Numbers 6:22-27 March
7, 1998 At the conclusion of each worship service, we follow the ancient practice of the benediction. With hand raised, I often use the words from Numbers 6 which you have printed in your bulletin: "The Lord bless you and keep you... In a book filled with "numbers", we find a beautiful gem of scripture, which has been called "the Lord's Prayer of the Old Testament." It is a benediction, a blessing which was to be spoken by the priests during the worship in the Temple. The word "benediction" is used of the words spoken at the conclusion of worship and comes from Latin, meaning "to say something good." It is not a concluding prayer, but a statement of divine approval, pronounced on behalf of God by His servant to the people of God. It is not just a mere expression of pious hope; it is not a magical incantation to procure God's support. It is a pronouncement, a statement of fact based on what God has already promised. The blessing found in Numbers 6 has been part of church liturgy since before Acts. With its beginnings here during the time of the Exodus, it continued on through the period of the Temple, during the synagogue worship. A number of years ago, archaeologists discovered two silver amulets in Jerusalem from the seventh century BC which are inscribed with these words of the Priestly Blessing. Similarly, for hundreds of years Jewish fathers have blessed their children with these words when they return home from the synagogue on Friday night. You may notice that at the conclusion of our worship when I say these words, I do so with hands raised. This practice finds its basis in Leviticus 9:22; when Aaron blessed the people (presumably with these words), he lifted his hands. Just before Christ ascended to the Father, Luke tells us that He lifted up His hands and blessed the disciples. The reason for the raised hand over the people comes from when the blessing was conferred from one person to another (from a father to a son), he would place the hand on the person. So, when there is a crowd, the raised hand signifies the touch. Another important aspect of the benediction is that it is not a prayer, and for that reason the word “may” is absent. This single word can undermine this blessing of assurance we have from our God. It doesn't depend on us. This blessing does not say that God "May" bless us only if we're on our best behavior. This blessing doesn't just happen if God feels like it: "God may bless and keep you today, or He might get around to it tomorrow." Rather this promise is stated as fact, for as we bear God’s name we know that we receive what He has promised. This morning we are returning to the Old Testament, to the book of Numbers. Over the years we have moved between Old and New Testaments in our Bibles. We have already looked at Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus and are continuing on in the next book of the Pentateuch, Numbers. While much of the opening chapters deals with the census from which the book gets its name, we will highlight portions of this history of Israel’s wanderings in the desert after they left Egypt and had received the Law of God from Sinai before they entered the Promised Land.
The importance of these words is seen in what God tells Moses to tell Aaron and his sons, the priests of the Israelites. By means of these words the priests conferred a blessing, a benediction on the people which placed God’s name on them (verse 27). This blessing from God was mediated by God through others. Through the priests the people heard God’s words. These words follow a poetic pattern. The first clause of each verse invokes God’s movement toward His people, while the second asks Him to act on behalf of his people. The emphasis is on the singular subject in the blessing indicates that God’s blessings come to the community and secondarily to individuals in that community. This threefold blessing progresses from line to line, from just three words in Hebrew, with 12 syllables and 15 letters to the second line of 5 words, 14 syllables and 20 letters to the conclusion with 7 words, 16 syllables and 25 letters. The impression is given of a stream of blessing that begins as a trickle but flows more powerfully as it continues on. GOD PROMISES HIS PROTECTION - verse 24 Lord bless you The blessing begins with the promise of God’s blessing. For us today the word “bless” is a rather empty term used of prayers before meals or a wish after a sneeze. There are many kinds of blessings. There is an old Irish blessing that says, "May you be in heaven 30 minutes before the devil knows you're dead." We talk about the blessings we receive in life. A Catholic priest, a Rabbi and a Presbyterian were discussing when the blessing of life began. And the Catholic priest said, "It begins at conception;" the Rabbi said, "The blessing of life begins at birth," and the Presbyterian said, "The blessing of life begins