The Lord Bless You and Keep You [Part 1]

Pastor author and Bible teacher Alan Wright who you are is defined by the fact that in Jesus Christ.

You've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. That's Pastor Alan Wright welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life for a whole new light. I'm being a Brit excited for you to hear today's message in a series titled the power of blessing is presented with an older church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright ministry as you listen to today's message go deeper as we send you today special offer. Contact us at pastoralan.org that's Pastor Alan.org or call 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program right now. Let's get started with today's teaching here is Alan Wright for some good news, according to God, your life and your identity is defined by God's blessing to you, which means that your life is not defined by how much of a blessing you are to God. It means your life is not defined by any other Mark of your merit but your life who you are is defined by the fact that in Jesus Christ.

You've been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

Numbers chapter 6 we come to the most famous blessing that is recorded in Scripture is the one that I along with many pastors all over the world will be speaking again today.

I lift up my hands and pronounce a blessing that we call a benediction which is just the Latin word for blessing. And so this benediction. This blessing has come to be known as the heart of the priestly blessing or at sometimes known as the ironic based on what Aaron it was spoken to give Aaron and the priests and this familiar words were to take a deep look at today and numbers chapter 6, verse 22, number six verse 22 the Lord spoke to Moses, saying speak to Aaron and his sons saying, thus you shall bless the people of Israel. You shall say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them. In 1996 I had one of the privilege to spend a month in Israel and member many different moments of that that very special month. But one moment that really touched me on never forget was when our Jewish rabbi guide was pointing out to us and the direction of a very important archaeological site that is translated to be the shoulder of the genome and area by the St. Andrews church and it was a site that in 1979. Some archaeologist came upon that there were some burial plots there that were in these caves that were kind of built out of some natural caverns in the hillside and they came upon this burial site and not 1979 to 1980.

They did the dig and they found all kinds of interesting artifacts. There, but the most interesting thing that they found were to a couple of tiny little silver scrolls that would've been the kind that a Jewish girl would've worn it like a pendant around her neck and these little tiny silver scrolls were very old, the carbon dating on them, show them to be about 600 years before Christ, to a very ancient and they spent three years researchers did three years unfurling the little scrolls so as to not to cause them to disintegrate and when they finally were able to have them open. They realize that the writing on it was indeed Hebrew and Jewish rabbi guide his own voice began to break as he was telling us the story as he said that it was a professor of his room he had studied for several years. It was called in to be one to help translate this little fragment of a little silver scroll.

What were these words that we had found 600 BC and his teacher said that when he read them he just began to weep as he said these are the words that I speak over my own daughter. Every week in the little scroll said the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine upon you and give you peace. It was fascinating because a lot of scholars had always said well probably the first books the Bible were written until much later.

Maybe the second century BC, third or fourth century BC, and this became really the oldest piece of evidence outside the Bible itself of just how early. These words have been written and I say these words each and every week.

Not just because they are so ancient.

Although there something timeless about them.

Not just because the priests were told that they are to speak these over the people, but because in this blessing. This priestly blessing the blessing that was given to Aaron and the priest to speak of the people in it is something so wonderful and so rich about who God is and about the nature of our gospel and so I want today to just think together about this magnificent little blessing. How laden it is with with God's own nature, and I do so pointing us in the direction of something that absolutely stunning that is said in verse 27 so shall they put my name on the people of Israel, and I will bless them that the expectancy therefore is that who you are is God's own beloved is defined somehow by this blessing and that God says, not by magic but by the power and efficacy of his word that as we speak these words, God says, I will bless them, and so rich and timeless and beautiful and ancient words that are worth taking a deeper look into the poetry and structure of this is the first thing to observe, which is fascinating.

There are three lines to this a blessing that is really in the poetic structure.

You'll notice that each of these three lines as the Lord mentioned in each of those others. Three mentions of the Lord in these three sentences or three sentences. The Lord lets you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you, be gracious to you. That's the second Senate and the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

That's the third sentence, three sentences, three mentions the repetition of the name.

The Lord whatever and Hebrew in your Old Testament whenever you see something that is repeated you can paused there and know that this is a Hebrew literary device that is to bring the point of emphasis and superlative so the way that the Hebrew language will speak of something that is the utmost.

Just use repetition. So years ago. Her RC Sproul described in Wanda, funny instance of this. In the Old Testament with this let you know how it is that the language works. There's one place in the Old Testament where they're describing a pit.

