How do we
obtain God's
peace?
"Grace & PEACE be
multiplied to you in the KNOWLEDGE of God & of Jesus our Lord seeing that
His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life &
godliness, through the TRUE KNOWLEDGE of Him Who called us by His own
glory & excellence."
(see notes
2 Peter 1:2;
1:3)
(Click
note)
Peter (who experienced great
disturbance of peace) teaches that
God's peace comes from true, experiential (not just theoretical) knowledge
of the Source of peace, God & Jesus our Lord
How
did God
Answer Israel's cry?
(1) God Sent His Word via prophet
(see notes
Judges 6:7-10,
contrast
Lam 2:14)
and reminded them - He had brought the UP from Egypt, OUT from slavery
&
Delivered
from hand of ALL oppressors &
Dispossessed
& gave them the land.
But despite all God did for them, they did not obey (they did fear the Amorite gods) (cf summary
notes
Judges 2:1-3,
2:11-13;
17,
19).
This was meant to be a "wake up" call.
2)
THEN
God
sent "The Word" (see note
Revelation 19:13)
The
Angel of the LORD
> Gideon (see >100
Names of Christ )
Where did the
Angel find Gideon?
|
In the Winepress |
Threshing was generally on an
elevated location & not in a winepress - undoubtedly
reflects
Gideon's fear to stay out of view of marauding Midianites. Keep this context in mind as you see what the
Angel of the LORD says to Gideon.
What are His commands &
promises?
Judges 6:12 (note)
Jehovah
is w/ you O
valiant warrior
So here we see: (1) God's
presence promised (2) Gideon's potential prophesied
Judges 6:14 (note)
"Go in this your strength & deliver"
(LXX=
sozo
= save)
Israel from the
hand of
Midian. Have
I not sent you?"
Judges 6:16 (note)
"Surely I
will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as
one man."
(Another
way to translate v16 is "I Am is with you")
Judges 6:23 (note)
"PEACE to you, do not fear. You shall not die."
God recognizes in
Gideon something that Gideon does not see himself. God sees our potential.
He sees us for what we can become, as He works in our lives. He is in the
business of taking "nobodies" (cf
1Sa 16:7)
& transforming them by His presence in their lives. He begins with us
where we are be it in the winepress or on some mundane job, etc. He knows
our weaknesses, our faults, our shortcomings but He does not say "If you
get those things out of your life, then I'll be able to use you." He takes
our inadequacy and transforms it by His adequacy (cf
2Co 12:9-10, see
Spurgeon)
God sees beyond our fears &
frailties. God does not save us & use us for what we are but for what by
His grace we may become in Christ.
What are Gideon's
responses?
Judges 6:13 (note)
"O my lord, IF the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?
And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying,
'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt ?' But now the LORD has abandoned
us and given us into the hand of Midian."
Had God
abandoned them? Do you ever feel like Gideon?
Note Gideon's
ignorance of...
(1) Who He is speaking with - he
calls Him "lord" or
adon = title used to convey respect
(2) God's ways. Remember that
"peace" is multiplied in a true knowledge (see
2 Peter 1:2 -see note),
not in ignorance which helps understand why Gideon is fearful & does not
have peace independent of the circumstances.
Judges 6:15 (note)
"O Lord (Gideon still does not recognize Who the Angel is) how shall I
deliver Israel ? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, & I am the
youngest in my father's house."
Note
Gideon's myopic vision
- he looks
at the visible not at Jehovah's omnipotence. Aren't we all a little like
Gideon, with a tendency to look at the impossibility of the task,
forgetting to look at the potency of our sovereign God. Stated another
way, when we like Gideon question our suitability for any God-given
task, we are actually questioning God's choice of us & His ability
to use us as He chooses. When God sends us, He has already assured
us that he will be with us & give us the power to accomplish the
assignment.
Judges 6:17 (note)
"If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is
You who speak with me.'
Gideon's eyes begin to open to
recognize the LORD Who agrees to show him a sign.
God meets us where we are.
Judges 6:22 (note) When
Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD (note), he said, "Alas, O Lord GOD ! For now * I have seen
the angel of the LORD face to face." 23 The LORD said to him, "Peace to
you, do not fear; you shall not die."
Gideon feared for his
life in God's presence. He may have known of God's warning to Moses in
Ex 33:20 "no man can see Me & live!" In
any event Gideon displays a reasonable response of sinful man in the
presence of holy God, an attitude that is all too lacking in modern man.
But again God meets his need by speaking peace to him.
Judges 6:24 (note)
Then Gideon built an altar there to Jehovah & named it the LORD IS PEACE.
(Jehovah
Shalom) (LXX
=
Eirene
Kuriou)
This act would memorialize
this event in Gideon's mind for there would be times in the near future
when he needed to remember that Jehovah Shalom was with him to give him
peace & wholeness even in the most distressing, impossible circumstances.
When confronted with the storms of life, do you recall the times in your
life when God said "Peace to you"?
Who
is prophesied
in
Isaiah 9:6?
