We turn to God's Word again in
the book of Numbers Numbers chapter 6 and reading from verse 22 the
last six verses of the chapter Numbers chapter 6 from verse
22 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and
unto his son, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children
of Israel saying unto them the Lord bless thee and keep thee
the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto
thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace
and they shall put my name upon the children of Israel and I
will bless them here we have of course the Aaronic the priestly
blessing that was to be pronounced upon the children of Israel. And we have previously considered,
of course, those three verses in particular, verses 23, 24,
and 25. And we often use such words as
a benediction. But I want us this morning to
turn more particularly to what God says here in verse 27. As Moses is given this commandment
concerning Aaron and his sons, the Lord God says, And they shall
put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them. I want to say simply to consider
these two things, God's name and then God's blessing. They shall put my name upon the
children of Israel and I will bless them." What is the name
that is spoken of here? Well, we have it, of course,
in those previous verses. Three times we read, the Lord,
the Lord, And again, the Lord. And you know the significance
of that name as we see it here in the authorized version spelt
in capital letters. It is that name that was spoken
to Moses there at the burning bush in the portion that we read
back in Exodus chapter three. And there at verses 14, and 15
where God declares himself to Moses. God said unto Moses, I
am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am, has sent me unto you. And God said, Moreover unto Moses,
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name
forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations the name that God gives himself
declares himself to be of course is I am and what we have here
as Lord if we were to render the Hebrew in a very literal
sense it simply means he is it is the verb to be God says of
himself, I am, and so God's people declare that he is. That's what the word Lord literally
means. He is that God who is the unchanging
Jehovah, I am the Lord. I change not, therefore ye sons
of Jacob, are not consumed. Indeed, it is God the Son, the
Lord Jesus, is the same yesterday and today and forever. And is it not significant that
even here in the Old Testament, in the blessing that the priests
were to pronounce upon the tribes of Israel, we see the doctrine
of the Trinity three times. In verses 24, 25, and 26 we read
of the Lord. Does he not remind us then of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? When Isaiah was so favored in
that year in which the king, Uzziah, died and he was there
in the temple and he saw that remarkable vision He saw the
throne of God that is never vacated, and before the throne the seraphim
and their cry was, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven
and earth are full of thy glory. The thrice holy Jehovah. the Holy Father, the Holy Son,
and the Holy Spirit. And so coming to the New Testament,
John declares that there are three that bear record in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are
one. How significant then it is to
behold that great name that is the Lord God himself. It is the
doctrine of the Trinity. And this, of course, is the name
that every Christian believer bears when we make a public profession
of faith, even in the service of baptism. Remember the commission
that the Lord Jesus gave to his disciples There at the end of
Matthew's Gospel, Go ye, he says, into all the world. And how are
they to deal with those to whom they preach the gospel, those
who come to trust in that Lord Jesus Christ? They are to be
baptized, it says, in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. And is it not significant that
there in Matthew 28, 19, name is in the singular? It doesn't
say the names, it's not a plural. But it's a singular. God's name
is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And every believer, every believer
is one who takes that name at his baptism. We are then those who are true
Trinitarians. And we see it, I say, even here
in the Old Testament Scriptures. The name of God. We have the
Father. here in verse 24 the Lord bless
and keep them remember again in the New Testament how writing
to the Ephesians Paul in that opening chapter speaks of the
doctrine of the Trinity and he speaks of God the Father blessing
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Here is the Father then, the
one who blesses his children and then we see God the Son in
verse 25, the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious
unto thee. Do we not see that gracious smiling
of God's face in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who comes to reveal
that salvation. We see it in the shining of his
face. And then in verse 26 we have
