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Numbers 6:22-27 | In The Wilderness

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Listen to this week’s sermon, In The Wilderness, preached by Rev. Benjamin Kandt from Numbers 6:22-27

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Hello everyone. This is Pastor Benjamin. You're listening to the sermon audio from New City, orlando. At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's prayer. For more resources, visit our website at newcityorlandocom.

Gina Fickett:

Please join me in praying the prayer of illumination. Please join me in praying the prayer of illumination. Eternal God, the grass withers and the flower fades, but your word will stand forever. Holy Spirit, help us to love and trust your word. Through Jesus Christ, we pray Amen. Today's scripture reading is taken from Numbers 6, beginning in 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. This is God's word.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

My wife Alana and I met when I was a senior in high school, and something you need to know about me was that I was a complete fool when I was a senior in high school. I like to say I was clinically wild. So if you think about it, you can pray for my kids in case it's genetic or something like that. But what happened was sometimes I, you know, make the joke that there's a 50-50 chance of me being alive today if Jesus hadn't intervened. And when I was a sophomore in college, jesus showed up, dramatically altered my life and began his incredible work of transformation that he's begun in many, if not all, of our lives in this room. But here was the problem. In 2012, when I went to my future father-in-law and mother-in-law to ask for their daughter's hand in marriage, they hadn't seen those years of transformation, and so when I nervously sat down with them at a local diner, I sit in my booth and I slide across the table a portfolio of reference letters. See, for some reason that seems super normal for me to do then, but now y'all laugh because it is ridiculous. I had a reference letter from each of our sisters, from our campus minister, from half a dozen of our friends and my pastor, all in this portfolio. Why? Well, because I was asking for their blessing. Isn't that what we call it? I was asking for their blessing on our marriage, and so I wanted to receive a verdict from someone greater to someone lesser, that I was worthy of their daughter's hand. Why do we call it that? Why do we say asking for the blessing? It's because that's what a blessing is. The blessing is when a somebody confers goodness on a nobody, and that's what I needed in that moment and that's what we see in Numbers, chapter six. Our text this morning is a blessing. It's a blessing.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Now, here's the thing about blessings we all ache for it. We all ache for a blessing and some of you in this room you may know this that when we talk about in worship, we talk about it as the benediction. You'll see, at the bottom here in the corner of your worship guide, it says benediction. That just means benediction, a good word spoken over you. That's what that is. Now, many of us in this room have fathers and mothers and caregivers who have spoken good words over us throughout our life. We've heard things like this is my beloved son. This is my beloved daughter, with whom I am well pleased.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

But some of us in this room, we haven't gotten that, and if you didn't get it, you will seek it your entire life until you find it. But some of you in the room, actually, you're still waiting for that. You're waiting for a good word spoken over you by your father or some of you in the room, you got a blessing when you performed, whether in school or in sports or in religion, and so you find yourself to this day striving constantly to earn that blessing and you wonder why you're so busy and overcommitted. But some of us in this room, we're looking for that blessing. You're looking from that blessing for a significant other, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, the opposite sex, somehow, because a blessing is when someone who matters say that you matter, and you find yourself wondering why am I so desperate to have those words spoken over me? It's because you were made for a blessing. You were made for benediction. You see, the core desires of the human heart are for security, significance and satisfaction. You want somebody to look at you and to speak over you the security of saying you're going to be okay. You long for somebody to look you in the eyes and give you the significance by just simply saying you matter. And all of us in this room we actually ache for someone to speak the satisfaction over us that says there is enough. There will be enough for you.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

And so this morning, as we look and continue this series through the book of numbers called in the wilderness, we get to numbers chapter six, and we are going to take up what's called the Aaronic blessing, not the ironic blessing, the Aaronic blessing, not the ironic blessing, the Aaronic blessing. And I want you to see that this is God's direct answer to your most basic human desires, that in this text, everything you've ever wanted is found right here in this blessing. So if you have a Bible or a device or the worship guide, get Numbers chapter 6, verses 22 through 27, in front of you and we're going to look at it under these three headings. The first one is security, which is verse 24. The second is significance, verse 25, and the last one is satisfaction, in verse 26. Look with me at the security in verse 24, where it says bless and keep. It says this 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.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