"For a child will be born to us, a son will be
given to us & the government will rest on His shoulders & His name
will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father,
Prince of Peace"
(Note)
Keep
in mind the
OT "altar"
foreshadows the
NT "cross"
 |
 |
|
Altar =
Jehovah Shalom |
Col
1:19-22
Eph 2:14-16 |
JEHOVAH
SHALOM
IS
OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST
He is
the Prince of Peace promised in the Old Testament (Isa.
9:6). Before His birth Zacharias announced Him as the
Dayspring ("Sunrise" NASB) from on high who had visited His people "to
guide our feet into the way of
peace"
(Lu 1:78,
79), while at His birth a multitude of the heavenly host
sang "peace
on earth" (Lu
2:14). Jesus also preached & promised peace. To a woman He
had healed He said
"Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
(Lu 7:50)
& to another "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in
peace." (Lu
8:48)
How He wept over Jerusalem which would reject Him, saying:
"If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace !
But now they have been hidden from your eyes." (Luke
19:42). His first words to His fearful disciples
after rising from the dead
are, "Peace be with you."
(Jn 20:19,21)
The burden of
Peter's first message to the Gentiles was "the preaching (of) peace
through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)"
(Acts
10:36).
Paul adds that Jesus "came and
preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were
nigh" (see note
Eph 2:17).
He accomplished that peace for us. "Therefore, having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,"
(Ro
5:1[note]).
"...While we were enemies we were
reconciled to God through the death of His Son
(Ro
5:10 [note]),
for
"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,"
(2
Cor 5:19) continues Paul, "through
Him (Jesus) to reconcile all things to Himself, having made PEACE
through the blood of His Cross; through Him, I say, whether things
on earth or things in heaven." (Col
1:20 [note]). By His own precious blood He
broke down the barrier of sin that stood between us and God and
opened for us that new and living way into the holiest of all
(Heb 10:19-23).
And we who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ may enter there with
boldness in the full assurance of a perfect reconciliation and
peace. But the measure or degree of our sanctification to Him and
our continued trust in Him (manifest by our obedience) is the
measure of our peace in Him (Read that sentence again for it is the
key to the unbroken peace OF God).
"The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard
your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." says the apostle
(Php
4:7 [note]), but he
suggests in
Php 4:6 (note) that
it depends on the measure of our
trust, and in
Php 4:9 (note)
on
the measure of our
obedience ("Practice [continuously] these things").
In
Colossians 3:15 (note)
Paul tells us we are to
"Let
the peace of Christ rule (act like an umpire calling "peace" or "no
peace") in your hearts".
For to be spiritually minded or have one's
"mind set on the Spirit is life and peace
(Ro
8:6
[note]), and many believers are often
more or less focused on fleshly desires, which is to
lack that peace.
Peace is one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22
[note]),
'the Spirit Who sanctifies us" (2Th
2:13,
1 Pe 1:2 [note]).
Paul prays that "the God
of peace Himself sanctify you entirely & may your spirit & soul &
body be preserved complete, (in His peace) without blame at the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ"
(1Th 5:23
[note]).
Through Jesus our Jehovah Shalom, we have
peace WITH God. He is also to us the peace OF God. There is no hope
of peace apart from Him either for individuals or nations. First
comes righteousness (including a walk of obedience or holiness) then
comes peace.
To this eternal maxim both Old and
New Testaments give clear witness. For example, "the work of
righteousness (doing what is right, obeying, living a holy life)
will be peace, & the service of righteousness, quietness and
confidence forever"
(Isa
32: 17). The
the only righteousness acceptable to God is the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ and those upon whom He bestows it through their faith
(manifest by obedience) in Him. Those who are not thus righteous do not
know the "PATH OF PEACE" (see notes
Ro 3:11,
17).
That mysterious type of Christ,
Melchizedek, is first "king of righteousness, & then also king of
Salem, which is king of peace"
(Heb
7:2 [note]).
It is "Glory to God in the highest, & (then) on earth peace among
men with whom He is pleased."
(Luke
2:14). First righteousness, then
peace.
Col 1:19 (note) For it was the Father's good
pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him (Christ),
20 and
through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made PEACE
through the blood of His Cross; through Him, I say, whether things
on earth or things in heaven.21 And although you were formerly
alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
22yet He has
now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to
present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach
Eph 2:14 (note)
For
He Himself (Christ) is our
PEACE, who made both groups (Jew &
Gentile) into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, (click
here for discussion of this wall)
15
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,
16 and might reconcile them both in
one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the
enmity.
17
AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY,
(Gentiles) & PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; (Jews)
Wayne Barber's sermons on...
Eph 2:11-15: Christ Author of our Peace;
Eph 2:15-18: Christ Author of Peace
-2
Click
sermon by Ray Stedman
How is His peace
characterized?
Jn 14:27
PEACE I leave with you; My PEACE I give to you; not
as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be
troubled, nor let it be fearful. (See
comment)
Peace that Jesus gives is not
the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that He is there with
you always
Jn 16:33
"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have
PEACE. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have
overcome the world."
Peace is not in the absence of
danger but in the presence of God.
