Being Within the Blessing of Only Christ for the Mission of World Evangelization (Numbers: 6:22-27)
Reference verses: Gen 1:27-28, 12:1-3, 22:17-18, 28:3-4, 28:15, Psalms 121:1-8, 67:1-2, Rom 12:14, 17, 28, 21, Gal 3:13-14, 2 Cor 4:6, 1 Peter 2:9
We will share the Word of God today from Numbers 6. The beginning portion of Numbers 6 speaks of the Nazirite. A Nazirite is someone who isn’t part of the Levite tribe but wants to dedicate their whole lives for the Lord; they set themselves apart and devote themselves entirely to the Lord. These people aren’t allowed to drink any wine or eat fresh grapes or have anything to do with a grapevine. They are told to never cut their hair. God told them to never touch or be near a dead body; these are people who are completely given to God.
The Levites are also people given to God for the sake of sacrifices and the Tabernacle. Then there are women or men who vow to be Nazirites who give their entire lives to the Lord or a portion to fulfill their vow to the Lord. People like Samuel, Samson, and John the Baptist in the New Testament were Nazirites for their entire lives. There are also people in the Bible who gave a year or two, a predesignated time to the Lord, as a Nazirite.
At the end of Numbers 6, it talks about the blessings of the priest. We see the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, this is how you are to bless the Israelites,” so the LORD is telling them, “This is how you bless the Israelites.” There is a difference between a blessing and a gift, a difference between praying for blessings and God giving you His grace. A pastor cannot create blessings; only God can give you blessings. God is telling them, “I will bless these people through the priest; tell them this.”
What is the content of the blessings that they must relay? There are three types of blessings in today’s scripture. When you think about blessings, it’s possible that you think about the blessings of health, wealth, children, and these are the blessings that come from your Genesis 3, sinful nature. These may be correct, but they are incorrect; the blessings God is trying to give you are elsewhere.
It says in Numbers 6:24, “The LORD bless you,” so let’s look at the kind of blessing that God gives us. The LORD is telling the priest to deliver three types of blessings: of the LORD keeping us, of giving us peace, and being gracious to us. As soon as God created mankind, He was already blessing them, so the standard of that blessing is God, and ever since we were separated from God because of our sin, our standard of blessing has always been from God.
In Genesis 1:27, it says we were created in the image of God, and after that, He gives us more blessings. What does it mean to be created in the image of God? It means we were created to be with God, honestly. Even though we were created with a physical body, being created in the image of God means that we are created so that the light of the Spirit of God dwells within us. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, to be created within God means to be created in the image of God, and being with God means we don’t need the things of ourselves.
If we needed things of ourselves then God could of made us like animals or dogs, but we don’t need anything from ourselves because God is the One blessing us. So, being with God means being completely with God in complete obedience to God. Being with God means we have the faith of completely relying on God. Being with God doesn’t mean I can do whatever I want because God is going to be with me whatever I do, that’s what you call “sin.” Living however you want is called sin, and as you live however you want, you’ll be seized by Satan, living as a slave.
If God is entirely with us, it means God is entirely reigning over us, and we’re in a state where we are giving everything over to God. That’s what it means to be with God. We are not with God 50%, but we are with God 100% and the more of my own things I put into that equation, the further I become from God.
Then what do I do with my physical strength? What about the food I eat? What about our businesses and studies? Those are instruments that will fulfill God’s will. God gave us those things to use as an instrument, but if you misinterpret that and use them to gain fortune for yourself, then it quickly turns into a religious life.
It says God gives us a blessing, but what is a blessing? God being with me is a blessing, and whatever God is trying to do through me is a blessing. It’s through being with God that the blessings of being fruitful and increasing in number, and ruling and subduing the world are revealed. Being fruitful, increasing in number, ruling and subduing the earth do not come from ourselves, but they come from God. But the more we try to be diligent and gain something with your own strength, the more we become further from God, because that’s a state of being separated from God; it’s religion. The characteristic of a religion is that you’re trying to earn and gain something through your diligence, but that’s now how we were created. We were made so that, no matter how much we try, we can’t do it.
Does that mean we shouldn’t try hard? We must try hard to fulfill the Will of God being with us. If you learn this walk of faith incorrectly, you’ll suffer the rest of your life, and as I tried, I realized it’s very difficult to change, because we have the internal nature of being someone separated from God, so our internal nature is all about ourselves. Even after coming into Christianity, it’s always about me, me, me “I can do this and create this kind of blessing, I can do that and earn that kind of answer,” it always goes back to a religious life.
In other words, it means we don’t believe in God. “Because I don’t believe in God, and we say if I do this much, then you have to give me this much in return. If I don’t receive as much effort as I put in, I give up on this religion,” and that’s what people mean when they say they’re tested or afflicted, but they frame it differently even though this is what is truly within them. So if you look at us, we’re very pitiful. We are cowardly, instead of being able to stand honestly we make excuses before God.
Even though you’re the one who didn’t give your life to God, you lived your life on your own, and you got afflicted by the word of God, you’re making excuses about other people, and the more you learn, you use the education you received to make even more excuses, and the more you calculate with your brain, you use your manipulative mind to make more excuses, so people play the way they look. If they’re stupid, then they make stupid excuses, they make excuses to the point where everyone can see how stupid they are, but we’re not like that.
We were created from the beginning to be completely with God and he will be with us, God So during this time, I hope you will take out all the roots of religion you have. When you go back home, your religious nature will come back out and if you have nothing to yourself you can’t sit still because you’re afraid you’ll be cursed and you’ll be anxious. You think life will only take place if you do something productive, at this time, but honestly the more you do those things the more you’ll have to start from the beginning.
How did God’s blessing turn into a curse? We were separated from God. We went into the state where we thought we could live, even when we’re not with God. That’s the very state of the unbelievers today. “I don’t need to be with God, I don’t have to believe in God; I can make blessings for myself,” that’s what they think, and that’s the ambition and perseverance of the unbeliever. It’s perseverance, it’s incorrect bravery. Honestly, it’s their cowardice, but it’s expressed in false aggressiveness.
So, the standard of blessing is if you’re apart from God, that’s automatically curses, so that’s why they spend their entire lives being enslaved to Satan. Because they’re spiritually dead, they’re filled with fear, and because they’re so afraid, they have to make a religion and beg for things. They think their lives will only work out if they work diligently towards something. Students, listen very carefully and closely to this message, I’m not saying you shouldn’t try hard, but I’m saying if you’re trying to work out by the gospel through your own diligence, that’s not right, but on the other hand, you say you don’t have to study then you might not have salvation, because even then, it’s centered on you, and everything you think about is centered on you. “Oh, I should work hard,” or, “Oh, I guess I don’t have to work hard then,” it’s all about you.
It’s either that you haven’t received salvation, or your faith is at an elementary level. To have a mature faith, you must think, “Oh, now I must do everything for the Lord.” If any of you are listening to the message and you are like those who are in the first example I talked about, then either you haven’t received salvation or your faith is immature and if you haven’t received salvation, then you just need to accept Christ today you just didn’t really believe. You just went back and forth from church; you didn’t really believe I’m sure there’s no one like that but if there’s anyone like this on the broadcast ..then I hope you will revive salvation today.
This blessing was restored upon us in Gen 3:15 with the covenant of the Messiah. Because God Himself is the blessing and when we go into God, God blesses us, and God’s blessing comes upon us through the Christ. Whenever I talk about blessings, you think about blessings for your children or financial blessings: these are blessings that Buddhists talk about Buddhist talks about that. IfI say blessing and you don’t think about Christ, you’re living a religious life.
God is the blessing and God gives us that blessing through Christ, and that’s what it means for all blessings to be hidden within Christ. All treasures of wisdom and knowledge is within Christ because Christ himself is all treasure wisdom and knowledge. If you take out Christ, it’s not a blessing but it is a curse. If you take out Christ and are focused on the material blessings or other blessings then you are living a religious life, and God never spoke that way. Being with God Himself is the blessing. Whenever we’re with God, the blessings of God come through us, because God Himself is the blessing, then that blessing must come to us, and that blessing comes to us whenever we’re within God, isn’t that right?
If you’re living in America, you have to follow the laws of America to receive the benefits and protection of the law; outside the law, you have nothing. Even if a dog lives inside the house, you have to stay within the control of your master, but if you run outside of the house, they will make dog soup out of that dog. What does it mean to be within the Lord? We can’t see the Lord, so we are with the word of God, within his Word, and more specifically speaking, it’s the Word of the Covenant. That’s the blessing, through Christ.
Abraham held onto that covenant from God. God saved Abraham through Christ by pulling him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and Abraham didn’t leave for no reason; Abraham left with faith. If Abraham didn’t believe in the Christ to come then it’s impossible to go with God. “Go to the land I will show you,” without a doubt those who have salvation will have a mission. Why does your walk of faith keep going back and forth? Why does it go up and down even if you believed so long? You understand salvation, and sometimes it gives you relief, “Thank God I’m saved,” but you don’t have a mission.
What kind of gospel is there that doesn’t come with a mission? When God called you, God called you with a mission; what kind of calling is there with no mission? If you don’t have a mission, it means you plan to live the rest of your life with the same plans and thoughts you’ve got from Genesis 3, and because you try to live your life with the same glory you experienced from Egypt, you’re not looking towards Canaan at all. Then you won’t be able to see God blessing. God is guiding you forward Canaan but your walk of faith keeps going up and down. You just endure and bear it through your own stubborn grit, and honestly, you are staying still because of your own ego, not because of your faith.
“Go to the land I will show you,” that is the goal for which God called Abraham, “And I will make you into a source of blessings. Through you, all nations will be blessed.” When God says, “I will make you into a blessing,” God is a blessing, so what does He mean? God means, “I will use you as a starting point to spread this blessing,” meaning I have a mission to relay this blessing to the land of Cannan “And I will specifically do that through your seed.” That was the blessing God gave to Abraham.
“I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you, I will curse,” you have a mission to save Canaan. This message shouldn’t stay in your head, it should go into your heart because your heart and spirit will have to move toward this direction but if it stays in your head and not your heart or goes into another direction, it means you parentals deeply rooted when you believe, it’s not that you get more money, but you are more certain in your blessings. The one who is blessed should have money and try hard. If someone tries hard and doesn’t have blessings, that’s a curse, but the one who is blessed should study. That’s how studies become a blessing and everything related to you becomes a blessing.
“I am not a blessing, but the Triune God within me is a blessing.” When I go into God’s plan, rightfully, the blessings will follow. This comes out very specifically in Genesis 21:17 when God tested Abraham, “Sacrifice your one and only son,” and He says, “At this point, you will really fulfill my mission” in Genesis 22:17. Do you think God didn’t know he would do that? He was simply expressing it but when does this mission become solidified in us? When we have the sure and certain faith for the mission, we receive the blessings for our faith.
“I will really fulfill the blessing of all nations through your seed; I will give you this great blessing.” Isn’t it enough that God says this in Genesis 12? Why does God say the same thing over and over again? Is God drunk or chanting? Is God confused, such that He keeps repeating Himself? That’s not what this means. It means when He called us out, he gave us the blessing and when we truly believe, that’s when it is actualized.
Abraham confesses, “I believe you will bless all nations through my seed, even if I sacrifice Isaac,” and that is when God is saying, ” Now I will surely bless you.” and that blessing is relayed to Isaac. Isaac held onto that blessing and goes into the land of Canaan. They were jealous of him so they keep stealing his wells, then what is there to fight? All you have to do is not lose the blessing of the covenant, so he keeps yielding and sacrificing, but the blessing of the 100 fold comes upon him, and later God gave Isaac the source of blessings.
If someone takes something from you, you can’t handle it; you have to fight for it, and that’s evidence that you don’t have the covenant because God will surely fulfill the covenant He gave to me, but you fight because you’re not sure of that. You think, “If I don’t have strength, I’ll be taken in,” and because of that, all your resentment and thoughts of unfairness stack up even though you go to church. Or, you think you have some strength then you try to fight to try to get it back. These are the play’s of Satan.
