Numbers 6:22-27, Psalm 8:1-9, Galatians 4:4-7, Philippians 2:5-11, Luke 2:15-21
A). THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE.
Numbers 6:22-27.
Jews and Christians alike are familiar with the so-called Aaronic blessing of NUMBERS 6:24-26. Yet this blessing is not in the power of the priest to accomplish. Rather, the priest or minister who calls down this blessing on the people is making a declaration of the LORD’s gracious intention toward us, based in what the LORD has already done. It is not ‘may’ the LORD bless you (NUMBERS 6:24), as if he were asking a question, but rather a “putting” of the name of the LORD upon us in recognition of the fact that the LORD has promised, “I WILL bless them” (NUMBERS 6:27; cf. Matthew 8:2-3).
“Bless” them, says the LORD (NUMBERS 6:23). Blessing is the work of the LORD, reaching in to the lives of His people and working for their benefit in all spheres of life, not as they may deserve, but according to the riches of His grace and mercy towards us in Christ Jesus. And despite the collective, all-embracing pronouncement of this benediction to “the children of Israel” (NUMBERS 6:23, NUMBERS 6:27), the words of blessing are addressed in the singular, to every individual within the community of His people: “the LORD bless YOU” (NUMBERS 6:24a).
Now the people knew about the LORD’s ability to bless. He had blessed the first man and woman to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ (cf. Genesis 1:28). Likewise He had blessed Noah and his sons to ‘replenish the earth’ (cf. Genesis 9:1). He had blessed Abram to become a great nation in the land of promise (to which they were now headed), and to be a blessing to ‘all families of the earth’ (cf. Genesis 12:1-3). In time, ‘God, even our own God, shall bless us’ (cf. Psalm 67:5-7),
Not only does the LORD (our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer) “bless” us, but He also “keeps” us (NUMBERS 6:24b; cf. Exodus 23:20). Retrospectively, Joshua could observe, ‘the LORD our God KEPT us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed’ (cf. Joshua 24:17). ‘Behold, the Psalmist adds, ‘He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is THY keeper’ (cf. Psalm 121:4-5).
The next verb speaks of the LORD’s face “shining” upon us (NUMBERS 6:25a). The “shining face” of the LORD speaks of His pleasure in His people, for which we yearn (cf. Psalm 31:16). It is the opposite of His hiding face in Psalm 13:1. His shining face was reflected in the face of Moses when he came down out of the mountain (cf. Exodus 34:29). Likewise, His shining face is reflected in the radiance of the LORD’s believing people (cf. Psalm 34:5).
The LORD’s shining face is seen in that He is “gracious” towards His people (NUMBERS 6:25b). The same word was used when the LORD proclaimed His name in Exodus 34:5-6, and forgave the sin of the idolaters of the Golden calf incident. The measure of that forgiveness is seen in the fact that it was Moses’ brother Aaron who had been the leader of that rebellion, and that now, as a forgiven man, it was he who was to pronounce this blessing over the people!
The next verb speaks of the “lifting up” of the LORD’s “countenance” (NUMBERS 6:26a). This is equivalent to the “shining face” of the previous verse (in fact “face” and “countenance” are both the same word in the Hebrew). The LORD’s uplifted countenance grants us His “peace” (NUMBERS 6:26b).
“Peace” (Shalom) here, as elsewhere in Scripture, speaks of wholeness, perfection, well-being; prosperity (cf. Psalm 37:11), longevity (cf. Psalm 128:6), safety (cf. Psalm 4:8), security (cf. Psalm 122:6-8); ‘health and cure’ (cf. Jeremiah 33:6).
The emphasis in NUMBERS 6:27 falls upon the “I,” (which is spoken by “the LORD,” NUMBERS 6:22). In each instance, it is “the LORD” who blesses us through the pronouncement of these words (NUMBERS 6:24, NUMBERS 6:25, NUMBERS 6:26). Not the priest, not the believer; certainly not any other so-called ‘god:’ but the LORD God of Israel, the maker of heaven and earth, and all that in them is; the keeper and sustainer of all things; ‘the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ’ (cf. Ephesians 1:3).
The benediction starts with “bless thee” and ends with “give thee peace:” to which the Lord replies, “I WILL bless them” (NUMBERS 6:27).
B). A PRAYER OF PRAISE.
Psalm 8:1-9.
This is the only praise Psalm which is addressed entirely to the LORD. No call to worship like Psalm 95:1, ‘O come let us sing unto the LORD.’ No asides to the congregation like Psalm 107:2, ‘Let the redeemed of the LORD say so.’
