He Lifted up His Hands and Blessed Them

“He lifted up His hands and blessed them”

Luke 24:50-53

As we look at the conclusion of Luke’s gospel tonight, we find the final encounter of Christ with His disciples before He ascends into Heaven. These followers have ridden emotional roller coasters with heights exceeding Mt. Everest and lows as dark and as deep as Hell. Here, like so many times before, they are seen following Jesus as He leads them near Bethany on the Mount of Olives. It is just outside of that place that Jesus must have held precious as it was the home of His dear friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, that they would be able to glance back over Jerusalem to reflect on many of the events that they’ve experienced during their time with the Lord.

Following this event, these people will go on to experience imprisonment, persecution, and even martyrdom all for the sake of the One who we see standing before them in this very passage. How could they endure? What motivation would they have for facing a life of such hardship and how could they write of it as though it were a purpose-filled joy? How can we, with all that occurs in 21st-century life, walk boldly into the unknown days before us with confident assurance even in hardship?

Well, if you are anything like me, you may struggle with forgetfulness. And if you’re like me, you need reminders. Now, I wasn’t personally aware of this issue of mine until I got married. Since then, I doubt more than a week has gone by in the last 6 years of our marriage without my wife having to correct my incurable confusion of Dollar General and Dollar Tree. Ragan has diagnosed that issue as being a “brain blockage” of mine. Well, whether you struggle in this area or not, one thing is true: We, as believers, can frequently allow the events of this life to cause us to forget our status as Christians. In the midst of suffering, busyness, distractions, or vacations, we often find ourselves needing reminders about who we are and how that blessed state touches all of life. With that said, just like the followers of Jesus in the Scriptures, we need to be reminded that we are a blessed people.

I am convinced that the peace of these followers flows from events just like the one that we are studying this evening. I believe that they harbored this event in their hearts as a reminder for life’s journey and that it is recorded for our sake so that we might do the same. In this text, we will find that we can march into and through life’s difficulties with hope as we remember that we are a blessed people. The first thing that I want us to consider as we look at our text today is the basis of our blessing and:

The Basis of Our Blessing is Christ’s Sacrifice

In Leviticus 9, we see the inauguration of the Aaronic priesthood. In that passage, Aaron, after offering the burnt, sin, and peace offerings, is seen coming out to bless the people of Israel with his hands raised toward them. Now, before we go any further, I think it might be good for us to ask about these offerings and what they mean and I would like to particularly focus on the burnt and sin offerings. The burnt offering would be a mandatory offering where the worshiper would bring a bull, or goat/lamb or bird, depending on their wealth, and there they would lay their hands on this animal as a sign of them being identified with the animal which would then be killed and fully burnt on the altar. The smoke that ascended would be like a sweet aroma symbolically ascending to God which would represent a reconciliation made between God and the worshiper.

The next sacrifice would be the sin offering. Most of this sacrifice would be burnt outside of the tabernacle walls and its blood would be sprinkled for the cleansing of sin. As a matter of fact, they would sprinkle this blood on the tabernacle furniture symbolizing the polluting effects of sin as the tabernacle would be in the middle of the people of Israel’s encampment. The final one is the peace offering, which was a voluntary offering made in response to the goodness of God as an act of worship. It is on account of these sacrifices, and what they point to, that Aaron walked towards the people and, as Leviticus 9:22 says, “Aaron lifted his hands towards the people and blessed them…” We could word it this way, the Priest, could lift the heads of these poor failing sinners to remind them of God’s gracious provision.

Well, as we look at our text for this evening, we find that Jesus, after His resurrection, leads them near Bethany and raises His hands over them to bless them. Many modern commentaries skip right over this, and I believe that’s too bad because this is Luke’s way of highlighting the Priesthood of Christ. You see, at the end of the Old Testament we enter a season of darkness over the people of God and in the beginning of Luke’s gospel, we meet a man named Zacharias who is performing his priestly duties and as he enters the Temple, he is confronted by an angel telling him of the coming of his expected son, John the Baptist, and what happens in response to Zacharias’s disbelief? He is struck with muteness! Well, Luke 1:21 tells us that the people are outside waiting for Zacharias to finish up and to come and pronounce the benediction over them, but when he arrives, he can’t say anything. In short, there is no blessing to be declared over these people.

What is amazing to me is that the only times we see someone blessed after this event in Luke’s Gospel is when it comes to Christ. Elizabeth blessed Mary for being the one to carry Christ. Simeon the Prophet blesses Christ as being God’s salvation and after this, we don’t see another blessing delivered in this capacity until we reach Luke 24. Here, Christ has made His sacrifice, He has lived a spotless, sinless life and has died being, as John the Baptist declared, “The Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world,” and here He has resurrected and now pronounces His people as blessed on account of Himself as the sacrifice for sin.

