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Jehovah-Shalom: The-Lord-Is-Peace 

Judges 6.21–24 

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • May 19, In the year of our Lord Christ, 2019 

Persuasion: 

  1. Judges 6.21–24 | Gideon’s Story 
    1. Israel enjoyed 40 years of rest during the judging of Deborah. 
    2. However, after those 40 years, 
      1. they again did evil in the sight of the Lord and 
      2. for that the Lord delivered them into hand of Midian for 7 years. 
        1. The oppression was so bad that the children of Israel 
        2. had to go into hiding:

          2b Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.

          – Judges 6.2
    3. As the occupation continued things got worse. 
      1. Israel would sow crops but then 
      2. when the produce came up, 
        1. the Midianites, 
          1. along with their allies the Amalekites, and 
          2. the people of the East, 
        2. would come and destroy the crops:

          4 Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.

          – Judges 6.4
    4. Being impoverished, 
      1. they cried out to the Lord. 
      2. In response the Lord sent them a prophet:

        7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD because of the Midianites, 8 that the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; 9 and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 Also I said to you, I am the LORD your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed My voice.”

        – Judges 6.7–10
    5. What would the living conditions be like 
      1. if you could not even hide in your home, but 
      2. you would have to go into the hills and 
        1. dig out dens and caves, and 
        2. build strongholds there? 
    6. You have to eat, 
      1. so you plant crops, but 
      2. just as they are ready for harvest, 
        1. the enemy comes and destroys all your crops. 
        2. Now you have to add starvation to your fears. 
    7. However, the Lord heard the prayers of your people, and 
      1. He begins to prepare a man who will bring deliverance and 
      2. defeat the oppressive enemy. 
        1. You will be able to live freely again. 
        2. You will have food again. 
    8. The Angel of the Lord appeared to a man known as Gideon. 
      1. When the Angel appeared to him, 
      2. he was threshing wheat in a wine press, 
        1. trying to keep it hidden from the Midianites, 
        2. otherwise, they would have taken it or burned it. 
          1. The Angel of the Lord told Gideon 
            1. that the Lord was with him, and 
            2. that he was a mighty man of valor. 
          2. Gideon questioned how the Lord could be among them, 
            1. when He had allowed Midian to have power over them. 
            2. However, the Angel assured Gideon 
              1. that he would save Israel. 
              2. Yet, Gideon said that he was the least in Israel. 
    9. The Lord spoke to Gideon and told him 
      1. that He would be with him, and 
      2. that He would defeat the Midianites. 
        1. For assurance of that, 
        2. Gideon wanted a sign. 
          1. He asked the Lord to wait and 
          2. Gideon would come back with an offering for the Lord. 
            1. Gideon prepared a goat and some bread. 
            2. Then he brought the meat and broth to the Lord. 
    10. The Lord told Gideon 
      1. to put the meat and the bread on a certain rock. 
      2. Then he was to pour the broth on them. 
    11. Then Gideon saw something wonderful:

      21 The Angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight. 22 Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face.”

      – Judges 6.21–22
      1. Let me show you what he was thinking. 
      2. Genesis 32 shows an encounter that Jacob had with God. 
        1. Notice what Jacob said about that experience, 
        2. that he thought something would have happened to him:

          30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

          – Genesis 32.30
          1. Jacob knew that you cannot have a face-to-face encounter with God and survive the experience, typically, 
          2. unless the Lord intervenes. 
      3. Centuries later, Exodus 33 records, 
        1. that Moses wanted a full viewing of God. 
        2. However, listen to what God said:

          20 [God] said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”

          – Exodus 33.20
      4. Gideon knew what both of these men had said. 
        1. He may also have just figured 
        2. that you cannot see the One who created everything, for 
          1. He must be awesome that humans just cannot be in His presence. 
          2. Think about the sun. 
            1. If you stare at it for too long, 
            2. it damages your eyes. 
              1. You stay out in it too long, 
              2. it burns your skin. 
                1. So what about seeing and being in the presence of 
                2. the One who created the Sun! 
    12. Therefore, Gideon was persuaded that he would die. 
      1. However, the Lord then gave him this beautiful assurance:

        23 Then the LORD said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.”

        – Judges 6.23
      2. Gideon believed what the Lord said to him:

        24 So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it [Jehovah-Shalom] The–LORD–Is–Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

        – Judges 6.24
        1. Gideon then knew that he would not die. 
        2. Gideon then knew that the Lord would be with him 
          1. to deliver Israel out of the severe oppressing hand of Midian and 
          2. that Gideon and Isarel would defeat Midian. 
            1. The man had been terrified of the Midianites. 
            2. The man had been starving. 
          3. The man feared greatly that he would die after seeing the Lord. 
            1. However, Gideon was fully persuaded that it was the Lord, and 
            2. that God would preserve his life and he would not die. 
    13. Suddenly, he had the peace 
      1. that passes all understanding and 
      2. that guards your heart and your mind. 
        1. To commemorate this deep experience of the spirit, 
        2. he built an altar, 
          1. dedicating it to the Lord and 
          2. giving the altar a name: 
            1. Jehovah-Shalom, 
            2. The-LORD-Is-Peace. 
              1. Everything was going to be all right. 
              2. The anxiety that had filled his heart, had gone 
                1. as he now saw the Lord as His life. 
                2. He had peace with God and from God. 
    14. Gideon led a small army against the Midianites and 
      1. defeated them. 
      2. He became a judge of Israel, and 
        1. the Bible says:

          28b And the country was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon.

          – Judges 8.28
        2. Israel suffered under Midian for 7 years, but 
          1. when they followed the Lord, 
          2. they had peace for 40 years. 
            1. Gideon and Israel saw 
            2. that the Lord is peace. 
              1. However, that peace only lasted 40 years because 
              2. the Bible shows what Israel did when Gideon died:

                33 So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god.

                – Judges 8.33
    15. They were soon at war with God again and 
      1. He was no longer peace to them, but 
      2. the God of wrath. 
  2. Peace for Us 
    1. That same God, that same Lord gives us peace today. 
    2. However, many people are at war with God:

      18 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…

      – Romans 1.18

      5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.

      – Romans 2.5–11
    3. Later, Paul showed 
      1. that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ:

        1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

        – Romans 5.1–2
      2. You are at war with God, if 
        1. you are not righteous, 
        2. you have a hard heart, 
        3. you have not repented of your sins, 
        4. you are self-seeking, 
        5. you do not obey the truth, and 
        6. you obey unrighteousness. 
          1. However, if you forsake that kind of living and 
          2. put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
            1. you shall have peace with God. 
    4. I stand here today to tell you 
      1. that He does not want to be at war with you. 
      2. He wants peace with you:

        4 “Fury is not in Me.
        Who would set briers and thorns
        Against Me in battle?
        I would go through them,
        I would burn them together.
        5 Or let him take hold of My strength,
        That he may make peace with Me;
        And he shall make peace with Me.”

        – Isaiah 27.4–5

Exhortation: 

  1. Here is the amazing thing about Him. 
    1. This powerful God created all things by speaking them into existence, and 
    2. who will destroy the entire universe just by speaking it so, 
      1. has left it up to you 
        1. on whether you want to be at war with Him or 
        2. whether we want peace with Him. 
  2. Can I give you some advice? 
    1. Do not be at war with the God of the heavens and the earth. 
    2. Do everything you can to have peace with Him. 
      1. Stop doing those things that put you at war with Him. 
      2. Start having faith in Him and in His blessed Son, Jesus Christ. 
      3. Begin a new life today by having Him wash away all your sins 
        1. when you submit to baptism, and 
        2. you shall have peace with God.