Advent Devotional Guide: Jesus Is!

Jesus Is!

Advent Devotional Guide

Second Sunday of Advent: Jesus is PEACE

Sunday, December 10, 2023

In the Old Testament, the Israelites had a hard time staying out of trouble. God would deliver them from one oppressor or another and they would mind their manners for awhile. Over time, though, they would forget about God and they would find themselves carried away as captives to some faraway land or overpowered and oppressed in their own. Eventually they would remember God and would cry out to him for deliverance. He would hear them and would send a prophet to tell them what to do. They would do it. He would save them. They would be thankful and would remember Him for awhile. Then they would fall back into their old ways and the cycle would repeat. (I used to be critical of these wishy washy people until the Holy Spirit showed me that I was absolutely no different!)

In the sixth chapter of Judges we find the Israelites calling out to God for deliverance from the Midianites. He answered by speaking to Gideon through a face to face encounter with an angel. This terrified him. It was commonly thought that no one could see the face of God (or His angel) and live to tell about it. 

“But the Lord said to him, ‘Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.’ So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it ‘The Lord Is Peace.’ To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.” Judges‬ ‭6‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ 

I’m pretty sure this is the only place in the Old Testament where we see this Hebrew name for God: Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is Peace.  

It it’s not the only place where God tells is to be at peace.

“The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord  make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you! The Lord turn His face toward you and grant you peace!” Numbers‬ ‭6‬:‭24‬-‭26‬ ‭

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭23‬ ‭

Jesus is Peace! He is not the author of chaos but of order. He does not want us to be afraid but to be at peace. And this peace that passes all comprehension only come from Him who is, himself, peace.

Lord,  Thank you for this second Sunday of Advent. Continue to prepare us for the coming of your Son. Thank you for your peace that comes through him. Help us to claim it for our lives