“Jehovah Shalom” – Our Peace

 Judges 6-7; Psalms 52; 1 Corinthians 14 

“…’Ah, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.’ So 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 6:22-24

The fear of seeing God face to face was part of Israel’s history and tradition since Moses and the Israelites met with God at Mount Sinai. The consuming fire, thunder, and lightening that marked God’s presence so terrified Israel that they begged Moses to meet alone with God. God’s holiness and mankind’s sinfulness cannot be reconciled without a blood sacrifice for sin. Christ himself is our peace with God and with one another. Only through Jesus Christ is our sin debt paid and God’s righteousness offered to us. Through Jesus, we like Moses, can stand with unveiled faces and meet with God face to face. There is no peace on earth without first finding peace with the Creator of all. Peace with God brings the peace of God and the capacity for peace with others. 

“’Peace be with you’ was a favorite phrase of Jesus to his disciples and to us today. He is our Peace. Jehovah Shalom, You are my peace, for your glory.”