"For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."
~Isaiah 9:6
In our day and age, with all the political turmoil, bad news around every corner, infighting in the church, and more, I find this passage to be all the more timely and beautiful. I don't think it a mistake or coincidence that we come now to the name "Prince of Peace" in our ongoing names of God series.
The meaning behind this name is that Jesus is the bringer of true peace, the One Who restores harmony, perfect peace, true shalom - all of which were lost at the time of the fall.
The Hebrew word translated "peace" in this passage is "salom". Take a look at the rich meaning behind this word:
*completeness, soundness, welfare, peace
completeness (in number)
safety, soundness (in body)
welfare, health, prosperity
peace, quiet, tranquillity, contentment
peace, friendship
of human relationships
with God especially in covenant relationship
peace (from war)
Isn't that incredible? I love taking a look at the actual definitions behind the Hebrew and Greek words of the Bible, because they are so full of rich meaning, the fullness of which is sometimes lost to some extent in our English translations.
Not the full-orbed implications behind Jesus being the Prince of Peace:
1. There would be completeness, wholeness, and soundness in our bodies.
2. We would have wellbeing (welfare).
3. There would be safety, prosperity, and health.
4. There would be peace, quiet, tranquility, and contentment.
5. There would be peace and harmony in both our earthly relationships as well as in our relationship with God (after all, Jesus literally brought peace between us and the Father through His death on the cross).
6. There would be a cessation of war.
Now, granted, as we can see from this list, not everything here will be fully experienced on this side of heaven. Some of these aspects of peace will only fully come into fruition in heaven. But, even so, we do have aspects of these many blessings of peace even on this side of heaven, as well. And what a blessing that is!
Reflection Questions:
1) What stands out to you the most from Jesus being our Prince of Peace?
2) What aspect of this definition of this Hebrew word impacts you the most?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for stopping by, we love hearing from you. Please feel free to contact us with any prayer requests or questions by commenting below or emailing us at the About Us page.