The new city is a Presbyterian church. Surprise, for some of you are like uh-oh, what does that even mean? Well, let me tell you one thing it means One of the many good things about being Presbyterian is that we are confessional, and all that that means is that when we go to read and interpret the Bible, we ask the question who's going to be better at reading this book Me alone with my Bible, or my brothers and sisters for millennia? And we answer with B, brothers and sisters from millennia. And so when we say we're confessional, it means we're drawing on this great history of Christianity that's been going on for 2,000 years when we read the Bible. And so our confession, the Westminster Confession, has a whole section on the way we understand Scripture, and there's this beautiful line in there. It says that one of the ways in which we come to have a high view of Holy Scripture is when we notice quote the majesty of its style. The majesty of its style, in other words, things like poetics, actually matter. And so when we look at our text this morning, there is both a musical and a mathematical majesty to its style. I want to show you this Now here's the thing.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

You can either trust me or go look this up, because a lot of this is in Hebrew, but this is what I want you to see. In Hebrew, there are three lines of 15 words, okay, so the whole thing just made up of three lines of 15 words. Now each line begins with the word the name Yahweh. This is God's self-disclosed name, one of the greatest gifts he gave to his people. God self-defines and self-discloses. He says I am who I am, yahweh. Every line begins with that word.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Now, if you know something about Hebrew, there's no exclamation marks, and so the way that in Hebrew, the idiom for making something a big deal is, you would repeat it. Jesus did this when he would say to people truly, truly, I say to you that meant lean in and listen up, but the most emphasis you could possibly put on something is to repeat it three times. Think about Isaiah 6. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, god Almighty. And so the threefold repetition of the name of God in the center at the beginning of this benediction. It's a big deal. The only other time we see this in scripture is when we put the name of God on children and believers, believers and their children in baptism. The name of the Father, the name of God, on children and believers, believers and their children in baptism. The name of the Father, the name of the Son, the name of the Holy Spirit. You see, this putting of the name of God on the people of God is core to blessing. But it's not just Yahweh's repeated.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Look with me at verses 24, 25, and 26. Line one in Hebrew has three words. Line two has five words. Line three has seven words. It goes further. Line one has 12 syllables, line two has 13 syllables. Line three has 14 syllables. Even more, line one has 15 consonants. Line two has 20 consonants. Line three have 25 consonants. What is going on here? You see, you don't always know what a text means until you know how it means.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Substance and style matter, and I think what's being conveyed here is that there's this lengthening and intensifying of this benediction as it builds over time. The reason why is because I think that it's showing how the blessing of having Yahweh dwell at the center of the camp is expanding and spreading out through the whole people, and we see this in what the Westminster Confession calls the majesty of its style. Now the last one I'm going to point out. Here. There are 15 words. Three times Yahweh is repeated, 12 other words besides the name of the Lord. I think what this means and other commentators as well that the blessing of Yahweh's presence is for the 12 tribes of Israel and the significance of this is because God has a blessing, an abundant life he's declaring for his people. The camp of Israel is built around the central presence of God in their midst, and that blessing of God is intended for them. But it's not just intended as a one-off, momentary thing. It's actually intended to endure for the entirety of their existence. So not only do they need blessing, but they also need keeping, and that's the next word we see. Look at verse 24. It says the Lord bless you and keep you.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Now in the book of Psalms there's this section called the Psalms of Ascent, psalms 120 through 134. And it's basically a road trip playlist for Jewish pilgrims that would go up to the temple three times a year. Now, if you double click on those Psalms, one of the things you'll realize is that each of them is basically a meditation on Numbers, chapter six, on the benediction, the blessing we see here. It's throughout all of those Psalms. Why? Well, I imagine if you're a Jewish pilgrim and you live maybe in the north, in Galilee, and you're journeying your way down to Jerusalem. As you're going, there's this building anticipation for the moment when the high priest will come out, raise his hands and pronounce this benediction over you, the people. And so you've got this playlist of 15 Psalms that are building.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Well, the second of those psalms is Psalm 121, which is just an extended meditation on this word keep, keep. At the end of that psalm, in verse seven, it says the Lord will keep you from all evil, to which the realists among us go, really All evil Like. I've lived enough life and pastored enough people to know we face some evil in this life. So what could possibly be meant here? Well, jesus even taught us to pray every single day. Deliver us from evil. This is core to our existence in the world is that we will engage with evil.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Now, the Bible does not say that Christians are safe from evil things, but they are safe from the evil of all things. Let me say that differently. God's MO is not to keep you out of trouble, but to keep you in trouble. Do you see that? He shows up throughout the storyline of Scripture and he never simply airlifts people out, but instead he himself parachutes in. The pastor, tim Keller, said it like this If we knew what God knows, we would ask for what God gives, and Keller practiced what he preached.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

