Monday Morning Munch No. 54 – Word Study: Peace

Ahh, word studies. This post reminds me of the very first Monday Morning Munch published more than a year ago.

As I said then, are one of my favorite things to do. If there is a word burning in my mind or if I’m trying to better grasp what a word means in relation to the Bible (the real Word), I’ll look up the definition then every verse that has that particular word in it and try to gain a better understanding. Clearly you wouldn’t want to do a word study on the word the, and, or so. 

This word study comes from having a tea party with my True Beauty girls and talking about peace (since some people drink hot tea for the calming affect).

They are so cute.

This was the door to the tea party room.

Websters defines peace as:

a nonwarring condition of a nation, group of nations or the world; an agreement or treaty between warring nations to end hostilities and abstain from further fighting or antagonism; a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, especially in personal relations, freedom from violence.

According to Wiki Answers (which is super reliable, right? um…), the word peace is in the KJV of the Bible 429 times. It is in 400 verses.

It must be important.

However, because I don’t want to write the longest blog post in history due to the abundance of verses on peace, I’ll refrain from listing all 400 verses here.

But, here are the main five that stood out to me:

1. Isaiah 26:3

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on You,
because he trusts in You.

God keeps those in perfect peace whose mind is stayed (fixed) on Him. Why does their mind stay on Him? Because they trust Him. We were talking about this verse in staff meeting last week and Bro. Michael encouraged us to train our minds to be stayed on Him. We must develop our minds to concentrate on the Lord when we aren’t concentrating on something else. And why would we do this? Because we trust Him and the result is perfect peace. Beautiful.

2. Isaiah 48-17-19

Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.

Oh that you had paid attention to My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”

This is, of course, to non-believers. God would have given (would give) them peace like a river and righteousness like the waves of the sea but they didn’t/don’t pay attention (observe) His commands (which goes back to His plan for His children found in Leviticus 26:6). In this context, observing and obeying God’s commandments = peace.

3. Romans 5:1

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have peace with God through Jesus as a result of justification (because Jesus Christ is our peace, Eph. 2:13-14).

4. Colossians 1:19-20

For in [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.

Jesus is our peace because He made peace through the blood of His cross.

5. Colossians 3:15

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

We’re commanded to let the peace of Christ rule our hearts. But it’s still an action we have to take. We must choose to let His peace rule our hearts. It goes back to submission, to forfeiting our control and letting Christ take up full residence in our hearts. Then, once you’re His child, we are commanded to believe that He has already given us peace.

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There are a ton of other verses that I wish I could share with you, but hopefully you’ll be inspired to dig into a word study yourself.

I especially loved this study on peace and the term nonwarring in its definition. Although our spirit/flesh continue to war, we have peace with God through justification because of Jesus’ sacrificial work on the cross. That same peace now rules our hearts when we let it. How do we let peace rule our hearts? By observing and obeying His commandments and trusting the Lord.

Our example (as always) is Jesus. He spoke peace, brought peace and lived peacefully–we are to do the same.

However, He also said He came not with peace but a sword (Matthew 10:34). All these things do not contradict themselves. Jesus is the Sword, piercing and dividing joint and marrow and at the same time He is the peace that reconciles us to God.

His Gospel is peace and at the same time offensive.
Beautiful and hideous.
Ravishing and repulsive.

Which way do you view Jesus?

Gloriously hope-giving or as the Almighty fun-stealer?

Can you have peace apart from God? I’ll let Charles Spurgeon answer that.

“Before we can enjoy peace within our hearts there must be a state of peace established between us and God.”

We cannot have peace apart from God because there is no such thing. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit and you can’t have a fruit of the Spirit without having THE Spirit. 

So, let the peace of Christ rule your hearts. May we submit to Him today, moment by moment, aware of His authority, sovereignty and peace-giving life.