The WAY of PEACE

The ancient Hebrew concept of peace, rooted in the word "shalom," meant wholeness, completeness, soundness, health, safety and prosperity, carrying with it the implication of permanence. We often say, “Nothing broken; nothing missing.”

Israel did not know The WAY of PEACE

Isaiah 59:1–8 1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity.

8 The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. (NKJV)

You can never know and follow peace by keeping the law.

Notice, their hands were covered with blood (their way brings death - the wages of sin), but they themselves were not covered (washed) with His blood (His way brings life – the gift of righteousness).

Remember, this builds on the previous foundation Isaiah established concerning the relationship between doing and thinking:

Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. (NKJV)

Remember, the Law was given to establish that there are NONE RIGHTEOUS, neither Jew nor Gentile, not even one (Rom.3:10), therefore, before Christ, MY WAY was the way of the WICKED and MY THOUGHTS were the thoughts of the UNRIGHTEOUS.

The WAY of PEACE is following JESUS!

Jesus came to establish that following HIM is the WAY of PEACE, not following the Law through human effort.

John 14:5–6 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (NOT by following the Law). (NKJV)

Bartimaeus followed JESUS in the WAY of PEACE

Mark 10:51–52 51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. (NKJV)

“My PEACE I give YOU”

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

Notice, there are two kinds of peace: (1) peace the world gives and (2) peace only Jesus gives.

Peace (shalom) does NOT come through works of the flesh (you can’t earn it) but is a FREE GIFT of Christ.

There is no peace in the flesh or trying to do life through human effort. That’s why so many who have spent their entire life in pursuit of their own fleshly goals, believing that when they attain them, they will find peace and satisfaction, only to discover they were following empty promises which lead to that dead-end question, “Is this all there is?”

The WAY of PEACE is putting on LOVE and letting His PEACE Rule!

Colossians 3:14–15 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. (NKJV)

The Greek word translated "rule," rather than meaning control would be better understood as "umpire." His peace enables us to evaluate every thought and idea trying to slide into "home plate" of our mind as "Safe" or Out."

Remember: when the peace of God is not ruling in your heart, the flesh probably is.

PEACE is a PERSON!

Ephesians 2:11–18 11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. (NKJV)

Micah prophesied the coming KINGDOM of PEACE!

Micah 4:1–5 1 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days (not the end of the world, but the end of the Old Covenant) That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains (after the Law is fulfilled and the old temple is demolished, the Lord’s New House will be raised up), And shall be exalted above the hills (above all authority); And peoples shall flow to it.

2 Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways (The WAY of PEACE), And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion (the heart of the believer) the law shall go forth, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (The City of Peace).

3 He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks (Rather than fighting, the Kingdom of Peace is about sowing and reaping); Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore (The war was “Finished” on the cross at Calvary).

4 But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree (Illustrates the prosperity of the Kingdom of Shalom), And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

5 For all people walk each in the name of his god, But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God Forever and ever (We will forever walk in the WAY of PEACE!). (NKJV)