2. PEACE, PEACE, WONDERFUL PEACE

4. “…You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live…” (Exodus 33:20)

5. “May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace…” (Numbers 6:26)

6. “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.” (Numbers 6:24-25)

7. “The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace…” (Numbers 6:26)

8. The first segment: “The Lord bless you and keep you…” (Numbers 6:24) Emphasizes concrete gifts: blessing and security.

9. The second segment: “The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you…” (Numbers 6:25) Stresses the hope that God will be well disposed toward us, tempering judgment with mercy.

10. The third segment: “The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace…” (Numbers 6:26) Asserts that God will pay attention, providing fullness of life.

11. Shalom

12. Literally, in Hebrew, Shalom means completeness and contentment through God, resulting in health and reconciliation in all of life: life with God, life with self, life with others, and life with the world.

13. Yet another text -- Isaiah 26: 1-8; 12-15 -- helps us discover how such reconciliation occurs, and so I invite you turn with me now to those verses.

14. Isaiah 26 proclaims: Shalom -- deep contentment and reconciliation -- can be restored, if we resolve to be steadfast, not fickle.

15. “God will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in God. Trust in the Lord, forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock eternal…” (Isaiah 26:3-4)

16. But trusting the rock eternal requires patience, incredible patience.

17. “God humbles the proud and lifts those who obey” (Isaiah 26:5) “The path of the righteous is level and smooth” (Isaiah 26:7) “it’s possible to take the right direction, walking in God’s laws” (Isaiah 26:8)

18. But it requires that “we wait for the Lord.” (Isaiah 26:8)

19. The word “wait” in Isaiah 26:8 is the word “Qavah,” which has a three-layered meaning.

20. First: “Qavah” means to bind together like two strands of a rope.

21. Second: “Qavah” means to wait or tarry.

22. First: “Qavah” means to bind together like two strands of a rope. Second: “Qavah” means to wait or tarry. And third: “Qavah” means to hope or look expectantly.

24. “Lord you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished -- you have done for us. Oh Lord, our God, other lords…have ruled over us -- but your name alone do we honor…” (Isaiah 26:12)

25. And so may the one true God in Jesus grant you fullness of life! May the one true God in Jesus save you, rescue you, establishing you today and forevermore. May the one true God in Jesus – The Lord -- lift every aspect of your being – and bless your life.

26. Yes, may The Lord bless your life

27. “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord -- make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord -- turn his face toward you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)