TOPIC: Blessings (God’s); Name (the LORD’S)
TITLE: INVOKING GOD'S NAME - Remembering the Lord's Blessing!
TEXT: Numbers 6:23-27
TITLE: INVOKING GOD'S NAME - Remembering the Lord's Blessing!
TEXT: Numbers 6:23-27
Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, “Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:‘The LORD bless you, and keep you;So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”
The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.'
FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What Is It God Wants You To Know?
CONCISE OUTLINE: He wants you to know that He wishes ...
I. SPEAK WELL OF YOU!TRUTH/CONTEXT: What we have here is what I call “the Lord’s Prayer” of the Old Testament (not the “Our Father” one but the real prayer of the Lord in the Gospel of John) … I put this right along side the 2 Chronicles
II. TO PERSERVE YOU!
III. TO ILLUMINATE YOU!
IV. TO REVEAL TO YOU!
V. TO COMMUNE WITH YOU!
VI. TO BE PLEASED WITH YOU!
The greater context of our passage is the book of Numbers, a book of wanderings and organization: wanderings in a wilderness and organization out of the disorganization for a people fresh from the oppression of slave masters.
How reassuring Israel
God organized the people for His work immediately following their escape from Pharaoh and then again just prior to their entry into the Promised Land. But the people did not accomplish God’s work as He planned it, so God withheld His blessing.
The immediate context of our passage is in the period of Israel
Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he stepped down after making the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. [Leviticus 9:22]FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What Is It God Wants Us To Know?
EXPANDED OUTLINE:
This is a comprehensive and wonderful prayer, it should be understood like this:
I. May God speak well to you, by keeping His promises for you!
II. May He preserve you in the possessions, providing good things and hedging you in from all evil by which you are threatened!
III. May God illuminate your heart, giving you true knowledge of yourself and of your God!
IV. May He show you His grace, forgiving your sins and sanctifying your walk with Him!
V. May God have communion with you, in each of the persons of the Godhead - Father, Son, and Spirit.
VI. And may God give you a constant sense of His pleasure, granting you prosperity in your heart and in your soul, and in all your temporal affairs!
APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: And so how is this done?
Verse 27 brings to mind the fourth commandment:
APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: And so how is this done?
Verse 27 brings to mind the fourth commandment:
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
[BARNES] Put my name upon the children of Israel
Some suggest the blessing reflects the Trinity or Godhead by the repetition of the LORD (Jehovah) three times. Might be?
That, I believe, is His desire, what is yours?
This passage focuses on the Israelite need for consecration unto God for total service (free of guile and iniquity; honoring vows they’ve made). This is the whole sacrifice of the child of God. It’s a body and soul offering to Jehovah.
Never did God have in mind Aaron getting up each morning and saying, “I need to go bless the people or their day will be miserable.”
No, they were to bring their offerings in, the priests were to perform their functions, and the people would then be blessed by Aaron. What is our offering?
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. [Romans 12:1]
And how are we to accomplish this?
"YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.” This is the great and foremost commandment. [Matthew 22:37, 38]
Oh how God would bless us if we were but obedient to Him in His desire to bring us out of our wilderness and chaos; God desires to bless and to lead us into organization.
I have been forced by the Holy Spirit to admit my complicity as a stumbling block to your blessing … certainly Hebrews 13:20-21 is a benediction of blessing, but my heart was motivated by a desire to remind you God supplies each of you each day to do the work of ministry … not that you would be blessed by the invocation of His name.
[BLESSING] Suppose for a moment you were to receive an inheritance from a rich Uncle; the only stipulation was you must behave in a way not natural for you, and this only for a time. Even then, a provision was made for forgiveness if you mess up! Now suppose you didn’t and you wouldn’t!
This is what Israel
Now, the bible says,
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. [Ephesians 1:7-12]
[KMV BIBLE] Howard Hendricks reminds us it is not the version of the bible a person uses that separates him from God, but rather what version he makes of the version he has. Sadly, many people edit the Word of God as they go, creating their own King Me Version (KMV).
God had intended for our obedience to Him to be clearly visible to Him and His sub-shepherds (you will know them by their fruit) … as a result they could freely bless the people with this blessing. To the extent you’ve made yourself a living sacrifice unto God …
The LORD bless you, and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.
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