Apocalyptic Peace: A Reflection for the Second Week of Advent 2025

Last week, as we turned the page to a new liturgical year to the start of Advent, we saw how apocalyptic — that is, revelatory, unmasking — times, require apocalyptic measures: not just hope, peace, joy, and love, but apocalyptic — that is, unlikely, tenacious, creative — hope, peace, joy, and love. Today, as we enter Advent’s second week, our readings focus on what such an apocalyptic peace might look like.

First let’s look at the Old Testament writing, a classic proto-Apocalyptic oracle from the prophet Isaiah:

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11.1-10)

What we see here is a vision of peace, conceived not in terms of a simple absence of violence, but as the presence of just, good-faith relationships. This genuine peace is marked by:

• knowledge, understanding, and wisdom
• counsel and strength
• justice and righteousness
• equity
• faithfulness
• the replacement of predatory and violent behaviour with genuine relationships, not just among humans but within the whole created order

Here we see none of the necessary compromises of politics, business-as-usual, and realpolitik. Don’t get me wrong, these are important and necessary in this world. But when we’re thinking apocalyptically, with a view to God’s Kingdom, God’s ways, and God’s vision for creation, we are free to dream big, beyond the limitations of the human status quo.

As utopian as this vision may seem, as Christians, we believe it’s nothing other than the way of Jesus, whom we call the Prince of Peace. And therefore, as followers of Jesus, it is our way too. We get a small hint of this in today’s Epistle reading, in which Paul exhorts his readers to live in harmony with each other. While it has a broader application, in the specific case, the main driver of division was ethnicity, between Jewish and Gentile Christians. He writes:

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name”; and again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people”; and again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him”; and again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15.5-13)

I bolded all the peace-coded words to show just how important it was for the New Testament Church.

I mentioned last week that apocalyptic hope isn’t just about a feeling or belief, but is to be lived out creatively. These two readings today offer us a glimpse of what that looks like. The challenge in apocalyptic times is to find some some way, no matter how small, to plant the flag of true peace in our communities and live it out. Action is, after all, the antidote to anxiety.

May we, today, tomorrow, and always, be ministers of peace — the true peace that passes all understanding that is not the absence of violence the presence of authentic, healed and whole, reciprocal, good-faith relationships with God, with ourselves, with each other, and with the whole created order.