Psalm 8:1. The vocative brings us straight into the presence of the LORD (Yahweh): “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” That presence is maintained throughout the meditation, right down to the repetition of the same line in the final verse (Psalm 8:9). This brackets the whole Psalm with the awareness of the One to whom our address is made. Thus we may ‘boldly approach’ (cf. Hebrews 4:16) the LORD, the Sovereign, the maker of heaven and earth.
Although bold, the very use of the vocative suggests a sense of awe in this approach to the LORD. Yet it is not cold fear, but an approach to One who we can call “our” Adonai, “our” sovereign - ultimately “our” Father! The approach celebrates the excellence, the magnificence of God’s great name “in all the earth!” and reminds us how He has set His “glory,” his ‘weight,’ as it were, “above the heavens.”
Psalm 8:2. Jesus quoted “out of the mouth of babes and sucklings” as a challenge to ‘the chief priests and scribes,’ who wanted to silence the children from singing ‘Hosanna to the son of David’ (Matthew 21:15-16). The babbling of “babes and sucklings” is better than the bitterness of the unbelief of ‘religious’ people! The “babes and sucklings” represent the ‘babes in Christ,’ new disciples (Luke 10:21; Mark 10:15; John 3:3), or maybe even all disciples (1 Corinthians 1:27).
Such babbling “stills the enemy and the avenger.” One faltering lisping prayer from faith-filled trusting lips has more value, more weight before God than all the litanies of unbelief. The Psalm’s “thou hast ordained strength” becomes ‘thou hast ordained praise’ in Matthew 21:16. I would suggest that that is where our ‘strength’ lies - in ‘praise’!
Psalm 8:3. The glory of the LORD has already been recognised as “above the heavens” (Psalm 8:1). Now we turn to the heavens themselves, the visible heavens.
I learned this Psalm by heart, in the Scottish metrical version, under the tutelage of a Free Church Minister, the Chaplain of my High School days. This verse in particular remained with me even in my unbelieving years in my late teens and early twenties. It seemed only apt since the Apollo missions were just getting under way.
“When I look up unto the heavens,
which thine own fingers framed,
Unto the moon, and to the stars,
which were by thee ordained…”
Psalm 8:4-6. At the centre of the Psalm is a meditation on the question, “What is man?” Man in his first estate, in paradise, was given a certain dignity and authority within God’s creation. That dignity and authority, though marred by sin, is not entirely eradicated.
Psalm 8:4. “Man” is a singular noun, although it might indicate a gender inclusive collective (cf. Genesis 1:27). What can “man” be, that the LORD should be “mindful of him?”
“Son of man” - literally “ben Adam” - is also singular, but it cannot refer to the man Adam in his first estate, nor the man Adam after the fall, since the man Adam was no man’s son! We must keep the translation “son of man” in the singular to see what is ultimately meant: not ‘mere mortals,’ as some would have it, but Jesus Christ, whose preferred name when referring to Himself was, ‘the Son of man’!
Psalm 8:5-6. Well, everything about “man” is significant because of what God has done: “thou hast made him…,” and “hast crowned him.” “Thou made him to have dominion…; thou hast put all under his feet.”
Psalm 8:5. The New Jewish Publication Society of America translates this verse, ‘For thou hast made him a little less than divine.’ The Hebrew word is doubtless, “Elohim” which reads as God, or gods, or even ‘heavenly beings.’ ‘Angels’ is the preferred translation of Psalm 8:5 in the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. This appears to be the translation quoted in the Greek New Testament (Hebrews 2:7; and Hebrews 2:9).
Psalm 8:6. There is only one way that mankind has “all things under his feet,” and that is mankind in Christ, mankind in the risen Lord Jesus, ‘the church’ (Ephesians 1:20-22). This is where ‘church’ is: ‘sitting together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:6). It can be said of Christ, as it can be said of man, even redeemed man, ‘But we see not yet all things put under him’ (Hebrews 2:8). ‘For He (Jesus) must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death’ (1 Corinthians 15:25-26).
Psalm 8:7-8 lists the earthly limits of man’s original stewardship. Perhaps we should learn to look after life here before we spend our fortunes trying to find life elsewhere in this magnificent universe?
Psalm 8:9. Which brings us back full circle to the repetition of the psalmist’s adoration: “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”
C). THE FULLNESS OF TIME.
Galatians 4:4-7.
In Galatians 4:4, Paul speaks of a fullness of time. In what sense was it the fullness of the time?
