We once again find ourselves in the book of Numbers, and so I invite you to turn in God's holy Word to Numbers chapter 6. This evening we'll be looking at verses 22 through 27.
Numbers chapter 6 verses 22 through 27. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I ask that you would make this passage as sweet to your people as you have made it sweet to my soul in preparing this sermon for this evening. Lord I ask that in my weakness that you would show yourself strong that you may receive all the glory and all the praise that is due to your wonderful and holy name. We ask this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So wrote Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet, and he is getting at the idea that a person or a thing is more than its name. In other words, if we called a rose a, I don't know, a flabbergadget, it would still smell sweet. It would still be beautiful to our eyes.
We would just call it a flabbergadget instead of a rose. That's not how it works when it comes to name in Scripture and especially when we're talking about God's name. God's name is so important that he saw fit to inscripturate it and engrave it in his moral law of the Ten Commandments. So tonight we're going to examine God's name in the context of this benediction and here's the point for you tonight. In the benediction, God blesses you, his people, by placing his name upon you. The first thing I want us to understand from this section tonight is that God wants to bless his people. God wants to bless you. Blessing is misunderstood in our Western culture today. On one side, you've got people who view God as a cosmic killjoy, a giant fuddy duddy who doesn't care about people's happiness. They say to themselves, oh, you've got all these rules and all these regulations and your beliefs and all those rules and regulations, they just keep us from having fun. They keep us from enjoying ourselves.
Your God is a killjoy. What do you mean I can't envy somebody because of what they have that I don't? What do you mean I can't just take what I want from somebody else? What do you mean I can't look longingly after somebody wanting to be intimate with them? What do you mean that I have to respect people in positions of authority over me?
All these rules, all these regulations. You see in their unbelief, there is no concept of divine blessing, divine joy. They see God's law instead of being good and holy, they see it as something that's intended to kill their joy, to kill their happiness, as if God doesn't want people happy. On the other side, you've got elements within the church who view divine blessings only in terms of earthly things. Divine blessing for them is all about earthly health, it's all about earthly wealth. It's the heresy of the health and wealth gospel. And so on one side, you've got unbelievers pursuing their own conception of happiness apart from God, and you've got heresy within the church on the other side of people who claim the name of Christ also pursuing their own conception of what happiness and blessedness looks like.
Pursuing the material things of this world, the riches of this world. But I want us to understand that God does want to bless his people. He delights in blessing you. But we have to understand what blessing is.
Look at verses 23 and 27. Speak to Aaron and his son saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel. And then down in verse 27, So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.
I will bless them. The blessing here is the blessing of bearing the name of God and all that it entails, all that God is and all that he does. If you're familiar with the book of Genesis, the opening chapters, the very first words that God says to man, Genesis 1 28, God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
That was a blessing. Genesis 2 3 says that when he rested on the seventh day, he blessed the seventh day. It was a day of blessing.
Sabbath, marriage, the cultural mandate, all of these are created by God and given to you as a blessing from God. And even after the fall, God continues to bless his people. He tells Noah, says he blessed Noah and his sons by saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. He says to Abraham, I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you. And through you, all the nations of the earth will be what?
Blessed. God continues to bless his people and he shows this in his divine revelation. The book of Deuteronomy sets before the Israelites the options of either blessing or cursing. Deuteronomy chapter 11 verses 26 through 28 says this, quote, See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse.
The blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today to go after other gods that you have not known. Why would God reveal that to his people? Why would he speak it to them through Moses, his mediator? And then why would he write it down for our future generations of his people to read? Unless God wants you and me to know that he wants to bless us.
To know how we can be blessed by him. The book of Judges you can say was written to show that there is no blessing when the church looks like and acts like the world. When God's people consistently choose disobedience it results in judgment and death which is the exact opposite of blessing.
So Judges is written as a warning to avoid the cursed life. Pursue the blessed life which is found in walking in God's ways. The book of Psalms shows us the blessedness of following God and looking to God in every circumstance of life both good and bad.
