Judges 6:24a Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovahshalom:

Jehovahshalom; the Lord is peace

The meaning for the name of this altar is derived from verses 12 and 23; And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

This is the only place in all scriptures where Jehovahshalom appears. We know that when something is really important God repeats it over and over again in scriptures. So why is this one Jehovah name important? It is personal. It is personal to Gideon and it should be personal to us. So many of these Jehovah names are general interactions, this one is personal.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Justification is a personal issue. You and you alone are justified by faith. Your justification by faith cannot and does not extend to another.

Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

The Lord is peace, He is the indwelling, peace does not come down upon you, it rises up in you.

John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

You cannot produce what you do not have in you. Peace be with you is more than a greeting, more than a blessing, it is an outpouring of He who is in you.

Exodus 31:13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

Jehovah Mekoddishkem; the Lord that sanctifies you.

This is the biblical etymology of sanctification according to the ISB encyclopedia:

“The root is found in the Old Testament in the Hebrew verb qadhash, in the New Testament in the Greek verb hagoazo. The noun “sanctification” (hagiasmos) does not occur in the Old Testament and is found but 10 times in the New Testament, but the roots noted above appear in a group of important words which are of very frequent occurrence. These words are “holy,” “hallow,” “hallowed,” “holiness,” “consecrate,” “saint,” “sanctify,” “sanctification.” It must be borne in mind that these words are all translations of the same root, and that therefore no one of them can be treated adequately without reference to the others. All have undergone a certain development. Broadly stated, this has been from the formal, or ritual, to the ethical, and these different meanings must be carefully distinguished.”

The action of sanctification is separation. That action varies in definition by who is responsible for the separation and by what is being set aside. There is God’s part, His actions, and then there is our part, our actions. We can be seen by God from His point of view in what He has done on His part. We, on the other hand, might not see it that way because we have not done out part.

1 John 1:8-9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

From God’s point of view it is unnecessary but from ours it is desperately needed. This will cleanse our conscience and keep us moving in the right direction.

Keeping the Sabbath is but a sign and only a sign. Some day we will explore exactly what that means.