LEARNING DAILY

 

John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Jesus

 

Isaiah called Jesus Christ “The Prince of Peace”. Isaiah foresaw that Jesus would bring God’s peace and righteous government to earth. I doubt He saw the time between His first and second coming when he wrote about the government of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to establish peace with God through the cross of Calvary. Romans 5:1-2 confirms this, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into the grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” He will return to establish a government of peace in what is known as His millennium kingdom.

 

The Hebrew word for peace is shalom. “Shalom’s basic meaning is the positive presence of harmony, wholeness, soundness, well-being and success in all areas” (LSSB). Think back to the very beginning of Genesis where God created the Garden of Eden, all living things, including Adam and Eve. This creation was a world that existed in perfect harmony; it was a world at peace. “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

 

We know from the writing in Genesis that the peace of this creation was interrupted because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience and the introduction of sin into creation; they tried to hide from God when He came to “walk with them”. Their disobedience destroyed the harmonious relationship they had with Him. Fear of God replaced their desire to walk and talk with Him. Sin even caused disruption in the relationship between Adam and Eve. He blamed her for eating the fruit and God said trouble in the home would continue. The harmonious home life continues to be a problem as arguments, and even violence is seen in the home today. The entire argument of harmony disrupted can be extended to the relationship between humanity and nature. Romans 8:22 reminds us that “the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now”.

 

But the Good News, the best news ever, is that God had a plan to restore shalom and that plan is found in sending His Son to redeem humanity and all creation. This plan is seen throughout the Old Testament. The angels announced the coming of “God’s peace” who had been born. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, remove the barrier in order to provide a plan to walk a narrow way in to His kingdom providing the way for peace with God. Go back and read Romans 5:1 as well as the verse for today. Know that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are justified through faith and have peace with God. That does not mean peace will automatically become part of our lives. Jesus told us the narrow way would be difficult. Our peace is with God! We still must walk in obedience to His commands in order to live a life of peace. Each of us must seek His peace in prayer, right living, and pursuing Him every day. We must do our best to live in harmony with all people. To experience this peace, we must be united with Jesus Christ in an active faith. The Holy Spirit is with us continually to help us do just that!

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.