Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given as much as possible. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched.
I. INTRODUCTION
A. As we come into a new year we often think about what the future holds.
B. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness, Psalm 65:11
C. Let’s begin the New Year on a positive note, with a timely blessing and a timeless benediction. Read Numbers 6: 22-27
II. BACKGROUND TO THE BOOK OF NUMBERS
A. The Book of Numbers
1. The Book of Numbers recorded the movement of the children of Israel after Sinai.
2. The first four chapters of Numbers is the count of the people, chapters 5-10, refers to the counsel they receive. The passage we are dealing with is a part of God’s counsel to the nation.
a. The first four chapters deal with the outward position of the camp, and next six chapters deal with the inward condition of the people.
3. NUMBERS, teaches the identity of the people of God, God’s provision for authority over His people, and God’s plan for their fulfillment as a nation.
a. It answers the questions:
1. "Who are the people of God?"
2. "Who is in charge here?" and,
3. "What are we doing?"
B. Numbers 6: 1-21
1. Numbers Chapter Five taught them things that needed to be avoided, but Numbers chapter six gives the teaching of the Nazarite vow, In some ways is a teaching on the dedicated and sanctified Christian.
2. The challenge of the Nazarite ministry was designed to challenge all Israelites to a life of deeper dedication to the Lord.
3. Only the sons of Aaron could be priests, but any Israelite could be a Nazarite.
4. A Nazarite was to be “Holy to Yahweh”
5. It was a great teaching of sanctification for a people that would be in the midst of the Canannite nations.
a. James Smith, Pentateuch, College Press, resource for Numbers
C. Numbers 6: 22-26
1. This passage is the benediction that God gave the priests to invoke God’s blessing upon the whole of the nation.
2. The priestly blessing also served to sanctify the camp.
a. Omitting from the count the name Yahweh, the blessing consists of twelve words in accordance with the twelve tribes.
b. The blessing is directed to the whole people and not just the individual.
3. This blessing was God’s formula for applying God’s word to their lives.
4. The theme of the Pentateuch is the theme of Deuteronomy that is you obey God you will be blessed and if you disobey him you will be cursed.
5. It was God’s direction to pray over the people this way.
6. It is my desire to convey these blessings upon the church.
7. I would love to see you greatly blessed in 20--
8. This was the priestly blessing, sometimes called the Aaronic benediction.
9. God told Aaron, the high priest over Israel, to pronounce this blessing over them. In a special way it’s for me and you as we enter into a New Year.
III. THE BODY OF THE MESSAGE
A. “The Lord Bless Thee”
1. The first part of the priestly prayer was for God’s blessing.
2. There is nothing like being genuinely blessed of God.
3. We have God’s blessing in triplicate.
a. Three times the name of Jehovah is mentioned in this benediction.
b. The triple use of the word reminds us of Isaiah 6, Holy, Holy, Holy. This indicates the intensity of what God was saying.
c. The Israelites did not understand the doctrine of the Trinity as we do, but this passage wasn’t written just for them.
d. These passage were written for God’s people of all ages.
e. This blessing suggests the Trinity, we have a similar passage in the New Testament.
1. II Corinthians 13: 14
a. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
1. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The love of God.
3. The communion of the Holy Ghost.
4. Aaron was a foreshadow of Christ, our Great High Priest.
5. Our Lord’s last act of ministry before returning to heaven was to bless his people.
a. Luke 24: 50-53
1. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
6. A Blessing with Authority.
7. Christ conveys this blessing to us with authority. This wasn’t just an expression of good will or simple prayer.
8. In Old Testament times, Aaron, endued with the authority of Almighty God and using the Divine Name and the appointed words of God himself, conveyed God’s blessings on the congregation.
a. The word bless is a common Old Testament word, occurring 415 times.
b. It implied life, health, and prosperity.
c. These blessing are spelled out for Israel in Deuteronomy 28, and for the Christian in Ephesians 1: 1-3.
1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
B. “The Lord Keep You”
1. Numbers 6: 24
a. The word “keep” conveys the idea of protection. It was used for shepherd’s keeping watch over his flock.
b. It’s root meant “to hedge about”
c. “To exercise great care over”
1. The Theological Workbook of the Old Testament. resource
C. “The Lord Make His Face Shine Upon You.”
1. Numbers 6: 25
a. The face of God means; his will.
b. It also means his favor and special regard.
c. God’s face and his eye are connected to his mercies for the righteous.
1. Psalm 4: 6
a. There be many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
D. “The Lord Be Gracious Unto You.”
1. Numbers 6: 25
a. Gracious here means “kind and beneficent.”
b. Prominent in this is the idea of forgiveness.
E. “The Lord life up His Countenance Upon You.”
1. In the Bible, relationships were often expressed in terms of facial expressions.
2. When Cain became angry with Abel, his countenance fell.
3. When Laban became frustrated with Jacob his countenance fell.
4. The Lord lifting up his countenance indicates his fellowship and smile.
F. “The Lord Give You Peace”
1. The Hebrew Word for Peace is Shalom.
2. Peace is the deliberate adjustment of my life to the will of God.
IV. CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY
A. Two Silver Scrolls
1. At the beginning of the twentieth century, we didn’t have any ancient copies of the Hebrew Scriptures.
2. The oldest- copy we had from about A.D. 1000
3. The critics questioned the accuracy of the transmission of the text.
4. In 1949, the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, pushing back the date for our earliest scripture by a millennia. This proved that the accuracy was very good.
5. Then in 1979, an even older fragment of a biblical text was found by Dr. Judith M. Hadley of Villanova Univ. in a burial cave in Jerusalem’s Hinnom Valley. RESOURCE: Rev. Robert J. Morgan, sermon: The Lord Bless and Keep You.
6. Two tiny silver scrolls were found.
7. It took several years for Israeli scientists to clean and unroll them, but when they did, they found the oldest known fragment of Scripture, dating back to the time of King David and his successors.
8. Inscribed on those rolls is the passage that I have taken as my text.
9. These scrolls are now in the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem.
B. The Revelation of the Aaronic Benediction.
1. This blessing found in Numbers 6 shows us the heart of the Father. He wants to bless us and make us different from those around us.
2. This blessing shows us the purpose of the ministry.
a. The Aaronic priesthood was to announce God’s blessing and put God’s name on his people.
b. This was to make them especially conscious that their blessing came from Yahweh.
c. The Lord indicated that he would honor that priestly blessing.
3. This blessing reveals our need.
a. We are in desperate need of God’s favor and grace.
b. That favor and grace is available to us.
c. It would be better to have God’s blessing than anything else in this world.
