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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
But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; the punishment for our peace was on him.
-Isaiah 53:5

These very familiar passages of scripture are messianic prophesies about Jesus. Whatever it was that the Messiah would be, it was clear He would be marked with peace.

The word peace is shalom in Hebrew, and it means so much more than just peace. Sometimes the best way to define a thing is by first understanding what it’s not.

Read:

Why do you want more beatings?
Why do you keep on rebelling?
The whole head is hurt,
and the whole heart is sick.
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
no spot is uninjured—
wounds, welts, and festering sores
not cleansed, bandaged,
or soothed with oil.
Your land is desolate,
your cities burned down;
foreigners devour your fields
right in front of you—
a desolation, like a place demolished by foreigners.
Daughter Zion is abandoned
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a shack in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
If the Lord of Armies
had not left us a few survivors,
we would be like Sodom,
we would resemble Gomorrah.
-Isaiah 1:5-9

The same prophet who prophesied that Messiah’s rule and reign would be marked by shalom opens his prophetic declaration to Judah by telling them the ugly truth about their condition as a result of their sin and rebellion against God. It is as if they are one oozing, infected wound walking around in a land laid waste and in decimated cities. All civil structure is destroyed; there is no safety or shelter to be found, and unless God had relented, they would be little more than scorch marks on the earth.

This is the exact opposite of shalom.

Shalom is pervasive peace, wholeness, safety and rightness. Shalom is peace on every level of being. To have shalom means to be reconciled to God, to have physical wellness and health, to be in possession of a mind and heart at rest, to be in relationships that are harmonious, to live in a land that is bountiful, and to reside under just authority. Shalom is when everything that has to do with you and me is undefiled, aligned, and functioning the way it was created to function.

Sin destroyed shalom. Our punishment that was laid upon Jesus restored it.

He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.
Ephesians 5:27

As the Prince of Peace, Jesus’ kingdom is shalom. Under his rule and reign, all things are in right order with Him and with one another.

The infant embodied Shalom was born with weight on Him—as the Lamb it was the weight of the punishment that brought us into shalom. As the Prince, it was the weight of the governance of shalom.

Today, peek into the manger. Peel back the swaddling. Embrace your Shalom.

Pray: Jesus, Prince of Shalom, you rescued us from death. And if you had only rescued us from death, it would have been enough. But you bore the punishment and brought us shalom, eternal wholeness in you! Set my mind at ease. Shed your peace abroad in my heart this day— your unreasonable, incredible shalom.