Dear
Friends in Christ,
The standing joke of the Christmas gift
season is a child putting aside the new presents after playing with them for a
short time. Why? The child wants to go back to the old and familiar toys.
We fully expect to receive from our God some
new and different gifts this coming year. Surely, we received such gifts last
year. We strive to make use of them in the best way possible.
Yet we also treasure some old and familiar
blessings God has given us. We receive those ancient blessings every Sunday as
the last thing we hear in our divine service. They will continue to be ours in
the brand new year that begins Tuesday unless our Savior returns in the
meantime.
On this Sunday after Christmas, we will pause
to consider these Ancient Blessings for
a Brand New Year. They are our Father’s protection; our Savior’s grace; our
Comforter’s peace.
We know Numbers 6:22-27 as the Aaronic
Benediction. God spoke to Moses telling him how the priestly family of Aaron
and his sons were to bless the people. The priests brought the people’s needs
to God and then returned God’s blessings to the people. Looking at the
Benediction in this light it becomes a virtual general absolution. The priest
would pronounce it upon the penitent sinners after they offered prayer and
sacrifice in the tabernacle. That usage still fits as the pastor pronounces the
blessing at the end of the divine service.
These verses are beautiful Hebrew poetry in
the original language. Each section describes a different blessing from God. In
each section, the first part speaks in general terms, the second part in
specific terms. For example, “The LORD
bless you” is general. “And keep you”
is specific.
The first section of this ancient blessing
endows our Father’s protection. It is parallel to the First Article of the
Apostles’ Creed. God the Father keeps us safe. The Father keeps us provisioned
as he provides daily everything we need to sustain our bodies and lives. This
is our ancient blessing for a brand new year. The LORD will watch over our
coming and going both now and forever more, as the Psalmist promises in Psalm
121. Our Father in heaven, the Maker of heaven and earth, has imprinted his
name on us. That has made us his children. 2013 will be no different in that
respect from 2012, 2011, or any other year.
The second distich, or section, begins with
the general “the LORD make his face shine
on you.” “And be gracious to you,” is specific. Think of Jesus’ birth as
God’s face shining on you. A father’s shining face on his child says I love
you. It says you are mine and I am happy about that. The LORD’s face shone on
Adam Chin in his baptism as it did on all of us under that means of grace.
When the pastor continues with the specific “and be gracious to you,” that is not
merely a pious wish. It is the bestowing of a specific promise. God has given
us his grace in Jesus Christ. It is what David calls in Psalm 31, God’s
unfailing love. Asaph says it Psalm 80 that God being gracious to us means God
has saved us.
God does not smile down on everyone in the
world and in spite of sin, theirs and ours, forgive us and take us to heaven
apart from any specific action on his part. God did smile on the world and then
carried out a very specific act of grace. God loved the world and sent his one
and only Son. Whoever believes in that Son’s work of redemption will be saved.
When the Israelites received that blessing
from Aaron and his sons, after offering the blood of the animal sacrifices,
they remembered in advance, we might say, the sacrifice of Christ. This is just
as in the Lord’s Supper we remember the Lord’s death in the past until he
comes. That ancient blessing for a brand new year is an ongoing, changeless
promise. Its endowment is just as it was for our fellow believers in Israel.
Since our God is one God but three persons,
no wonder the Aaronic Blessing takes this form. The Father keeps us. The Son
redeemed us. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter as he brings that redemption into
our hearts through the gospel of Christ. The third section repeats the general,
specific format. “The LORD turn his face
toward you,” is general. “And give
you peace,” is specific.
The image suggests that the LORD had been
looking away, had turned his back on us. Who could blame God? We are
unrighteous. He is holy. We sin and God is angry with us when we break his
commandments. We deserve nothing but his anger and punishment. David captures
this when he cried out in Psalm 13, “How
long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from
me?”
Think back to how you felt when your father
turned his face away from you, or turned his back to you in anger or disgust.
There was no peace, only sadness. There was no confidence, only fear. There was
no certainty, only doubt. What peace, confidence and certainty filled our
hearts and minds when father turned back to us in love.
God turned his face back to us in Christ. The
Holy Spirit gives us peace, comfort and certainty in Christ. Jesus told his
disciples John recorded in chapter 14, “Peace
I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
What my we expect in this brand new year
approaching? We can expect to receive ancient blessings. We will hear God’s
voice about the priests in the Old Testament and about the perfect Priest, Jesus
Christ, “They will put my name on the
Israelites and I will bless them.”
We are Israelites who share the faith of our
spiritual ancestors. The date on the calendar does not matter. Samuel declared
of that LORD who speaks this Benediction,
“He who is the Gory of Israel does not lie or change his mind.” [1 Sam 15:29]
Amen. <SDG>