the work of the Holy Spirit. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. Who is the one who gives the
salvation? Who is the one who comes and
works that salvation in the hearts of sinners? Is it not the prerogative
of God the Holy Ghost to give the blessing of the Father and
to grant an interest in that gracious work of God the Son. We see then here who it is that
the Aaronic priests were to declare as the true God and put that
name upon the children of Israel. It is the same as that that we
have when we come to the New Testament. Paul then writing
at the conclusion of his second epistle to the Corinthians It
gives us our Trinitarian blessing. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost, he says, be
with you all. And it accords with this Aaronic
blessing that we find here in the books of Moses in Numbers.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face
shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. the Lord lift up his
countenance upon them and give thee peace and they shall put
my name upon the children of Israel." Oh, let us not lose
sight of that truth then, friends, that we're those who are Trinitarians. We are not merely Jesus people. And I say that with due reverence,
we're more than Jesus people. are those who confess three persons
in one undivided and indivisible Godhead. And we see that all
the persons in the Godhead are involved in the salvation of
sinners. Read it there in that great opening
chapter of Ephesians. The sovereign purpose of the
Father as He makes choice of that people. And then the great
work of God the Son as He comes to accomplish their redemption. And then after that the blessed
sealing of God the Holy Spirit as He brings that truth home
into the soul of elect sinners. The name, God's name, He is a
Triniton, He is Father, He is Son, He is Holy Ghost, He is
the unchanging Lord God Almighty. But we turn in the second place
to consider something of this blessing that is spoken of at
the end of the chapter. They shall put my name, says
God, upon the children of Israel and I will bless them. Now we see the blessing of course
in the words of the benediction. Verse 23, on this wise ye shall
bless the children of Israel saying unto them first of all
the Lord bless thee and keep thee Secondly, the Lord make
his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. And then
thirdly, the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give
thee peace. We can see three aspects to the
blessing that God is pleased to pronounce upon his children. And first of all, we see that
blessing in terms of God's face. There's a certain emphasis here,
is there not, upon the face of God. In verse 25, the Lord make His
face shine upon them. Verse 26, the Lord lift up His
countenance upon them. His face, His countenance. There's
a certain repetition, there's an emphasis being made. This
is a very important aspect of that blessing. And what does
the face of God speak of? It speaks of God revealing himself. God showing his face. It's the
manifestation of God. It's a revelation of God. we read in the Proverbs as in
water face answereth to face so the heart of a man to man
where there is the showing of the face there is a revelation
there is a manifestation when Jacob is brought into Egypt to
see his son Joseph whom he, of course, thought was long since
dead. What an amazing experience that
was! And we have the words that Jacob
spoke at that time in Genesis 48 and verse 11. He says to his
son Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face And lo, God hath
shown me also thy seed. He not only seen the face of
Joseph, he saw the faces of Joseph's seed, Joseph's sons. What a blessing
it was that he should see them, that they should be revealed
to him, that he should be so favoured. That was the experience
of Jacob, but it wasn't only that Jacob was favoured to see
the faces of Joseph and his children. But remember what we are told
concerning Jacob and his experience of Pena. when he's returning
having had to flee from his own home because of the anger and
the rage of his brother Esau and our God that so favored and
blessed him with Laban and he returns and he's fearful concerning
what reception he might receive from Esau and we're told there
in Genesis 32 how he divides the company into two parties
and sends them before him but he waits behind and there we
see him ultimately wrestling with the angel in prayer pleading
with God there in Genesis chapter 32 and how he was blessed it
was there of course that Jacob who was the supplant in many
ways we might say well didn't he sort of have every right to
be in a rage he had stolen the birthright Esau was the firstborn
of those twins. He was the supplant who was Jacob.
But there, at Peniel, his name is changed and he becomes Israel,
he becomes a prince with God. And it's Jacob who gives that
place that particular name. He called the name of the place
Peniel, he says, for I have seen God face to face and my life
is preserved. He had seen the face of God.
