Let’s begin by defining our terms. “The Gospel in the Last Days.” Again, we have to recap things you know, so I’m just touching on it briefly. First we’ll look at the Word “Gospel”, what the Gospel in the Last Days means.
The word “Gospel” in Hebrew is “bisorah”. It simply means, it could be translated as, “glad tidings”, but basically is “good news”. “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings bisorah”. (Isa 52:7) In Hebrew, “to evangelize” – “Levasar be’sorah”. The infinitive of the verb comes from the noun. Greek, “evangelion”. It’s where we get the word “evangelical”. “Good news”. There is only one Gospel, but there are multiple aspects of it and therefore multiple descriptions. We will look at four. Turn to (Eph 1:13)
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—
Gospel of salvation.
(Eph 6:15) paraphrasing from the Septuagint of Isaiah 52…
and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Everyone here, I assume, knows “peace” is “shalom”, yes? And I’ve explained we have shalom because He came to leshalem. The Hebrew word “shalom” – “peace”, does not mean the absence of conflict; that's the Greek idea. “Irene”, like the girl’s name is the Greek idea “absence of conflict” or as Samuel Johnson defined it, “a period of separation and deception between two wars.” Shalom is not that. Shalom comes from the Hebrew word “sillum”, “To pay” – “lashalem” – “to pay”, “to fill”, “to fulfill”. Ultimately shalom will include the absence of war – the nations will beat their spears into pruning hooks and so forth (Isa 2:4, Micah 4:3) in the Millennium, but that’s not what it is. It is “shalom”. Jesus said, “My peace I give you, not as the world gives you”. (John 14:27) His peace was not this absence of conflict. You can be in the biggest conflict of your life and have shalom. You can be facing a crisis in your life and have shalom.
It’s like sister Winnie here. Her son was tragically killed just before I had to go abroad and I went to visit her in Manchester. It was devastating, and it still is, it’s just recent. Does she have “peace”? No. Does she have “shalom”? Yes. There’s a brother in my church back there; he’s battling cancer, having major surgery. Does he have “peace”? No to “peace” but does he have “shalom”? Yes. You can be in the biggest crisis of your life and have shalom. Peace, ultimately yes; meanwhile, not necessarily. We have shalom because the Messiah came to leshalem – “to pay”, “to fill”, “to fulfill”. We have shalom because He came to pay the price for our sin to fulfill the law that no man could keep, the Torah, and to fill us with the Spirit. We have shalom because the Messiah came to leshalem. That’s what the “gospel of peace” means. It doesn’t mean the absence of conflict. Ultimately it will lead to that, ultimately it will include that, but that's not what it is.
