Covenant of Peace
Peace with God and one another is fundamental to the promises of
Israel’s restoration and the new creation. Isaiah 32:15–18 promises that when
the Spirit, who is the sign of the new age, is poured out, He will create
righteousness and peace. God has future plans of peace for His people (Jer
29:11); peace will characterize the new temple (Hag 2:9) and Jerusalem (Jer
33:9), whose inhabitants will “love truth and peace” (Zech 8:19). In the
Genesis creation account, the narrative revolves around the notion of peace—the
creation and maintenance of order and the reversal of disorder (Ollenburger,
“Creation and Peace,” 147–58). In the same way, the prophetic vision of the new
creation is a vision of order and peace produced by justice and righteousness
(Brueggemann, Peace, 15–18). Although
God had promised in the Sinai covenant to give peace to Israel if they obeyed
(Lev 26:6), this was not realized due to Israel’s sin (Isa 48:18; Zech 8:10).
The prayer of Solomon that Israel’s heart would be at peace with (or devoted to)
God (1 Kgs 8:61) did not come to fruition even in Solomon’s own experience as
he turned to foreign gods (1 Kgs 11:4). It is only in the inauguration of the
new covenant that this lasting peace with God and one another is achieved, and
thus this new covenant is called a “covenant of peace,” a covenant that
assuages divine wrath (Isa 54:10; Ezek 34:25; 37:26; compare Num 25:12; Mal
2:5; Batto, “Covenant of Peace,” 187–211).
Isaiah places emphasis on future peace with God. “Peace” (שָׁלוֹם, shalom)
serves as a significant concept uniting Isa 48–55 (Lessing, Isaiah 40–55, 632). In Isaiah the sins
of Israel had separated them from God and hindered the fulfillment of the
Abrahamic covenant (Isa 48:18–19). Isaiah stresses that “there is no peace for
the wicked” (Isa 48:22; compare Isa 57:21). But God solves Israel’s plight
through the work of the Servant, whose death as a guilt offering (Isa 53:10)
brings peace with God (Isa 53:5). As a result of His work, the good news of
peace is proclaimed to a worldwide audience, who will by union with the Servant
experience great peace in the future age (Isa 52:7; 54:1–10, 13; 55:12; 57:19;
60:17; 66:12). (Joshua M. Greever, “Peace,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary,
ed. John D. Barry et al. [Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2016], Logos Bibel
Software edition)
