![]() ![]() " The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Take this member and the foregoing, and what do they amount to but this, "Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ" ( Romans 1:7 1 Corinthians 1:3, etc. Not for our own sakes alone do we beseech thee to make us glad with thy face, but that we, being sanctified and gladdened, may bear thy name to the nations who know thee not.ģ. bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us that thy way may be known on earth, thy saving health among all nations: "q.d. Peculiar interest attaches to the form which the Church's response takes in Psalm 67: "God. From it the Church borrows the refrain of the eightieth psalm (verses 3, 7, 19). A glance at the references in the margin will show that the benediction - and especially this particular member of it - was welcomed in many hearts in Israel, and was responded to with peculiar ardour. The best commentary on this, also, is to be found in the Psalms. To many a man stained with sin and utterly cast down, be has said, Live has taken him by the hand, and brought him near, and made him glad with his loving countenance. He has given proof of this times without number. "The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee " q.d. Compare Psalm 121, where the Church, opening its heart and drinking in the benediction, turns it into a song, "Jehovah Shomer."Ģ. He will deliver thy soul from death, thy feet from falling, thine eyes from tears. He will keep thy land and thine house he will preserve thy going out and coming in, and will guard thy life he will keep thy soul. "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee," q.d. It is a solemn and authoritative declaration of the relation which subsists between him and them and of the benefits flowing therefrom.ġ. It is for the Israel of God for those on whom Christ's name is called, and who walk in his name. If you would understand its true intention, you must bear in mind that the benediction is not spoken to men indiscriminately. ![]() A DECLARATION OF THE BENEFITS GOD HAS LAID UP FOR THEM THAT SEEK HIM. In opposition to it and to all similar error, the Aaronic benediction is a standing witness, that the God in whom all things live and move and subsist, is the LORD, a personal God, who can think upon us, and be gracious to us. ![]() There is a philosophy walking abroad, which invites us to substitute for the living God, whose name is Love, an impersonal "tendency that makes for righteousness." It is the old Pagan substitution of nature for God. There lurked in it a suggestion of the Trinity, to be brought to light in due time and for the time then present, it loudly proclaimed at once the Unity and the personality of God - a proclamation sorely needing to be repeated in our time also. The older form fulfilled the same purpose for the older time. Every time that form is used in the Church, it is as much as to say, Let all men know that the Name called upon in this place is the name of the Father Almighty, and of Jesus Christ his only-begotten Son, and of the Holy Ghost. This design is plain in the case of the apostolic form. In blessing the people Aaron was to "put the name of the Lord upon the children of Israel" (verse 27), thus constituting them his witnesses. "What mean ye by this service?" When our children ask this question, what are we to reply? There is nothing expressed in the apostolic benediction which was not implied in the Aaronic. The principal difference is that the thrice-holy Name, and the benefits of God's salvation, are declared more plainly and articulately in the later than they could well be in the earlier form. The benefits expressed are, in substance, the same. Properly these are not two benedictions, but only two forms of one and the same. Of these, two are in most frequent use in our Churches: the "Apostolic benediction" in 2 Corinthians 13:14, and the "Aaronic benediction" in the text. ![]() The Benediction occurs in Scripture in several forms. It is seldom made the subject of discourse from the pulpit divines seldom treat of it in their books there is reason to fear that it seldom gets its due place in the minds and hearts of the people. Binnie So far as I have observed, the blessing of the people has less consideration bestowed upon it than any other of the stated ordinances of Divine service. ![]()
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