That's an especially deep pit. But instead of saying it was the deepest picture the biggest pit. It just called it a pit pit. The sales I was funny to us, but that's the way the Hebrew language works. So if something is a pit it's a pit, but of its own. Really deeppit it's a pit pit so you'll see repetition of words like that, but sometimes and in a few instances not often because this would mean this is the the utter superlative of something that the the highest when you could describe something is to repeat it three times.

Thus, when Isaiah gets the revelation of God in in the heavens and he realizes that there is a refrain that is going on in the heaven, saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. This is a saying that this is he is holy beyond words. He is holy.

He is the holy of holies he is holy S there is and so this is what repetition means that interestingly the Hebrew grammar does not at all require that the name of the Lord be repeated three times in this blessing it would make perfect sense to go save the Lord bless you and keep you make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, and lift up his counsel is just fine to do that. Grammatically, it doesn't.

You don't need to repeat the name of the Lord here, but very clearly the name of the Lord repeated three times the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, that's Alan Wright will have more teaching moment.

Today's important series God's blessing and said the curses of the world. This special offer from Alan Wright Ministries will help with the release of Pastor having a blast. We created a flip style devotional for a gastric kitchen counter beautiful spiral-bound devotional offers 28 days of inspiration. Utilizing some of the most moving excerpts from the nubuck using day for four weeks. Keep the premises and assurance of God's blessing right in front of you, to Philippians whatever is true, noble and pure, think on these things make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and will send you inspirational flip style devotional as I thank you for your partnership. Each spiral-bound devotional come to the convening style stand thinking.

Keep inspiration in front of you and fill your heart with God's blessing the gospel is shared when you get to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you get today. We will send you special offer. We are in our final days of offering the special product 877-544-4861 come to our website past Rowan.like today's teaching now continues you once again is Alan Wright the heart of everything good about your life and everything that was speaking is all centered in the Lord most high, the Lord, the Lord know what else is interesting about the structure of this blessing is that there 15 words and it is remembering Hebrew.

They don't have a lot of words in Hebrew is not what is linkage that has lots and lots of words and have me worked in every word is freighted and words are attached to all kinds of different significances and if you if you look at the structure this what you see is the first line has three words that in Hebrew the second line has five in the third line has seven words so it begins with three and ends with seven so there you start again with that symbol of three the sins of repetition, which, of course, when we think of three what we recognize is the triune nature of God right and the number seven.

These these numbers are so you cannot overemphasize how significant these numbers are in Hebrew.

This is not by accident or coincidence. This is as God set it forth that the last line is seven like the number of completion or perfection are seven days in a week so Hebrew you see the number seven. Think of a week. The week is done seven days and so it grows this blessing. It grows from 3 to 7 and if you take the threefold repetition of the Lord out. It leaves you with 12 words that it other than the name of the Lord. This blessing is 12 words and 12 is the number of the tribes of Israel.

It is a picture of the people of God. The structure of this is just beautiful and rich and as one commentator says, as the lines of the blessing link that their content becomes richer producing a crescendo that culminates in the word peace so that this blessing just grows and grows until the announcement comes peace, shalom well-being.

All is ordered shalom and so it is that you have a beautiful poetic structure that in itself is laden with symbolism and beauty and majesty. The second thing before kind of digging into the actual words of the blessing is a notice that this is to be spoken by the priest now will take much time this morning to talk about the priesthood. But there are three kinds of priesthood that are mentioned in the Old Testament pagan priesthood was things are have no association with God and his kingdom, and then the Levitical priesthood which is to refer to the tribe of Levi and if you're going to be a priest in Israel. You had to be from that tribe and not only for the tribe for the family of Aaron who was Moses's brother. So being a priest in Israel met you came from a certain family you were born into it which holds rich symbolism for us who are Christians for all, a royal priesthood, all who are in Christ. How did we become that we were born into this family.

So you're born into the family of God and therefore your priest.

The third kind of priesthood is the strange priesthood of Melchizedek, which we will take time to talk about this morning but the Levitical priesthood. These priest that came from the tribe of Levi. The family of Aaron. They also had a high priest, and that high priest would be the only person in Israel that only one day would be allowed to go behind the thick veil in the temple of the tabernacle and there would be able to minister on behalf of the people. And what a priest essentially is and does, is a representative of God and a representative of the people. So in one man. Both God, his presence and the people their presence are represented in the priest and when the priest would go in to do his ministry that high priest would wear a garment that on the front had 12 stone symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel.

So literally the priest would carry the people on his breast into the presence of God.

