Numbers 6:26, “…the
LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:22-26 has thus far taught us
that God is demonstrating the depths of His love, grace, mercy and faithfulness
to the people of Israel. All these attributes are seen first in the life of the
one who is first commanded to proclaim this blessing upon the people of Israel,
Aaron. He was responsible for leading the nation into idolatry, and when
confronted by Moses, denied it and lied. Yet God extended remarkable grace,
mercy and forgiveness to Aaron by not consuming Aaron in His wrath. Now God was
showing even more grace by giving Aaron the privilege of being the first high
priest and giving him this blessing to proclaim over God’s people.
The blessing itself shows that God
extends the same favour to all of Israel, but ultimately to those who believe
in Jesus Christ. God desires to put His name upon His people, and the evidence
of them being God’s people, the bearers of God’s name is by the enjoyment of
this unique and divine blessing.
God is promising to bless His people, not
just to be nice and good to them, but to prosper and provide for them in every
single manner. He is promising to be faithful to them, ensuring their needs are
met, granting them many undeserved gifts of love, providing for them even when
they are walking in disobedience. God is promising to prosper them, to the
point that they will be seen as the most prosperous nation on the earth, all
men will be drawn to them, when they see how God has prospered them.
With prosperity, with the rich blessings
of God, and the eyes of all looking towards Israel, towards God’s people, comes
the fear that the other nations will come against them. There is the fear of
being under threat from all sides, threats from man, from beast and from evil.
But they have in this blessing the comforting assurance that God shall both bless
them and protect them. He will be their protector, defender, their shield,
their safety and their refuge. He shall keep them from harm and He promises to
fight for them, to go ahead of them against the enemy and to bring them both
victory and peace from all their enemies.
God promises to bless and to keep His
people, for God’s face is turned towards them. God is directing His favour
towards this nation, to His people. God is drawing close, He is amongst His
people, He reveals Himself, His glory and His grace to His people in a
previously unseen manner. The people Israel, but more so believers in Christ,
are given great privilege as they receive God’s favour and the blessing that
come with it. God is towards, God is for these people, God is favourable
towards them, God is amongst them.
Why is it that God is making such
promises to these people, who have thus far been ungrateful, unfaithful,
bitter, angry, unkind, filled with doubt and have constantly question God? God
is making these promises and God performs all these promises, these blessings,
because God is gracious. This whole blessing either stands or falls on the
grace of God. This blessing will be true and will continue to be enjoyed by God’s
people for as long as God’s grace stands. Should God remove His grace, then
this blessing would collapse, it would be removed from our lives. It is because
God is gracious that He seeks to make us His people. This is the key and centre
point of the blessing because it points us to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the full
revelation and demonstration of God’s grace, and it is through the work of
Christ that we are brought into the eternal, true and complete blessing of God.
As we are drawn into the blessing of
God, into the family, the people of God by Christ, so we have the promise of
the constant faithfulness of God towards us. We are given a new confidence,
boldness and right to enter into God’s presence through prayer. We can go to
God in prayer with confidence, for He promises to hear and to respond, to
respond favourably, for our greatest and highest good and for the furtherance
of His glory.
Thus where we have all these rich
blessings, blessings of provision and prosperity, of security and safety, of
God drawing near to us, of God’s grace given to us through Christ, of a right
to enter into God’s presence without fear and the promise that God shall hear
and answer our prayers for our good, because we have and know all this, the
result is peace.
Peace, perfect, full, abiding, eternal
peace! A peace that is more than just the absence of war, rather a peace that
is a complete one. We could think of it as a peace that goes right down into
our souls, it is a soul-satisfying peace. It is not a temporary peace which can
be shattered within a few seconds, it is an abiding, eternal, unchanging peace.
It is not an earthly and circumstantial peace, it is a divine, heavenly peace,
that comes consistently from God without fail and in every circumstance.
Ultimately it is the peace of God extended to us by Christ, the great peacemaker,
who has reconciled us to God. The peace of knowing the God is no longer our
terrifying judge, but He has become our gracious and loving Father. The peace
of knowing that sin’s curse has been broken, we have been set free from the
eternal consequences of our sin, and now we have been given life and heaven has
been made our home. It is the peace of knowing that if we are God’s people, if
His name is upon us, then we can rest peacefully for we know that God shall do
all that which He promises, and shall safely keep us until He draws us into His
eternal presence, glory and kingdom. Peace, perfect, eternal, divine,
soul-satisfying peace!
Lord
Jesus Christ, You are our great Peace-maker, You are our Prince of Peace, You
have become our Peace. How we thank You for the richness of this blessing that
we have received through Your work on our behalf. We rejoice in the fact that
we have received from the Father an abiding, eternal, divine and
soul-satisfying peace. A peace that daily fills our lives no matter what our
circumstances are, and reminds us that we are Your people, God the Father is
our Father, He holds our lives, He blesses and keeps us, He grants us all good
things and He extends His favour to us every day. Thank You that we can rest
and live in this peace today, tomorrow and for all eternity. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment