The Prayer of Blessing - Aaronic Blessing Numbers 6:22-27

Some facts on prayer--

Reference to the conference:

As I was praying about what our next sermon series should be—I had the chance along with a few of us on staff to go to Mishawaka, IN, and go to St. Mark’s Church, a missionary church.

Our denomination was hosting a prayer conference...

As I was praying and thinking about life, ministry, and church, and particularly thinking about sermon preparation and what we should tackle—I sensed that God was impressing me—that we should talk about something--(duh - at a prayer conferences…)

for several reasons:

1. It’s Christmas season. Because pretty soon, we will be in December and Christmas season—I know some of you are already in Christmas season, you put up your tree in July. (Good for you.)

but Christmas can be a season of all kinds of things—from lots of joy and excitement, tradition and nostalgia, to disappointment and grief, to just feeling busy-ness.

and one of the things that we need reminded of is prayer.

that we have the opportunity to communicate with and listen to the God of the universe.

another reason:

2. I also know that several of you are struggling…and one of the things that you and I can always do is pray. You don’t need a Ph D to pray. You don’t need to be a pastor—to pray.

Hebrews 10:19–22 NIV

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

we get to pray! and commune with God.

3. another reason to pray...

In some ways this sermon series could be considered part of our one another series—the Bible mentions that we are to pray for one another.

James 5:16 NIV

16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

sometimes you and I lament that fact that we are not seeing the change we want perhaps in our world, nation, community, family, church—God says—are you praying? “Hey I can do something about that?”

James 4:2 NIV

2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.

I have noticed in the church—particularly now in the Covid season—we had have someone in the hospital with Covid almost every week there for a while.

and sometimes some of our people have been really sick, and so sometimes as long as the family is ok with it—we will try to get the whole church praying.

We have a private Facebook page called FMCBerne Prayer. (if you want to be a part of it, let us know), and we will post to please pray for so and so. They are very sick.

And it’s amazing some of the results we have seen—when the whole church gets praying for a specific request, it is remarkable. We have seen recently how it’s like people who have been very sick turn a corner.

And it’s not like prayer is magic—but we have a God who loves it when we pray to Him.

4. but perhaps most importantly - but prayer also is vitally important to having a relationship with God.

It’s part of how we know God

how we communicate with and to God

how we LISTEN to God

how we ENJOY God.

If your relationship with God feels disconnected, one of the questions you have to ask yourself is “are you praying?” (and reading your Bible) the Bible is how we know and view God accurately—and prayer is a response to that.

One of the biggest books of the Bible—Psalms—is all about prayer.

and so these next few weeks in November—right before Christmas season—we are going to focus on prayer.

this series is called Prayer Awakening...

because I want to awaken our prayer lives.

we can be awfully sleepy...

and I also know we can feel awfully guilty about prayer…b/c we all know that we should pray more

but I hope this can stir and awaken us to pray.

I want to begin the same way our prayer conference began by looking at an OT Prayer—one we don’t often think about from Numbers.

So Please turn to Numbers 6:22.

or our ushers passed this out as you came in.

remember this is the OT.

This is before Jesus Christ came in the flesh.

and the Israelites have been saved out of Egypt, miraculously, but have not entered the Promised Land Yet.

This is part of that old covenant system—of animal sacrifices, of a tabernacle or temple, of priests and high priests.

In the middle of all of that --

Numbers 6:22–27 NIV

22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 “ ‘ “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ 27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

That’s it.

Let’s read it again.

Numbers 6:22–27 NIV

22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 “ ‘ “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ 27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

God gave Aaron (Moses’s brother) and the priests—specific words to bless the Israelites.

or to pray over the people.

This blessing is not just a saying;

it’s not a magical formula.

It is a prayer.

Let’s examine that prayer. but just looking at some definitions of each word or phrase.

Some definitions:

Bless (vs. 24): (from the Lord bless you)

what does the word blessing mean?

we use that word all the time.

when someone sneezes—bless you. when life is going well—I am blessed. #blessed. My cat went to the bathroom in the litter box, I am so blessed.

but blessing here means “favor” or “benefit.”

it is to experience the favor of God. the benefit of God.

so when you pray for the Lord to bless someone—when—they would experience God’s incredible favor. favor. the God of the universe.

we will talk more in a bit. but there is something powerful that happens when we experience favor from someone we esteem or look up to.

If you get a good grade from a teacher or professor, or a well done from a coach or boss—it can mean lots.

if you go to a professional baseball game and go to the fence as they warm up with a ball, hoping to get an autograph and you get the autograph it means the world. how much more so God.

or if you go to NBA basketball games, some of the players after the game, will take their sweaty headbands and sweaty wristbands and shoot them up into the audience—and if you get one you—consider yourself favored!

how much more so God...

Keep (vs. 24): (from the Lord keep you)

means to protect; to guard. it’s recognizing that God is all - powerful and that He has the ability to do it.

a lot of us pray this way already—for safety, protection, traveling, but in some ways we can be very spoiled because we are used to for the most part being kept safe, when we drive, fly, modern technology.

we have modern medicine.

but the older you get, the more you realize despite all our technology—that God is the source of all protection.

that every breath we take, every beat of our heart is depending on the living God. all of us are sustained only by God’s hand right now.

