Dan Herold | Numbers 6:22-27 | May 22, 2016
(Sermon begins at 22:57)
יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יְהוָ֖ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ
Those are words that have been spoken to God’s people in various forms for thousands of years. The words I just spoke come from Numbers 6:24. They are some of the Hebrew words which God instructed Aaron and the priests to speak as a blessing on the people of Israel. That phrase is the first phrase of the Aaronic blessing which we hear at the close of just about every one of our church services. In English, they are the familiar words,
“The Lord bless you and keep you.”
That blessing, which God tells us about in Numbers 6, is a very unique sort of blessing. The blessing which God told his priests to speak upon his people promised some very important gifts. It also promised to deliver those gifts in a very unique way—but after all that only makes sense since this blessing is coming from a very unique source…the one and only Triune God.
This is how God said that Aaron should bless the Israelites. He was to speak these words,
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
It seems simple enough and we hear it just about every week, but this morning let’s look closely at what it is that God is promising in this blessing. It is no coincidence that there are three persons in the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and that there are three phrases in this blessing which promises three gifts. The blessing which God told Aaron to speak upon the Israelites promised that God would protect them, that God would be gracious to them, and that God would give them peace.
In the first phrase Aaron was to say,
“The Lord bless you and keep you.”
When you hear that the Lord will keep you think of it as though he is saying that he will keep watch over you. In that first phrase God promises that he is going to bless us and protect us.
When God gave these instructions to Moses and Aaron it was not long after the Israelites had left Egypt. They were now wandering in the wilderness until it was time for them to go into the promised land. Every day brought new threats for them. The Israelites were in enemy territory. Safety would have been a big concern for them. There also would have been a big temptation to make an alliance with some of those ungodly people who surrounded the Israelites in hopes that an alliance with them would bring them safety. In his blessing, though, God promises that he would watch over the Israelites and give them his protection.
Our Heavenly Father still watches over us today. We might not have armies marching against us the same way that the Israelites did, but we still face all kinds of threats to our safety from the sinful world that we live in. More and more often we hear about acts of terrorism and violence in our country. Every day we hear reports of crime and violence. Then, on top of all that, there are so many types of accidents that could bring us harm whether it be at our jobs or even just driving to the grocery store. We still are very much in need of protection and God promises that he will be the one who delivers that protection.
That means that we don’t need to look anywhere other than the one true triune God for protection. God has given us tools to use, and brains to use as well, to keep ourselves from harm but he is still the one who has given those gifts. God wants to be the only one that we trust—the only one we look to—for protection.
We can trust that he will protect us because he has demonstrated throughout history that he will protect his people. Time and again he delivered the Israelites from the hands of their enemies and gave them victory. Time and again God has preserved us from harm as well. God protected you that time when a car missed a stop sign, but you were able to swerve and avoid a collision. God protected you when he steered the events of life to put you in the right place at the right time instead of having you end up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes our sinful nature tries to make us forget that it was God who was protecting us in those situations, but you can be sure that your Heavenly Father is the one who protects you just like he promises to do.
Protection isn’t the only thing that God promises, though. He also promises to give you grace—or to be gracious toward you. In the second phrase of this blessing God told Aaron to say,
“The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious unto you.”
God promises to give you grace.
Grace is defined as undeserved love. It is the love that God shows to us even though we don’t deserve it. That’s the kind of love that God showed in the Garden of Eden right after Adam and Eve sinned when God promised that he would send a Savior to crush the serpent’s head. God showed grace to the Israelites when he brought them out of slavery and Egypt, protected them on their whole journey, and then brought them to the promised land. God showed his grace to his people when he repeated the promise to send a Savior again, and again, and again…then ultimately he did send that Savior—his Son, Jesus.
God showed the world his awesome grace, just as he promised to do in this blessing, when he sent Jesus to live, die, and rise again for us. God always delivers on his promises and through the work or the second person of the trinity—the Son—God delivered what he promised. But once again, he didn’t stop there. He promised a third blessing in the third phrase of the priestly blessing from Numbers 6.
In the final phrase of the blessing God promises to give us peace. Aaron was to say to the people,
“The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
That last phrase which promises peace sums up every other blessing that God gives to his people. He promised to protect us so we don’t need to worry about physical harm. God promised to give us grace so we don’t need to worry about our spiritual needs. God the Father provides all we need for physical safety and his Son did everything necessary to take away our sins and guarantee our spiritual safety. So what kind of peace is the third phrase talking about?
This third phrase is talking about all the other things that might tempt us to worry or get anxious and upset. Even if we know that God is going to provide for us and we know that Jesus paid for our sins Satan can still find ways to sneak into our lives and make us wonder and worry. This third phrase is God’s cure for that. In the Catechism we learn that the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth. That’s a long way to say that the Holy Spirit does what Jesus promised he would do. He serves as our encourager.
