Shalom!

There's a picture in the book of Lamentations which really speaks so vividly how God brought His judgement upon Jesus, for us. When you read them think of Jesus. Lamentation, chapter 12 through 14:

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the Lord brought on me in the day of his fierce anger? From on high he sent fire, sent it down into my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long. [Every one of those phrases is exactly true of Jesus there on the cross.] My sins have been bound into a yoke; by his hands they were woven together. They have come upon my neck and the Lord has sapped my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand.” (NIV)

Every single detail applies to Jesus. The yoke of our sins was woven by the hand of the Lord, Almighty God and then laid on the neck of Jesus. And the Lord handed Jesus over to sinners, to evil men, to men he could not withstand and willingly He submitted to their hands and became the sin offering. The Lord laid to meet together upon him, the rebellion of us all and all its evil consequences.

Now what is our part of the exchange, our rebellion and all its evil consequences that came upon Jesus ? He became our substitute, the Son of Man, the last Adam. He took all the evil that was due to us that we might receive the good that was due to him, that's the essence of the exchange.

What phrase or word can we use to describe that which God has made available to us on the basis of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus on the cross? If I were to pick one word in English, that would be 'peace'. But peace does not fully represent what I'm trying to communicate. The Hebrew word for peace I'm sure many of you know is shalom, that's the famous Hebrew greeting today - shalom. But shalom means much more in Hebrew than the word peace means in English. Peace is almost just the absence of war of conflict of strife. Many times we talk about peace when there is really very little real harmony between people. But shalom means completeness, fulfillment, perfection, the root thought is to complete or to perfect or to make full. So what is offered to us is completeness, wholeness, harmony, much more than just peace.

It's not just spiritual, it's not just inward, it's total wholeness - spirit, soul, and body. By his wounds we are healed, physical healing is offered to us through the physical suffering of Jesus. He bore our transgressions, he was punished for our iniquities that we might have this inner peace. But the whole thing is summed into one word - peace - shalom - wholeness - completeness - harmony - reconciliation with God - reconciliation with our fellow believers, with all mankind - a deep settled inner peace of heart and mind - a condition of harmony that makes for the healthiness of the body. All that is included in that beautiful word - peace - shalom - which is offered to us.