Jehovah Shalom - God of Peace
Fear is a constant in our world. It’s so immersed in our culture that sometimes it’s actually considered a psychiatric issue, complete with fancy descriptive terms! I thought it may be interesting to read some of these to you tonight. Some seem normal, but others are simply strange things to fear.
Porphyrophobia: fear of the color purple
Arachnophobia: fear of spiders
Symmetrophobia: fear of things that are symmetrical
Claustrophobia: fear of small spaces
Atychiphobia: fear of failure
Sesquipedaliophobia: fear of long words
Acrophobia: fear of heights
Triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13
Ephebiphobia: fear of teenagers
And, my personal favorite:
Phobophobia: fear of phobias
It’s fun to read these fears and think, “How on earth can someone be afraid of things like the color purple‽ It’s just a color!” But when we get afraid -- whether it’s about something others would see as normal or ridiculous -- it’s real. Our blood pressure jumps up. Our pulse races. We start to sweat and hyperventilate. Our blood sugar skyrockets, giving us enough energy to either fight or run away. We feel legitimate fear.
Fear is real, and is usually based on a threat -- either real or imagined -- to oneself. In short, fear is our body’s way of protecting us from dangerous situations where we may die. In that respect, it can seem like a normal, healthy reaction, right? Fear is good!
But, if that’s the case, why does Jesus say what he says in Matthew? Matthew 10:28 in the New Living Translation: “Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Jesus is telling us not to be afraid of death or harm to our body. Why? How? That doesn’t make sense, does it? If fear is a normal, healthy response, then why is Jesus telling us not to be afraid? For that matter, why does the Bible say, “Do not fear” over and over and over again? Add to that the phrase “Fear only God”, and it becomes a pretty confusing verse.
No worries, though; there are answers to those questions! Let’s go to Judges chapter 6 to see how Gideon handled fear. At this point, Israel was occupied by the Midianites, who were so oppressive the Israelites hid in mountain caves. Whenever harvest time came around, the Midianites would steal all of the food, and wouldn’t spare a living thing. It got so bad that the Israelites finally cried out to God for help. God reminded them of what He’s done for them, then He did something interesting. Let’s start reading at verse 11.
“11The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
17Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
19Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
20The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
23But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
24So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.” (Judges 6:11-24)
Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress. This is interesting because they would normally separate the wheat from the chaff on a hill, where the wind could blow the useless bits away. Gideon, though, is doing this in a winepress -- essentially, a pit -- so he could hide the food from the Midianites. God comes up to Gideon as he’s doing this and tells him, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
Gideon asks, “OK, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this bad stuff happened? Where are all of the miracles we’ve heard about from our parents? We’ve been abandoned!”
Sound familiar? I know I’ve felt that way before. I’m going through something and I feel like God just isn’t there anymore. I become afraid. God responds by telling Gideon that he will be Israel’s deliverer. Gideon objects and tells Him that He’s got the wrong guy.
I’ve been there too.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Gideon wants to set an offering before his visitor, and asks him to wait. He goes and prepares the offering, then brings it out to God. God gives him specific instructions: “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” So Gideon did. God miraculously consumes the sacrificial offering with holy fire, confirming what Gideon must have already suspected -- he was in the presence of God Himself.
Gideon starts freaking out because he saw the Lord face-to-face! Gideon was afraid of seeing the face of the Lord because he is filled with sin, and that causes death for anyone who sees God. Gideon was full of fear. But God says not to be afraid, “you will not die”. God says this because Gideon was chosen by God. Gideon accepted this choice by showing respect and reverence for God and His commandments through an offering. When finished, Gideon calls the altar Jehovah Shalom because God gave him peace when he was afraid. There is a lot we can learn from these final few verses.
First, it’s interesting that Gideon names the altar. Not every altar had a name -- many were used for sacrifices without ever having a recorded name. In fact, that’s exactly how Gideon’s started -- it wasn’t even “officially” an altar, but just a rock! It became an altar when Gideon made his sacrificial offering. By naming it, though, Gideon transformed the altar from a simple place of sacrifice to a memorial to the grace of God. Gideon’s sacrifice showed part of God’s personality -- that He is Jehovah Shalom, God of Peace.
This is mirrored in the New Testament, by the way. Jesus was sacrificed on a cross. The cross wasn’t anything special -- it was just two pieces of wood. When Jesus was crucified, though, the wood was transformed into an altar. When Jesus rose again, the cross became a memorial to the Grace of God -- also showing that He is Jehovah Shalom, God of Peace.
How does Jesus’ crucifixion show that God is Jehovah Shalom? I’m so glad you asked! Let’s look at some verses from the New Testament for a moment. In John chapter 16 verse 33, Jesus says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus is, in part, referring to His own battle with the temptations and weaknesses of the flesh -- He was human, after all! Because of this, in Him we may have peace!
Let’s not stop there. In Luke, 2:13-14, after Jesus was born, “a great company of the heavenly host appeared...praising God and saying, ‘14Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’” Peace to those on whom His favor rests. Interesting -- it seems like God’s favor rested on Gideon, doesn’t it? Let’s think back to what happened between Gideon and God. Gideon was afraid because he saw the face of God, and that deserves death. But God chose Gideon, and Gideon accepted that choice. God told him not to be afraid, and granted him peace.
We have all been chosen by God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Don’t believe me? Let’s see what the Bible says! Ephesians 1:4-6: “4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” The “One” referred to here is, of course, Jesus Christ. God chose all of us -- the entire world, both believer and unbeliever alike. If we do what is commanded of us (which means follow Christ), that means we have accepted God’s choice like Gideon did, and we will not die -- we will have eternal life in heaven. This is what Jesus meant when He said not to be afraid of death in Matthew! This doesn’t mean we will never die on earth! After all, Gideon isn’t still around -- his death is recorded in Judges 8:32 “at a good old age”. Our bodies will die -- there’s nothing we can really do about that. What we can control, though, is the life or death of our soul. If we accept God’s choice by following Christ, and respect and revere God and His commandments -- then our souls will not die. Remember the end of that verse in Matthew? “Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” This is the definition of fear of God -- respect and reverence for God, His commandments, and of course, His Son. Fear God, not man; and your soul -- what makes you, you -- will never die. There is no better definition of “Peace”.
