«　WEEK 7　DAY 4　»

　　Num. 6:26-27 Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put My name upon the children of Israel, that I Myself may bless them.

　　Eph. 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption.

　　The third part of this blessing says, "Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace" (Num. 6:26). In the blessing in Numbers 6 we have both the face and the countenance, and there is a difference between them. The face denotes the presence of the person, and the countenance denotes the expression of the person. To lift up your countenance upon a person means that you confirm, assure, promise, and give everything to that person. Jesus came as the face of God, and the Holy Spirit comes as the countenance of God. Ephesians 4:30 says, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God." If we grieve Him, His countenance will drop. If we obey Him, He will be happy with us, and He will lift up His countenance to confirm us, assure us, guarantee us, promise us, and give us everything. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 81-82)

　　The Father blesses, the Son shines, and the Holy Spirit lifts up His countenance. When the Triune God is dispensed into us, we have the face of the Triune God and also His countenance. He is happy with us, assuring us, confirming us, guaranteeing us, promising us, and giving us everything. Eventually, we are kept in the Triune God, the Triune God becomes grace to us every day, and we have peace.

　　In Numbers 6:23-26 there is no mention of material blessing. In these verses the Lord did not tell the children of Israel that He would bring them into the good land, that He would give each one of them a portion of the land, that He would keep them from famine and give them rain, that He would protect them from their enemies, and that He would cause them to flourish. The blessing here is not of such a nature.

　　What, then, is the blessing in Numbers 6? This blessing is the Triune God in His person as the Father, as the Son, and as the Spirit. In the Father we receive the blessing and are kept in the Triune God. In the Son we receive God's presence and enjoy Him as grace. In the Holy Spirit God's countenance is over us, and we enjoy peace day and night. (Life-study of Numbers, p. 82)

　　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! (Life-study of Genesis, p. 1217)

　　The third [blessing] is the blessing of the Spirit: the Spirit lifts up His countenance upon us and gives us peace; the Spirit is the presence of God with us, bringing with Him peace. This blessing of the Divine Trinity is not related mainly to material things; it is related mainly to the Triune God being gracious to us, appearing to us, and being seen by us. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 3, "The Economy and Dispensing of God," p. 87)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msg. 95