Shalom is the Way it is Meant to Be

PEACE. It has the connotation in English of quiet tranquility and calm restfulness.

But in my studies in the original languages of the Bible, I have discovered that the word “Peace” means a whole lot more than that. Isaiah foretold of the coming of the PRINCE of PEACE.

Jesus Christ is ushering in a peace that is more than what the English word conveys. And he is using redeemed people to do it!

God’s purpose for every person, every society, everything in this world, is peace. The Hebrew word is Shalom.

Shalom means peace, but it means much more than peace. It is HUGE. It is God’s ultimate desire for all of us, in fact, for all of his creation.

There are a great number of books that make this biblical teaching of SHALOM a central theme. Mike Wittmer’s Heaven is a Place on Earth shook my world. Then there was the manuscript Scot McKnight invited me to be a reader on, interacting with it and adding my two cents – Embracing Grace was so insightful. And of course, there were the excellent books by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. – Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be and Engaging God’s World. (All these books are all available from Hearts & Minds.)

Plantinga connects the biblical concept of Shalom to the biblical narrative of CREATION, FALL, and REDEMPTION. Check it out:

CREATION

“The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets called shalom. We call it “peace,” but it means far more than just peace of mind or cease-fire between enemies…

(Shalom) means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight–a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, all under the arch of God’s love. Shalom, in other words, is the way things are supposed to be.” (Engaging God’s World, pp. 14-15)

FALL

“Evil is what’s wrong with the world, and it includes trouble in nature as well as in human nature. It includes disease as well as theft, birth defects as well as character defects. We might define evil as any spoiling of shalom, any deviation from the way God wants things to be.

Thinking along these lines, we can see that sin is a subset of evil; it’s any evil for which somebody is to blame… All sin is evil, but not all evil is sin… All sin is culpable evil…

Sin grieves God, offends God, betrays God, and not just because God is touchy. God hates sin against himself, against neighbors, against the good creation, because sin breaks the peace…

God is for shalom and therefore against sin.” (Engaging God’s World, p. 51)

REDEMPTION

“The whole natural world, in all its glory and pain, needs redemption that will bring shalom. The world isn’t divided into a sacred realm and a secular realm, with redemptive activity confined to the sacred zone. The whole world belongs to God, the whole world has fallen, and so the whole world needs to be redeemed–every last person, place, organization, and program; all ‘rocks and trees and skies and seas’; in fact, “every square inch,’ as Abraham Kuyper said. The whole creation is a ‘theater for the mighty works of God,’ first in creation and then in re-creation.” (Engaging God’s World, p. 96)

Shalom…

The way it is supposed to be!

Jesus started out his great sermon by identifying some identity markers for Christians. Among these is that we are called “peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). We are also ones that “hunger and thirst for justice” (Matthew 5:6) and we are “merciful” (Matthew 5:7).

We are the ones that are to make Shalom – acting justly, loving mercy, as we walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

We’ve got work to do. Our vocations are tied to God’s bringing Shalom back to his world!

Image recomposed from original image by Jonathan Greenwald. Used with permission. Sourced via Flickr.