Bill Bremer
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Joined: 02/29/2016 Location: United States
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Posts: 81
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Posted: 08/29/2016 at 1:40pm
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Shalom is the Hebrew
word translated peace in English. Shalom is a word full of rich meaning
that is lost in the New Testament translation of eirene. In the Old
Testament KJV Hebrew, shalom is translated: peace (175x), well (14x), peaceably (9x), welfare (5x), salute (4x), prosperity (4x), did (3x), safe (3x), health (2x), peaceable (2x), miscellaneous (15x). In the New Testament KJV Greek, eirēnē is translated: peace (89x), one (1x), rest (1x), quietness (1x).
Jews greeted and said
goodby to one another saying shalom aleikhem “peace be upon you” and
responding aleikhem shalom “unto you peace.” Jesus often uses this
blessing “Peace be unto you,” a translation of shalom aleichem. It was a
sign of kinship among friends, for they were descendants of Abraham.
The shalom greeting affirmed they were God’s people; one nation under
God.
Shalom is the
environment of God’s kingdom in which His new covenant community of
people thrive. It is righteousness, shalom and joy in the Holy Spirit (Ro 14:17).
This shalom comes to us because God makes us right with Himself. By the
blood of the Lamb, He has made us holy from the inside out. Our righteousness is God’s covenant justice. God’s shalom incubates shalom with one another and to an extent with His creation (Mk 4:39).
Thus, peaceful harmonious fellowship and wellbeing in the community of
the King flows from God our Father. By His Spirit, He gives us grace to
relate in accord with His righteousness, in the shalom mode.
Shalom is a sign of kinship
The Jews had a common lineage. They were descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God renamed Jacob “Israel” (Gen 32:24-32). He was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Their kinship made for natural liking, caring and loyalty.
Our kinship is in the kingdom of God’s Son. “Thank
the Father, who made you fit to share everything the holy people have
in the light. He has rescued us from the tyranny of darkness and
transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, who paid the ransom
to forgive our sins and set us free. … God decided to have His whole
being live in Him and by Him to reconcile to Himself everything on earth
and in heaven in a peace made by the blood on His cross” (Col 1:12-13, 20 AAT). Cf: Mt 13:41; Mt 20:21; Eph 1:22-23; Eph 5:5
We share a spiritual lineage as God’s children and heirs of eternal life in the kingdom of God that is to come (Eph 1: Mt 25:31-46, Rev 21-22). God has called us into His kingdom and glory (1 Th 2:12), to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which we have been called. That way is the way of shalom.
So
I, a prisoner in the Lord, urge you to live as people whom God has
called should live. Be humble and gentle in every way, be patient and
lovingly bear with one another. Do your best to keep the oneness of the
Spirit by living together in peace/shalom:
one body and one Spirit—even as you have been called to share one
hope—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who
rules over us all, works through us all, and lives in us all. Eph 4:1-6 AAT
Shalom affirms we are God’s people
The shalom greeting affirmed fellow Jews were God’s people; one nation under God. The consciousness that Yahweh was Israel’s king was deeply rooted, was a national feeling, and the inspiration of a true patriotism (Ex 15:18; Ex 19:6; Jg 5:1-31).
As the worldwide
community of the King, we, together with all Jews who believe in Jesus,
are chosen people, priests of a King and a holy nation.
But
you are a chosen people, priests of a King, a holy nation, a people
saved to be His own and to tell of the wonderful deeds of Him who called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were no people,
but now you are God’s people. Once you had received no mercy, but now
you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 AAT
To this day, Jews still identify as one race and one Israel, whereas Christians are divided into 40,000 sects.
Shalom is recognition of God’s kingdom blessings
Of God’s Old Testament people, Howard Snyder
tells us us: “I find that seven themes, in particular, shed light on
God’s kingdom. These are peace, land, house, city, justice, Sabbath and Jubilee.”
Way back then, Daniel had a vision of the Son of Man.
“I
continued to observe the night vision—and look!—someone like the Son of
Man was coming, accompanied by heavenly clouds. He approached the
Ancient of Days and was presented before him. To him dominion was
bestowed, along with glory and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations,
and languages are to serve him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion—it will never pass away—and his kingdom is one that will never
be destroyed.”
“Now
as for me, Daniel, I was emotionally troubled, and what I had seen in
the visions kept alarming me. So I approached one of those who was
standing nearby and began to ask the meaning of all of this. He spoke to
me and caused me to understand the interpretation of these things. He
said, ‘These four great animals are four kings who will rise to power
from the earth. But the saints of the Highest will receive the kingdom
forever, inheriting it forever and ever.’ Daniel 7:13-18 ISV
God’s kingdom blessings for us are summarized in Ephesians 1:3-14.
After his greeting and blessing, Paul urges us to bless God, for God
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven. Then, Paul
blesses God, declaring the reason God is being praised. We bless God by
speaking forth the blessings God has given us and living in them. The
spiritual blessings Paul enumerates reveal how and why God made us heirs
according to His plan. “This was according to his plan that he set
forth in the Messiah to usher in the fullness of the times and to bring
together in the Messiah all things in heaven and on earth” (Eph 1:9-10 ISV). ”God
has put everything under the Messiah’s feet and has made him the head
of everything for the good of the church, which is his body, the
fullness of the one who fills everything in every way” (Eph 1:22-23 ISV).
We look forward to the
fullness of the times when Jesus returns and gives us the inheritance,
which is the kingdom of God that is to come (Rev 21-22).
Come, you whom My Father blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the time the world was made. Matthew 25:34
Until then, our inheritance is stored up for us in heaven.
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His
great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance
which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in
heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Pe 1:3-5 NASB
In the mean time, we get to live in the kingdom of God that is in the Spirit (Ro 14:17).
Further reading – Spiritual Jerusalem – Jesus Christ as king – Kingdom of Jesus Christ
__________________ Bill Bremer Kingdom Relationships http://billbremer.org
billbremer04@yahoo.com
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