As we have pointed out many times, the book of Genesis is a book of seeds. Nearly every item in this book is a seed developed in the following books of the Bible. This is true also with the matter of blessing. In this message, another parenthesis in our life-study, we shall consider the seed of blessing sown in Genesis and its development in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Hebrews 7:7 says, "But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater." In this verse we see the principle of blessing: that the greater blesses the lesser. To be greater or lesser is not mainly a matter of age. It is a matter of the measure of Christ. We are greater or lesser according to our measure of Christ. In Matthew 11:11 the Lord Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, Among those born of women, there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is smallest in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he." Here the Lord Jesus says that John the Baptist was greater than all who had preceded him. However, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. The reason John was greater than his predecessors was that he was very close to Christ. Although Abraham was great, he did not see Christ. However, John the Baptist saw Him. But, although John was so close to Christ, he did not have Christ in him. Those in the kingdom of heaven are not only close to Christ; they have Christ within them. For this reason the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. The great ones in the Old Testament could say that Christ was coming, and John the Baptist could say that Christ was in front of him. But all of us in the kingdom of heaven can say that Christ is within us. We can even say, "For to me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). Hence, we are closer to Christ than John the Baptist and all who went before him.
Whether we are greater or lesser depends upon our measure of Christ. If you have more of Christ, you are greater. If you have less of Christ, you are lesser. If by having more of Christ we are greater than others, then we are qualified to bless them; for the greater always blesses the lesser. The reason for this is that the greater one has a larger measure of Christ to give to others. If you are greater than I, it means that you have a greater portion of Christ than I. If so, then you have something more of Christ to minister to me. To bless others means to minister Christ to them. Those who have just a small measure of Christ need the blessing of those who have a greater measure. We bless them with the very Christ in whom we participate and whom we enjoy. If we enjoy Christ more, then we have more of Christ to minister to others. This ministering of Christ is blessing.
It is rather difficult to give a proper definition of blessing. Years ago I could only say the blessing was asking or wishing something good for others. But after years of experience I can say that blessing is the overflow of God through someone's maturity in life. God cannot flow Himself into others without a human channel. If Christ had never been incarnated, God would not have been able to flow to man, because there would not have been a channel. God's flowing needs humanity as a channel. The only humanity God can use as the channel is one saturated and permeated with God. For this reason Jacob did not bless anyone until he had become mature. Jacob did not bless Laban or Esau. Even when he saw his brother Esau after the twenty years with Laban, he did not bless him. It was not until he went down into Egypt that he blessed Pharaoh, the highest ruler on earth (47:7, 10). At that time Jacob was filled with God. Through Jacob's blessing of Pharaoh God's blessing overflowed to Pharaoh.
A child two years of age cannot bless anyone; however, a child of seven or eight may perform some kind of blessing. This illustrates the fact that blessing others depends upon maturity in life. Maturity in life is a matter of being filled with God. When you are full of God, you have the overflow of God, and thus you are able to bless everyone you meet. Years ago I could not say such a word about blessing. This understanding of blessing does not come from reading books; it comes only from experience.
The first case of blessing in the Bible is Melchisedec's blessing of Abraham (Gen. 14:18-20). Melchisedec was a type of Christ. Therefore, Melchisedec's coming to Abraham was Christ's coming to him. Melchisedec came to Abraham with bread and wine, just as the Lord also comes to us with bread and wine. Furthermore, Melchisedec came as the eternal priest, and Christ became a priest according to the eternal order of Melchisedec (Heb. 5:6). A priest brings people to God. If you would bless others, you must be God's priest. Later we shall see that in the Old Testament God commanded the priests to bless His people. Blessing is the overflow of God, and this overflow is brought to people through the priests. The first blessing was bestowed by a priest. We all need to be priests, those who bring people to God.