If you really have a mission and really believe God will surely fulfill that mission, it won’t be stopped just because someone is disturbing you. If you truly believe in America evangelism, saving the 237 nations, and the temple construction, then what is there to block you? If you truly believe this is truly going to be fulfilled, there’s no need to calculate in your mind about how to receive blessings. It’s because you don’t truly believe, God has already given you the promise but you receive faith through hearing.
Without hearing it, you can’t have faith, which is disbelief. You sitting here right now is a blessing. You think something explosive should take place, but what’s the point of something like that happening if you don’t have a mission? Because you have your own mission of Genesis 3, God is taking away whatever you do have and God is waiting until you truly believe. When God prepared your salvation, he prepared everything he is simply waiting. God has already prepared all the blessings to do temple construction, 5,000 unreached nations, and America evangelization.
Just as God completely sacrificed Isaac, you have to go all into this mission, and only when you have that mission does God have a reason to bless you. If you must be poor for you to fulfill your mission then God will allow you to be poor, but I don’t think that’s necessarily it. If you have to be poor to proclaim the gospel, you can remain in poverty, but I don’t think It’s possible you might be able to proclaim the gospel because you have a disease, and that might be a blessing like for the Apostle Paul, but I don’t think that’s it. The gospel is so great and God is not going to allow you lose your mission, so He will allow you to fulfill your mission by healing you.
So, the point to which you’ve received the blessing is that you’re able to fulfill the work of God until the day you die. Don’t listen to the words of the devil. “I’m so old now,” but you’re not old at all; you’re the youngest. The oldest person in the whole church is the most active. There’s nothing more to say. If you’re 60 or 70 years old, that’s not old. If you’re going to live to 100, that’s nothing. One of our assistant pastors is 80 years old and she’s so active. She still works and does everything and says, “I don’t need my children’s help; I can do everything by myself.” That’s what it means for you to have a youthful way of thinking, and then you have a mission to pray about what’s going to happen to your children all the more.
Then, after Jacob takes the blessing of the firstborn child, from his older brother then goes to his uncle Laban. This is the blessing God gave to Jacob. Isaac blesses his son Jacob and prays for him and says, “Instead of getting yourself a Gentiles women in this land, go back to your mother’s brother’s household, get a woman from there, and have a covenantal family.” Because God gave this blessing to Jacob through Issac, this blessing is fulfilled. At that time, God promises to Jacob, “I will surely be with you. I will never leave you until I fulfill my covenant to you and bring you back to Canaan.”
If you look at today’s passage, it says God will protect you as one of the blessings. What does it mean to protect you? God promises to protect him from the dangers from his older brother,“And even when you go to your uncle’s house, I will protect you and guide you.” From that land, he received 4 wives and has 12 sons and received all the blessings from God, and that’s how Isaac blessed Jacob.
Later on, Jacob curses two of his sons, but that’s not from the parent to the child; that’s the thing that God is doing through the priest and he had no choice in that. It’s not up to the priest; sometimes the priest constantly prays for some people and there are some that it doesn’t come to mind. It’s the same as us not choosing whom to meet; God has to give us the blessing of meeting. Then what are you going to do about it? You’re not going to know 7. something bullion people in the world, so the people you meet are a blessing. It’s not up to you. God has to give you the environment, to put the works in your hands and to give you the family you live in. God gives you all these meetings.
In Psalm 121, it says again that God will guard us. In Psalm 121:3-4, it says, ” He will not let your foot slip He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed He Who Watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” which means He is continually watching over you, constantly. Psalm 121:4-8 says, “Indeed he who will watch Israel will either slumber or sleep, the Lord will watch over you the lord has shaded your right hand for s summon the army by date nor the moon by night, the Lord will keep you from all harm he will watch over your life and the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” When you move, holding onto the mission and covenant of God, until the covenant is fulfilled, God will watch over you and protect you.
