 Sunday services regularly end with the benediction: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26). What does this mean?
First, “[t]he Lord bless you and keep you.” In old Jewish tradition, a father near the end of his life would bless his children by wishing them well and dividing up his property among them. Similarly, if God blesses us, God is delighted in us, wishing us well and committing His power to help us get there. Next comes wishing for the Lord’s face to shine on us. Before His face can shine on us, we need Him to turn His face toward us. God turning His face toward us implies God desires a personal relationship with us. After the Garden of Eden, we lost that personal relationship with God. That’s why God told Moses that no one could look at His face and live. In order to have His face turn toward us and shine on us, we need God’s grace. Where does this grace come from? In the days of the Old Testament, the benediction came after offering sacrifice, which provided redemption for sins. Now we receive God’s grace via Christ’s sacrifice. Now God’s face can turn toward us and shine on us, and we even can have God’s glory (John 17:22). The Latin root of “benediction” is to “speak well of,” denoting our wish to have God affirm us. As social beings, we like to have someone of importance speak well of us. God’s blessing is the ultimate affirmation. That’s one reason the benediction ends with peace from God. If God speaks well of us, we don’t need to seek others’ approval. Only God’s affirmation will bring us peace. We have God’s blessing because we are welcomed into God’s almighty family as His children. This gives us: Identity (the confidence), powerful support, freedom from sin, the security of a loving Father, and intimacy with God. May we enjoy the benediction. May we share this benediction with others and build them up. Summarized from a Tim Keller sermon: http://www.gospelinlife.com/free-sermon-resource https://gospelinlife.com/downloads/benediction-5601/ 在教会仪式结束时的祝福是什么意思？ 主日敬拜经常以祝福为结束：“願耶和華賜福給你,保護你。願耶和華使祂的臉光照你,賜恩給你。願耶和華使祂的脸转向你，賜你平安（ 民数记6：24-26）。” 这祝福的意思是什么呢？ 首先，“願耶和華賜福給你，保護你。” 按照旧的犹太人的传统，父亲在生命的尽头祝福子女一切顺利，并把财产分给他们。同样地，如果上帝赐福我们，这就是上帝喜悦我们，愿我们凡事都好，并定意尽力帮助我们。 其次，愿主的脸光照我们。 在祂的脸光照我们之前，需要祂将脸转向我们。 上帝的脸转向我们意味着祂渴望与我们建立亲密的个人关系。在伊甸园之后，我们与上帝失去了这种关系。这就是为什么上帝告诉摩西，没有人可以看见祂的脸后仍然还可存活。我们先需要神的恩典，祂的脸才可转向我们, 光照我们。 恩典从何而来呢？在旧约时代祝福是在献祭之后的。 献祭提供了赎罪需要的手续。现在我们通过基督的牺牲得到上帝的恩典。如今上帝的脸可以转向我们，光照我们，我们可以有上帝的荣耀 （约翰福音17:22）。 “祝福”的拉丁语字根是“说你的好话，” 表示希望得到上帝的肯定。作为有社交需求的人， 我们都希望有重要的人说自己的好话。 上帝的赐福是最终的肯定。祝福以愿上帝带给平安为结束，其原因之一就在于此。如果上帝说我们的好, 便无需拼命地寻求他人的好话。只有上帝的肯定能带给我们平安。 上帝赐福我们，因为我们是祂的儿女，被接纳到祂的家里。这带给我们自信的身份、强大的支持、远离罪恶的自由、来自慈父的安全感以及与上帝亲密的关系. 愿我们享受这份祝福，也愿我们与他人分享这份祝福，建立他们.
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