Our primary objective in life is to live shalom.
If we don’t get that right, nothing else will matter. It is the sole basis for carrying out the Great Commission, because it is what’s behind the phrase, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” That means teaching Biblical Law, and teaching is preceded by first walking in it yourself. The whole meaning of Biblical Law is the Person of Jesus Christ; He is the final revelation of what God intends for us to know about living in this fallen world. Biblical Law is the Word, and Jesus is the Word.
The whole point of that word shalom is peace with God. Peace with God comes only through His Son. That was the fundamental mission of the nation of Israel, the whole point of the Covenant with Abraham. It was to raise up a nation as a testimony of the divine revelation humanity set aside in the Fall. The only way back to Eden is divine revelation. It was the Flaming Sword in Genesis; it’s the Cross in the New Testament. You must choose to apply a death sentence to your fleshly nature. It was the same thing from day one outside the Garden of Eden — put the death sentence on your fleshly nature to restore access to the Tree of Life. Stop eating the Forbidden Fruit, which is a symbol for rejecting revelation and trusting in human capabilities without the divine provision.
Israel was given a covenant that would have provided their equivalent of the Great Commission. It wasn’t a perfect Law Covenant by any means; Jesus made it clear that Moses was obliged to soften some things. To be more precise, the Lord granted Moses permission because it was the Lord who warned Moses that the Nation of Israel was not morally capable of walking in the full truth of revelation. Even with those softened provisions, Israel steadily moved farther and farther from their testimony, their shalom.
They tested the Lord. They tried to put Him in a bind, knowing that He would be reluctant to punish them for the sake of His desire to reveal Himself. So they pushed the limits repeatedly. Finally, He sent His own Son, in the hopes of calling them back one last time. They murdered the Son, in part to silence the very loud testimony against their covenant failures.
So their nation was disbanded. The Lord ended His experiment with using an earthly nation to testify of Himself. Instead, He created a nation based on His own heavenly realm. He adopted a new people as His testimony on the earth. It’s no longer a matter of national identity; there is no such thing as a “Christian identity” in human terms. We are not an ethnic group, though serving Christ does generate a portion of what we might call a culture. Still, this new nation is wide open to all races, languages and cultural backgrounds. It transgresses every human boundary, pulling together a people who have no earthly reason for even acknowledging each other. Instead, we are held together in our spiritual and moral identity.
But given how that New Testament message has once again been corrupted, just like the Old Testament message, there is little left for us to do except calling His people back to their covenant identity. It’s a tall order, being pretty much the same problem Jesus faced in coaxing His nation back to their ancient covenant. We have to keep demonstrating the power of our message through the very evidence of our shalom. The burden is upon us to lay claim to the full heritage of divine promises after the Fall.
Those of us who find our calling under the Radix Fidem covenant must band together in prayer that the Lord would grant signs and wonders that testify of our shalom. We participate in the polarization of the gospel message; let it be clear to all. Just like it was with Israel in the Nile Delta during the Ten Plagues: We must be covered from His wrath by the Blood of the Lamb. Let there be a clear distinction as the plagues fall on everyone who rejects the identity He provides.
Let us be indeed His Covenant People, who are distinguished by the blessings of shalom.
