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by Charlie Wolcott

Jehovah Shalom: The Lord is peace

We live in a world where this is no peace. Violent mobs destroy property and loot in the guise of “protesting.” Some political parties advocate that unless they regain control there won’t be civility. Mass shootings and a constant state of fear abounds. There is no peace in today’s world.

There would not even be peace even if our political realm “returned back to normal.” The Communist countries had no war within them, but there was no peace. During our previous U.S. political administration, there was no peace, even though one party pretty much had full control. During our current one, we certainly don’t have peace either.

But peace will not be achieved no matter whose political ideals are realized. Many people are not at peace even when everything going around them is smooth. Peace is not defined as “lack of war.” Peace is much better defined as “all is as it should be.” We live in a fallen and broken world. Something is drastically wrong with this world and every person is either asking or seeking how to make that which is wrong to be right. There will be no peace until that which is wrong is made right.

What is wrong with this world? We are. We are the ones at fault. Man is the crowning glory of God’s creation and we are the ones who messed it all up. It is our sin that has wrecked this world and created the lack of peace. Man has been trying to fix it up the best way he knows how – without God – and each attempt fails miserably. In the grand epic story we call world history, man plays the role of both the villain and the damsel in distress. Who is the hero in this epic? Jesus Christ. He came to deal with what is wrong with this world, sin, and to rescue His bride, us.

Jesus made the way to make peace between man and God. He is the one and only mediator. He is the one who was both God and man at the same time was able to take upon Himself the wrath of God, thus enabling peace to be achieved. We celebrate this moment in which the “peace treaty” was signed today, and call it “Good Friday.” It is the day in which we celebrate what Jesus did on that cross, and in two days we will celebrate the completion of that work on Resurrection Sunday. And now we who have been justified by faith now have peace with God. Jesus ended the war between God and man, however just because the treaty has been signed, that does not mean all factions are recognizing it. Therefore, God has sent us to be ambassadors to the lost in this world to implore and encourage that they make peace with God before He comes in.

When Paul wrote about ambassadors, he had a Roman ambassador in mind. When Rome set its eyes on a foreign nation or people group, they sent an ambassador ahead of them to negotiate terms of surrender. This would enable to nation or tribe to retain most of its identity and culture, and they would just need to pay tribute and submit to Roman rule. If the nation or tribe refused the terms, the Roman army would come in and clean house. The image relates to us in this way. God is coming to claim that which belongs to Him. He sends us as His followers to plead with the people to make peace with Him and to surrender to His rule before He comes in with His judgment against sin and to set Jesus Christ on the throne of this world where He rightfully belongs.

This is a key to understand about peace. My pastor made a very interesting connection about peace a couple year ago when he did the Advent studies of joy, peace, hope, and love. He cited Isaiah 9:7 and noticed that you cannot have God’s peace without God’s government. Since peace is properly defined as “all is as it should be,” then how can that be possible unless a pure, perfect, righteous, holy, and just God rules over it? Things went wrong when man decided to defy God’s rule and try to do things his own way, and they can only be made right by God intervening and setting them right.

Gideon gave God this name Jehovah Shalom when he was summoned to deliver Israel from Midian’s hand. But what did Gideon do immediately afterwards? That very night, he went and tore down the altars to Baal and Asheroth in his town and replaced them with an altar to the Lord. To make peace with God, he had to declare war on the false teachings and idolatry which itself was waging war against God. In order for peace to be acquired, all that which rebels against God must be put down and that which God established must be erected.

If we want peace in our lives, we must submit to God’s rule. The Apostle Paul made it clear that we are either slaves to sin or slaves to Christ. Only one of those is a Perfect Master: Jesus Christ. When we submit ourselves to and obey Christ, then no matter what goes on around us, we will have peace. Yes, the Christian can have peace of mind even when Hell is throwing everything it has at us. When things go wrong, when the car suddenly breaks down, when heavy traffic makes you late, when someone tells lies about you, or the government has shown to sell itself to the devil, we can still have peace. Why? How? It’s simple: God is still in control and nothing takes place without his permission or allowance. Such chaos approached Hudson Taylor while he led missions in China. He heard the bad reports and he just leaned back on his chair and started whistling. He was at peace. The man bringing the news was confused. How could he do that? The answer was that he just rolled the problem onto Jesus. Taylor didn’t have to take responsibility for the problem. He gave it to Jesus and waited for Him to take care of it. That doesn’t mean he did nothing, but that he recognized it was under Christ’s rule, therefore it was Christ’s responsibility. He only had to worry about obeying Christ, not solving all the problems he faced.

There is one more aspect of God’s peace I’ll address. God did not come to be a peace-lover; He came to be a peace-maker. What’s the difference? A peace-lover will surrender everything to not have to make a stand and not have to work to make something happen. They don’t know true peace and just want to get along in one big kumbaya with everyone. A peace-maker, on the other hand, will go deal with the situations and if necessary remove those disturbing the peace. They will go and set things in order, settle conflicts by a standard of truth, and get the job done. God is a peace-maker and He will set things straight. The question to us is this: will be part of the clean-up process, or will we be the ones God need to clean out? He’s going to set His rule here on earth one way or the other. We have a choice to stand with Him and be part of the process, or we can try to continue doing things our own way and be part of the problem for Him to deal with. Let’s not be part of the problem.

God is Jehovah Shalom, the Lord of peace. He is the ruler of this universe and He is returning once and for all to make all things that are wrong to be right. He delays His day of coming so we might make terms of peace before He takes us out with the trash. Will you make peace with God? Now is a better time than ever. Ask me or any of us at Worldview Warriors how to do this.

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