The Lord Bless You and Keep You

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.. ~ Numbers 6:24-26

After giving detailed guidance for life and worship, God instructed Moses to have priests end worship with a blessing from the LORD. This beautiful passage reminds God’s people that they are blessed. It plainly states God’s desire to do so. God did not say it because anyone asked, but because of God’s own initiative. While reading the seemingly tedious pages of direction for matters ranging from athlete’s foot to national repentance, these instructions ultimately lead toward God’s blessing. 

Countless ancient Israelites and present-day worshipers succumb to the temptation of exercising the disciplines frivolously and failing to see that obedience is better than sacrifice. Obedience results from respect and trust, while public displays of piety can serve other masters apart from the LORD. God’s precepts for the wandering Israelites were given to offset their general ignorance and/or the abominable influence of their Egyptian oppressors. Ignorance and counterfeit holiness result in separation from God as surely as overt disdain. 

See how the LORD desires to bless and keep you. God wants to show the full extent of God’s favor. God saved the people from oppression so that God could grant them both heavenly and earthly riches according to God’s authority and administration. Likewise, God saved them from slavery so that they would be bound to God by love - as the wedding vow says, “to have and to hold.” The covenant is sustained by faith, hope, and joy rather than by the threat of violence or withholding of necessities. 

See how the LORD desires to make His face shine upon you? God’s glory is so great that Moses could only glimpse God passing by him while he hid in the cleft of a rock. Even so, Moses was visibly changed in appearance as a result. The high priest could endure God’s presence only after being thoroughly prepared, and only for a moment. Yet, God eagerly seeks to show God’s face to God’s people so they can know God’s matchless grace. Grace, or unmerited favor, is God’s gift to people God had chosen, even before time. 

See how the LORD desires to lift up His countenance upon you. It is not enough that God wants to be seen face-to-face; God would have God’s people know God’s heart and mind, even to commune with them in their hearts and minds. God wants to give God’s people peace, even peace that passes all understanding. Peace among fallen peoples and ethereal beings is unattainable. Their master is the author of chaos. Therefore the peace that God seeks is a blessed assurance. The satisfaction of God’s precepts was meant to make the way clear for the peace with and of God.

Thanks be to God, the precepts, or Law of God is fulfilled by and in Jesus Christ. His atoning sacrifice cancels the ritual killing of innocent animals. His walk to Calvery replaces the parade of ritual feasts and the economy of religious culture. Through Christ, we are bound to God by love just as love bound Him to the cross. We are blessed and kept by the greatest love ever to be known. The LORD’s face shines upon us through the Son of Man. The LORD extended amazing grace through the death and resurrection of the child of Mary. He who is the heart and mind of God imparts His essence to us as the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are like the Son of God who now calls us kindred. The Son and the Spirit say, “Come. Love where I prepare a place for you.” Whether in the corrupt flesh or unfettered in His paradise, Christ has made peace with the LORD our home.