To put it simply, Jesus is both the sacrificing priest and the sacrificial animal being slain. He is both a sacrificer and a sacrifice. Jesus is the perfect burnt offering which Paul in Eph 5:2, says, “Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Christ is the perfect sin offering which Hebrews 13:10-12 says, “We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.”

Beloved, we are blessed tonight because of the sacrifice of Christ Himself. He, as our High Priest, raises His hands over us and pronounces us as blessedly reconciled and cleansed people! Thomas Goodwin writes that Christ declared, “I have been dead, and in dying made a curse for you; now that curse I have fully removed, and my Father hath acquitted me and you for it; and now I can be bold to bless you, and pronounce all of your sins forgiven, and your persons justified” (Goodwin, Works, 4:46).

Tonight, we need to be reminded that in a world of materialism and man-centeredness, true blessing is not grounded in popularity or possession but in the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ for sinners. Have you, as the old hymn says:

1 Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

4 Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,

And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;

There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,

O be washed in the blood of the Lamb!

There is no other hope, there is no other blessing, there is no other joy than to know that Christ Himself raises His hands over you and me and says, “Hunter, you are blessed for you are bathed in my own blood!” And what is the result of this sacrifice? It is that we live under the smile of God’s face which leads us to our second point which is:

The Beauty of Our Blessing is God’s Smile.

If you’re like me, you might be wondering what Aaron said when he blessed those people back in Leviticus. Well, we don’t have to do much guessing since his benediction is seen in Numbers 6:22-26. The text reads, “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: “The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

In line with men such as Luther, Calvin, and Gill, I am persuaded that if Christ is seen ministering in the fullness of what Aaron typified here, then I don’t believe it would be improper for us to understand that Christ is pronouncing that same Aaronic benediction over His people. As a matter of fact, I don’t think He’s just declaring it over them, but that He is the fulfillment of the benediction itself. Kelly Kapic writes, “Here the medium is the Mediator, and thus He is not to be looked beyond, but rather looked to. Those who saw the ascension witnessed the personification of Aaron’s benediction in Jesus Christ.”

Now, we have already clearly seen that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, as Paul would put it. But what about the statement of God’s face shining on us? Well, the face is an interesting theme traced through the Bible. For instance, the word for “presence” in Genesis 3 where it says that Adam and Eve hid from God, can be read as God’s “face.” In Genesis 4, when God exiles Cain, Cain cries for he is being sent away from God’s “face.” In Genesis 32, Jacob has wrestled all night long and when the fight is over, he names the place Penuel because he had seen the face of God. Later on in Exodus 33, Moses speaks with God face to face and God promises that His presence, or face, will go with them and Moses responds that if your face doesn’t go with us, don’t let us go. In my understanding, for God’s face to shine on you is to enjoy the delighted smile and divine presence and blessing of God with you. One commentator writes, “The Lord’s presence is radiating divine favor in the midst of His people…”

In the gospels, we read of the story of Jesus’s transfiguration. It is there that Matthew 17:2 says, “and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun…” In this event, there is a lot of correlation between this event and Moses’s encounter on Sinai. Both have shining faces, both are encompassed by a great cloud, and both come off the mountains to find faithlessness at the bottom. However, one clear difference is that for Moses, his face only shines in response to God speaking to him. But in Jesus’s transfiguration, He radiates like the sun without a word spoken. Why? Because in Jesus, we see the beaming face of God shining among us and we who believe, are like Moses who reflects the glory of the Sun like the moon. In Matthew 17:15, Jesus comes down the mountain and, just like Moses, He finds faithlessness. One thing that is striking is that Jesus is met by a frantic man whose son is suffering from epileptic seizures. Now, the word translated as “epileptic” here is “seleniazomai” which has the word “selene” or “moon” at its root. This man’s son is “moonstruck” and the faithlessness of those around him in this dark world cannot deliver him. It is only the hand of the One whose face shines like the sun that brings healing to this suffering boy. In short, when the face of God shines upon us, blessing, deliverance, healing, and restoration are enjoyed and where is it more dynamically seen than in the face of the Son of God who says, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” And, as John 1 says repetitively, Jesus is the Light of the world.

