JEHOVAH-SHALOM – The Lord Is Peace
Scriptures: Num. 6:22-27; Judg. 6:22-24; Isa. 9:6; Eph. 2:14-18
Introduction
This morning my message title is “JEHOVAH-SHALOM – The Lord Is Peace.”
I had a very long and stressful week this past week and there were times when “my” peace left me. But, as I meditated on the message for this morning, this old song came into my spirit. The song is titled “Peace in the Valley.” I am not sure if you younger people know this song, so let me share a few of the words with you in case you’ve never heard it. The song opens with these words: “I am tired and weary, but I must toil on. Till the Lord comes to call me away. Where the morning is bright and the Lamb is the light, and the night is as fair as the day. There’ll be peace in the valley for me someday; there’ll be peace in the valley for me. I pray no more sorrow and sadness or trouble will be, there’ll be peace in the valley for me….There the bear will be gentle, the wolf will be tame. And the lion will lay down by the lamb. The host from the wild will be led by a Child. I’ll be changed from the creature I am. There’ll be peace in the valley for me someday…..”
Have you ever had a time in your life when you needed peace but you could not find it within? The song speaks of our having peace someday in the valley, but I want you to know that we can have peace today in the midst of everything we’re dealing with. This is what the name JEHOVAH-SHALOM tells us of God and of Jesus Christ as well. The name originally comes from Gideon when he built an altar at Ophrah to memorialize God’s message “Peace be unto thee.” As we will read later, Isaiah tells us that the Messiah would also be known as the “prince of Peace, our JEHOVAH-SHALOM. Turn with me to Numbers chapter six.
I. God’s Direction to Aaron
In the twenty-second chapter of Numbers, God gives Moses instructions for Aaron for how they were to bless the Children of Israel. Aaron and his sons alone, as the “official” representatives of the Lord, could bless in His name and put His name upon the people. This benediction consisted of three clauses; each one complete within itself. Let’s begin reading at verse twenty-two. “Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.’ So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”
God gave Aaron and his sons a specific blessing to speak over the people which I believe is applicable for each of us today. God did not leave it up for man to come up with the words to speak on His behalf, but He told man exactly what He wanted said and thus what He would do. In verse twenty-four He said that He would bless and keep them (us). In verse twenty-five, He said He would make His countenance shine on them (and us) and be gracious towards them (and us.) The “face” of God is His personality as turned towards man as opposed to being turned “away” from man. In the Old Testament when His face was turned towards man it led to love and mercy being present in their lives. When His face was turned against man it often led to destruction and death. The last part of this verse speaks to Him be gracious to man; in other words He would be kind and beneficent to man. In verse twenty-six God says that He would lift His countenance on them (and us) and give them (and us) peace.
This last verse seems to be a repeat of verse twenty-five in a stronger way implying a more personal and individual attention that one would receive from God. When God’s face shines upon us there are no clouds that can intervene. Remember the saying “above every dark cloud the sun is still shining?” This is a very true statement in the natural, but especially so spiritually. Because God’s face is ever shining down upon us, we can have the peace that He promised us. This peace, being the perfect fruit in experience of the grace that comes from God, forms the climax and conclusion of this benediction. When God, Himself, says that He will turn His face towards us, lift His countenance on us and give us peace, we can take it to the bank. Remember, this is what God said He would do, not what man saying that will do on our behalf. JEHOVAH-SHALOM, the Lord is peace. Because there are times when my soul cannot find peace, I have to remind myself that the Lord IS MY PEACE! Now turn with me to Judges chapter six.
II. Gideon’s Peace
What we’re about to read happened 200-350 years after God told Aaron how to bless the Children of Israel. The story of Gideon is an interesting story. The Midianites had been oppressing the Children of Israel for seven years because God allowed it after the Children of Israel did evil in His sight. The Midianites would wait for the Israelites harvest to be ready and they would take it. They would bring their livestock to the Israelites’ land and devastate it. After seven years of this oppressive behavior, the Israelites were brought very low – meaning that they had no will to fight or to defend themselves. It was like the Midianites were the big bully in school that everyone was scared of. They did what they wanted to the Israelites and the Israelites did not bother to defend themselves. They finally came to their senses and cried out to the Lord and God responded. God sent a prophet to tell them why they were in the situation they were in but did not share with them what He was going to do to deliver them. Shortly thereafter an angel appeared to Gideon.
