January 05, 2025

                                                                              THE BLESSING: NUMBERS 6:22-27
January 05, 2025
Teaching Pastor Charles Billingsley

Today, Charles Billingsley dissects the blessing God gives to His people in Numbers 6:22-27. When we know the original Hebrew meaning of the words He uses, our hearts are affected in new ways, and we see His words of  protection, love, faithfulness, and constant care for us come with a depth of meaning almost beyond description. He is not only the One, True God, but the only God period. And He loves us, not as the Church universal, but as individuals with needs, hurts, pains, peace, and the ability to make Him smile. Have you ever thought God was smiling on you? Did it ever occur to you He loves to laugh? And He loves it when you are happy and holy, living close in His everlasting arms.

Focal Passage: Numbers 6:22-27.

God’s Transformation:

  • Read Num. 6:22. Have you ever wondered what the word ‘bless’ means when we use it within the framework of our Christian life? What are some of the things you mean when you tell someone ‘God bless you’? Do you have any idea what God means when He says, ‘The Lord bless you and keep you’? First, who is God? What are some of His characteristics? What does He name, YHWH, mean? Is anyone else also God?
  • If God ‘blesses’ us (Hebrew word Barakh), what is meant? Does anyone recall the illustration of kneeling before their child? What was the father going to do? What is the ultimate gift from God to us?

God’s Preservation:

  • What did it mean for someone to ‘keep’ something? What does the Hebrew word, shamir, mean in our language? What did these nomadic people do with thorns? What was protected by the thorns? Is it possible there was a meaning we don’t understand that Jesus had a crown of thorns on His head?
  • What was significant about the word ‘you’ used in this verse? How does that make you feel? Read Psalm 121:3b-8. What are some of the verbs of protection used in this Psalm?

God’s Illumination:

  • Read verse 25. Do you recall an instance when you saw someone’s face shine when they saw you? If so, how did you interpret that? Can you imagine God’s face shining with happiness when He looks at you?
  • Read 2 Cor. 4:6. Has it ever occurred to you that God made light before He made the sun? What would that light have been? Read Rev. 21:23. Who is the light in the New Jerusalem? When God shines on us, what happens to our lives? How do our faces reflect the happiness when someone—or God—shines their face on us?
  • “And.” What is special about ‘and’? How often does someone say, ‘You can have this or that?’ So, what is special about God’s face shining on us and giving us grace? What is grace? What has He rescued us from? When we give someone grace, what are we doing?

God’s Pacification:

  • Read verse 26. What does it mean for someone to look at you? Where are their eyes? What if their eyes keep glancing away—does it bother you? What are they doing with their ears while they are watching you? Is their focused attention special to you?
  • When God has His countenance upon you, and His face turned toward you, is all His focus on you at the time? Is He watching over you to see that you are okay?
  • What does His peace mean? Does anyone recall the three areas of peace in the Hebrew? (Hint: River, Bird, Kettle). Where does God the Holy Spirit dwell? Read 1 Cor. 6:19 and Col. 3:15. What is special about each?

God’s Glorification:

  • Read verse 27. What are some of the things we do in the name of Jesus? Here are a few: Matt.18:5, 20, 24:5, 28:18-20; Mark 9:39, 41. What is special about praying or doing good in Jesus’ name?
  • Does God want His name to be glorified? Read 1 Cor. 6:19-20.
  • Who does He want to glorify His name? Who will NOT be His child? How will we know those people?

Close:

To not doubt the presence of God in one’s life, to know that one’s sins were all nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ (Col.2:13-15), these are the greatest treasures we can own. It means His blessing from Numbers 6:22-27 is for us—you, me, and any others who have surrendered their lives to Him, asking forgiveness for sins, turning from them, and spreading the good news of Jesus’ love available to all men. It means He will be blessing us, keeping us—He is, as Scripture says, our defender, our protector, our king, our champion, our fortress, our light, everything we need to make it in this life. We can trade our messed-up lives, our faults, sins, chaos, and more for His peace. How crazy would someone have to be to turn that down?

By Sandy Day
January 05, 2025

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