when your children leave home." But in Scripture a “blessing” is a promise of God’s abundant protection, that all of life would prosper under the watchful care of God. In the Old Testament, God’s blessing endues one with power for success, prosperity, longevity. What does this blessing look like? The next phrase describes the contents of God’s blessing on us. To be blessed by God is to be kept by God. The word for “keep” here is often used of guard duty, of a soldier stationed to protect his post. This is the promise of God’s watchful care over us, His people, to ensure nothing happens to us apart from His loving concern. This is what Jesus says in John 10:27-30. You are indelibly etched, tattooed on the Father’s hand. God blesses you by preserving you, protecting you each step of your life. That does not mean evil will never enter your life. That does not mean that difficulty will be far from you. Rather, in the midst of any troubles you face, whenever life is a mess, God’s presence and security is present. That is why Paul says that God works all things for good in Romans 8:28. The good is described as the great chain of salvation. The good is God’s preserving presence in your life. For this reason we can say with confidence that nothing will separate us from the love of God. GOD PROMISES HIS PLEASURE - verse 25 The Lord make His face shine on you The second aspect of this blessing is the wonderful reminder that God's pleasure is always on us. The picture of God’s face shining on us is an allusion to the sun which warms and gives light. While that image in the hot Middle East may have comforted the hearers, how much more for us in Wisconsin. On these long winter days, when the sun seems to hide for weeks at a time, we all get antsy. Before Laurie and Greg Billings left us for Florida, Laurie was a navigator for the Air National Guard, the 128th Air Refueling Group. She once told me during the dark, cloudy days of December and January, she would sign up for extra duty, just to be able to get above the cloud cover and feel the rays of the bright sun. While we may need to go in search of the warm sun, we never have to search out God’s shining face. He is always shining on us; His anger is forever turned away. In a passage surrounded by rules and regulations, where sacrifices for sin set the tone, the reader is reminded that those sacrifices do not propitiate an angry God; the work in the Tabernacle is not a means of making God’s face to shine on them. It is the celebration of the fact that God’s face does shine. We can’t make God’s face shine on us by our obedience. If that was the case it would not be His grace, but His justice that repays us. The sacrifices all point toward the one final sacrifice of God’s Son. More about that later. This is what the psalmist says in Psalm 44 when he reminds his fellow worshipers that their victory in possessing the land was not due to their own strength, but because of God’s grace: “the light of your face, for you loved them.” What is the benefit of God’s shining face? Grace. This word depicts a heartfelt response toward one in need. It is a description of God’s compassion, of His favor. Unfortunately we are inoculated against this word. For God to be gracious to us means we are His favorite. If Bill Gates were to call you up and chat with you and then announce you were his favorite person in the whole world&ldots;what would you say? Some may question if it is really Gates; others would think: “But he doesn’t even know me!” “What would I have to offer him?” Would you say, “Gee, Bill thanks for the complement. By the way, make that check out to Chris Vogel, 2309 Melody Lane&ldots;” But I think most of us would question our favored status. We are allergic to grace, we cower, afraid to ask, too scared to believe. But better by far than getting a call from Bill Gates, God has called us as His sons and daughters. So when life is hard pressed and you wonder whether God has forgotten you, you can’t recall what His shining face looks like in your life - it is then you have to remember that even then, when it is the darkest, God's pleasure rests on you because you are His favorite. Keith Hernandez is one of baseball's top players. He is a lifetime .300 hitter who has won numerous Golden Glove awards for excellence in fielding. He's won a batting championship for having the highest average, the Most Valuable Player award in his league, and even the World Series. Yet with all his accomplishments, he has missed out on something crucially important to him: his father's acceptance and recognition. Listen to what he had to say in a very candid interview about his relationship with his father: "One day Keith asked his father, 'Dad, I have a lifetime 300 batting average. What more do you want?' His father replied, 'But someday you're going to look back and say, "I could have done more."'" (The Gift of Honor, Gary Smalley John Trent, Ph.D. Page 116) I have some great news for you. That is not the response of your Father in heaven. He smiles on you today for everything that could ever be done has been done for you. GOD PROMISES HIS PEACE - verse 26 The Lord turn His face toward you Where does all this take
us? What happens when God blesses us with His protection, when His grace shines down on
us? We have the wonderful opportunity to receive His peace from His smiling face. This phrase, while similar to God’s shining face, means that He is paying attention to us and is pleased. There are plenty of times when Michael wants my attention and it can take some effort for him to secure it. If I am engrossed in the paper, or due to our height difference, in a crowd, he has to yank on my pants, call out my name. Only then will I bend low to listen and hear what he says. Then I can look him in the eye and listen. But not so with God. His gaze is always toward us; His ear is also tuned to our words. We never have to vie for attention; we don’t have to make an appointment. For those going through the Sonship Course, you are familiar with the question Josiah Bancroft asked: “What does God think of you, that is, when God looks down on you, what is the expression on His face? And what can you do to change that?” The answer as we see from this passage is simple. What does God think of you? He is beaming with pride, for you are His child. What can you do to change God? Absolutely nothing. What is the benefit of
His attention? We can have peace - shalom. Last week while I was away, I had the pleasure of contributing to the Illinois Tollway fund. Every few miles, I threw in my forty and fifty cents. I did it dutifully. But on Sunday afternoon, I came off 75th Street in Downers Grove to enter I355 and tossed four dimes in the bucket. But the red light remained red. But I knew I fulfilled the demands of the law, so I pulled away, only to be greeted by a flashing light. My duty did not register. Normally, I would not worry, since I was an obedient motorist, but as I looked in my rear view mirror I saw a new addition to the toll way - a video camera. The face of Illinois was turned toward me, but I had no peace. On the way home, I wondered what fine would come in the mail, what punishment would be meted out. Isn’t that how we picture God? It is as though He only notices us when we fail, when we sin and then the full weight of His wrath will bear down on us. At that point, peace evaporates; we begin to imagine the worst. We quickly forget the reason for this peace; we don’t realize the reason that God will bless and keep us, that God will shine His grace on us, that with a smiling face He gives us peace. Paul reminds us in Romans 5 of the reason: “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." This blessing given to Aaron to speak to Israel, this blessing you hear from week to week presupposes something very important: that God’s favor is on us not because we deserve it, not because it is capricious and even though He gives laws, He ignores our willful breaking of them. No, what all this presumes is that we have now a High Priest who blesses us because He is our sacrifice. This blessing assumes our sin. That God puts His favor on us has nothing to do with our goodness, our obedience, our lifestyle - it has everything to do with Christ's death for our sins. What Aaron foreshadowed, Christ fulfilled. The author to the Hebrews reminds us of this fact in Hebrews 9:11-14.
It was for this reason that after His death for our sins and before He ascended to function as that priest for us now, Luke 24:50 tells us He raised His hands and blessed His disciples. What Aaron pointed forward toward, what I point back to, is the basis of our assurance that we have peace with God. Do you believe that the sacrifice is complete, that by Christ’s death your sins have been atoned for and in Christ’s life God imputes His righteous keeping of the law to you? If you trust that Christ is the perfect sacrifice for your sin, that His life is your perfect obedience to the Law, then you have every right to believe that today, tomorrow and forever God will bless and keep you, that His face shines towards you and is gracious to you, that His attention is drawn to you so that you can have perfect peace. But if you are not certain of Christ’s death for your sins, if you are unsure you’re even a sinner in need of saving, then you have every reason to wonder if God will bless you, if God’s face is shining graciously on you, and peace is something you long for, but have trouble holding on to. This can not be a benediction to you; rather the opposite is true. But yet, most of us fall in between. We trust Christ as our Savior; that’s why we are here. Yet we cower in fear of His wrath; peace is still an illusion. What you and I need in those situation is a kiss of God’s grace and we have that here in bread and wine. |