In 2021, he was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer that would eventually kill him, and in an article I believe, one that he wrote for the Atlantic, or something like that he said in that article I'm not primarily fighting cancer, I'm primarily fighting my own sin. What was Keller getting at? Well, god may not keep your body from cancer so that he can keep your soul from evil. That's what Keller was getting at. Now, if that sounds harsh, remember God. Unlike you and me, god is not confused about your highest good. It's not bodily health, it's that he would keep you from all evil, and he will do that. Psalm 121, verse 7, promises it. But not only do we need the blessing of security, but we need the blessing of significance. Look with me at verse 25. Verse 25 says the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

There's a psychologist named Gordon Flett. He's a psychologist at York University and he's the foremost scholar on a subject called mattering. Mattering and what mattering is is it's. They've defined it as this core, universal human need that's a necessary component for well-being. Mattering is when you ask the question do I matter to someone who matters? You can convey mattering by your face and your actions and your words, and some research shows that 30 percent of adolescents do not feel that they matter to anyone. Just think about that. Like 12 to 17-year-olds that you're around about, one in every three of them doesn't think they matter to anyone. Something happening there? Some people would say that that might be part of the root of our mental health crisis that we're in right now. Some people would say that that might be part of the root of our mental health crisis that we're in right now. And so if mattering is so important, if it matters, what is it? Well, dr Flett goes on to say it's more than belonging or self-esteem or social connection. The best way to talk about it is, he says, you won't be happy if no one notices.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

When you walk into a room, you see, because you're going to be asking the question, either consciously or unconsciously do I matter to someone who matters? I love the way that verse 25 puts it the Lord, make his face to shine upon you. One commentator translates this may the Lord look up when you walk into the room. You see the word face is repeated twice in this blessing Once in verse 25, once in 26. We've got that old English word countenance, just the word face. Would he lift up his face on you? Why is this such a big deal? Well, your face is your relational gate. It's the way in which you invite people into your relational presence is through your face.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

And there's this super nerdy book called the Neuroscience of Human Relationships by Louis Cozzolino, and in there he's got a section on the neuroscience of the face. It's amazing, trust me, and one of the things he argues is we know that humans were created to be hyper social primates because we have different eyes. Now, the white of your eye is called your sclera. The colorful part is called the iris. All other primates have the same color iris and sclera. Humans alone have what we call the whites of the eyes. There's lots of reasons for why that might be, but here's one of them it matters for human interaction to be able to detect eye movement. It matters. Why does it matter? Why would God create us in such a way to maximize the readability of human eyes? One word peekaboo. Just kidding, not really, but yes, at the same time. This is why, when a parent and a child are playing peekaboo together, okay, these feel-good neurochemicals called serotonin and dopamine are being dumped into both of their brains, which stimulates brain growth and interpersonal bonding together at the same time.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Now, what's the significance of this? Children learn their identity before they have words, and they learn it from the face of their caregivers, and they learn it from the face of their caregivers. The Lord, make his face to shine upon you. Would you get the smile of God over your life? This blessing is saying Do you see the significance of what it means to be deeply human and to need the face of another to become who we are? It's so significant that there's this reality of you were made to be smiled at. Kurt Thompson says it like this we are all born into the world looking for someone, looking for us. We receive our significance through who is looking at me, who is glad to be with me, who shares my distress, before one word is even spoken. And so, if that's true, if all of this could be communicated through the face without any words, then we also know not only can we communicate grace, but also disgrace.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

You see, many of us can remember vividly the look on mom or dad's face of disgrace. It was this combination of irritation and disgust which resulted in a neurochemical disintegration in your own brain. Now I know the look. I've received the look. I've given the look, the look I've given the look when my kids do something that displeases me. I know what it's like to be able to undo my child with a simple look of disapproval. It grieves me. I also know what it's like to communicate profound reassurance with a simple smile to my child, to communicate profound reassurance with a simple smile to my child.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