If we would bless others, we must be close to God ourselves. We must be priests who bring others to God. People need God's blessing because they are far away from Him. A priest eliminates the distance between God and the people; he brings those who are far off into the presence of God. On the shoulders of the high priest were two onyx stones engraved with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and on his breastplate there were twelve stones, also engraved with the names of the twelve tribes (Exo. 28:9-12, 15-21). Whenever the high priest entered into the Holy of Holies, he wore the breastplate and the shoulder plates. This indicated that he brought the people of Israel into the presence of God. We all realize that a priest serves God, but we may never have seen that he also eliminates the distance between the people and God. Before you are blessed by a priest, there may be a distance between you and God. But after he blesses you, this distance is taken away, and you are brought into the presence of God to share in the enjoyment of God. When Melchisedec blessed Abraham, that blessing brought him into the presence of God. Melchisedec even said, "Blessed be Abram of the most high God" (14:19). If you read Genesis 14 carefully, you will see that Melchisedec blessed Abraham with nothing other than God. He did not say, "Be blessed with a good house"; neither did he say, "Be blessed with two sons." Instead, he said, "Be blessed of the most high God." In this way, Melchisedec brought Abraham much closer to God.
In Num. 6:23-27 we see a pattern of blessing. Here God commanded the priests to bless the people by saying to 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." The blessing here is not onefold or twofold; it is threefold. The blessing is threefold because it is a matter of the dispensing of God into man. This involves the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Trinity is not a matter of doctrine; it is a matter of God's dispensing Himself into His people.
The first aspect of the blessing in Numbers 6 is related to God the Father's blessing and keeping power. The second aspect is related to the shining face of God the Son and His grace. The word "gracious" in Numbers 6:25 means more in Hebrew than the English word gracious conveys. The Hebrew meaning is to stoop in kindness to those who are inferior. This indicates that by becoming a man the second of the Trinity stooped in kindness to us, the inferior ones. When He became man, He surely stooped down from the heavens. This is grace.
I like the words "make his face shine upon thee." Have you not experienced this? 2 Cor. 4:6 says that the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true light, which is God Himself (John 8:12, 1 John 1:5). God Himself as light shines over us in the face of Jesus Christ. Thus, the second aspect of the threefold blessing is related to God the Son who stooped in kindness to visit us that we may have grace. John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality." Because the Lord has stooped in kindness to us, we now have this blessing.
The third aspect of the blessing is related to God the Spirit's countenance and His peace. The lifting up of the Lord's countenance upon us and the giving of peace is certainly the gracious work of the third of the Trinity, the Spirit. Today the Spirit is constantly lifting up God's countenance over us and giving us peace. He gives peace not only in our environment, but also in our being — in our heart, in our spirit, and even in our mind. In the Spirit, through the Spirit, and with the Spirit we have peace. Others may be troubled in heart, mind, spirit, and environment, but we should not be troubled. Wherever we are, we have peace because the Spirit of God is with us and His countenance is uplifted over us.
In summary we may say that blessing is the bringing of people into the presence of God, into the very enjoyment of God. The threefold blessing in Numbers 6 is the pattern of blessing by the priests in the Old Testament. This pattern reveals that the proper blessing is to bring people into the presence of God, into the light of His face, and into the shining of His countenance that they may participate in His grace and may have peace. This surely is the proper blessing. How wonderful! How marvelous!
In 2 Cor. 13:14 the Apostle Paul also gives a pattern of blessing. This verse says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." We have seen that a priest brings people to God. An apostle, however, brings God to people; he comes to people with God. In 2 Corinthians 13:14 we see a gracious visitation of the Triune God. In the blessing of the Apostle Paul, the Triune God comes to people for their enjoyment. This enjoyment is the love of God as the grace of Christ by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Love, grace, and fellowship are not three separate things; they are three aspects or stages of one thing. They are the three stages of God for our enjoyment. Love is within, grace is love expressed, and fellowship is the transmission of grace into us. Love is within God Himself. When this love is expressed, it is grace, and grace is transmitted in the fellowship. I may love a certain brother, but this love is within me. How can it be expressed? I may express it by giving him a Bible. The Bible represents grace as the expression of the love I have within me for this brother. In order to communicate this grace to him, I must actually hand the Bible to him. This is fellowship.