Jesus is the One by which we are blessed, He is the face of God shining upon us, and He is our peace. In Jesus, God’s face shines on us forever. I believe that this text is the fulfillment of David’s cry in Psalm 67 which is a key to understanding the Church’s actions in the book of Acts. Psalm 67 reads, “God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.” What is the response of the Church following the ascension of the Lord whose face shone on them? They were seen striving to make His way known on the Earth. As Christians living in a chaotic and distracting world, we have a breath of fresh air forever available in the reminder that we are blessed on account of Jesus’s work for us and that because of this, His face is forever shining on us.

In Acts 1:11, Jesus ascends into Heaven and two men in white apparel approach the disciples and say, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” As I read this passage this week, I noticed something I’d never seen before. Not only will Jesus return from Heaven just like He ascended into them. But what was He doing when He ascended into them? He was blessing them. The same Lord who came, lived, and died for us won’t tire of His affection for the Church but will return with blessings still dripping from His lips to all of us who belong to Him and what could this possibly do for us except to motivate us to tell everyone that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all who believe? But motivation isn’t enough, we must have empowerment and that is why Christ ascended which leads us to our final point where we will find:

The Benefit of Our Blessing is the Spirit’s Presence.

Why did Christ need to leave us? Wouldn’t it be easier for us to accomplish our Christian purpose if He were right here with us? These were questions that Christ assumed His followers would ask in His upper room discourse in John 16. There, He teaches us that one of the greatest benefits of His ascension was that He would send the Holy Spirit to us.

In Luke 24, Jesus has risen from the dead having given Himself as a perfect sacrifice for sin. He has raised His hands over us and blessed us, and while blessing us, He ascends into Heaven. Hebrews 9:24 teaches us that it is in the ascension that Christ entered the Heavenly Temple not made with hands and what is the result that happens just a few days later? The Holy Spirit descends upon the Church at Pentecost.

Now, I hope you are beginning to make connections between this event and Leviticus here. You see, in Leviticus 9:23-24, we find that Aaron, having made the necessary sacrifices, enters the Tabernacle of Meeting with Moses and once they return, they come with the presence of God and fire descends from Heaven and consumes the offerings. Now, this wasn’t a negative event. As a matter of fact, the word used to describe the shouts of the people isn’t a word for a fearful shout but a joyful shout of praise.

In Leviticus, there is a blessing on account of sacrifice, there is an entrance into the Tabernacle, there is a glorious fire that falls, and an energized people falling in worship. In Luke 24, there is a risen sacrifice who declares that we are blessed, there is an ascension into the Heavenly Temple, and there is an energized people. Why? Because, just as John the Baptist declared in Matthew 3:11, Jesus has come baptizing with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Luke picks up on this in Acts 1:4-5 as he gears up to describe the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

What is the benefit of the Spirit being given to us at Pentecost? It is that we would be an empowered people. In John 16, Jesus tells us that when the Spirit comes, He would come as a Helper empowering the Church’s evangelism as He will come convicting the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. And how will He do this? Through you and me – the Church. We, having been reconciled to God in Christ, are motivated to make His salvation known as the Spirit reminds us of the face of Christ which shines on us. In 1922, Helen Lemmel wrote a hymn titled, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” which reads:

1. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free!

2. Thro' death into life everlasting, He passed, and we follow Him there; O’er us sin no more hath dominion-- For more than conqu’rors we are!

3. His Word shall not fail you--He promised; Believe Him, and all will be well: Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell!

Refrain: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.

Conclusion:

Maybe throughout this sermon, you may have thought to yourself, “Hey, he keeps referring to the passage we hear in the benediction!” And that’s exactly what drew me to this study. I want us to recalibrate how we understand and receive the benediction. It is not merely the final bell before we are dismissed, but is a blessing that God grants to us. It is just another way that God puts His gentle hand beneath the drooping heads of beat-down sinners and lifts them up to say, “In Christ, I have blessed you, and will keep you. In Christ, my face shines upon you for I have been gracious to you and give you my peace.” It’s not, as one writer put it, a sacred way of saying, “You’re dismissed.” “The benediction bridges the end of a worship service and the beginning of the week of worship to come. It takes the grace God gave during the service and lets it cross over into our lives as we go. It launches us into our neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces with God’s blessing.”

So, Christian, are you mentally bound by the cares of this world and find yourself often questioning whether you’ve been dealt a fair hand? This text is to remind you that you haven’t been dealt the fair hand you deserve, which is judgment, but that God has extended the hand of grace to you and made you a blessed son or daughter and that this reality should color the lens through which you view the world around you. Let this relentless love send us into our homes, our relationships, and our communities with a gospel-driven purpose to tell others that Jesus saves and that those who believe are blessed indeed.