SHALOM

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." Matthew 5:9 (CSB)

We find this idea of being a Peacemaker in Isaiah 9:6 – 7

Being Kingdom citizens, we should be like our King. In these two well-known verses, we find the description of how the Kingdom would be placed under His control.

He is called the “Prince of Peace.” In the Hebrew “sar shalom.” This is a Hebrew expression that means a peaceful prince. His administration is devoted to restoring and perpetuating peace.

Doing a brief Old Testament word study on Shalom we find that when we hear the word peace we usually associate this to mean an absence of war or strife, but the Hebrew meaning of the word shalom has a very different meaning.

The verb form of the root word is shalam and is usually used in the context of making restitution. When a person has caused another to become deficient in some way, such as a loss of livestock, it is the responsibility of the person who created the deficiency to restore what has been taken, lost or stolen. The verb shalam literally means to make whole or complete.

The noun shalom has the more literal meaning of being in a state of wholeness or with no deficiency. The common phrase shalu shalom Yerushalayim (pray for the peace of Jerusalem) is not speaking about an absence of war (though that is part of it) but that Jerusalem (and by extension all of Israel) is complete and whole and goes far beyond the idea of "peace".

It is also used for hello and goodbye.  It is wishing someone wholeness, wellness, completeness.

Thus we can see that this person is one who restores that which is deficient.  He is one who makes whole, well, complete.

Jesus is the One who fills us and makes us whole.  He restores what we are lacking.  He makes us complete. Verse 7 refers the fact that there is no limit – it is in abundance!

Jesus is the One who KNOWS inward peace, BRINGS spiritual peace, and PURSUES social peace – and thus tasks us with the same responsibility as His citizens.