God's Blessing on his people

Text Numbers 6:22-27 Time 01/04//12 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

I would like us to look this evening at the closing verses of Numbers 6.

Here God speaks to Moses and tells him to tell Aaron and the other Levitical priests how to bless the Israelites. We know that these blessings were used. In 1979 two small silver rolls were found at the site of Ketef Hinnom. Both contain the words in Hebrew found here and have been dated back to the seventh and sixth centuries BC.

Once again we are in the Old Testament and so the application of such verses is not easy but there are several important things to say.

A Christian cannot help seeing that the blessing is threefold. The LORD's name is repeated three times. Everything in us wants to say something like

God the Father bless you and keep you;

God the Son make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

God the Holy Spirit turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Of course, the text does not say that and it would be wrong to suggest it did or to say that it teaches the Trinity. It is a subtle hint in the right direction, however, and it would be odd if we did not notice it.

Less obvious is the fact that the yous here are singular (The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.) There is probably a stress on the unity of God's people. They are indeed one and together know God's blessing.

Otherwise let's say three things.

1. Realise that the only source of true blessing is God

To be blessed is a good thing. It means to be happy, contented, to have good things. People seek blessings in all sorts of things. They may rarely used the word blessed but that is what they desire. They want happiness, they want fulfilment. They want to feel whole and complete. Sadly, again and again people seek such blessings in this world rather than in God, in the creature rather than in the Creator. People think their job can make them happy, their career; or they think that money will make them happy; some look to their family or their friends. If you read this passage carefully, however, it is clear that blessing ultimately comes from God.

1. It is God who tells Moses to tell the priests to do the blessing. This is initiated by him.

2. The blessing itself also makes this perfectly clear. It is not the priests who do the blessing in fact. The people certainly do not bless themselves. No, look what it says:

So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.

3. Then just in case you've missed it, in verse 27 it says that when the priests have blessed the people So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them. The priests give the blessing but it is God who does the blessing.

That's the first lesson here then. All true blessings come from God. If you want to be blessed look to him not to anyone or anything else.

2. Understand that God gives his blessings through mediators

Another thing that comes out here is the way that God brings his blessing. Moses is instructed to tell the Levites to do the blessing of the people. This is a reminder that God brings his blessings through mediators. A mediator is a go between, a middle person, an arbitrator. A priest is a go between between man and God. Interestingly this verse shows us that as well as praying for the people and making sacrifices and offering incense Aaron and the other Levitical priests were to bless the people.

Now, of course, the old covenant is no longer in place. The new covenant has been brought in through Jesus Christ. Whereas Aaron was the High Priest under the old covenant now in the new covenant Christ is and whereas under the old covenant the priests were all men from the tribe of Levi under the new covenant every believer is a priest.

The two lessons here therefore are that if we want to know God's blessing then we need to look firstly to Christ the High Priest and then to his servants. This is how God's blessings come. And so blessing is a matter of looking to God and seeing that it is in Christ that all those blessings are stored. There also needs to be a realisation that God uses his servants to bring blessings to his people. Here we are thinking most obviously of preachers of the Word who declare God's Word and then bring that work to a close by blessing the people. However, it includes all God's people who pray for one another or speak a word of encouragement or anything of that sort.

So here is something to think about. Firstly, the fact that all blessings are found in Christ. Secondly, the power that all who believe have to be a blessing to one another. We cannot be a blessing to them in and of ourselves of course but we can be a channel of God's blessing to them. Indeed we must be eager to be a channel of God's blessing. To be a believer is to be a priest and part of the work of a priest is to be a means of blessing to others. We must take our work seriously.

3. In what ways does God bless his people?

In the blessing recorded here there are six elements – three pairs of two. These six show us the sorts of things that God's people can expect from God. One writer has called it a steam of blessings – a staccato list of divine dispensations to come upon Israel for her well being.

1. The LORD bless you

The priests were to begin by simply saying The LORD bless you. In the Old Testament, blessings were more often of an earthly character but there is no limitation to it. We get an idea of blessing in Deuteronomy 28:3ff

You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. … The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail.

There is nothing like the LORD's blessing.

2. and keep you;

This speaks of the LORD as a guardian over his people. He protects them from danger and spares them. To have the LORD watching over you is a great blessing indeed – one that we should crave for ourselves and pray for others.

3. the LORD make his face shine on you

Think of the sun shining down from the sky on to earth. This expression was a common one in the ancient near east for looking on someone with favour. You know the expression "a place in the sun". Often the psalmist prays for God's face to shine on him. Eg Psalm 31:6 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love. Nothing can compare with knowing the favour of God. Again it is something to desire for ourselves and for others.

4. and be gracious to you;

Literally this refers to bending or stooping in kindness to an inferior and means to favour or to bestow. To know God's grace, his undeserved love and mercy is the greatest blessing anyone could know. Long for that blessing and pray it down on others.

5. the LORD turn his face toward you

The idea here is of giving comfort to someone. To turn your face to a person is to show them that you care about them and are concerned for them and want to help them. To have such a favour from God is a glorious and wonderful thing.

6. and give you peace.

We spoke about the peace that God gives this morning. It is more than a mere absence of war. It is a peace that transcends understanding and that is both objective and subjective. It is peace with God first and foremost but it also means peace with men at least to some extent now and even more so in the world to come. Yet again, here is something to long for, to aspire to and to pray down on fellow believers.

So here is a prayer to pray firstly for yourself

"LORD bless me and protect me; LORD make your face shine on me with favour; LORD be gracious to me – show me your love even though I deserve nothing; LORD turn your face toward me so that I am encouraged and give me peace."

Pray it too for others

"LORD make them happy and guard them; LORD look on them with favour; LORD be gracious to them – show them your love even though they deserve nothing; LORD turn your face toward them so that they are comforted and give them peace."

To be so blessed is to have God's name on you. It is to be in him and so to be sharing to some extent at least in his character. What a glorious thing to be called a Christian, to have the name of Christ upon us. Let us live lives worthy of that wonderful name.

I don't know much about Samuel Taylor Colerdige the romantic poet but shortly before his death he wrote these words quoted by John Currid in his commentary on Numbers to his godson.

“I too, your Godfather, have known what the enjoyments and advantages of this life are, and what the more refined pleasures which learning and intellectual power can bestow ; and with all the experience which more than threescore years can give, I now, on the eve of my departure, declare to you (and earnestly pray that you may hereafter live and act on the conviction) that health is a great blessing, —competence obtained by honourable industry a great blessing,—and a great blessing it is to have kind, faithful, and loving friends and relatives; but that the greatest of all blessings, as it is the most ennobling of all privileges, is to be indeed a Christian.”

To be a Christian is to know God's blessing, his keeping, his face shining on you and lifted towards you, his grace and his peace. May we all know that now and increasingly in the future.