In the Old Testament the basic thought with respect to blessing is that of bringing people into God's presence. But in the New Testament the Apostle, coming with God, not only brought people into the presence of God; he also brought God into them. There is a great difference between the Old Testament pattern of blessing by the priests and the New Testament pattern of blessing by the Apostle. The New Testament blessing is much higher and deeper. On the one hand, to bless others is to bring them into the presence of God; on the other hand, it is to bring God into them as love, grace, and fellowship.
All Christians are familiar with the word blessing. One hymn even says, "Count your blessings, name them one by one." Undoubtedly, the concept of blessing expressed in this hymn is that blessing is a matter of being given a good wife, children, education, promotions, houses, and cars. According to this hymn, these are the blessings we should count one by one. More than thirty-five years ago, I sang this hymn during the last few hours of the year. I would gather some together and say, "Let us count the blessings of this past year, one by one." But the blessing according to the pure Word is much different from this. According to the Old Testament pattern of the blessing by the priest and the New Testament pattern of blessing by the Apostle, the proper blessing is to bring people into the presence of God and to bring God into them as grace, love, and fellowship that they may enjoy the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Hence, blessing is a matter of enjoying the Triune God.
Now we come to some practical points concerning blessing. The Lord's blessing crosses man's natural maneuvering (Gen. 48:13-20). When Joseph brought his sons Manasseh and Ephraim to Jacob, he maneuvered the situation so that the firstborn, Manasseh, would be in front of Jacob's right hand. The father put the firstborn in front of the grandfather's right hand to receive the first blessing and the second in front of the left hand to receive the second blessing. Joseph's maneuvering was according to the natural concept. According to the natural concept, Joseph was right. However, Jacob crossed his hands. Although his eyes were dim, he was very clear in his spirit. Genesis 48:17 says, "And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it was evil in his eyes: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head" (Heb.). Then Joseph said, "Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn: put thy right hand upon his head" (v. 18). Jacob refused and said, "I know it, my son, I know it" (v. 19). Thus, the Lord's blessing crossed man's maneuvering.
Because parents have their natural taste, natural choice, and natural concept, they are always maneuvering the situation. But maneuvering must be crossed out. I have done a good deal of maneuvering, even in the preaching of the gospel. As I considered the audience, including some who were brilliant and very promising, I said to myself, "These are the good ones." However, most of them never believed at all or else believed in a sloppy way. But others, whom I considered useless, believed in a good way and became useful.
Another kind of maneuvering is found in the church service. In the past we thought that certain ones were trustworthy, spiritual, and superior. But many times we were disappointed because they did not measure up to our expectations. Our maneuvering does not correspond to God's blessing. Maneuvering is our choosing, our selecting. More than thirty years ago I said, "These are very good. They are growing, they will be built up, and they will be one." Eventually, however, the best ones did not come from the group I had chosen; they came instead from another direction. This is an instance of the crossing of hands.
The Lord never places His hand according to our maneuvering. Therefore, in our families, in the preaching of the gospel, and in the church service, we must learn to keep our hands off. We should simply bring our two sons to God and trust them to His sovereign hand. We all are Josephs. We like to bring our Manasseh to the right hand of the Lord and our Ephraim to His left hand. But time after time the Lord crosses His hands. If you consider the church life and study church history, you will see that God's blessing is always sovereign, never subject to man's maneuvering. For example, Peter was a leading one in Jerusalem. Do you believe he prayed that Saul of Tarsus would become an apostle? Certainly not! Rather, Peter might have prayed, "Lord, Saul is too active. I ask You to bind him." But the Lord's hand crossed over the twelve Apostles and was placed upon Saul. Apart from Peter, James, and John, nothing is mentioned about the other Apostles in the book of Acts after the first chapter. But as Saul was on the way to Damascus, the Lord guided His hand purposely, and the blessing came upon him.