If we come back to Numbers 6:25, it says, “The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.” It’s not just that God is gracious to us, but He shines His face upon us. The Bible keeps talking about the face of God. In Isaiah 59:2, it says, “Our sins have hidden our face from God.” In Psalm 67, it says, “The LORD shines His face on us,” and Psalm 67:2, “Your ways may be known among the earth and you salvation in all nations.”
Why does God protect us and gives us grace? It’s because there are people we have to evangelize to. Why does He give us blessings? It’s because there will be people who receive blessings through me. Why does my walk of faith continually fail? It’s because you don’t recognize the blessings the world truly needs, so you’re not aligned with God. God has to continue to bless you because you must proclaim this blessing into your children, the next generation and the 237 nations of the world.
Romans 12:14 says to bless those who persecute you. So, the people who harm you are those you must actually bless. He tells you to not curse them, and just because you receive persecution from them doesn’t mean the mission God gave you will disappear. In Romans 12:18, “Do not repay anyone with evil, and do the right in everyone’s eyes” it means to save everyone. We were not called to curse, but we were called to be blessed so that we may bless.
1 Peter 2:9 says we are a royal priesthood. In today’s passage, we read about the priestly blessing but in the New Testament, after the curtain in the Holy of Holies was ripped, everyone can go before the Lord, and now anyone can believe in the name of Jesus Christ and receive the blessing of being able to bless others, and priestly blessing. There’s no blessing in the world. Your success isn’t a blessing at all. It’s only a blessing if Jesus is with you. Success is only a blessing if the one source of all blessings is with you. The reason you go into the world is to bless those people.
You must be ministers in the field. Our mission is that we’ve been called to bless whatever filed you’re going into your work and your school; that field isn’t something to be trifled with, but it means there will be people who persecute you and act wickedly towards you, and honestly it’s because Satan is living and working, but even at that time, bless them because that’s the reason God called us and continues to bless us. Everywhere Joseph went, he was blessed, because that’s how Joseph was called. The land of Egypt was blessed because of Joseph, and there are many who were destined for salvation who were saved.
I go to a Bible study on Tuesdays, and there’s a person who says their child is living in a hostel-like environment, and even when they tell her to leave, she does not leave, they keep drinking in the car, and if anyone asks that child to do anything, they mess it up so much that someone else has to redo it. All the kids living in this place are kind of at that level. This person had liver cancer as well and had surgery in their lungs. There’s a caretaker who comes from Torrance to take care of this persons says, “You have to kick these people out, you are going to get more sick being surrounded by people like this.” We give worship together.
Usually when I go talk to these people, I don’t give them the Sunday message, but I give them a message that’s appropriate for them, but this time, I thought, “I have to give them the Sunday message.” I told them, “I think the reason why God has allowed you to live until this point is because you have to bless the people living with you.” I told the elder, “You have to pray for the blessings and strength in order for you to be able to bless these people.” Because this person lived their walk of faith their entire life, they understood what I meant.
But even if we’ve been believers our whole lives, for many generations, human nature is, “If I don’t like something, I’ll cut it out of my life.” Even if these words come into us, as soon as we reenter our environment, we’ll have a guttural reaction, “I want to cut these people out of my life and be comfortable.” But even if you do that, you won’t have true peace; in fact it says in the Bible that if you give a cup of cold water to a missionary, it’s like you are giving the cup to Jesus Christ But you are trying to cast it away.
Many people stay at her place, so I’m praying for this mission field. For me, it seems as if God is making the elder a little sick, so that they really have to really concentrate and not do anything else, and the reason I feel like that is because whenever I go to their home, the message keeps pouring out to this person. It’s true, we have all these blessings and these grace before us, it is truly ours when there is someone before us to save. The reason we do Temple Construction is because we must do world evangelization, and that’s why God’s blessing must come upon us. If you have any other goal, why would God work? You’ll be irrelevant to God.
In Galatians 3:13, it says Jesus Christ received all the curses upon Himself. If you’re separated from God, you’re automatically in curses, but Jesus Christ received all the curses on our behalf. Now, it is through us that Jesus Christ is hissing the light of Zeus upon the Gentiles. The Lord died on the cross and is with me now so that I may enjoy the blessing of Abraham and shine this blessing to the Gentiles.