When we get worked up about something God sends his Holy Spirit to remind us of God’s power and promises. When you worry about where the money is going to come from to pay that bill that’s bothering you the Holy Spirit reminds you that God says he will find a way to provide for all your needs. When you wonder if God really could ever forgive that horrible sin you committed the Holy Spirit comes to remind you that Jesus died to pay for all of your sins.
All three of the phrases of this blessing fit together perfectly. Each part refers and connects to the others—which is just the way God meant it to be. Like I said before it is no coincidence that there are three phrases which promise three blessings because they all point us back to the three persons of the Trinity—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
After God told Aaron what to say in this blessing he gave him one more instruction. God said that when the priests speak this blessing on the people,
“…they put my name on the people and I will bless them.”
The gifts included in this blessing don’t come just because a priest speaks the right words. The gifts are given to the people because through this blessing God puts his name on his people. It is the name of the almighty triune God that is powerful to deliver such wonderful gifts as protection, grace, and peace. At the tower of Babel the people set out to make a name for themselves and they were punished. Now, God puts HIS name on HIS people to deliver HIS blessings.
For well over 3000 years this special blessing has been used to put God’s name on his people. This special blessing which God handed down to Moses and Aaron is the same blessing you will receive as you leave here today. It is a blessing that promises three gifts which are delivered by the three persons on the one true God.
However, even though this blessing has been used for over 3000 years it does not mean that there has never been times when sinful men have doubted the truth that there is one true God and that there are three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—in the one true God. There came a time in the history of the church when that truth was attacked, but by God’s grace he protected his church and used faithful men to confess and teach the truth.
The confession they wrote is called the Athanasian Creed. It is named after a man named Athanasius who stood up to false teachers and faithfully proclaimed the message of our triune God. Traditionally in our churches on this Sunday—the first Sunday after Pentecost—we use this creed to confess our faith in our one true God. You’ll find this creed on page 132 in your hymnal. Please find that page now, stand and join me in confessing our faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three persons of our one triune God.
THE ATHANASIAN CREED (CW p.132)
This creed is named after St. Athanasius, a staunch defender of the Christian faith in the fourth century. It was prepared to assist the Church in combating two errors that undermined Bible teaching. One error denied that God ’s Son and the Holy Spirit are of one being or Godhead with the Father. The other error denied that Jesus Christ is true God and true man in one person. The Athanasian Creed continues to serve the Christian Church as a standard of the truth. It declares that whoever rejects the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of Christ is without the saving faith.
Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all else, hold to the true Christian faith.
Whoever does not keep this faith pure in all points will certainly perish forever.
Now this is the true Christian faith:
We worship one God in three persons and three persons in one God,
without mixing the persons or dividing the divine being.
For each person—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—is distinct,
but the deity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
equal in glory and coeternal in majesty.
What the Father is, so is the Son, and so is the Holy Spirit.
The Father is uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated;
the Father is infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite;
the Father is eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal;
yet they are not three who are eternal, but there is one who is eternal,
just as they are not three who are uncreated, nor three who are infinite,
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In the same way the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, the Holy Spirit is almighty;
yet they are not three who are almighty, but there is one who is almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God;
yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord;
yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord.
For just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually to be God and Lord,
so the true Christian faith forbids us to speak of three Gods or three Lords.
The Father is neither made nor created nor begotten of anyone.
The Son is neither made nor created, but is begotten of the Father alone.
The Holy Spirit is neither made nor created nor begotten,
but proceeds from the Father and the Son.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons;
one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
And within this Trinity none comes before or after; none is greater or inferior,
but all three persons are coequal and coeternal,
so that in every way, as stated before, all three persons are to be worshiped as one God
and one God worshiped as three persons.
Whoever wishes to be saved must have this conviction of the Trinity.
It is furthermore necessary for eternal salvation truly to believe
that our Lord Jesus Christ also took on human flesh.
Now this is the true Christian faith:
We believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son,
is both God and man.
He is God, eternally begotten from the nature of the Father, and he is man, born in time
from the nature of his mother, fully God, fully man, with rational soul and human flesh,
equal to the Father as to his deity, less than the Father as to his humanity;
and though he is both God and man, Christ is not two persons but one,
one, not by changing the deity into flesh, but by taking the humanity into God;
one, indeed, not by mixture of the natures, but by unity in one person;
for just as the rational soul and flesh are one human being,
so God and man are one Christ.
He suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty,
and from there will come to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming all people will rise with their own bodies
to answer for their personal deeds.
Those who have done good will enter eternal life,
but those who have done evil will go into eternal fire.
This is the true Christian faith.
Whoever does not faithfully and firmly believe this cannot be saved.