You see, the face is the place of both grace and disgrace. It's all in the face. And so when the text says the Lord, make his face to shine upon you, in other words, to smile at you and be gracious to you, you can see how these are linked. The Lord is answering here the deep question of do I matter to someone who matters? Because God is omnipresent. He's everywhere present, but his face is reserved for those who have access to his relational presence, and for many of us, the face of God inscribed on our hearts is a perpetual scowl, and so it makes it so we don't really want to draw near to God. Why would you draw near to a God when you expect and anticipate you're just going to get the look? Where is the ground of confidence that when you look at his face you will not receive disgrace, especially when you know yourself well enough to know you deserve it? How can we possibly have confidence to enter into the presence of God to receive a smile? Well, here's the thing.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

The Aaronic blessing came at the end of the tabernacle service, never at the beginning. That's why it's the last thing you receive here every Sunday. What's going on there? It was deeply biblical logic. In Leviticus 9.22, it says this then Aaron, then then Aaron. Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

The sequence here matters. The blessing came after the sacrifice was accepted. You see, in the tabernacle what happens is Aaron wore a breastplate that had 12 stones on it representing the 12 tribes of Israel, and Aaron would take their name into the presence of God for judgment, so that he could bring God's name out of the presence of God for blessing. Aaron would go in and he'd offer a sacrifice in order that he might then offer the blessing of God to the people on whose behalf he offered the sacrifice. The deep confidence we have in the smile of God is not from looking at ourselves but from looking at a sufficient sacrifice. But we have an even better sacrifice than the one that was offered in the tabernacle by Aaron. You see, aaron brought the sacrifice. Christ was the sacrifice. Aaron wore them on his chest. Jesus Christ, to this day, wears you on his hands and on his feet and on his side. You see, aaron went in just once per year. Christ went in and he came out once for all.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Contrast is the mother of clarity. If this is a benediction, what does a malediction look like? Well, the opposite of blessing is a curse, and in Galatians 3.13, it says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. The opposite of keeping is forsaking, and in Mark 15, 34, jesus cried out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The opposite of the shining face of God is utter darkness, and it says in Matthew 27, 45, that darkness was over all the land when Jesus was crucified. You see, the opposite of gracious is deserving. Jesus got what we deserve so he could give what he deserves.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Isaiah 53, 5 says he was pierced for our transgressions. He was wounded for our iniquities. The opposite of an uplifted face is a hidden face. The hymn famously puts it like this how great the pain of searing loss. The father turns his face away as wounds which mar the chosen one bring many sons to glory. Last and finally, the opposite of peace is coming undone. Isaiah 53, five says upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. Last and finally, the opposite of peace is coming undone as they have. 53, 5 says upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed and made whole. You see, we have confidence in this blessing because Christ bore our curse to go back to the beginning. Jesus Christ is our letter of reference before the Father.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Now I have this theory that behind every great accomplishment is either the presence or the absence of this blessing. Whether it's business success or an Olympic gold medal or academic brilliance or whatever it is. There's either the striving to achieve blessing or the thriving from received blessing, nothing else. We long for a good verdict to be spoken over our lives. Everybody in this room does, and there is only one way that you can be confident that you have that it's because Christ took the malediction so he could give you the benediction. You see, at the end of Luke 24, jesus had just led the greatest Bible study in the history of humanity. And in verse 50, right before the gospel ends, it says this and Jesus led them out as far as Bethany and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. You better believe Jesus knew what he was doing. He was and is the great high priest who offers blessing to all who come to him.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

And what results from that blessing? One word peace, peace. Third and final point is our satisfaction comes from smile and the peace of God. Look at verse 26. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. A Hebrew way of writing is you begin and end with things that are important, and this begins with blessing and it ends with shalom, with peace. Shalom is this webbing together of all things the way they ought to be, of God and of ourselves and our neighbors and all of creation being brought together into a harmony of sorts. And shalom is when we get to finally ultimately rest in the goodness of God, the pressure's off, you see, because Jesus alone gives us this kind of peace. Romans 5.1 says therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace. Jesus can give us the peace with God that we need. He can give us the peace, an internal peace with God, an internal peace with ourselves and an external peace with our brothers and sisters. Peace with ourselves and an external peace with our brothers and sisters, our neighbors and even our enemies, and I had a picture of this that was clarifying to me. One day, I want to tell you that story, and we'll be done.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

