March 6, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
How have you been enjoying exploring God’s Islands of Adventure? Personally I have loved this Bible reading challenge, because so many of you are reading and studying the Scriptures for yourselves on a regular basis. Though only a few people have added their names to ships that have been anchored on the different Islands, so many of our members have told me that they are reading on a regular basis. More and more people are coming to Bible Study to study the Word of God together and discuss different things they have learned, and I have enjoyed preaching on different lessons from the Chronological schedule of readings that so many of you are following. I have enjoyed it, because I have seen just how the Lord has begun blessing us as a congregation through this Bible Reading challenge, for that is what the Lord does as we grow in our faith through his Word.
In fact, this is the very thing we want to study as we take a look at the Aaronic blessing recorded for us in Numbers 6:22-27. I invite you then to open your Bibles to our first lesson, to Numbers 6:22-27. Now, as you are turning to Numbers six, let me give you a little bit of background. The Nation of Israel had been camped at Mt. Sinai for roughly 10 months now, and during their time there they had seen amazing things, been unfaithful to the Lord, forgiven by the Lord, blessed by the Lord and accomplished great things for the Lord. They had seen the Lord appear to them in a fiery cloud on the top of Mt. Sinai. They watched as Moses climb the mountain and disappeared into that cloud of fire and smoke. They grew impatient for Moses return and persuaded Aaron to fashion them a new god, a golden calf. They felt the sword of the Lord’s judgment when Moses returned from the Mountain. They repented and were forgiven. They watched as Moses again returned to the top of the Mountain for another 40 days. But this time, when he came down, there was no golden calf. Rather, whIen Moses returned to them with his radiant face glowing with the glory of the Lord, they set to work constructing the Tabernacle. Now, as the Lord speaks to Moses in our lesson for today, the Lord bestows upon his people, both Israel and all of his followers, what we have come to know as the Aaronic Blessing: Take a look at verse 22: “The LORD said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ 27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:22–27, NIV84)
In such a simple way, with such well chosen words, the Lord our God bestows the gift of his blessing upon his people Israel; both physical descendants of Israel as well as spiritual Israel, people like you and me who are now Israelites through faith in Jesus. What a comfort it is to know that whenever we hear these words of blessing spoken to us, it is as if the Lord himself is speaking to us, placing his name on us and blessing us! Though it could be said that this is a blessing that we take for granted because we hear these words spoken so often, they are still filled with great comfort. Though it could be said that we have emptied the word bless of all its meaning by constantly using it after people sneeze, when we take a close look at the word bless, we find that it is an amazing word filled with layers if meaning.
For example, if you turn to the Dictionary, you will find that the word bless means, “to invoke divine favor upon someone”; to convey well-being or prosperity on someone”; or “to endow, as with a talent.” This pretty much describes how we view blessings in our lives, yet, if you dig a little deeper and take a look at the Hebrew word in our passage, you would find that the Hebrew word for bless is barek or barak depending upon how you pronounce it. Hearing that, many of you are probably thinking that our President’s name must mean “bless”. Interestingly that is exactly what it means, in Swahili, which I understand is the language either his Father or Grandfather spoke. However, based on what I could find, when it comes to Hebrew it seems that his name means lightning. This is all based on the length of the vowels and which Hebrew letter is used for the K sound. Anyway, as I was saying, the Hebrew word for bless is barek or barak, depending on how you pronounce it and it is a word that carries the idea of conveying favor upon a person. But it also carries the idea of kneeling down on the knees, either with a straight back, or bent over with your face toward the ground as in a position of worship or humility. This paints the picture that the person who is blessing you is greater than you and you are showing appreciation to that person by humbly accepting his gift of favor upon you. But the thing that is even more interesting is what you discover when you take a look at the etymology or the Word History of our English word bless. When we do this we find that it is a word that comes to us from the Old English which conveys the meaning of wishing happiness upon someone or consecrating someone. If we look back even farther we discover that the word can be shown to derive from a Germanic root that literally means “to consecrate with blood”
Though the Hebrew word itself may not convey the idea of consecrating with blood, when we take a look at how the Lord our God has blessed us, we quickly realize that it is the Lord who blesses us with his favor through the forgiveness of sins that Jesus won for us by washing us clean with his blood and setting us apart as his brothers and sisters, children of God through faith in him. Thus, when we hear those words, “The Lord bless you and keep you” we are assured that it is the Lord our God who is not only continually bestowing his favor upon us, but he is also the one who is keeping us, and guarding us because we belong to him. Just as he assures us in Psalm 91:11, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;” (Psalm 91:11, NIV84)
How often hasn’t the Lord done this for us? How often hasn’t the Lord blessed us when we least expected it or simply needed it the most? How often hasn’t the Lord provided for you exactly what you needed in the very moment you needed? How often hasn’t the Lord protected you from harm? How many situations can you point to in your life that you can see the Lord’s protecting hand keeping you safe from trouble and danger? This is how the Lord our God has blessed us in the past and will continue to bless us into the future as he promises when we hear those beautiful words, “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;” (Numbers 6:24–25, NIV84)
What is the first thing that you do when you walk into a dark room? You flip the light switch and turn on the lights so that you can see where you are, where you are going, and what is in the room! This is something that is so ingrained into our nature that we do it without thinking about it. We often do it when we walk into a room on a sunny day. We even do it when the power is out. Though we know the power is out, we naturally reach out and flip the switch to illuminate the room, only to stand there, befuddled for a moment or two, until we realize that the power is out and there can be no light. The Lord our God works in much the same way, each time we hear that the Lord is causing his face to shine upon us, we understand just how greatly he is blessing us. For throughout the Scriptures, whenever the Lord hides his face from his people they face suffering, hardship, destruction and even death. However, when he shines his face upon them he graciously blesses them with his loving presence.