Make His Face Shine on you(vs. 25):

this is the idea that God is smiling at you.

He is pleased with you.

this is a pretty remarkable idea, especially in the OT.

b/c the OT said — God said this to Moses—after Moses asked to see the glory of God in the OT.

Exodus 33:20 NIV

20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

because of sin—we can’t come into the presence of God. God’s presence is serious. especially the idea of his face.

so even Moses, one of the greatest prophets caught a glimpse of the glory of God but he was not allowed to see God’s face and live.

and that glory was transformative.

so for God to give this prayer of blessing through Aaron to the people—to average people like you and me…is remarkable, especially in the OT.

we have a God who wants to smile on us. for us to experience Him in his fullness.

and we have a God who wants to transform us.

be gracious to you (vs. 25)

this is the idea that God is bending down to help us.

He’s coming down to our level.

it’s very related to the idea of blessing—His favor--

God has come down to our level to help us.

Turn His Face toward you (vs. 26):

similar to previous idea of making his face—but if you turn your face-you notice; you see; you care. you aim to listen and do something about it. so God cares, God sees, God is watching over us

Give you Peace: flourish. not just the absence of conflict—but flourishing. everything in your life is flourishing—relationally, vocationally, spiritually.

so let me read this prayer again with these definitions in mind...

Numbers 6:24–26 NIV

24 “ ‘ “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’

The LORD bless or show His favor to you

The LORD keep you or guard you/protect you.

The LORD smile on you, showing His glory,

and may He bend down to help you.

May the Lord notice, observe, see, and care for you (turn His face toward you)

and May He give you peace—flourishing in His presence and your life.

What we learn about God:

God is the source of all blessing

He is the source—look at verse 27.

Numbers 6:27 NIV

27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

where are you looking for blessing in your life?

is it all based on you? Your work? Your efforts?

it your sense of blessing based on something you are putting your hope in beside God? maybe you are looking to another human being or a person for blessing—only God can give you the deep sense of blessing you need.

maybe it it’s in something this world can offer—where have you been loking.

God is also the definer of blessing.

often in the OT—blessing was tied in with PHYSICAL blessing.

so for example if you read Deut. 28:3-7

Deuteronomy 28:3–7 NIV

3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 7 The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

Moses said from the Lord that if they followed God: these would happen, and if they didn’t follow God they would experience curses in all these areas and more.

in the OT blessing was often described physically.

and in general, the OT presented the principle that if you follow God and His created design, life will go well.

and if you have some sort of physical blessing in your life, financial blessing, work blessing, family—it all comes from God—we give him praise.

however, that formula is not always simple—because just read the book of Job—you can follow God and still experience a hard life. bad things happen to good people.

Jesus Christ Himself if proof of that—as He followed His Father’s will and it led him to the cross.

even though OT blessing was often described physically—God was trying to teach them that He—He truly is the source of all blessing.

He is the definer of blessing

and the truly blessed life—are those of us who have God. If you have God, if you have Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit in you, leading you, loving you, directing you, then you have life.

and so with that in mind—look at how Jesus describes the blessed life:

Matthew 5:3–12 NIV

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Jesus redefines blessing. as long as we have Him—we have an inheritance, we have a kingdom not of this world that will be fully expressed one day.

We have a God who loves to bless. We have a gracious God. who loves to show His blessing.

from the beginning of Scripture—Genesis 1:28

Genesis 1:28 NIV

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Psalm 1:1 NIV

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

Romans 4:7–8 NIV

7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

Ephesians 1:3–4 NIV

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

Revelation 22:7 (NIV)

7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”

and of course we struggle to keep his word and experience his blessing. b/c of that, we are under the curse of the law. the consequences of sin, that must be paid for our disobedience.

it is a curse that we cannot get out of on our own strength. we cannot bless ourselves, no matter how we try. we need outside intervention.

and here’s the good news. Jesus took the curse, so we could have blessing. on the cross Jesus took that curse; Jesus deserved to be blessed for his keeping of the law, but he bore the curse so that when you and I place our trust in Jesus we experience the true blessing of God.

Galatians 3:13 NIV

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

Galatians 3:14 NIV

14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

in Numbers 6:27 — it says “I will put my name on them.”

God puts his name on us.

Praying this prayer is not an automatic that you will get the blessing-

praying this prayer reminds us that we have a God who is the source of all blessing, he re-defines what blessing—and if we have him—that is the greatest blessing—and that His Son enabled us to be blessed by taking the curse.

Practical Application:

Pray a prayer of praise.

now pray for someone - this prayer is meant to be prayed for others in your life: (go ahead and do that for one person)

spouse

kids

parents

family

friends

boss

co-workers

the people you can’t stand-what if you prayed this kind of prayer for your enemies? after all this is what God did for us.

one of the things we try to do as parents is after our kids are asleep, we still go into the room, check on them, as they sleep, watch them. sometimes one of them is flipped the other way and we pray for them.

Pray throughout the week.