Now what does that mean? It simply means that God had
come there and revealed himself to him. Made himself known. I know God says to Moses, no
man can see my face and live. We're not to imagine that in
that sense Jacob literally saw God's face. God is a spirit,
is he not? God doesn't have a body with each various parts such
as we have. But when we read there of him seeing the face
of God, I have seen God face to face, what he is indicating
there is that God had come and revealed himself, made himself
known to him. This is what the face of God
bespeaks to us. He speaks to us of God as that
one who is pleased to condescend, to come, to draw near, and to
manifest himself to the sinful sons of men. Now where is it
that God reveals himself? Where is it that we see truly
the face of God? It is, of course, in and through
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 and verse 6, God, who at sundry times and in diverse
manner, spake in time passed unto the fathers by the prophets,
after these last days spoken unto us by His Son. That's not
2 Corinthians 4, that's Hebrews chapter 1. But it's the same
truth. It's the same truth as we have
there in 2 Corinthians 4. The words, There our God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts. To give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God, it says, in the face. in the face of Jesus
Christ. Now I refer more particularly
to those words in 2 Corinthians 4 rather than the word that I
misquoted from Hebrews chapter 1 because the interesting thing
when Paul writes there to the Corinthians is this that that
expression that we have at the end of that sixth verse in the
face of Jesus Christ The same word is to be found previously
in chapter 2 and verse 10. And there at the end of that
10th verse in the second chapter, the same word is rendered the
person of Christ. Let's turn briefly to those two
chapters there in the second letter to the Corinthians. because
I think it's an important point really that I want to make from
that particular passage or those two passages in chapter 4 and
verse 6 we have the words that I quoted God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
in the face of Jesus Christ, and he's clearly here speaking
of a revelation. The light shining in the darkness,
and that light is the knowledge of God, the knowledge of God's
glory. And where do we see it? We see
it in Christ. Now, going back to chapter 2
and verse 10, Paul writes there, to whom ye forgive anything,
I forgive also. for if I forgive anything to
whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it, in the person of
Christ." Now the margin has the alternative reading, in the sight
of Christ. But the word person is really
the same word as we have in chapter 4 and verse 6 where it's rendered
faith. which I forgive in the face of
Christ, or coming to chapter 4 verse 6, we could read of the
glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. It is in Christ
that God gives us that final revelation of himself. He is
the image of the invisible God. And so we have those words, you
see, that I referred to just now in Hebrews chapter 1, that
God, who at sundry times in diverse manner, spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, acting these last days, spoken
unto us by His Son. Where do we see God? Where do
we have that full, that final revelation of God? We see it
in Christ. We see it in Christ. And so here
you see the significance of these expressions. The Lord make his
face shine upon them. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon them. Is there not some reference there
to that that was to be in the fullness of the time when God
was pleased to send his Son into the world? Now, friends, we should
be those who desire that we might know that revelation, that shining
of the face of the Lord Jesus. Or we see it, do we not, in the
language of the Psalmist so many times? In Psalm 13 he cries out,
How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, for ever? How long wilt
thou hide thy face from me? Are there not, alas, those times
when we fear that there is the hiding of that face? And we have
to look to ourselves and examine ourselves. What does Isaiah say? Your sins. Your sins have separated
between you and your God, or your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from
you. Our sin comes in, and our sin
is such an awful barrier, and how we feel that dreadful separation,
and how we need to take up the language of the psalmist and
cry to God, making our confessions, desiring that the Lord would
yet remember us and not forget us, and grant again that revealing
of Himself, not the hiding of His face, but the manifestation
of himself and he encourages us does he not he will have us
thus come and pray to him and seek him again we have that in
psalm 27 the psalm he says when thou says seek him I face my
heart said thy face O Lord I will see or that God would come and
speak that word effectually into our hearts and he would say to
us by the gracious application of that word there in Psalm 27
and verse 8, seek ye my face. If God speaks a word to us, you
see, we will seek Him. Then we will say, my soul saith,
it will seek thy face. How we need then that we might
have that gracious revelation the sweet smilings of the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Psalmist, again, in Psalm
4 and verse 6, there be many who say, you will show us any
good. Lord, he says, lift up the light of thy countenance
upon us. Well, we need that blessing from
God then, that gracious manifestation, the revealing of Himself, the
shining of His face. But then also, besides this emphasis
upon the face of God here, we also have mention of grace and
of peace, do we not? In verse 25, the Lord make His
face shine upon the and be gracious unto them." Verse 26, "...the
Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."
We have grace, and we have peace. Now, doesn't that speak to us
more particularly, more especially, of the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ? The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Oh, it's in the Lord
Jesus Christ, it's in the gift of His only begotten Son that
we see that wonderful manifestation of the grace of God. In the gift
of the Father, that when the fullness of the time was come,
God should send forth His Son, His only begotten Son, His well-beloved
Son, the one in whom He delighted. He doesn't withhold that's greatest
of all gifts He gives His only begotten Son. With all the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul again to the Corinthians can
say, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through
His poverty might be made rich. The humiliation of the Lord Jesus
Christ He was, He is God, and yet He makes Himself of no reputation. He takes upon Him the form of
a servant. He's made in the likeness of
men, and we see Him in fashion as a man, and He's obedient.
And He's obedient even to the death of the cross. This is the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. What did he experience in that
death of the cross? Did he not there know something
of the awful hidings of God's face? Did he not there upon the
cross feel the awful burden of sin that was laid upon him as
he bore in his own person the punishment that was due to the
sins of his people? And we have recorded that awful
cry, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? What a mystery there is in the
crucifixion of Christ. Because there is never anything
less than God. He is the eternal Son of God
and we know that there is never any division in the God end.
