My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
Our next set of names (#4 through #22) are considered His compound names, which typically uses His primary name and attaches a specific descriptor to it. These are the names that originally got me chasing this topic, and now it has developed into a much bigger study than the original intent, but I digress, for I have already mentioned this!
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly was a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
| 18 |
| JEHOVAH SHALOM (THE LORD IS PEACE) |
| Judges 6:24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. |
| Peace. I often think of peace as merely the absence of war, and to a point that is accurate, depending on the war we are considering. International war is the predominant topic when the topic of peace is tossed about in discussions. Why can’t we have peace? As Gideon has described our God in this verse, the LORD is peace! So how do we make sense of this? Even the Lord in one of His final discourses warned us of wars in the future. Matthew 24:6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. So it seems evident that He didn’t come to immediately put an end to physical wars between nations. And yet He is peace. This is the nature of our God, and by providence, our last study in the Names of God was the LORD of Hosts, or the Lord of the armies! This is a conflict surely! As mentioned in the introductory, we need to remember the context of the conversation. What war is being referred to, and does the peace spoken of merely refer to the absence of war? I believe that God is One who works in the nations through changing the people within the nation. Of course He can change the “heart of the king” when His plans demand it, or in response to His peoples prayers, but at this point in my pilgrimage, I understand His ways are primarily with individual hearts and minds. If this is true, we can see the LORD of peace fully displayed in the Lord Jesus. And per His teaching, His intent was not to rule over the kingdom of this world. No – this world, or world system must be destroyed John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” So when we read of peace in the Word, we should be careful to understand the Word is not primarily speaking of international peace amongst nations. When we read of peace in the Word, we should hear a fuller picture, a mental image including completeness or wholeness, safety, soundness, welfare, health, prosperity, tranquility, contentment. Much more than simply the absence of war! As a matter of fact, one of the many blessings of being a believer is the fact that we can have this peace in the midst of outer turmoil, of international wars, of upheaval in our own nation. Peace in the midst of war. Only the LORD of peace can provide this! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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