How does the book begin? Psalm 1, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. Nor stands in the way of sinners or sits in the seat of scoffers but his delight is in the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. Proverbs gives us practical wisdom to live out the blessed life. Wisdom is the path of blessing and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge. Ecclesiastes shows us that there is no true blessing apart from God in this life. Blessing cannot be found in this fallen world under the sun apart from God. Human pleasure, human work, human wisdom are not the path to true blessedness, to true happiness. The Sermon on the Mount, blessed are those who fill in the blank. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are you who are poor in spirit and a whole litany of other spiritual characteristics. And the book of Revelation which closes out the canon of scripture, it ends with a benediction. Revelation chapter 22 verse 21 says, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.
Amen. See it's a lie of the evil one that God does not care about your happiness, that God does not care about your blessedness, that he doesn't want you to be truly happy. No, God delights in blessing his people. He's given us marriage. He's given us Sabbath rest. He's given us work. He's given us his revelation that we may know who he is and that we may know how to walk in his ways so that we may be truly blessed. He's not a buddy-duddy cosmic killjoy, but he's also not a cosmic genie in the bottle here to give you your every wish and to help you live your best life now. James 1 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights. That includes both material and spiritual blessing everything you have comes from his almighty hand and that is a blessing to you. Nobody has to twist God's arm to force him to bless his people. You need to force your people or else God. No, it is always his gracious disposition from Genesis to Revelation to bless you, his people.
That's the first point. The second point, the greatest blessing God can give you his people is himself. The greatest blessing God can give you his people is himself. Scripture several places calls the Lord God blessed forever, eternally blessed. And when you look at the subject of the verbs in these verses, look at verses 24 through 26, the Lord bless you, the Lord make his face shine upon you, the Lord lift up his countenance, I will bless them. In the benediction, the Lord is blessing his people with himself through his messenger.
And the reason there's a messenger there is because Adam and Eve messed up in the garden. They had perfect communion with God in the garden. Direct and immediate access to the triune God. I mean, they used to walk with him, the book of Genesis describes that as if it was a regular activity of walking in the immediate presence of the triune God.
Can you imagine what that was like? Beholding the blessed Trinity face to face, having his face shine upon them directly, enjoying peace with him in a state of innocence. That is what they lost for themselves, that is what they lost for you and me when they sinned against his holy majesty. That God has carried out a plan known to him from all eternity past by which that communion may be restored. By which you may walk with God, that you may walk in his presence. He's carried out this plan by means of covenants. The heart of the covenant, the heart of covenant theology is what is known as the Emmanuel principle. I will be your God and you will be my people. That is the heart of covenant theology.
I will be your God, you will be my people. He says this to Abraham in Genesis 17 verse 8. He says it to Moses in Exodus chapter 6 verse 7 as well as Leviticus chapter 26 verse 12. He says it in the new covenant in Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 33.
John, the apostle John in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 21 sees this Emmanuel principle in the new heavens and the new earth. The heart of every covenant in scripture whether Old Testament or New Testament is that God dwells with his people. His people live in his presence. He himself is the heart of the covenant and the message of the covenant is that there is blessing.
Blessing from the blessed God himself when you are in his presence. When his face is shining upon you. When he is blessing you and keeping you.
When you're walking in his ways, walking that path of blessing that he calls his people to walk. In the center of God's plan is Jesus Christ, the God-man. He is the sum and substance of every covenant. He is the true seed of Abraham. He is the fulfillment of all the Mosaic covenant with its cultic ceremonies and rituals and temple and priest and moral law. He is the fulfillment of it all. He's the mediator of the new covenant and in this new covenant you get to enjoy God himself.
Listen to Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed who has blessed us, blessed you in Christ. Blessed you in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Does that sound like a God who doesn't care about your happiness? Does that sound like a God who's a cosmic killjoy? No. He's blessed you in Christ with every spiritual blessing.
He hasn't held anything back. He predestined you to adoption as sons in Jesus Christ which he has blessed us in the beloved according to Ephesians 1 verse 6. Take a moment and think about it. For you who believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who have called upon his name by faith, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you. Third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit has united you to Jesus Christ by faith. Second person of the Trinity. And through Jesus you have access to the very throne room of grace of God the Father. First person of the Trinity to whom you pray and into whose family you have been adopted.
You bear the family name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Even now, though it is imperfect due to the continuing struggle and wrestling with sin, you and I have been given God himself in the power of God the Spirit united by faith in God the Son to the glory of God the Father. You experience the greatest blessing that God can give his people and that is himself. He is your God and you are his people.
