THE BENEDICTION
Heb. 13:20-21
The word “benediction” comes from the two Latin words “bene” = well and “dicere” = speak. It means “to speak well of.” The idea is to speak a blessing. Many churches end their worship services with a benediction, or a blessing. The Bible contains several blessings that have often been used as a prayer of benediction. Let’s look at a few examples:
“The LORD bless you and keep you: The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all, Amen” (2 Corinthians 13:14).
“Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus in sincerity. Amen“ (Ephesians 6:23-24): In fact, most of the New Testament Epistles end with a brief benediction.
When Jesus ascended back into heaven he blessed his disciples. “And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them” (Luke 24:51).
The book of Hebrews also closes with two benedictions (Hebrews 13:20-21, 25). . The Author asks the blessings of God upon his readers. As we look at this prayer, we find that the author focuses his prayer God ward. Of course, all prayer must focus on God, who He is, and what he has done for us, and what he is doing in us. Who is this God to whom we are to pray. As we examine this prayer of benediction we discover several truths about God.
I. GOD IS A GOD OF PEACE
Men are constantly searching for peace. They search for peace among nations. Over the centuries, there have been numerous “peace treaties.” Sadly, most of them have been broken. In Costa Rica there is a “University of Peace,” While we ought to work for peace on earth, there will never be real and lasting peace until the Prince of Peace comes again.
Men also search for inner peace. Yet most of us struggle through life searching for a peace that constantly seems to elude us. That is why so many are turning to drugs and alcohol.
To say that God is the God of peace, means that God alone is the source of peace. If a person will turn to God in faith, he can experience peace no matter how much trouble he may have in this life.
Peace comes through a right relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1)
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). You will never know peace by looking to the world for it.
Jesus also said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Paul wrote, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Ro. 8:6).
The God of peace will give us victory over the arch-enemy of peace. “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Rom 16:20).
Jesus made peace for us. “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Col 1:20).
Moreover, Jesus is our peace. “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us” (Eph. 2:14).
To experience God’s peace, we must turn our lives over completely to the Lord Jesus Christ. The more one waters and nourishes his relationship with God, the more God’s peace will take over his life. God is a God of peace. Therefore, man’s only hope for peace comes from God. God and God alone can give perfect peace within one’s heart. It is the “God of Peace” who blesses us.
II. GOD IS A GOD OF POWER
God is the “God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead.” god is the God of resurrection and life. He had the power to raise the crucified Lord Jesus from the dead and give him resurrection life. Resurrection life is a life that lasts forever.
A. We have already been raised to new life in Jesus Christ. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). Did you know that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to all who will trust in Jesus Christ? Therefore, those who will receive Jesus Christ into their lives will be given new life. If there is anything we may need, it is life. Jesus came to give us real life. Abundant life! Eternal life!
One is given this new life by confessing his or her faith in Jesus Christ. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom 10:9).
B. Moreover, we shall be raised out of physical death when Christ comes again. Listen to 1 Thessalonians. 4:14-18. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the world of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
III. GOD IS A GOD OF PROVISION
A. Who is the one whom God has brought up from the dead? The writer of Hebrews calls Jesus, “That great Shepherd of the sheep.” Several times, the New Testament applies the imagery of the “shepherd” to our Lord Jesus Christ. In John 10:11, Jesus calls himself “the good shepherd.” In 1 Peter 2:25, the apostle describes Jesus as “the shepherd and overseer of our souls.”
As our shepherd, Jesus Christ laid down His life for his sheep. He willingly died for His sheep so his sheep might be saved. God raised that great shepherd from the dead. Like sheep, we need guidance, provision, and protection. Jesus gives us all three. We also need deliverance from the ravaging wolves of sin and death, and judgment to come. Jesus sacrificed his own life that he might provide this deliverance for us as well.
B. Our Great Shepherd also established an everlasting covenant between God and man. “Through the blood of the everlasting covenant.” A “covenant” is an agreement between two persons. The New Covenant was ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ. In instituting the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mt. 26:28). Through the blood of the covenant, God has provided a way for us to approach God. We can now come into the very presence of God through the blood of Jesus.
We are a purchased people, a blood bought people. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
The blood of Jesus delivers us from the wrath of God. “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Ro. 5:9)
Furthermore, the blood of Jesus goes on cleansing from sin. “but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7).
IV. GOD IS A GOD OF PURPOSE.
Note verse 21. “Make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ.” Remember, this is a prayer seeking the blessings of God upon the readers of the book of Hebrews. The author is expressing the Will of God for everyone of us. Note:
A. The will of God is not perfected in us by our own works and efforts. We can try to work up the energy to do God’s will but we will fail. No matter how hard we try we can never perfect ourselves.
B. The will of God can only be perfected in us by God himself. God must do the work in us. Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). Again he wrote, “For it is God which works (energizes) in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).
God does the saving through the blood of Christ. He does the keeping, and He does the empowering. The writer is praying that all God’s people will be perfected in every Good work.
CONCLUSION: Since God is all these things to us, and since He is working His purpose out in our lives, how are we to respond to him.
1. We must acknowledge our need for God.
2. We must trust in Christ’s provision for us through His death, burial and resurrection.
3. We must give him honor and praise. This prayer concludes with a doxology of praise. “To Whom be glory forever and ever. Amen!”