When the angel spoke to Gideon, the first statement that he made to Gideon was to tell him that the Lord was with him (vs. 12). Gideon responded by asking the question that if the Lord was with them why were they being tormented by the hands of Midian? God told him to go and deliver the Children out of the hands of Midian. When you read in verse fourteen you find that God spoke in past tense even though this was the first time that Gideon even knew he was going to do anything for the Lord. Look down at verses twenty-two through twenty-four. “When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.’ The Lord said to him, ‘Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.’ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.”
From these verses we see that even though Gideon was in the midst of being tormented by the Midianites, God told him to have peace and do not fear. Do you understand how fear takes away our peace? It is impossible to have peace when fear is present and it is impossible to have fear when peace is present. The two are polar opposites and as a Christian we should desire to walk in the peace which comes through God. After Gideon had his interaction with the angel of God, he built an altar and named it “The Lord is Peace” or JEHOVAH-SHALOM. When you read the rest of the story you will find that the peace that Gideon might have experienced while talking to the angel did not last very long. Just as we do when God asks us to walk down an unknown path, fear quickly came back into his presence. He still had a fear of his father’s household and the men of the city and he had a fear that if he went to battle that God was truly going to be with him. In the end, God proved to Gideon that He was God and when He said ‘Peace unto you’ that is exactly what He meant.
Now some of you might be thinking that this was the Old Testament and maybe because of what we face today things are different. I do not know how many of you have been tormented by an enemy who came upon you and just took whatever they wanted from you, but chances are that we have not experienced this to this level. But for us today, this word still applies. We are to have peace and that peace came to us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Isaiah prophesied about Jesus being the Prince of Peace. Turn with me to Isaiah 9:6.
III. The Prince of Peace
“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah prophesied that Jesus is the One who brings peace in the fullest sense of wholeness, prosperity and tranquility. We can know His peace and one day the whole world will experience it. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:14-18, “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.” Jesus preached peace, but He also brought peace to us. We have access to God directly through the Holy Spirit which those in the Old Testament did not have this direct connection. When Gideon asked God to prove to him through the use of the fleece that He would be with him, God never leaves us because of His Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We have access to the God of peace 24/7; 365 days as year. Can you imagine what our lives will be like if we accessed God’s peace just 6 months out of the year? Or 15 days out of the month? Do you realize that some people never experience God’s peace because they have so many things going on that it is hard for them keep their heads above water. I want you to know that even if you feel like you’re drowning, God can give you peace and forever hold your head above the water.
Conclusion
I opened this message with the song “Peace In The Valley” which the songs speaks that we will experience one day. That peace is a peace that our natural minds cannot understand for we have never experienced such peace on this side. But the day is going to come when everything that we currently worry about; stress over; and are fearful of will cease. We will experience a complete and total peace in addition to the fullness of the love of God. But to have that we must leave this earth. But while we are still here, we can experience JEHOVAH-SHALOM, recognizing the Lord is our Peace.
This past Thursday we gathered with family and friends and celebrated Thanksgiving. We laughed, talked and ate good food. We took time to say ‘thank you” to God for another year. For some people it was hard to find something to be thankful for this year because of things you may have been facing or dealing. Maybe you told God “thank you” but in reality your heart was still focused on what you were dealing with. I fully understand those feelings as I have experienced them myself. But I will tell you this, in the midst of the worse things we experience; we can give God thanks for walking us through them and giving us peace that we are not alone. I will not tell you that you will not have some difficult days, but I can tell you from experience that JEHOVAH-SHALOM is there and when He is present there is peace.
I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and have a blessed week this week.
