THE BLESSING OF THE HIGH PRIEST – Charles Spurgeon
THE BLESSING OF THE HIGH PRIEST
“And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless you, and keep you: the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you: the Lord lift up His Countenance upon you, and give you peace. And they shall put My name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” Numbers 6:22-27.
Introduction: The Lord’s Blessing
The Lord has blessed His people, and He would have them know it. He has blessed them with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus—and it is His wish that they should experience the fullness of this blessing. Are any of the Lord’s people without a sense of His blessing? It is not the will of God that you should continue in this low condition! If you are cast down, He has said to His Prophets, “Comfort you, comfort you My people. Speak you comfortably to Jerusalem.” Have you sinned and wandered into the darkness? The Lord bids you return and encourages you to pray, “Turn us again, O God, and cause Your face to shine and we shall be saved.” The happy God would have you happy in the enjoyment of His blessing.
To bring this blessing constantly to the remembrance of His chosen, the Lord appointed a representative of Himself who should publicly pronounce His blessing upon the people. He chose Aaron and He bade Moses instruct him. Aaron was not only to offer sacrifice and to make intercession, but he was to take a higher stand and bestow blessings, in the name of God, upon the assembled people. Those who are old may fitly pronounce a blessing upon their children, as Jacob did upon his 12 sons. And the minister of Christ may, in God’s name, pronounce a benediction upon the people. This was the custom in early times—the congregation was dismissed with the gracious words—“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.” Our God has appointed One above all others to bless His people, even our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the antitype of Aaron and his sons and in the exercise of His high office continually blesses His people. He began His ministry with the Sermon on the Mount and the word, “Blessed.” His whole life was a stream of blessing, for “He went about doing good.” When He rose to Heaven, having completed His ministry, it was as “He lifted up His hands and blessed them.” He “shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven,” bringing blessings with Him, even gifts for men.
In the name of the triune God, the Lord Jesus, from the highest Glory, effectually blesses us today. Let not your hearts be troubled as though you were beneath the storm cloud of the curse. Know you not that the curse is altogether turned away from us, for He was “made a curse for us”? The blessing, alone, remains and Jesus Himself remains to repeat it. Remember with solemn awe and heart-searching that this blessing was for the children of Israel and for them, only. Aaron was not appointed to bless the nations who were without God, but to bless the children of Israel. The great blessing which our Lord Jesus Christ pronounces is for His people, even for those to whom He gives eternal life. Ask yourselves whether you are Believers, as Jacob was. Are you pleaders with God, as Jacob was? It was through his triumphant wrestling with God that he won the princely name of Israel—have you ever prevailed in prayer? If so, though you may feel very feeble and halt as you come from the scene of conflict, yet to you, even to you, as being spiritually of the seed of Israel, the Lord Christ, the “High Priest of our profession,” has given the blessing. But if any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ there is no blessing for him since that awful text thunders at him—“Let him be Anathema Maranatha”—accursed at His coming. The Lord grant that such a curse may lie on none of us, but may we, as we hear the priestly benediction, be able by faith to receive it as our own!
I. The General Character of This Blessing
It was a blessing, in the first place, given through a priest. Not every man might take upon himself to bless the people. It was Aaron—God’s high priest, who offered sacrifice for the people—who was called to bless the tribes. The hands which had been stained with the blood of the victim were outstretched in blessing. Once in the year the Lord’s high priest went in unto God for the people, not without blood, and when his solemn duties within the veil had been duly done, he came forth and put on those glorious garments which for a while he had laid aside—and he blessed the people as he was authorized to do. From which I gather that we can get no blessing from God except through the priesthood of Christ. There must be the Sacrifice and the sprinkling of the blood before the music of the blessing can sound in our ears. God bestows all spiritual blessings upon us in and through the Lord Jesus who died for us and is ordained to be the one Mediator between God and man. Christ, as the great High Priest who offered Himself without spot unto God, is the Divine channel of blessing. Do we know the Lord’s Anointed? Are we resting in the Sacrifice which He has presented, even His own blood? Without Christ no blessing can come to us. O my Hearers, do not remain without the precious blood, if that is your present condition, but may the good Spirit of God lead you to hear the voice of love which cries, “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus says, “No man comes unto the Father, but by Me.” You cannot know the Father as a God of infinite blessedness except through the Son, who is the Priest with the one effectual Sacrifice.
It is a priestly benediction, sealed with sacrificial blood—and it can only be bestowed by the hand of our glorious Priest. Next, this benediction is of the nature of intercession. There lies within these words a prayer. “The Lord bless you, and keep you” is the cry of the man of God to Jehovah that He would bless and keep His people. The priest’s office was to make intercession for the people and we have in our Lord Jesus a High Priest who pleads evermore for His chosen. We have a High Priest through whom all that come to God will be accepted, “seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them.” Never forget that “He made intercession for the transgressors.” He has, moreover, a special pleading for Believers. Concerning them there is a peculiar exercise of intercession, for He says, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which You have given Me.” The high priest had a peculiar office in reference to the seed of Israel and our Lord makes special intercession for His saints. He is exercising that office now. How much we owe to His intercession no tongue can tell. Try to learn a little of it from these words, “Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not.” “I have prayed for you”—here is our safety! Believe, my Brothers and Sisters, that our Lord has prayed for us, is praying for us still! With His quick eye of love He has perceived our danger long before we have dreamed of it. And with His eloquent tongue of earnestness He has pleaded the causes of our soul at the Throne of Grace before we were aware of our peril. “Your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him,” and even so your heavenly High Priest perceives what you have need of, and asks for it long before you think of presenting such a petition! Blessed be the name of Him who is the Advocate with the Father on our behalf!— “He ever lives to intercede Before His Father’s face: Give Him, my Soul, your cause to plead, Nor doubt the Father’s Grace.”
