A man is brutally struke down for boasting about himself.  He is struke, eaten by worms, THEN he dies.  Is this an example of peace?

We would probably say No.  We’d be wrong.

Scripture tells us that “God is not  God of confusion, but of peace” (1 Cor 14:33) and says repeated that He is the “God of peace”  (Rom 15:33, Phil 4:9, 1 Thes. 5:23).  This is of course only one way to describe God, but it is an important one.

How do we describe then, this story:

20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. 21 On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. 22 And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. (Acts 12:20-23)

Normally we’d look at this and say “here God is showing his justice or his wrath”, which is indeed true.  But also, this is the God of peace, sending an angel to strike down a man because of his pride.  He does not stop being the God of peace when this happens.  He does not stop being the perfect model of peace when this happens.

Take a closer look at the passage.  Note that Herod was “angry” because these people were starving and they wanted “peace” in order to get food from his country.  Herod uses this as an opportunity to flaunt his power over them.  God uses this as an opportunity to actually bring peace, both physically for the people of Tyre and Sidon and spiritually to all those who are able to recognize God’s work in this act.

God’s vantage point is way bigger than ours.  To us, something may not look like peace or love or goodness, but from God’s viewpoint, it is. 

From our perspective, God becoming a man and then getting brutally tortured and murdered doesn’t seem like the way to bring peace to the world.  And yet, this is exactly what Jesus – the Prince of Peace – did in order to bring us peace with God (see Rom 5:1)