
For those who respond to God’s command to repent of their sins (Acts 17:30,31) and trust in Christ, the peace to mark that future reign of Christ can be enjoyed now as ‘the peace of Christ rule[s] in [their] hearts’ (Colossians 3:15).
Will you respond?
(Quotations from the ESV)