So why does God give us grace? God gives us His grace in a one-sided way. Even though all our actions and nature is to receive curses and disasters, God gives us grace. Even if our decisions have no choice to be incorrect, God gives us the grace to make the right choice. That’s why we have to go with our whole, true, and sincere heart into worship because God gives us his grace through worship. That’s God’s unilateral way of working. Whenever the pastor gives the benediction, the pastor isn’t blessing you, but God tells the pastor to do it, to receive the strength of God, and of the Word. When we have limitations, God gives us the strength to overcome those limitations.
Finally, in Numbers 6:26, “The LORD turns his face towards you and give you peace.” It’s this week’s pulpit message, Jesus Christ Himself is peace. And that peace has to come to EM, Jesus Christ is the blessing, but that doesn’t mean I have the blessing. I have to be within Jesus Christ for the peace to be upon me. If you’re trying to live your life, with your thoughts that’s not going into Christ. Then either you haven’t received salvation at all, or even if you have received salvation, you’re trying to live within yourself not within Jesus Christ. Every week when God gives you His Word, you are holding onto this covenant.
But people who are unable to do that will act from their own thoughts, so they have no peace; they only have fear. However, God desires to guard us, to give us peace and grace within Jesus Christ, within the covenant of world evangelization, and that’s God’s blessing. That’s why we need to be the people who receive the blessing of Christ within us. We don’t receive blessings by doing anything, but when the blessings are within us, then we can enjoy this blessing and give it to others. That’s the reason God has commissioned us out into the world. That’s why you work, do your business in the world, and even if you’re unemployed, you’re playing because there are people who will be saved through you.
The older we get, the more we have to show this image of this blessing according to the word to the next generation. What that means is that, even if I am weak and I have no power because I am old, I can show this to the next generation “God has given out family blessings so that we can fulfill God’s mission until we die,” and that is the blessing; there is no other blessing. Going into Christ is the blessing; fulfilling Christ’s mission is the blessing, and God has prepared everything we need for that blessing. We don’t receive the blessing by being good, but God gives us that blessing according to the mission and his time schedule.
For me, I’m a little sorry to say this, but my health keeps getting better and better looking at the latter half of my fifties, and it’s better than when I was in my thirties and forties, but looking at my family line, that was never the case. In my family line, whenever someone becomes 50 years old, they just collapse, and it’s not just my father but also my uncle so honestly, when I became 30, I could feel it myself. I came out string out of the army strong because I have to but I can’t exercise even if I wanted to. So, at most, the most exercise I would do is hike up to a mountain and to listen to the message but on my own it’s only been a few years since I started working out.
There are some people who like exercising but my family, they like alcohol; they don’t like working out. They specialize in drinking alcohol and criticizing the world but none of them ever exercise. But as I continue to receive God’s blessing, I have to do world evangelization so God take all the other stuff away and gives me the will and thoughts to exercise for my health. It was to the point where I got coronavirus. Before that, I couldn’t even go into the ocean because it was so cold, and especially, how could I go for two or three years every Monday. I can’t do this on my own strength, but this is how much God has blessed me, this is what I’m saying.
God has to give you the strength and grace for world evangelization to take place; you can’t do that just by setting your mind on it. Just as I remain within the covenant, I see God is guiding me and strengthening me everyday forward. This is the testimony of every other pastor as well. There’s not a single person who was set up for success among pastors; from a worldly perspective, they were all people who were cast off to the side and at best, they’re average. What can an average person do, go in front of people to teach? But don’t you think that God chooses the people that are weak, to show the strong ashamed and bashful to show them that it’s not the strength of the world that works.
Prayer
I hope you will realistically and actually enjoy this covenantal blessing and that your lifelong mission can be stuck on this temple construction, 237 nations, 5,000 unreached nature groups, and the future generations. Let us pray before God, holding onto the Word He has given us today. Don’t pray habitually, but pray before God who spirit is in front of you in the name of Jesus Christ with the covenant God has given you today. Let us pray together.