Jehovah Blesses You!
“And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, “This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: ‘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.’” ‘So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them’” (Numbers 6:22-27).
We hear those words every Sunday. This is not just the wish of your pastor; God instructed Aaron to use these words to bless His people. When His servants pronounce this benediction, something wonderful happens: God’s name is placed upon you. Remember, when you see the word Lord with all capital letters, that represents God’s personal name. The popular English pronunciation is Jehovah, but most Hebrew scholars believe it was something more like Yahweh.
God gave this benediction to Moses after the people had shown their rebelliousness and worshiped the golden calf. God still wanted to bless His people. That is amazing grace!
Jehovah places His name upon you and identifies you as His own, so that you receive Him and have His promise, “I will bless them.”
There are three parts to this blessing, each coming from Jehovah, the Lord. These blessings can be summed up with the words “protection,” “grace,” and “peace.”
“Jehovah bless you and keep you.”
James reminds us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Absolutely everything good is a blessing from God the Father. He blesses us by daily and richly giving us everything we need to live and enjoy life. He also keeps us or protects us in body and soul, watching over us and keeping us as His own children.
“Jehovah make His face shine
upon you, and be gracious to you.”
Psalm 31:16 says, “Make Your face shine upon Your servant; Save me for Your mercies’ sake.” Three times in Psalm 80 the Psalmist says, “Cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved.” When God’s face shines upon us, we receive His grace and salvation.
God gave this benediction to Moses after the people had shown their rebelliousness and worshiped the golden calf. God still wanted to bless His people. That is amazing grace!
His grace comes to us through Jehovah the Son. Many prophecies about Jesus also call Him Jehovah. Jesus is Jehovah together with the Father. Jehovah’s face shone upon us and was gracious to us when Jesus took all our sins upon Himself and bore God’s wrath for us. In Christ we are forgiven, and God’s gracious face shines on us. Everything is good.
“Jehovah lift up His countenance
upon you, and give you peace.”
A child can tell if his father is angry or happy before his father says a word, just by looking at the countenance of his face. If he is angry, the child sees it and cowers. If the father is happy, the child sees that and feels peace and joy. So we have peace when we see Jehovah’s countenance lifted or smiling upon us. When God smiles at us, everything will be good.
How can we see God’s face to know if He is smiling or scowling? That is the work of the Holy Spirit, or “the Spirit of Jehovah,” as He is often called in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit reveals God’s smiling face to us in His Word, as He does in Isaiah 12:1, “Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You comfort me.”
The Spirit of Jehovah also works in our hearts to convince us of God’s grace and favor in Christ, so that we truly have peace, and hope for the future. As the Spirit reveals through the Apostle Paul, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Then He goes on, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:1-2,5).
Oh, the peace and hope we have, when through the
Spirit of Jehovah, we know and feel the great love
of God in Christ!
What blessing! With the name of Jehovah, our triune God, placed upon us, we have it all. Father Jehovah keeps us in His loving embrace. Jehovah the Son gave Himself for us so that none of our sins will cause His face to be turned from us. And with the Spirit of Jehovah working in our hearts, we will truly have peace, as we see God’s countenance ever smiling upon us.
Let us not overlook this wonderful part of our worship service, but give full attention to the closing benediction, and receive Jehovah’s blessings in faith.
David Reim is pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Vernon,
British Columbia.