There is a time for everything under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3:1). God has set limits to the times and boundaries of the nations from all eternity (Acts 17:26). Even in the days of Father Abraham, God was shaping the destiny of the wicked nations of the Holy Land (Genesis 15:16). Furthermore, if we are the people of God then our times are in the Lord's hands (Psalm 31:14-15).
If we are being called by God, then His Holy Spirit is already at work in our hearts to shape us into the image of Christ, to free us from the bondage which comes from a slavish keeping of legalistic rituals and ceremonies (Galatians 4:10). “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). If we have been set free by Christ, then we are totally free, and have no need to wander back into the slavish fears of our pre-conversion days.
The “fullness of the time” also has a historical context. The hope and expectation of the coming of Messiah was at its zenith amongst the faithful remnant of Israel: people like Simeon and Anna, living in the Temple (Luke 2:25; Luke 2:36-38). Even amongst the Gentiles there was a sense of anticipation: people like the wise men from the East (Matthew 2:1-2).
The conquests of Alexander the Great had brought about a common culture, and a common language (koine Greek, in which the New Testament would be written). The armies of Caesar had secured the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, whereby it was easier for the Gospel to cross the borders of the known world than it had ever been hitherto. There was a hunger after knowledge, and a sense of dissatisfaction with the old “gods” of Greece and Rome.
“In the fullness of the time God sent forth His Son” (Galatians 4:4). What a momentous sentence!
There was nothing accidental about the coming of Jesus. The fact had been announced in the Garden of Eden, on the very day of Man's fall from God's grace. All the events of the Old Testament anticipated Him. The sacrifices prefigured His sacrifice. The prophecies pointed towards Him. And even cautious typology points to “Christ in all the Scriptures, beginning at Moses and all the prophets” (Luke 24:27).
What a wonder that God should send forth His only begotten Son to redeem fallen mankind. It was not what we deserved. It was “while we were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1) that Christ died for us, the godly for the ungodly, the righteous for the unrighteous, the altogether lovely One for the unlovely and unlovable (see Romans 5:6-8).
Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was born of a woman. He was born into the family of rebellious mankind. He became what He was not in order that we might become what He is, for by a perfect transference our sins are laid upon Him whilst we are clothed with His righteousness. He becomes the Son of man so that we might become children of God (John 1:12).
Jesus was born under the law. As the son of a Jewish mother, He was circumcised on the eighth day in accordance with the law. He kept the law perfectly, as no man has ever been able to do. He took upon Himself the guilt of our sin, and willingly submitted to the penalty of the law on our behalf. He set us free from the law and its condemnation, so that we may legally enter into the privileges of sons (Galatians 4:5; Galatians 4:7).
It is a great privilege to be able to call God our Father. And we can, because God sent forth not only His Son, but His Spirit also, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father" (Galatians 4:6).
D). THE HUMILITY OF CHRIST.
Philippians 2:5-11.
Jesus placed a little child in the midst of His followers telling them that they had to be like a little child in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. By this one symbolic act He teaches us to accept the kingdom of God with the humility and trust of children.
Jesus not only taught humility, but lived it. His journey to the Cross was the most selfless, self-giving, loving act ever performed. He who is the only begotten Son of God gave Himself as the full final sacrifice for the sins of His people. He suffered the wrath of God against sin in His own holy Person, with the ultimate indignity of separation from God the Father.
1. THE EXAMPLE OF HUMILITY (Philippians 2:6).
In teaching the Philippians the need for humility, the Apostle Paul takes Jesus Himself as his model.
Elsewhere Paul urges, “Be imitators of me” (1 Corinthians 4:16), and of course we must seek to be like the best of Christians because they are the most like Christ (Philippians 3:17).
Most importantly, we must follow the example of Jesus. After urging against self-interest (Philippians 2:4), Paul says “Let this mind be in you…” (Philippians 2:5). Paul goes on to describe the wonderful self-emptying of Jesus.
In heaven Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, could enjoy all the benefits of equality with God (Philippians 2:6). However, there came a juncture in the counsels of eternity when God the Father, looking at a world spoiled by sin and in need of a redeemer to put things right between God and man, asked “Whom shall I send?” Jesus uttered the historical answer of Isaiah: “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
In time Jesus would appear on the stage of history. Foreseen by King David, He uttered the words, “Lo I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me; I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:7-8).
He taught His disciples and us to pray, “Thy will be done.” He carried that attitude to the garden of Gethsemane, and the cross of Calvary, praying, “Not my will, but yours be done!”