This is the nature of what a priestess Moses absolutely a beautiful image to understand what is happened for each and every one of us in Christ is that because of the sacrifice of Christ, who was the great high priest who one time figuratively spiritually went into the holy of holies, and represented all of us carrying us literally upon himself and became the sin offering on our behalf and therefore ministered on our behalf in this one man humanity was represented and divinity was represented and what happened is so extraordinary that we have become co-heirs with Christ, and we are declared in the New Testament to be a royal priesthood also. So, no longer is there any mediator except for Jesus Christ it was ever needed between God and humanity.

It means, therefore, that you have direct asset access to God so the priests were the ones speaking this blessing. In other words, beloved, here's what I want to see if blessing the people was a function of the ancient priesthood of Israel, how much more so is blessing authorized to in a function of the whole body of Christ at all times and all places else look at the blessing of self. The repetition of the name of the Lord. When you see in your Bible all capital letters.

The Lord what that means is that this is the name that was the covenantal name of God given. When Moses asked who was sending him. It means Yahweh now these four Hebrew letters that make up this name Yahweh are considered by the Hebrew people to be too holy to ever speak so they never speak this name sometimes it will be rendered. Jehovah, but this name was given by God upon Moses's request and was a startling thing for God to give his name because in the ancient world, especially the idea was if you knew somebody's name that it gave you a whole new level of intimate connection with them even to the extent that it gives you some sense of this the right way to say it, but power over them as if I can explain this in some ways it made we would understand. When you know somebody's name done to change everything about the relationship as soon as you know somebody's name. Things begin to change is one of the reasons were so frustrated when we can't remember somebody's name because if you can't call out their name your embarrassed especially if you're supposed to have known their name, which also feel like that's something in our connection is broken. If we can't talk to each other. Name to name a little further with this, let's say you're on the phone and somebody calls and they are being anonymous and they're saying something bad. On the other end of the phone you know what you want to say who is this right it not that I would've ever done this but never built a phone call interacting maybe with somebody you try to get something done some business something going on or somebody at the NOAA company than there you got the wrong builder then there they are not doing like you want and that something was like can you tell me your name. I don't really want to give you their whole name because we think you give me your name what you saying I will yeah I will report this to somebody in a light once I know your name that everything changes but I put it to the positive.

If somebody were to call you up with fantastic news. You want to million dollars. What you want to say who is this so on that on the day that Moses was being called by God to go become the agent of deliverance of the people of God out of their slavery Moses says who shall I tell them sent me was your name. Who is this an God like you've never done before. Said okay if you need a name I tell you my name is I am what Revelation at that moment. It's today's teaching the Lord bless you and keep you in the series, the power of blessing and we'd like you to stay with us. Alan is back. Just a moment with additional insight on today's teaching for your life and today's final word, such amount on God's blessing instead of the curses of the world. This special offer from Alan my ministries will help coinciding with the release of Pastor Alan's new book having a blast. We created a flip style devotional for your gasification counter beautiful spiral-bound devotional offers 28 days of inspiration. Utilizing some of the most moving excerpts from the nubuck using day by day for four weeks. Keep the premises and assurance of God's blessing right in front of you wrote to Philippians whatever is true, noble and pure, think on these things make a gift to Alan my ministries today and will send you the inspirational flip style devotional as I thank you for your partnership. Each spiral-bound devotional come to the convening style stand seeking keep today's inspiration in front of you and fill your heart with God's blessing the gospel is shared when you get to Alan Wright Ministries. We are happy to send this to you as I thanks from Alan Knight ministries. We are in our final days of offering the special product. Call us at 877-544-4861 come to our website. Pastor our and got work with Pastor Alan and the power of blessing is what you're listening to in our series, the power to bless his Pastor Alan's latest book, how to speak life and empower the people you love and this book is now out available everywhere. Good books are sold and you can get it in several formats. The reader on your tablet audiobook or just the good old fashion way of hardback is unfolding in my hands right now.

Pastor Alan are teaching today the Lord bless you and keep you replace the bookmark your what's her parting good news when God has the priest to say the Lord bless you and keep you and the Lord make his face to shine upon. This is a picture of favor that when you walk into a room and you see someone's face. You can learn almost everything from just the expression. If someone doesn't even pick up their face to look at you, it communicates right now I don't view you as important enough to even stop me from what I'm doing currently.

If someone were to frown upon, or their face were looked down upon.

It would communicate that I'm disappointed but if someone lifts up his or her face and smiles, it says you're accepted your loved and you have found favor in my presence, so to say the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you, beloved, it is to say that you understand and common to this kind of knowledge of God that you understand in Jesus Christ that really his face is shining and you can come into his presence, unafraid you can come into his presence full of joy because you have a father who's delighted today's good news message is a listener supported production Alan Wright Ministries