diff --git a/peer.go b/peer.go
index 27355988..66170fa8 100644
--- a/peer.go
+++ b/peer.go
@@ -391,6 +391,116 @@ func (p *peer) readNextMessage() (lnwire.Message, error) {
 	return nextMsg, nil
 }
 
+// chanMsgStream implements a goroutine-safe, in-order stream of messages to be
+// delivered to an active channel. These messages MUST be in order due to the
+// nature of the lightning channel commitment state machine. We utilize
+// additional synchronization with the fundingManager to ensure we don't
+// attempt to dispatch a message to a channel before it is fully active.
+type chanMsgStream struct {
+	fundingMgr *fundingManager
+	htlcSwitch *htlcswitch.Switch
+
+	cid lnwire.ChannelID
+
+	peer *peer
+
+	msgCond *sync.Cond
+	msgs    []lnwire.Message
+
+	chanLink htlcswitch.ChannelLink
+
+	mtx sync.Mutex
+
+	quit chan struct{}
+}
+
+// newChanMsgStream creates a new instance of a chanMsgStream for a particular
+// channel identified by its channel ID.
+func newChanMsgStream(f *fundingManager, h *htlcswitch.Switch, p *peer,
+	c lnwire.ChannelID) *chanMsgStream {
+
+	stream := &chanMsgStream{
+		fundingMgr: f,
+		htlcSwitch: h,
+		peer:       p,
+		cid:        c,
+		quit:       make(chan struct{}),
+	}
+	stream.msgCond = sync.NewCond(&stream.mtx)
+
+	return stream
+}
+
+// Start starts the chanMsgStream.
+func (c *chanMsgStream) Start() {
+	go c.msgConsumer()
+}
+
+// Stop stops the chanMsgStream.
+func (c *chanMsgStream) Stop() {
+	// TODO(roasbeef): signal too?
+
+	close(c.quit)
+}
+
+// msgConsumer is the main goroutine that streams messages from the peer's
+// readHandler directly to the target channel.
+func (c *chanMsgStream) msgConsumer() {
+	peerLog.Tracef("Update stream for ChannelID(%x) created", c.cid[:])
+
+	for {
+		// First, we'll check our condition. If the queue of messages
+		// is empty, then we'll wait until a new item is added.
+		c.msgCond.L.Lock()
+		for len(c.msgs) == 0 {
+			c.msgCond.Wait()
+		}
+
+		// Grab the message off the front of the queue, shifting the
+		// slice's reference down one in order to remove the message
+		// from the queue.
+		msg := c.msgs[0]
+		c.msgs = c.msgs[1:]
+
+		// We'll send a message to the funding manager and wait iff an
+		// active funding process for this channel hasn't yet
+		// completed. We do this in order to account for the following
+		// scenario: we send the funding locked message to the other
+		// side, they immediately send a channel update message, but we
+		// haven't yet sent the channel to the channelManager.
+		c.fundingMgr.waitUntilChannelOpen(c.cid)
+
+		// Dispatch the commitment update message to the proper active
+		// goroutine dedicated to this channel.
+		if c.chanLink == nil {
+			link, err := c.htlcSwitch.GetLink(c.cid)
+			if err != nil {
+				peerLog.Errorf("recv'd update for unknown "+
+					"channel %v from %v", c.cid, c.peer)
+				continue
+			}
+			c.chanLink = link
+		}
+
+		c.chanLink.HandleChannelUpdate(msg)
+		c.msgCond.L.Unlock()
+	}
+}
+
+// AddMsg adds a new message to the chanMsgStream. This function is safe for
+// concurrent access.
+func (c *chanMsgStream) AddMsg(msg lnwire.Message) {
+	// First, we'll lock the condition, and add the message to the end of
+	// the message queue.
+	c.msgCond.L.Lock()
+	c.msgs = append(c.msgs, msg)
+	c.msgCond.L.Unlock()
+
+	// With the message added, we signal to the msgConsumer that there are
+	// additional messages to consume.
+	c.msgCond.Signal()
+}
+
 // readHandler is responsible for reading messages off the wire in series, then
 // properly dispatching the handling of the message to the proper subsystem.
 //