Numbers 6:22-27

I. This scripture contains Israel’s great benediction (The utterance of a blessing; solemn invocation of blessedness upon a person; devout expression of a wish for the happiness, prosperity, or success of a person or enterprise). A. This was instruction to the priests (Aaron and his sons) to bless Israel. B. It was a putting on Israel the name of the LORD. C. What the priests would utter in blessing, God would accordingly bless. v. 27. D. Mind that this was not a matter of priests telling God what to do so as to oblige Him to their pronouncement but rather God telling priests what to say, which God would then honor. 1. False ministry consists of speaking to men contrary to what God has declared, and presuming to obligate God by the same measure. 2. The words of man do not profit (JER 23:32) for God will only honor His own word. He will not bless contrarily. MAL 2:17; 1JO 5:14-15. II. This benediction was given right after the law of the Nazarite. NUM 6:1-21. A. The Nazarite vow consisted of separation, non-conformity to the world, not touching the unclean thing and bearing reproach. These are important elements of holy Christian living. ROM 12:1-2; 2CO 6:14-18; 1PE 4:14-16. B. By such elements of holy living, believers identify with Jesus Christ. HEB 7:26. 1. Christ once bore our sins and was made sin for us. 2CO 5:21. 2. As the Nazarite’s shameful long hair (1CO 11:14) was the only thing consumed by his vow-completing sacrifice (NUM 6:18), so the shame of our sin and Christ’s cross was consumed. HEB 12:2. III. Priestly work largely consisted of making sacrifices to God for atonement for the people. A. Priestly work also involved blessing. DEU 21:5. B. LEV 9:22 shows that blessing followed the making of atonement. Sin had to be dealt with before blessing could be expected, a valuable observation. JAM 1:25. C. Jesus Christ came to not only make Himself an offering to God for our sins (EPH 5:2) but also as our High Priest to bless us with repentance. ACT 3:25-26. 1. Israel had long looked for temporal and material blessings from the promised Messiah in accord with promises in the Mosaic Covenant. DEU 7:13. 2. Peter in ACT 3:25-26 declared Jesus as the true Messiah Who brought the eternal and spiritual blessings which sprang from the Abrahamic Covenant which God confirmed 430 years before the Law. GAL 3:16-17. a. In Christ, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. EPH 1:3. b. Abraham perceived the promised inheritance to be heavenly. HEB 11:8-16. 3. One of the greatest blessings from Messiah is being turned from the sin which robs men of true blessings, rather than being left in sinful thrall. ROM 1:28. a. Sin withholds good things from us. JER 5:25. b. Sin hides God’s face from us. ISA 59:2. c. Sin grieves and quenches the Spirit. EPH 4:30-31; 1TH 5:19. d. Holiness is the true happiness/blessedness, for none are truly happy who are enslaved to lust. An uncondemning heart is priceless. 1JO 3:21. IV. In ACT 3:25-26, Peter spoke of God sending Jesus to Israel after His resurrection. A. This Jesus did by the Comforter / Holy Ghost sent in His name. JOH 14:16-18, 26. B. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of truth that instructed the apostles. JOH 16:13-14. C. The Spirit would reprove the world of sin and sin’s vanquishing. JOH 16:7-11. D. The apostles’ message accordingly called men to “...repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (ACT 20:21). E. The blessing of which Peter spoke in ACT 3:25-26 therefore involved God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in Whose name (singular) converts were to be baptized. MAT 28:19. V. In NUM 6:24-26 in the Hebrew, there is a different accent mark on each of the three occurrences of “LORD.” A. Those markings were there by inspiration. MAT 5:18. B. Some Jewish scholars concluded that there is some mystery involved with the accent marks in view of NUM 6:27, “And they shall put my NAME [singular] upon the children of Israel...” C. We have the answer to the mystery. 1JO 5:7 c/w JOH 1:14. D. The Triune LORD has worked salvation for His people. 1PE 1:2. E. The good news of what this Triune LORD has done by grace for sinners calls men to repent and follow Christ Who blesses them in that undertaking, per ACT 3:26. F. To those who have surrendered to that call is a further expectation of grace and peace that accords with NUM 6:24-26. See 1PE 1:2. G. The great Triune LORD benediction for the N.T. believer who knows his High Priest has made atonement for him and submits to Him in holy living is 2CO 13:14. H. The name we wear (Christians) is from the only name of salvation. ACT 4:12.