The Lord has done the same thing for us! In fact, each week as we hear this blessing, we are assured that the Lord our God will continue to cause his face to shine upon us and be gracious to us! Each week we are reminded of how the Lord our God did that for us through his Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. For Jesus, our Savior is the shining light of the Lord’s grace to us. As the Scriptures tell us, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,” (Hebrews 1:3, NIV84) Jesus is the one who came to us, revealing his gracious love for us in all that he did. Though we had done nothing to earn it or deserve it, Jesus willingly carried the concrete slabs of our sins to the execution chamber of the cross. As the crowds gathered expecting to hear his final confession or pleas that he was innocent, they only heard him whisper, Father forgive them. As they taunted him, expecting him to reply, they heard only silence. Though they expected only to hear the strangled gurgle of suffocation when Jesus died, they heard him cry out in a loud voice, they felt the earth quake, and the rocks split. This is how the Lord our God has blessed us, how he has caused his face to shine upon us and been gracious to us! Though we had been lost in the dark midnight of sin, the dawn of the Lord’s grace rose upon us and the Light of Christ our Savior was shown in our hearts. Though we had done nothing to deserve it, it was Christ our Savior who: “redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood, and innocent suffering and death. All this he did that I should be his own and live under him in his kingdom and serve him with everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as he has risen from death, and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true.”
How greatly the Lord has blessed us that he should make his face shine upon us and be gracious to us, or that he should even turn his face toward us and give us peace. (Numbers 6:25–26, NIV84) Yet this is exactly what the Lord our God has done for us. He has blessed us not only by causing his face to shine on us but by turning his face toward us and giving us peace. Now I realize that the final clause of the Lord’s blessing sounds very similar to the second clause. Interestingly the same Hebrew word is used in both verses when speaking of the Lord’s face. Yet while verse 25 speaks about the Lord causing the light of his face to shine upon us, verse 26 speaks about the Lord fixing his loving gaze upon us; not only fixing his loving gaze upon us, but giving us his undivided attention. In such a simple way the Lord is assuring us that he is intensely interested in each and every one of us, and he will give us the individualized attention that each and every one of us needs!
What a comfort it is to know that the Lord our God cherishes us so much that he blesses us with his peace, which is the peace that goes beyond all understanding, the peace of the forgiveness of sins! This is the uplifting peace that the Holy Spirit pours out in our hearts as he assures us of the forgiveness of sins won for us by our dear Savior Jesus. This is the peace that builds us up when we are weak and sustains us when we cannot stand. This is the peace through which the Lord our God assures us that we have been completely forgiven of all our sins, that our slates have not only been washed clean but have been completely replaced without any chalk to keep a record of wrong, and that continues to assure us that we are, once again, in a right relationship with the Lord our God.
What greater blessing could there be than this blessing that the Lord our God bestows upon us each and every week! For it is through this very blessing that the Lord our God places his Name on us and blesses us as his people. It is through this blessing we are assured that he is watching over us, guarding us, and protecting us. It is through this blessing that we are assured of his peace and that we are in a right relationship with him through the forgiveness of sins. Though there are times when we take this blessing for granted, as you hear it one more time, let it wash over your heart and mind as you hear it one more time: “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ (Numbers 6:24–26, NIV84)
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