The God who is three persons is always one God undivided and
indivisible and yet such is the experience of the Son of God
there in the state of His humiliation as the awful curse of the sins
of His people is laid upon Him. He feels the hideous of the face
of God. and he experiences that in order
that sinners might know the gracious shining of God's face in order
that God might look favourably upon sinners who only deserve
to be cast out of his presence only deserve to suffer the consequence
of all their sinful rebellion, who deserve to be punished because
they are the transgressors of God's holy law and yet those
sinners know God's favour And where do they see it? In the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the grace of Christ. Be gracious
unto them. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee, he says, and give thee peace. And what is this
peace? It is that peace that comes through
the Lord Jesus Christ again. It's Christ, you see. It's the
work of Christ that we see, his grace, his peace. The prophet
Micah says, this man shall be the peace. The man Christ Jesus,
think of his person. Think of this one who is God
and man, two natures in one blessed person. and how this one is fit,
you see, to stand between God and man, how this one comes between
heaven and earth, and how he has reconciled sinners unto God. Oh, we read there, when Paul
writes of these things to the church of the Colossians, in
the opening chapter of his epistle, Colossians chapter 1 verse 20,
Paul writes, having made peace, having made peace through the
blood of his cross by him, that is by Christ, to reconcile all
things unto himself. By him I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight."
He has reconciled those who were in that state of alienation,
enemies of God. What is our mind? By nature the
carnal mind is enmity. Enmity against God, it cannot
be subject to the law of God. And yet Christ has come and He
has reconciled these rebellious sinners He is, says John, the
propitiation for our sins, here in his love. Not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins, and you know the significance of that theological
word, propitiation. It speaks of God, it speaks of
a holy, righteous and just God who can by no means clear the
guilt of it. And what does God do? He visits
that punishment that was the sinner's desert, He visits it
upon the person of His only begotten Son. He is the appropriation,
He bears in His own person that wrath of God. Oh, this is grace,
this is peace with God. And observe again the language
here, throughout this passage of scripture we have God's name. They shall put my name upon the
children of Israel and I will bless them. What is God's name?
As I've said, we have it here three times, He is Lord, Lord,
Lord. It's the covenant name. It's
the covenant name. Jehovah reminds us, does it not,
of that eternal covenant of grace, or that gracious purpose of salvation. That that the Father purposed
from all eternity, when He entered into covenant with the Son, and
the Son willingly agrees to become the Heads of the whole body of
the election of grace. He is God's first elect, and
in the fullness of the time he comes to execute that work that
he had undertaken in the covenant. And then the Blessed Spirit.
Oh, how the Spirit is the one who applies these things. What
do we have here? We have the keeping, how God
keeps his people. verse 24, the Lord bless thee
and keep thee and the covenant you see is secure for time and
for eternity and the Spirit comes and deploys that great work of
salvation into the soul of the sinner and that sinner is in
possession now of a new nature the divine nature and that sinner
that death will simply go into the very presence of God himself.
His soul never sees death. Oh, his body returns to the earth
as it was, but his spirit goes to God. The words of the Lord
Jesus there on the cross to that penitential thief when he said
to die, shalt thou be with me in paradise. Oh, how this God
keeps his people. They are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. We have the words of the Lord
Jesus, do we not? I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. No man is able to take them out
of my hands. My Father that gave them me is
greater than all. No man can take them out of my
Father's hands. Oh, they're safe, they're secure,
they're in the hand of Christ, and they're in the hand of His
Father. They're safe. And they're safe
for time and for eternity. Where is their safety? Oh, where
is the believer's safety? It's in God. And it's in the
name of God. What is God's name? It's God's
revelation of Himself. Again, look at the language of
the wise man. There in Proverbs 18 and verse
10, the name of the Lord, he says, is a strong tower, the
righteous runneth into it and is saved. All friends, are we
those who desire that to be saved? To be saved in the name of the
Lord. They shall put my name upon the
children of Israel and I will bless them. Here we have God's
name and here we have God's blessing. Now observe the language that
is employed here in the blessing. Well in all of these verses we see that the pronouns are
in the singular. Not you, which is the plural.
but Thee and we see it there in verses 24, 25 and 26 six times
six times the Lord bless Thee and keep Thee the Lord make His
face shine upon Thee and be gracious unto Thee the Lord lift up His
countenance upon Thee and give Thee peace. It's a blessing for
individuals, you see. Oh, how personal it is. How personal
it is. God is pleased to come to each
individual of the children of Israel, these typical people.