He is the source of all blessings because he himself is the greatest blessing. The reason heaven is heaven is not because there's no sin and the streets are paved with gold. The reason heaven is heaven is because that's where God dwells. That's where God is going to bring you and me and as great as it will be to be free from sin and death and to have no more tears. The greatest thing infinitely greater than those fringe benefits is to behold the blessed Trinity face to face with perfect clarity, with perfect vision.
We see in a glass dimly now but then we will behold him face to face. When we're beholding the blessed God face to face we won't care that the streets are paved with gold. Heaven is heaven because God is there and because God is there, there is no sin. And because God is there, the streets are paved with gold.
This brings us to our third point as we dig even more deeply into this section tonight. God's name in this particular benediction involves his protection, his grace and his peace. God's name in this particular benediction involves his protection, his grace and his peace.
Verse 24, the Lord bless you and keep you. The idea of the word keep here is one of guarding, it's one of protection. It's the word that was used to describe Adam's work in the Garden of Eden. This is what Adam was supposed to do in the garden. He was supposed to protect it.
As soon as he saw that serpent enter, he should have kicked it out and not even given it an opportunity to speak. He failed and yet God will not fail in protecting you. He is your shade. He is your strong tower. He is your refuge. He is your shield and your defense. He prevents you from falling into the hands of the evil one by keeping you in his hand so that no one or nothing can ever snatch you out of his hand as hard as the evil one tries. He is your shepherd watching over you, the sheep, protecting you from those wolves that seek to devour you and destroy your soul. The Israelites had seen this protection with their own eyes. The dramatic deliverance from Egypt in the 10 plagues, the dramatic rescue from Pharaoh and his armies as they cross through the Red Sea.
They saw his protection in action. He assured them that he would bring them to the promised land and he delivered on his promise like he always does. Dear believer, because of God's blessed protection, he will bring you all the way home to glory. He will bring you all the way to the new heavens and the new earth.
He will bring you all the way to himself. But there's another name out there. It's a mockery of God's name. If you study the book of Revelation, God consistently promises to write his name upon those who persevere to the end. Two references, Revelation 2.17, Revelation 3.12. I would encourage you this week to study how the word name is used and where it appears throughout the book of Revelation, especially in reference to God's name.
I think you would be very encouraged and yet Revelation also talks about another name. There's a beast in Revelation chapter 13 that has blasphemous names written on it and this beast blasphemes the name of God. And the name of this beast is a number.
You know it. 666. 666. The mark of the beast is the number of the name of the beast.
It's the threefold number of man falling short of the triune perfection of God. This beast is all that is in unholy opposition to our God. And in Revelation, just as God marks out his people by placing his name upon his elect. So Satan marks out his people by placing his own name upon the wicked because they don't have the protection of God's name.
They don't have the protection of God himself. They bear the name of one who blasphemes. Satan has a twisted mockery of what God does. God places his name upon his people. Satan places his blasphemous name upon unbelievers. Friends, the mark of the beast is not a computer chip.
OK. It's not a vaccine. Mark of the beast is a spiritual marking. It's a spiritual name possessing the name of the devil being opposed to the Lord God is having Satan for a father. Just as Jesus said of the Pharisees in John Chapter eight, verse 44. And when you look at Revelation, God bearing God's name is is protection from all those things that bear the name of the beast.
It's like a war between two names going on. God will protect you from the wicked. God will protect you from false religion. God will protect you from ungodly government. God will protect you as his child.
Everything that threatens your spiritual welfare. He will cause you to stand so that you will not fall. That is the protection of the Lord's name.
Of him keeping you. The second aspect of God blessing you with himself in this benediction is his gracious favor in verse 25. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
God's face shines upon you out of which flows all of his gracious acts towards you. Out of his grace, God acts kindly toward you, even though you have no claim on his mercy and grace. He's not gracious to you because he looked down the corridor of time and saw that at some point in time, space and history, you would choose to believe in him.
He's not gracious to you because you earned it. And he doesn't cease being gracious toward you even when you go astray. All of his works toward you are for your blessedness as well as his blessedness. When God sends sorrowful providences your way, it's designed to lead you to greater blessedness because it's designed to bring you closer to God himself. When God disciplines you as a child, he does so to bring you to repentance and draw you back to himself. That's a blessing. When God disciplines you or challenges you in order to test your faith, he does so to draw you closer to him and deepen your trust and dependence upon him. That, my friends, is a blessing.
