The Blessing (Numbers 1-6)

 

‘

‘My life would feel complete if …’

How do you finish that sentence?  ‘My life would be complete if I lived in a larger house/had a better job/drove a nicer car.’  ‘My life would be complete if I had a really good friend/was married to a really good person/had really good children/if people really liked me.’ ‘My life would be complete if I got paid more/could get into that course/could get those grades.’

Whatever you believe would made your life complete is your functional god.  It is an idol which you look to for meaning and security.  The Bible teaches us that idols will never satisfy our hearts because our hearts were made for God.  We need a blessing that only He can give.

Before we look at His blessing we need to place these verses in their context in the Old Testament.

God’s big story

The Bible begins with a couple who got to enjoy walking with God.  But they were not satisfied with living under God’s perfect rule and rebelled against Him.  They wanted to be like God.  The result was a judgement that brought death and dissatisfaction to all people.

After time God reached out to a man named Abram (later called Abraham) whose people worshiped idols.  God promised to give Abraham a people, who would live in a place and enjoy God’s blessing, and who would be a blessing to all the peoples of the world.

That promise was reaffirmed to Abraham’s son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob (also called Israel).  By the time Jacob was old his family was in Egypt as the result of a famine.  But as the generations passed the Egyptian rulers mistreated the descendants of Abraham.  They cried out to God who remembered His promise.

God brought them out of Egypt through the Red Sea.  In the wilderness He brings them to a place called Mount Sinai where He shows them how to live as His rescued and treasured people.  He gives them the design of a tent (called the tabernacle) where His presence will be especially known with them.

Now we are at the beginning of Numbers.

The story of Numbers

Numbers begins with a census.  All the men over twenty years old.  That is all the fighting men.  They are getting to take the land.  Although it will not be their strength that guarantees the victory.  The battle belongs to the Lord.

The census counts 603,550 men.  That means the whole community was probably around two million, when you add women and children.  It is also interesting that it is not a rounded off figure.  It doesn’t say, ‘about six hundred thousand.’  You see individuals matter to God.

Then we have the arrangement of tribes of Israel in the camp (see diagram).  The tabernacle is at the centre.  God dwells in the midst His people.  This was the place where a king would have set up his tent.

In chapter four we are told that the Levites were to be God’s special possession.  They had not been numbered in the census for they are not going to war.  They will serve in the tabernacle.  The Levites are to be given to God in place of their first born.  You see God had rescued His people from Egypt through a judgement that had killed all of the first-born sons in the land except theirs.  They owed them their first-born sons.  There were two hundred and seventy-three more first-born sons rescued than there were Levites.  A redemption price was paid for the extra sons.  The point is that being freed from judgement comes at a price.  Who was the one given in our place?  Who paid the price to give us life and freedom and life?

Then we have a couple of case studies in how the law was to be applied.  Including those relating to a wife caught in adultery.  One of the themes that runs through the Old Testament is that God’s people are like an adulterous wife, always deserting God for idols.  There are regulations for the vow of a Nazerite.  A Nazerite went with out certain pleasures for a temporary time when they tried to demonstrate a wholehearted commitment to God.  The Nazerite vows point forward to one who would forsake the pleasures of heaven and come to this earth and live a wholehearted life of total obedience.      

The blessing

In light of what we have learned so far in the story of the Old Testament and in the book of Numbers we come to the most beautiful blessing found in the Bible.

Three times we read the LORD.  When you see Lord written in capitals it is a translation of Jehovah or Yahweh.  That is the covenant name of God given to Moses at a burning bush.  God said to Moses ‘I am who I am.’  Yahweh means ‘to be’.  He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He is the only God who is.  One commentator explains that God is saying that He is the promise-keeping God we need Him to be in the situation to which He has called us.’

The LORD bless you and keep you.  Your idols won’t bless you.  All those things that we look to in order to make us complete will leave us empty.  They can’t satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts.  Remember that He is the God who numbers His people.  He knows each of us by name.  He is our salvation.  He has won the battle.  Through the cross Jesus has taken away our condemnation.  You do not need to live with regret or feelings of guilt any more.  If you don’t yet know Him He wants to make you His treasured possession.  Jesus promised never to drive away anyone who came to Him in repentance and trust. 

The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.  The Tabernacle was in the centre of the camp.  God dwells amongst His people.  Jesus was named Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’  He promises to be with us to the end of the age.

‘Blessing is our heavenly Father’s face beaming as he looks upon us.  Can you imagine God delighting in you this way?’  This is the joy of lovers starring into each other’s eyes.  This is like a parent singing over their child.  ‘This is what every child longs for from his or her Father, that their father delights in them’ (Duguid).  In the last three years of my father’s life I came to realise that he really liked me.  He enjoyed me.  He would greet my coming with a smile.  We need to know that is true of God too.  ‘We need to know that we matter to him.  We need to see that his face lights up when we walk into the room’ (Duguid).  God is gracious to you in that He does not treat us as our sins deserve but according loving-kindness.

Remember how there was a price paid for the first-borns who had passed through the judgement?  A Levite was given to God in their place, or a redemption price was paid.  A price was paid that we could be freed from slavery to sin and any fear of the coming judgement.  That price was paid by Jesus on the cross.  It was an exact price in the fact that it paid for all the sins of all those who would turn to Jesus.  That price brings us peace.  The LORD turn His face to you and give you peace.  Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace.  The people used it as a greeting.  Shalom is a rich word that means peace, wholeness and completeness.  God turns His face towards us in blessing because at the cross the Father turned His face away from the Son as He took our guilt upon Himself.

Aaron and his sons, were to bless the people with these words, so shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them (26). 

Conclusion

In the film Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise’s character says to Renee Zellweger, ‘you complete me’.  That is to make an idol of a relationship.  Only God can complete us.  Expect any other person than Jesus to complete you and you will feel resentful and let down.

God has shown total commitment to His unfaithful bride.  God wants to dwell in the centre of our lives as we rejoice to have Him as our king.  God has numbered each of us individually and paid the redemption price that we can be His.  In Him alone is there the blessings of peace through grace.  ‘No condemnation now I dread, Jesus and all in Him is mine.’

What do we do about the fact that our faith doesn’t often feel like completeness?  The fact is that until that day when we see Him face to face and know Him fully even as we are fully known there will always be a sense that we have not all there is to have in Him.  We are realistic about that.  We remember that this is a relationship where we can enjoy getting to know Him more and more.  We seek to pull over selves away from all the screens and enjoy time with Him.  We learn to rejoice in in doing good even as God rejoices to do us good.