2. THE SELF-EMPTYING OF CHRIST (Philippians 2:7).
The incarnation of Christ involved Jesus holding back from the privileges of His Divine Son-ship in order to take upon Himself our frailties and weakness (but not our tendency to sin, as He remains God!) By becoming man, He was able to bring mankind into the Godhead. As one ancient writer said, “He became what He was not so that we might become what He is.”
We may never be equal with Jesus in His unique Son-ship. “But to all the people who received Him, He gave the right (the power, the authority) to become sons of God” (John 1:12). He did this so that His people might be allowed to partake of His privileges by entering into the family of God, male and female becoming entitled to the rights of sons. Paul describes this process as a self-emptying (Philippians 2:7).
Jesus emptied Himself of all that singled Him out as equal with God, so that sinners like you and I can have fellowship with the God whom we have offended. He was born of a woman, and laid in a manger. He lived as an ordinary man until the time came for His ministry to begin.
He knew what it was to suffer want, to be hungry, to be thirsty, to be tired. He knew pain, suffering and bereavement. He wept real tears. He loved and served His fellow man in every way that He could throughout His time on earth. In all things Jesus obeyed God, as no mere man can do.
3. THE OBEDIENCE OF THE CROSS (Philippians 2:8).
Jesus’ obedience reached beyond the keeping of commandments, to the ultimate indignity of “becoming sin for us, who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus being born and living a good life was not enough to secure salvation for mankind. A price had to be paid: the penalty of our sins.
In Jesus, God was paying that price. He gave His only-begotten Son to die for our sins. Only He could do it, because only He is untarnished by sin.
Jesus had to go all the way to the Cross (Philippians 2:8). This was the ultimate indignity. In Roman times crucifixion was reserved for the lowest of the low: those who were classed as slaves. In fact, when we are told that Jesus became a servant (Philippians 2:7), the Greek word used is the word we translate “slave!”
When Jesus died, all the sins of all His people were laid upon Him. He became sin for us, but was never a sinner like us!
4. THE SACRIFICE ACCEPTED (Philippians 2:9-11).
Thankfully, the death of Jesus was not the end. Death could not hold Him, and the tomb had to expel Him as surely as the whale had to expel the prophet Jonah. On the third day He rose again. Risen, triumphant from the grave!
By His resurrection we can be sure that God has accepted the sacrifice, and that He will also accept us if we put our trust in Jesus. Death could not hold Him, and for us death has lost its sting. The wages of sin is death, spiritual and eternal death, which is the lot of us all without Christ.
The worst death of all is eternal separation from God. This we need not suffer because He has paid our debt to God, suffering all our hells in His holy Person. We are being offered the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Jesus rose from the grave, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there He will return to judge the earth, and “every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11).
5. “LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU…” (Philippians 2:5).
The reason for Jesus’ death was not primarily to set a good example. It was to pay the price of our sin. Yet it is, incidentally, the best example of humility ever displayed to humankind: “He loved us, and gave Himself for us” (Galatians 2:20).
So likewise, we should be loving and self-giving towards others. We need never re-enact what Jesus has done for us, the once-for-all sacrifice, but we must be ready to do whatever God may require of us in His service. He is exalted, and our labours of love for Him will not be without their reward.
E). HIS NAME WAS CALLED JESUS.
Luke 2:15-21.
The shepherds left all else aside in order to seek Christ, and that with all due haste (Luke 2:15-16). No word is given as to who watched their sheep whilst they were gone: they had more pressing matters to attend to. Their earlier fear had been totally dispelled.
After they had seen Him, they proclaimed Him (Luke 2:17). When we have found Christ ourselves we want to share Him with others. The shepherds became teachers, sharing with others what the angel had told them about this little child.
The people marvelled (Luke 2:18), enjoying the story as we enjoy the story of Christmas - but how soon we forget!
Mary pondered the meaning of it all (Luke 2:19), keeping it close in her heart. We do not immediately have all the answers, but we must treasure the truth that we do know until God should shed further light upon it in our lives.
Only then did the shepherds return to their vocation, and to their sheep (Luke 2:20), glorifying and praising God. Yet they would never be the same, they would see life differently from now on. After our mountaintop experiences we return to the ordinary and the mundane, but our experience of God should inform our everyday life.
Eight days after the birth of Mary's firstborn son (cf. Luke 2:7), in keeping with the law, He was circumcised (Luke 2:21a).
And in obedience to the message of the angel, He was named Jesus (Luke 2:21b; cf. Luke 1:31), for He would be the One to save His people from their sins (cf. Matthew 1:21).