We parents should not have our own taste concerning our own children. We simply cannot tell which of them the Lord will choose. We cannot foresee which of our children will be saved. It absolutely does not depend on our maneuvering; it depends on the Lord's blessing.
In the church life I have come to have no trust in my choice. Often my hand has been held back in the choice of elders, deacons, and the leading ones in the church service because I have no trust in my discernment. Most of the time our choosing leads to maneuvering, and God's crossing hand comes in to bless the one we did not choose. Those who are parents and those who are leading ones in the church service must be careful about their choosing. Do not exercise any kind of maneuvering according to your likes and dislikes, for God's blessing always crosses our maneuvering.
There is something about Jacob's blessing of Ephraim which should be very encouraging to us all. Probably there have been times when you considered yourself hopeless and useless. During the past few months I heard of many who were disappointed and felt this way about themselves. Some even felt that life was meaningless. Some may have said, "I have believed in the Lord Jesus, and I have come into the church life. I know that I must function in the church, but I have not been chosen to do anything. Apparently, there is no hope for me. If I cannot function in the church, then life has no meaning." Be encouraged; you are not through. Among many churches, especially the large churches, there has been an atmosphere that made people feel they are not needed. Although in a large church only a few can be elders, everyone is still important. Do not maneuver your situation in any way, for the Lord's blessing hand will cross over to you.
Although we never know where the spiritual blessing will go, we do know that the blessing hand of the Lord always crosses man's natural maneuvering. You may say, "This is the firstborn," but He says, "I know it." The Lord's crossing His hands may be evil in your eyes, but it is altogether beautiful in His eyes. Blessing does not depend on your maneuvering; it depends on God's desire and selection. In any selection we make there is the possibility of maneuvering according to our taste or choice. Do not maneuver, and do not be disappointed. Rather, believe that the Lord's hand will cross over to you.
We have seen that Joseph tried to hold back his father's blessing hand. This indicates that man's natural concept holds back the Lord's blessing hand. In the church life, the Lord will raise up many we do not like, and some of them will become the best elders. Surely I have had my human feelings, concepts, and tastes. But my natural concepts have been crossed out. We simply do not know from which direction Saul of Tarsus will come. The one you think is the best may turn out to be the worst. But one of the opposers will become today's Apostle Paul. Although you do not like him, the Lord likes him. Many will be raised up who do not fit your concept. Forget your selection. It will never work. If it did, there would be no need for predestination. This is the reason the New Testament nowhere records the names of the children of the Apostles. Only the names of the spiritual sons are given. Paul called Timothy his "child in faith" (1 Tim. 1:2) and Titus his "genuine child according to the common faith" (Titus 1:4), and Peter spoke of "Mark my son" (1 Pet. 5:13). The names of the Apostles' children are not mentioned because not all of them were predestinated. Likewise, we must also admit that not all our children have been predestinated. However, do not allow the matter of predestination to cause you to neglect the preaching of the gospel. To do that is to go to an extreme. Do not maneuver anything. Simply bring the boys to God and let Him make the choice. Do not let your natural concept hold back the Lord's blessing hand.
Jacob's supplanting hands eventually became blessing hands (Gen. 25:26; 47:7, 10; 48:14-16). In chapter twenty-five we see that Jacob began his supplanting even when he was in his mother's womb. How skillful he was in supplanting! But in chapters forty-seven and forty-eight we see that these two supplanting hands have become blessing hands, bringing people into God's presence and ministering God into people so that they may enjoy Him. Would you have believed that Jacob's supplanting hands could become the blessing hands of a mature person? Here we see the growth and maturity in life. A supplanter, a heel-holder, became the greatest person on earth at the time. He was able to bless Pharaoh because he had become greater than Pharaoh. He became this kind of person by the way of life. We need the growth in life and the maturity in life so that we may be filled with Christ to become those who are able to bless others.