But next, this benediction is yet of a higher order than intercession. Every man in the camp might have prayed, “The Lord bless and keep His people and lift up His Countenance upon them.” But no man in all the camp would have dared to say, in the same authoritative style as Aaron did—“The Lord bless you, and keep you: the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you: the Lord lift up His Countenance upon you, and give you peace.” Here is not only faith pleading, but faith receiving and bestowing! “Without doubt,” says Paul, “the less is blessed of the greater” and thus Aaron was greater than the people, being set apart to a high and honorable office into which none else might intrude. He was God’s representative and so he spoke with the authority of his office.
Today our Savior’s intercession in the heavenly places rises far higher in power and glory than that of any ordinary intercessor. He blesses in fact, while the greatest saints on earth and in Heaven can only bless in desire— “With cries and tears He offered up His humble suit below; But with authority He asks Enthroned in Glory now.”
This benediction wears the form of a fiat as well as of a prayer. The Priest here speaks the blessing for which He asks. Turning to the Father, our Lord Jesus cries, “Father, keep through Your own name those whom You have given Me.” Turning to us He says, “The Lord bless you, and keep you.” What He prays for of God He distributes among men by an authority vested in Him by the Father. “For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.” My heart delights to think of the Lord Jesus Christ at this hour, not as a Gethsemane pleader with groans, agony and bloody sweat—but as One who has finished His work and who now reigns in the Glory of the Father, having all power in Heaven and in earth! He sends the blessing to those to whom it comes. His prayer is so infinitely effectual that He practically gives the blessing Himself. Has He not said, “If you shall ask anything in My name, I will do it”?
Notice, in the next place, that this blessing is sure. Aaron did not bless the people of his own will. He did not utter good words of his own composing—but there went forth a Divine power which made the form of blessing to be a blessing, indeed. There was power in the priestly benediction! First, because Aaron was appointed by God Himself to bless the people—and when he pronounced the benediction over the assembled multitude it was not Aaron’s blessing, but the blessing of Jehovah who had sent him! The God who set him apart to bless the people in the Divine name was, by that very act and deed, engaged to make good His servant’s words. Even so our blessed High Priest took not this office upon Himself, but He was called to it and His call is abundantly certified, “For Him has God the Father sealed.” What our Lord says must stand, for He is commissioned of the Father and anointed of the Spirit as the Ambassador of Peace. God is in Christ Jesus and the Godhead stands at the back of every word of mercy, every syllable of blessing which is uttered by the ever-blessed Son.
I delight to think of my Lord as no amateur intercessor, taking up a work on His own responsibility without heavenly sanction—but He was appointed before all worlds to bless us and God will confirm every benediction which His Son pronounces upon us. But there is another reason for being certain that the benediction is sure to all the seed. Not only was the person chosen to bless the people, but the very words which he should use were put into his mouth. “On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them.” Here we have a fixed form of benediction to which Aaron was to restrict himself. Forms of prayer are not in themselves sinful—in some instances forms are given in the Word of God, as in the Book of Psalms and elsewhere. Free prayer is most useful and it will ordinarily consort best with the movements of the free Spirit. But in the case of a benediction it is well that it was dictated to the man of God. The children of Israel might miss a blessing through the ignorance, or forgetfulness, or unbelief of Aaron—and therefore it was not left to him—he had to learn by heart each word and sentence. In this wise, and in no other, was he to bless the people.
II. The Blessing Itself
Notice, carefully, that this benediction passes from the priest to God. It is not, “I, Aaron, ordained of God, bless you and like a shepherd I will keep you and smile upon you and give you peace.” Oh, no! The blessing falls from Aaron’s lips, but it comes originally from the Lord’s heart and hand! It runs thus—“The Lord bless you, and keep you: the Lord make His face shine upon you: the Lord lift up His Countenance upon you, and give you peace.” Every blessing must come directly from God! What an honor was put on Aaron, to be made the mouthpiece of God! What an honor is put upon the preacher when he becomes the instrument, in God’s hand, for cheering His people! What an honor is put upon you, when, in talking with your children, or with your friends, you are privileged to be as a golden conduit through which the holy oil of salvation flows to them! I pray you, seek much of this honor! Put yourselves in God’s way, that you may be vessels for His use. Ask Him to give you Grace to seize upon every opportunity to speak what He would have you say.
