Numbers 6:24–26

This generous blessing flows through the channel of priesthood. Aaron and his sons are commissioned to pronounce this wonderful blessing. God's assembly is to be blessed and kept by Him, always. It is always to bask in the sunlight of His gracious face. Its peace is to flow like a river. The LORD's name is to be called on it. He is always there to bless.

If it says that God (here again "the LORD") was to let His face shine on them, it has to do with light. It is the light, or revelation, of a God known to us in our dwelling place, our pathway and our circumstances. When Israel left Egypt for the promised land, God used the cloud of His presence and the pillar of fire to show them the way (Ex. 13:21, 22). In our verse it is more personal: it is His face that is to shine upon us and them respectively.

The practical side of the pathway is in the foreground here. Even so, this sentence reminds us that we as Christians can know and enjoy the radiance of Christ's face. We can look back to the cross and also look up to a glorified Christ. Then we see nothing less than the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). And we see it without fear or worry, for it is in the face of Him who suffered for us that we see God's glory. Glory on its own causes fear, but glory in the face of Christ is glory in grace.

When it continues "and be gracious to you," we remember how God kept showing grace to Israel even when they were under the law. Think, for example, of the incident with the bronze serpent (Num. 21) or in connection with Balaam (Num. 22–24). Their failure called for judgment in the way God governed them. Even so, He was gracious towards Israel again and again. Several times God had threatened to destroy that nation, and they fully deserved it. But He relented when Moses pleaded for them, and He brought the people into the promised land of Canaan.

This shining of the face of the LORD appears often in the Psalms. Clearly it was a familiar thought in Israel. The most remarkable instance is in Psalm 80: "Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!" To us, this means nothing less than the direct enjoyment of Himself. It expresses a character of blessing that no hearts like ours could ever appreciate enough. He never blesses us so supremely as when He makes Himself the object of our hearts, today and for eternity.

The blessing places them under the keeping and the grace of the LORD, and in His peace. In fact, the LORD first blessed them in a general way. Then, by making His face shine on them, He caused them to enjoy His grace. Last, by lifting up His countenance on them, He gave them the assurance of peace.

The blessing with which this chapter ends gives a precious revelation of the triune God. Three times the Name of the LORD was put upon the children of Israel: the Father-God, who keeps; the LORD the Son, who is gracious; the LORD the Holy Spirit, who gives peace.

This will really and literally be the fact when the Nazirite's term has come in every sense; and it will end in joy and gladness without limit in the millennial reign.

In our verse the wish for the blessing is directed towards God's side. When He lifts His countenance upon someone, it is a sign of His favour towards that person. Psalm 67:1 confirms this: "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us."

We have a particularly interesting, though negative, example with David. Absalom was not allowed to see his father's face (2 Samuel 14:24). In this way it became clear that Absalom no longer enjoyed his father's favour.

Then our verse continues "and give you peace". These two aspects are connected. If we enjoy an undisturbed relationship with God, then peace will follow, because we are doing God's will. The Lord called this peace "my peace" (John 14:27). He had known it perfectly. So He could go to meet His enemies in perfect peace, saying, "If you seek me, let these men go" (John 18:8). After His resurrection, too, He gives the foundational peace with God, based on His work — great as that is (John 20:19). But He gives more: peace to be lived out day by day on our pathway and in our mission (John 20:21).

God ends by putting His blessing and His name on the people. The blessing places them under the keeping, the grace, and the peace of the Lord. First the Lord blessed them in a general way. Then, in making His face shine upon them, He caused them to enjoy His grace. Last of all, in lifting up His countenance upon them, He gave them the assurance of peace.

The three parts of the blessing are often linked with the three Persons of the triune God, and the connection is easy to trace. The first blessing here is preservation, as from the Creator-Father. The second is grace in God as He reveals Himself, as He has done in Christ. The third speaks of inner experience and enlightenment, with the deep rest that flows from it — the work of the Spirit of God. In this way all that God is stands engaged for us; and His name upon His people makes them His representatives on earth. He identifies Himself with them, as One not ashamed to be called their God.

With what assured confidence can the saint of God go forward when he has the Lord's countenance! This is what makes "the path of the righteous like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day." His countenance lights up the path... Nothing God gives us is deeper, steadier, or more reassuring to the heart than "the peace of God." As the apostle says, it "surpasses all understanding."

In that day, blessing was mostly tied to earthly and material things. What strikes us here is that this blessing is so bound up with spiritual things. The shining of the Lord's face and the lifting up of His countenance surely mean that Israel could be kept in the light of God's revelation of Himself among them. Then they would experience His grace, even though they lived under the law, and they would enjoy His peace. Such blessings may be ours today, but in a far larger and richer way, since God is now revealed in Christ.