“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.’” Numbers 6:22-27
Given the number of times we sin in a day, do you ever wonder, “How can God continue to love me as His Word says He does? How is it that His blessings…His grace continues to flow to me…to His church… when He knows that we all too often allow our fallen natures to take over?” I have! That is why I/we need benedictions. They not only declare God’s blessings upon me/us at the end of the worship service but they enable me/us to know that that blessing goes with me as His child until the next time I come into His presence. In other words, they confirm God’s promise to be with us always and to send “…grace upon grace…” continually to His people because He loves us that much.
This is called Aaron’s Blessing in most Bibles…but this is really God’s blessing for His people given to Aaron and the priests after him to give to the people on His behalf. This brings us to a simple definition for a benediction: the giving of a blessing from God by His assigned representatives… (the God appointed Priest in the Old Testament…ordained pastor’s/ preachers in the New Testament). The word “benediction”, from its Latin origin, literally means “a good word”. It is God’s good word of grace to His church. One Puritan put it this way, “The movement of a benediction is from heaven to earth, whereas the movement of a doxology or prayer is from earth to heaven.” In doxology we praise or sing to God.
This particular benediction, given only by the priests, informed the people at the end of the sacrifice that their sacrifice was truly accepted and they were in God’s grace until the next time they came with sacrifices. So they needed this blessing to assure them of God’s continual presence and favor with them.
The threefold “LORD” in this benediction confirms and affirms that God’s name has been placed on these His people, “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.’” This communicated to them that God is with them and that His blessing continues to be true no matter what … because of His steadfast love. He promised to be their God and that they would be His people and God never goes back on His promise. Oh, and by the way, that is the answer to our 2 questions above. God’s steadfast love…His blessing…never ceases to His people.
That is why we need benedictions…to confirm God’s on-going and continual presence and blessing. The benediction also confirms that we are His and that He never takes His eyes off of us and we know this because this passage makes it clear that He looks favorably on His own; “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”
As we know, His children then and His children today weren’t always the most stellar worshipers to be sure…but this blessing is given in the full knowledge of God that we are not complete in this life. God does not define His people by our sin, but by Christ for we are in Christ. God has chosen to love us, to bless and keep us, to shine His face upon us, to be gracious to us and to give us His peace not because of anything we have done…but because of His steadfast love that never ceases. This blessing/benediction comes from God and God alone to His people…let us rejoice and be glad in it!
God Bless y’all today.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