But, I pray you, never rest in the blessing of a man. No, if you were sure that such a man were sent of God and he should, with all earnestness, invoke the best blessing upon you, be not content with the man, but press on to the Master. Seek to have blessings first-hand from Heaven. Covet a good man’s blessing and count it a treasure—but value it only because God speaks through the man. This fact makes the blessing exceedingly precious. “THE LORD bless you.” What a blessing the Lord gives! Have we not heard a mother say to her little child, “Bless you”? What a wealth of meaning she threw into it! But when God says, “Bless you!” there are Infinity and Immutability in it! There can be no limit to the goodwill of the Infinite God. Our gifts are like a handful of pence. God’s gifts are so rich that I dare not liken them even to silver or gold. When Jehovah blesses, it is after the manner of His sovereign Almightiness. His benediction sheds joy and glory over our entire manhood. “The Lord bless you”—what an ocean of blessedness is in it! “And keep you”—what safe keeping is that! “The Lord make His face to shine upon you”—what a shine is that! “And be gracious unto you”—what Grace is that!—the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
III. The Divine Amen
The Divine Amen is in the last verse—“And they shall put My name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” Only two or three words will suffice. Here is the authority repeated, by way of confirmation of what has been said—“They shall put My name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” The priest does his part and then the Lord makes the blessing effective. Christ is authorized of God to put the name of God upon His people. It is a delightful thing for the Lord to call us by our own name, as it is written, “I have called you by your name, you are Mine.” It is even more soul-enriching to have the Divine name put upon us so as to be called Sons of God, Joint Heirs with Jesus Christ. Herein is condescension on God’s part and honor and security for us! When the Lord’s name is named upon anything, He will guard His own dedicated things. The name of the Lord is a strong tower and within it we are safe.
I think I see here a confirmation of those blessings which are pronounced by good men. “They shall put My name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” I loved to have my grandfather’s blessing when I was preaching the Word in early days. He has now gone to Glory, but he blessed me and none can take away the name of God from me. Most of you will remember the blessings of good men who are now gone to Glory and God confirms those blessings. He allows His people, whom He has made priests and kings unto God, to put His name upon others and to pronounce blessings upon them. Their word shall stand and what they bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven. The blessing of your father and of your mother shall come upon you. The blessing of the angels of the Churches, whom the Lord holds as stars in His right hand, shall fall on faithful Believers and helpers as a dew from the Lord himself! And then comes, best of all, the blessing of our God most surely promised—“And I will bless them.”
I will not attempt to preach from that little, great text—“I will bless them.” I could enlarge upon it by the month! “I will bless them”—they shall have their troubles—but I will bless them through their troubles. When they have earthly goods, I will bless them and make them real comforts. I will bless their basket and their store. If those earthly comforts are taken away, I will give them compensation a thousand-fold in Myself. I, who gave the mercies, will allow no one but Myself to take them away—and this shall only be done in love, that I may bless them still more! Brethren, the world may curse us, but if God blesses us, the curse will be as the whistling wind. Friends may become enemies, or may forget us, but if God blesses us, we can bear the wound.
God blessed us when we were young. He kept us in the giddy paths of youth. He blessed us in our manhood and helped us when our family cares were upon us—and He will still sustain us now that we lean heavily on the staff and find the grasshopper to be a burden. He will bless us when sickness lays us low and when we come to die Jesus will bless us with dying Grace for dying moments—and hand us out our best things last. We shall wake up in the likeness of Christ and then we shall be satisfied with His blessing, being transformed into the image of Him by whom the blessing comes. The Judgment Day shall dawn, the earth shall pass away, but the Lord will bless us. God’s “wills” have eternal range. When God says, “I will,” all the devils in Hell cannot turn aside the blessing and all the ages of eternity cannot change the King’s word! “I will bless them.” How much He will bless them He does not say, but the great I AM who makes the promise blesses like a God! God Himself will bless His people, directly and personally. “I will bless them.” Here is absolute certainty based on the faithfulness of the Lord—here is endless mercy certified by the Divine Immutability. Do you whisper, “But the Lord sends us trials”? I answer, It is true. What son is he whom the Father chastens not? But in this is a Covenant blessing—for every twig of the rod shall bring forth to them the comfortable fruits of righteousness before many days are past. You do not need that I should say another word. Go home with this celestial music in your ears, “I will bless them.” But this blessed assurance does not belong to you all indiscriminately. We have no blessing for those who are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. O Sinners, God make you conscious that you are outside of the blessing and may that terrible fact create in you an aching heart and a longing soul which nothing can ever rest but the blessing of the Lord God! You that are resting in Jesus, hear these words which I have read you from the Inspired Book and may the Holy Spirit write them on your minds! Thus says Jehovah of His people, “I will bless them.” The Lord has caused His servants to bless us by the testimony of the Gospel and now He Himself blesses us by His Spirit. He will Himself bring His precious things to our door. He will Himself feast us at His table, yes, He will Himself become our food, our bread, and our water! Come, let us bless the Lord! Since He has so blessed us, let us heartily bless Him! We will wind up our meditation by singing—
“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow Praise Him all creatures here below; Praise Him above, you heavenly host; Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!”