My wife and I one of our favorite things we get to do together is premarital counseling. My wife and I, one of our favorite things we get to do together is premarital counseling, and we had Tony and Karina Bertram over our houses, probably a year ago, sometime this time a year ago. And one of the things I often do is I invite the couple, or maybe just the guy, to come in and watch as I put my kids to bed. Why? Because imitation is how we learn how to do this thing y'all. If they don't learn how to put a kid to bed from me, I just don't assume they're going to learn it from anywhere else.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

But in this case, tony watched as I did what I do every night for all of my kids since the day they were born I hold them, I look them in the eyes and I speak over 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. Then I kiss them on the face, I do the sign of the cross on their forehead and I put them to sleep and I walked out and Tony said to me he said you know, my dad did that for me every single night of my life. And I said, oh, tell me more, because I'm always looking for models of good fathers. And so I asked Tony, and then I asked Tony's dad, tim, and then, in preparation for the sermon, I texted them again. I was like, hey, give me the deets on this, because I need this, because it's good, it's real good.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

And this is what Tim said. He said I read a book and the blessing from number six was the only thing I remember. Reading from that book Happens to me too. He said having never received a father's blessing spoken over me. I thought I'm going to make a change for my family going forward. So I'd get down on my hands and knees every night and all three kids would jump on my back and ride me like a horse as I would take them to bed and then, one by one, every night, individually, I'd give them this blessing and if for some reason, I was too tired or forgot, they would remind me and say Daddy, give me peace. With great humility, I suspect it's one of the best things I ever did as a father. I've always wanted my kids to really understand how wonderful God's love is for them and how accepted they are by him.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Now I asked Renee, tim's wife, about this and she said Tim made this a point because he was someone who grew up with feelings of abandonment and he did not want his, he wanted his children to never feel that way. And she said I can still remember standing at the kitchen sink as he would go from room to room giving peace to his children. Well, I asked Tony about this and Tony said the two things that he remembers that really stuck out from his dad giving peace was first, that there was a sense of comfort and peace that he felt as a kid because he knew when he went to bed he was always going to get the blessing from his father. He said I don't think I can remember a night when my dad didn't give us peace, but I do remember when it stopped. He said I was in the ninth grade and there was one night when my dad didn't come into my room to give me peace. I wanted to go and ask him because I couldn't fall asleep without it. But I wanted to go and ask him because I couldn't fall asleep without it, but I was too embarrassed to ask since I wasn't a kid anymore. You don't outgrow your need for blessing right. Looking back, I wish I had asked because I know my dad would have loved to keep giving me that blessing and also I think deep down I didn't want him to stop.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

But if you listen to Tony tell his story of how Jesus got a hold of his life, he'll tell you that when he was in college he had strayed away from Jesus, wasn't really walking with Jesus in college, and one night he was at a dinner with his family and his dad was just bragging on him about how amazing he is, how proud of him he is, and Tony got up from the dinner and he walked out. His dad, being a good dad, noticed something had happened, so he followed his son out the door. He said what's going on, son? Tony confessed to his dad all the ways he had been living and, through tears in both of their eyes, tim simply brought him into his arms, held him and said 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.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

Tony says in that moment, I always knew I would never stop being his son, whom he loved, and, more importantly, I started understanding that God wouldn't stop loving me either.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

I wish that Tim was here today, but he's actually up in Michigan giving peace to ex-cons in a church for people coming out of prison.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt:

He does this still, and I told him I was going to be sharing this story because of how beautiful it is that somebody who receives the blessing of God can give the blessing of God, because we all ache for this blessing. We all want good words to be spoken over us by someone who matters, and we all long for a verdict to be declared over our life. And the truth of that story and the truth of number six is that we can have that and we can give that in Jesus Christ. Let's pray, lord Jesus, we come to you now, the one who bore our curse so we could receive blessing. Thank you that it's by your chastisement we were brought peace, that shalom. Holy Spirit, pour out that shalom into our hearts and minds now. Would people in this room actually experience their nervous systems calm as they receive the peace of God that comes from nowhere else but through Jesus Christ. It's in your name we pray, amen.