Yes, often the Old Testament priests were the vehicle (mouthpiece anyway) for conveying God’s blessing(s) upon His people. Numbers 6:23 is specific, that whole paragraph in fact. “Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall BLESS the children of Israel, saying unto them, The LORD BLESS thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I WILL BLESS them.”
Wow!
But in our Text today, Leviticus chapter 9, at its very end (once the priests have been initially dedicated, cleansed, consecrated … along with the Tabernacle itself) Aaron (and Moses) were described as follows:
“And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and BLESSED them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and BLESSED the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” Verses 22-24, after blood sacrifice (in several forms) had been offered to God, obtaining His Pleasure, His Satisfaction.
Note that I have capitalized the verb “BLESSED” twice in the foregoing Text! Two times these men “blessed” God’s people, Israel, at God’s behest (better yet, at God’s command) in fact!
A double blessing, and too … a pair of acts that hold tremendous prophetic significance for the serious Bible student.
Let me show you …
Aaron (here at type of Christ) blesses the Jews after the shedding of Blood … then disappears into the Tabernacle! (Verse 22 and verse 23 … “And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation.”)
This is a picture of Jesus (our Great High Priest) after shedding His Own Blood (Calvary) BLESSING His Disciples … then rising into the Heavens, into that glorious Heavenly Tabernacle!
Luke’s account of that Event, of Jesus Ascension: “And he (Jesus) led them (the Disciples) out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and BLESSED them. 51 And it came to pass, while he BLESSED them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” Luke 24:50-51, priestly work, such blessing!
Wow!
Then immediately let’s go back to that second blessing mentioned in Leviticus 9, after Aaron came out of the Tabernacle. “And Moses and Aaron WENT INTO the tabernacle of the congregation, and (after a somewhat undetermined amount of time) CAME OUT, and BLESSED the people (again): and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” Amazing!
A double blessing!
The second one being more glorious than even the first one!
The second one (clearly typical of Jesus’ Second Coming to His people, His Second Advent) … it also being accompanied God’s manifest Presence!
And Oh, how Jesus will bless His people (even to the point of saving Israel, that little Remnant) when He comes again, at the end of the Tribulation to set up His Millennial Kingdom!)
Wow!
Maybe that is why a lot of Bible Prophecy is Biblically called “blessed,” as in the “Blessed Hope!”
Praise the Lord!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
Double Blessing!
Is not the Word of God amazing?
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