Like a doctor causes pain when having to set a broken bone in order for things to heal properly. So God is willing to send you through painful experiences in order to bring about your spiritual healing and find him to be the blessed Lord and the good Heavenly Father. We just read it in the scripture reading for tonight. I can only imagine that it pained Peter so greatly when he realized what he had done by denying Jesus three times.
Can't even imagine. Now imagine as he hears those words that were read tonight. Do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you.
Feed my sheep. Do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. Tend my sheep. Do you love me? You know everything, Lord.
You know I love you. Feed my sheep. The Lord is restoring Peter. Three times of denial, three times of restoration.
You go and you feed my sheep in my name. Imagine the indescribable pain from the denial and how that is met with grace and mercy in the threefold restoration of Jesus showing his grace and mercy to Peter. The deeper joy, the deeper love for Jesus. Here's one that I denied.
I turned my back on him. He was faithful enough to restore me, to forgive my sin, to even let me have part in his plan of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ there in the early church. Everything good, everything bad, everything easy, everything hard comes from God. As the Heidelberg catechism puts it, quote, must be subservient to my salvation, end quote. All things serve toward your being placed in Christ at justification, being conformed more to Christ in sanctification, entering into Christ's presence at death, a perfected soul, and then more fully at the resurrection of the dead, perfect soul joined to perfect body in glorification. Everything tends toward your salvation. Everything serves for your salvation under the sovereign providence of God. Old Scottish minister James Durham says this, quote, when the believer hath the Lord's face shining upon him, then he has more gladness in heart than the wicked man in his best estate, even when corn and wine abound.
Did you catch that? When the Lord's face shines upon you, you are happier, you are more blessed than the wicked at the height of their enjoyment of the things of this world. The third aspect of God blessing you with himself in this benediction is his peace, verse 26. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. God's pleasure, God's affection towards you, his smile results in having peace with him, just like your young children. Have you ever thought about you who are parents? How does your child, your young child feel when you look at him or her and you smile at your young child?
What do you think he or she feels? Safety, security, happiness, blessedness. And so when God smiles upon you and upon me, we too can feel safe, can feel happy, blessed, can feel secure, because he is smiling upon you through his son who has reconciled you to God in his death so that your sins are forgiven. We no longer stand under his wrathful anger, but under his smiling face and his loving embrace, Christ has become your peace. We're just saying he's the Prince of Peace.
Through him, you have peace with the Triune God, and you can rest safe, secure, and happy in that blessing. Have you ever wondered why we have a benediction at the end of the service? Whenever God's people are corporately gathered to worship him, why do we have a benediction? Friends, we don't have the benediction at the end of our service merely out of tradition or merely because the church has always done it throughout history.
No, the church has always done it because it's a crucial element of worship. The last thing Christ did in his incarnate ministry as he was ascending to the Father was he gave a benediction to his apostles. You can read Luke chapter 24, verses 50 and 51. He raised his hands and he blessed them. I've already mentioned the very last words of divine revelation is a blessing upon God's people. It's a benediction. You are sent out in the benediction from the covenant worship service having encountered your covenant God with the reminder that you have the blessing of bearing his name. The benediction reminds you that you don't bear the name of the evil one.
You don't bear the mark of the beast. You bear God's name. And so as we are sent out with that reminder, that weekly reminder that we are children of God, that we bear his name, it spurs you on in your striving for holiness. It spurs you on in your boldness, knowing that your God protects you. And so you don't have to be afraid in your witness, in your testimony to others, in your proclamation of the good news with your neighbors and your co-workers or your family members who are lost. It gives you that boldness and that confidence.
Why? Not in yourself, but in God because you bear his name. It spurs you on in knowing that God is yours and you are his. No matter what trying circumstance you may be encountering, no matter what stage of life you are in, the Lord himself is your portion. The Lord himself is your portion. So the benediction spurs you on knowing that you walk in the Lord only by his grace, that as you walk in the Lord, you know his peace. As you walk in the Lord, you know that he is protecting you, that his peace rests upon you. The name of God encapsulates all that God is and all that he does for your good and his glory, for your blessedness. That name, that powerful name, that blessed name, that name above all names is placed upon you by God himself in the benediction as the greatest blessing in this life and in the life to come. That is what is in a name. Amen and amen.
