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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace." So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.’"
Numbers 6:22-27
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The closing verses from Numbers, chapter 6, form what has been widely referred to as the Aaronic Benediction. In it, we find the Lord telling Moses to have Aaron and his sons bless the Israelite people with words spoken from His mouth.
Indeed, the words of the Lord here offer meaning to the word “benediction”, a word we commonly relate to concluding a service of worship or other special events. In fact, we use the word so much in relation to finishing something that we might come to think that the word actually has a root meaning associated with an ending but a close examination of the word’s origins refute this possibility.
When we research the word "benediction", we see that it is derived from the Middle English word, "benediccioun", which was came from the Latin word, "benedicere", meaning "to bless". Further, “benedicere” could be broken down into two individual Latin words: "bene", which meant "well", and "dicere", meaning "to say".
Putting this all together, we see where benedictions are literally blessings that should speak well in some way about someone or something.
With this in hand, let’s now go back to our scripture passage where we find God certainly giving Aaron and his sons words that speak well to the people of Israel and to us as well.
Let’s take a close look at the blessings within this Aaronic Benediction:
1. The Lord bless you and keep you.
In this blessing, the word "bless" means to "invoke divine care upon" while "keep you" speaks to the protection and sustenance God wishes for His people. The bottom line here is that the Lord deeply cares for His people and wants the best for each and every one of them, a truth that should always place us in a spirit of praise and thanksgiving unto Him.
2. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
When the Lord shines His face upon us, it’s because He is pleased and we have found favor with Him.
Perhaps there is no greater example of Him shining His face upon us than when we consider what He did to save us through His Son Jesus. For instead of allowing us to die a certain death with an associated final destiny of Hell, He willingly surrendered His Son, offering Him up as a living atoning sacrifice, the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (John 1:29). This act was absolutely gracious and merciful, an act born out of pure and perfect love.
And so if we want to see the full light of the Lord’s face shining on us as Christian believers, all we need to do is look to the cross where we’ll see it in full brilliance.
3. The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
The King James Version of the Bible renders this translation to these words:
"The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."
So what does it mean to have the Lord’s face toward us or His countenance upon us?
Simply put, it’s to be in the midst of His care and presence.
We should see that as believers, we matter to God and He wants to watch over us. After all, through our belief in Jesus, we are His children and that makes Him our Heavenly Father.
And so like any decent father, God, our Father in Heaven, doesn’t wish for us to live in anguish. Rather, He blesses us with life so that we can rejoice and be glad in it, regardless of our circumstances. In his letter to the church in Philippi, the Apostle Paul put it this way:
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" 4:4
Sound easy enough, right? But the reality is that it can be easier said than done, especially when the trials and tribulations of life come upon us.
So how can we possibly live in a spirit of rejoicing, even in difficult times?
Going back to Paul, he also answers this question in the same chapter of the same letter, saying:
"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." Vv. 11-13
The truth Paul conveys to his readers is that through Jesus, and only through Him, believers can find the strength to do anything, in good and bad times. This includes rejoicing in our Lord always. Without Christ, a person will be living without hope and destined to destruction and damnation. And so there should be an abundance of peace found in all Christians, who have been rescued from Hell and guaranteed eternal life in Heaven with God the Father through placing trust in His Son, the One who is the way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).
Indeed, through God’s redeeming work of salvation, carried out by Jesus on the cross of Calvary, we see how He blesses His people beyond belief, loving them more than they could ever love Him in return. Today and every day, let us give Him all our praise, honor, and glory until that day when we see Him face to face and abide with Him forever.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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