Numbers 6:26

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.