Peace Part 1

As we draw near to Easter and celebrate the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he accomplished for us, I was reminded this morning of one important theme that is present with the coming Messiah: peace. The Messiah was to create peace between Israel and her God, I AM, as well as between Israel and the nations/Gentiles. So this week, I wanted to trace these themes from their Old Testament prophetic roots, namely the Law and the Prophets, to their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And thus be reminded that we have peace not only with those who will call upon the name of Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but with I AM whom humanity has spurned in its rebellion against him. Easter is a celebration of peace.

To begin this series I feel we need to go back to the beginning, to the Garden. For it is there that there was peace between man and God, man and nature, and between man and fellow man. When God created the heavens and the earth and completed his creation he saw it as good (Genesis 1:31). The created order was as it was intended to be. No disease, no death and decay, it was good. It was shalom, at peace, as it should be.

However, there was a breakdown in the created order, the shalom was disrupted. The Serpent introduced doubt into the minds of Adam and Eve. If one were to read the story in English, it is hard to tell if the Serpent only had this conversation with Eve, but the Hebrew has the Serpent addressing a plural audience. Both Adam and Eve were there. Eve spoke up and answered the Serpent’s questions, Adam remained silent. When Eve was persuaded to eat of the fruit and handed it to Adam, the unspoken doubts of Adam became actions as he too joined his bride in open rebellion against I AM in eating the forbidden fruit. The peace, the shalom, was ended. Humanity took its stand, the hill humanity decided to live and die on was open defiance against its creator.

As a result, the serpent was cursed to walk on his belly for all of his days. The seed of the woman would crush the seed of the serpent. He was cursed to doom. Child bearing was altered into a painful experience. The earth was cursed so that someone had to work it in order for it to yield produce. Man was cursed from having dominion over it to having to be the one to work it. Humanity was cursed into separation from I AM, barred from his presence. Shalom with God was broken.

Then comes Cain and Abel. I AM approved of Abel’s offering over Cain’s. The peace that was still enjoyed by man with his fellow man was broken. In his rage and anger, Cain killed his own brother. There was no peace between human beings, no peace between family members. The curse of broken peace between humanity and its Creator has now penetrated and broken the peace that humans enjoyed with each other.

This breakdown of shalom that started with Cain and Abel lead to a perverting of the entire human race. This breakdown of peace became so perverse, so corrupt, that I AM was determined to wipe it out with a flood. Only eight humans were spared by divine grace. Yet that break in shalom was not fixed, for it continued in Noah’s own family after the flood. Nature itself experienced a greater break in peace was animals now killed and ate each other. The whole created order had lost its peace.

The world, the creation, was no longer at peace with itself. It was no longer at peace with its Creator, I AM. The curse placed a break in shalom. Now Something must be done to restore that peace. There must be a reconciliation between humanity and God, man with fellow man, man with creation. The question is, what? What will be done? All that humanity has is the promise that the seed of the woman would crush the seed of the serpent. What does the mean and what does it look like? That is the question that will be reflected upon in the days to come.