What does the Bible say about shalom?

• Psalm 85:10-12, righteousness and peace will kiss
• Psalm 98:7-9, God will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity
• Isaiah 2:4, swords to plowshares, spears to pruning hooks, there will be no more war
• Isaiah 11:6-8, the wolf shall lie down with the lamb
• Isaiah 25:6, the Lord will make a feast of rich food
• Isaiah 32:16-20, the effect of righteousness will be peace
• Isaiah 60:19-20, days of mourning shall be ended
• Isaiah 65:17-25, the vision of the new heaven and new earth where no one shall hurt or destory on God's holy mountain
• Luke 2:13-14, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace. . ."
• Acts 10:36, preach peace by Jesus Christ
• Romans 5:1, since we are justified by faith, we have peace
• Colossians 1:19-20, made peace through the blood of his cross
• Revelation 21:3-4, death will be no more

Sermon ideas about shalom

Cessation of war

In Scripture, shalom certainly implies cessation of war. Hence the famous Isaiah 2:4 passage above ("nation shall not lift up sword against nation"). But shalom means so much more. Not only will swords no longer kill; they will be transformed into plowshares for turning good soil into a matrix for growing good food. What had hurt people now will help people. Richard Mouw suggests a contemporary equivalent: one day, intercontinental ballistic missile silos will be converted into training tanks for scuba divers. (Richard Mouw, When the Kings Come Marching In,Eerdmans 1983, pp. 19-20.) One day, drug-running power boats will pull inner-city kids who are learning to waterski.

Sin has a thousand faces

The great writing prophets and psalmists knew that sin has a thousand faces. They knew how many ways human life can go wrong because they knew how many ways it can go right. (You need the concept of a wall on plumb to tell when one is off.) The psalmists and prophets kept dreaming of a time when God would put things totally right. They dreamed of a new age in which human crookedness will be straightened out (justice and peace will kiss each other). Wolves and lions will be cured of carnivorous appetites and will be content to let a child lead them. Small children playing with snakes will be safe. Men and women who build houses and plant vineyards will know that no enemy will ever confiscate them. Feasts of rich food and well-aged wine will abound. Fields will be fruitful and people of the fields serene in their safety from drought and famine. In this new age nobody destroys anything, so nobody has reason to weep except for joy. People no longer sicken and die. Meanwhile, the whole creation joins the celebration — seas roaring their approval and hills singing for joy. God, humanity, and the whole creation are webbed together in justice, harmony, love, fulfillment, and delight.

Concepts of peace

The Septuagint translates shalom with eirene, suggesting real continuity between Old and New Testament concepts of peace. This is confirmed in Colossians 3:19-20, where peace achieved by Christ (himself the "Prince of Peace" if Isaiah9:6 is applied to him) seems equivalent to God reconciling "to himself all things." It is further confirmed by the major echo of Isaiah 65 in Revelation 21. The arrival of the new heaven and earth, or the coming of the kingdom of God in its fullness, seem to be New Testament ways of spelling shalom.

Culpable vandalism

Accordingly, evil may be defined as disruption of shalom and sin as disruption of shalom for which somebody is to blame. Sin is culpable vandalism of shalom.