And doesn't God come and deal with us individually, personally?
I know there must and there is, of course, a rightful place given
for that that is corporate, we are not to forsake the assembling
of ourselves together the communion of saints is itself a means of
grace they that fear the Lord spake often one to another, the
Lord hearkened and heard and the book of Remembrance was written,
we read in Malachi for those that thought upon the name of
the Lord, we are to encourage one another But ultimately, it's
a personal thing, is it not, this salvation and this experience
of the grace of God. He comes to us in a very real
way. He makes himself known to us.
And remember here that the Aaronic priesthood is a typical priesthood. The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons. saying on this wise you
shall bless the children of Israel saying unto them these priests
are a type, they're a type of the Lord Jesus we sang it just
now in our second hymn 121 where Isaac Watts brings out the truth
of the the typical nature of those priests of the Old Testament
but coming to the New Testament we are to consider says Paul
to the Hebrews, the apostle and high priest of our calling. And
who is that? The great high priest of our
calling is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of the
priestly office. Now what is it that the priests
do? Well, the priests there, in the Old Testament, they served
God in the tabernacle and its courts, and then they served
him in the temple, they officiated, of course, at the brazen altar,
they made the sacrifices. They were a sacrificing priesthood.
And isn't the Lord Jesus Christ himself a sacrificing priest? Here is the wonder of it, of
course, Christ is not only the priest, He is the sacrifice. He is the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. He offers up Himself. He makes
one offering for sins forever. He is not only the fulfillment
of the Old Testament priestly office, He is the fulfillment
of all those types and figures that we see in the book of Leviticus. He is made the sacrifice. when he offered up himself, he's
a sacrificing priest but then in the Old Testament these priests
they not only made sacrifice, they were to plead and to pray
they were intercessory priests and we see it again in the Lord
Jesus, so blessedly do we not in John chapter 17 we see him as that one who offers
his great high priestly prayer and prays for his disciples,
the ones that God had given him out of the world. I pray not
for the world, he says, but for them which have given me out
of the world, and not for them only, but for them also which
will believe on me through their work. Now we see, you see, that
Christ's priesthood, even in prayer, is a particular priesthood.
He prays for a particular people, just as He sacrifices for a particular
people. We are particular about this,
we believe those truths, do we not? That the Lord Jesus Christ,
when He made the great sacrifice, did not die for all and sundry,
He died for as many as the Father had given to Him. A multitude
without number, yes. and those that he died for, he
prays for. But the priests, they not only
sacrifice and intercede, but they also have this charge to
bless. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto Aaron and unto his son, saying, On this wise ye
shall bless the children of Israel. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that priest who also comes to bless his children. And we see it at the end of his
earthly ministry there in the Gospel in Luke. The very last
words really of the Gospel in Luke chapter 24. After his death and his resurrection
from the dead As He ascends to heaven, what
do we read? The closing paragraph in Luke
24 verse 50, He led them out as far as to Bethany and He lifted
up His hands and blessed them. And He came to pass while He
blessed them, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. What a high priest this is. His
very parting gift is that of blessing his disciples. Even
as he's blessing them, in this very attitude, he is parted and
he is carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned
to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple
praising and blessing God, says Luke. Amen. Oh friends, the Lord
Jesus Christ is that one who blesses, who blesses his children. And what does the Scripture say?
1 Chronicles 17, 27 For thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall
be blessed for ever. Oh, that's the name of the Lord
again there, you see, in that verse. 1 Chronicles 17 and verse 27 For
thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever. This is the blessing. The blessing
of Christ that He grants to His children. The blessing of the Lord. It
make us rich and He addeth no sorrow with it. All what blessings. They were to bless the children
of Israel. Again, Paul writes into those
Ephesians, says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh, friends, that we might know
that blessing. They shall put my name upon the
children of Israel. and I will bless them." For to
have that name put upon us, it is the mark of the redeemed in
heaven, is it not? Revelation 22, they shall see
His face, it says, and His name shall be in their foreheads. For to know that name, the name which is above every
name, and that blessing which is surely above all other blessings. May the Lord grant His blessing
today upon His Word. Amen. The tune is Phil Chester, 66.
The Lord proclaims his name, and sinners hear his voice. His
mercy ever stands the same, and well in him rejoice. Number 556.