Thought for the Week - 21/11/2021

Dear Friends

You may be familiar with the hymn, ‘Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?’ (Baptist Praise and Worship 561). It was written by an Anglican bishop Edward Henry Bickersteth in 1875 whilst he was on holiday in Harrogate. He had been to church and the Vicar of Harrogate had preached on Isaiah 26:3, ‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee’, noting that the word ‘perfect’ is not found in the original Hebrew but that ‘Peace, peace’ is twice repeated, but translated as ‘perfect peace’, and through his musings and thoughts on the sermon, Bickersteth wrote this hymn. Now Hebrew grammar does not have comparative and superlative adjectives like good, better, best, and to show degrees it just repeats the word, hence ‘Peace, peace’. The word peace here in Hebrew is shalom, which is used as a greeting, but it is much more than a simple hello. Shalom means may you be filled with a complete and perfect peace and be full of well-being; may health, prosperity and peace of mind and spirit be upon you; and it suggests a state of fullness and perfection; overflowing inner and outer joy and peaceful serenity. And that is just using the word peace/shalom once – in Isaiah 26:3 it is used twice! Now that is a whole plethora, excess and abundance of peace! In the world in which we live today, God’s double helping of his peace is so needed for so many, including you and me. Such peace surpasses both our ability to cope with and our anxiety about what is to come. Living in such a peaceful state of body, mind and spirit, surely leads to living out a life that is full to overflowing of the abundance of life that Jesus talks about when he says, ‘I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full’ (John 10:10). The full peace quote from Isaiah 26 reads, ‘You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal’ (Isaiah 26:3-4). This is the peace that Jesus brings to all who call on him, and it is the peace that the apostle Paul writes of to the believers at Colossae, saying, ‘Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.’ (Colossians 3:15).  

Grace and peace,

Neil

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