Sermon Notes: Exodus 39:32-43 - Then Moses Blessed Them
Exodus 39:32-43 Then Moses Blessed Them
Let’s read our text together: Exodus 39:32-43
Israel has completed all the work of making all the parts of the tabernacle just like the Lord has instructed them.
They bring all these parts to Moses to inspect, and everything is just like it is supposed to be. Everything is ready to be assembled.
Israel has done it!
At the end we read this amazing sentence: “Then Moses blessed them.”
Israel has completed the work, and Moses blesses Israel in response to their repentant obedience in following the Lord’s instructions. Moses’ blessing Israel will lead to them putting the pieces together and the Lord manifesting his presence among his people as the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle.
Amazing! Obedience. Blessing. Blessing leading to God’s glory being experienced by his people.
So, what does it mean that Moses blessed them? Who blesses who? Moses blesses Israel? What does it mean to bless and to be blessed? How does Moses bless? Can/how do we bless? What does blessing do for a person or group of people? Does blessing stick forever? How can we participate with God in blessing?
Today we are going to try and answer these questions. We can’t just read over that short and powerful sentence without understanding it.
It seems like it’s disconnected from everything else in the text, and it is in fact not disconnected. Moses’ blessing is directly related to Israel’s repentance in obedience, and it is integral and one of the greatest discipleship lessons we can learn.
What does it mean to bless and be blessed?
Blessing in the Bible is almost assumed. The divinely inspired authors assume we carry a Christian and supernatural worldview, know who we are, and thus understand how to operate. Thus, God must expect that of us, and thus it is up to the local church to teach such so that the people of God are equipped for such things.
We strive to teach for this end. Sometimes we need a little help in our recovery from naturalism to see what naturalism has blinded us from seeing.
According to Rolf Garborg's book "The Family Blessing", being blessed refers to the intentional act of speaking God's favor and power into someone's life, often accompanied by a symbolic gesture such as laying hands on the person. P. 13
NOTE: Garborg’s book is the resource for Desiring God’s little booklet “A Father’s Guide for Blessing his Children”.
Garborg identifies four categories of blessings in the Bible. One involves invoking God's blessing for the benefit of another. This kind of blessing is where the blessing moves from God through one person to another. This is done by expressing praise and well-being and goodness directly onto the person or group rather than directing requests to God, like we do in prayer.
Another category is the blessing spoken by one person to another or group, in the Lord’s name as his representative. These can be general, like speaking well of or praising someone. These can be specific, by deliberately imparting God’s favor in accord with his word. P. 13
This may sound strange to our ears, so let’s be reminded of where blessing comes from: Proverbs 18:21 (ESV) 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
Blessing, which involves using the power of human speech, uses God’s word and truth apart from God’s word that we observe daily, to impart life like Proverbs 18:21 says in expressing value, purpose, and encouragement to a person or group of people.
For individuals, blessing can bring comfort and reassurance. Blessing can heal strained relationships by affirming love in spite of conflict. Blessing can strengthen bonds of affection. Blessing can encourage spiritual growth, and blessing can give hope by looking forward to God keeping his promises.
For groups or families, blessing fosters a culture of hope, perseverance, and generational resilience. We see this in Israel where blessing enabled them to approach difficult circumstances with the confidence and courage of the Lord.
God sends prophets to do this blessing work.
Blessing like this extends beyond the moment and can touch future generations. For example, listen to Psalm 112:1-2 (ESV) 1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! 2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Here in Psalm 112:1-2 the offspring are blessed because man fears the Lord, delights in his commandments (his word), and because he heard God’s words spoken to him, he is blessed.
As God blesses us with his word applied to us in every way, God’s people on earth have his authority to speak his blessing to and for each other with his effect.
How does Moses bless, and can/how are we to bless?
I believe that because of what we’ve seen so far that if Moses can bless, and if death and life are in our speech toward one another, we are to use our speech to bless as the Bible teaches.
Death and life are in our speech, thus, we can bless and curse with our words.
James 3:9-10 (ESV) 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
Moses instructs Aaron how to bless the people, therefore, we can conclude that like he instructs Aaron to bless, he did the same.
Listen to how Moses instructs Aaron to bless the people of the Lord: Numbers 6:22-27 (ESV) 22 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 24 The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. 27 “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Aaron’s blessing affirms that humans can speak blessing, and they do this BY putting the Lord’s name on his people. We’ll say more about this in a moment.
So, as Aaron was to speak these true words over God’s people, likewise the priests of the Lord are to speak true words over God’s people, and in doing this the LORD’s name is put on the people. The metaphysics of speaking truth over and in doing so putting the NAME on God’s people is mysterious, yet reality. It just is.
This means we bless God’s people when we speak Scripture and other truths of God over them.
It’s very important to note here that not all blessing is affirming in nature. The Bible teaches that we bless also when we correct, and correction is NOT a curse.
Listen to Job 5:17-18 (ESV) 17 “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. 18 For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.
So, when the Lord sends a prophet to correct, that correction is blessing.
What does blessing do for a person or group of people?
According to Aaron’s blessing, we bless when we put God’s name on people, and we do this when we speak God’s truth over them.
Naming is a big deal image-bearing work of God’s representatives on earth in order to make it like heaven.
God gives the task of naming to Adam and his descendants.
Naming has a powerful blessing component to it as well as the potential to curse to it. Thus, we are to be careful what names we put on people and things and not put the names of cursing on people and things.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, remember?
Therefore, when we speak God’s word over people, we are participating with God in powerful ways to see that others have access to life.
Thus, God calls us to preach, speak, communicate the good news of the kingdom because those words bring the blessing of the possibility of salvation to a person. Speaking the good news is a blessing that can be received or shunned.
So, when we speak God’s word, we bring life to bear where death is having impact.
Does blessing stick forever?
Blessing does not stick forever.
It’s clear that Aaron was to bless the people not merely one time, but he was to bless the people regularly.
Blessing is remembered by God, with its fruit expected to increase if those who are blessed with God’s goodness choose to remain in that goodness. And God’s people are to continue to heap blessing upon blessing on each other.
We know this because Israel receives the blessing of the Lord through Moses and Aaron, and they will later choose the curse and receive the fruit of the curse. That’s why there is an uncomfortable tension here at the end of Exodus.
Deuteronomy 28 is hard. It’s a list of the blessings for obedience, and the curses for disobedience. It was up to them to decide if they wanted the blessing to stick or not.
Aaron would bless Israel with God’s prescribed words of blessing, and they would shrug off that blessing in favor of gods of their own comfort and incur the curse.
Listen to how Moses finishes off the book of the covenant with Israel before he leaves them in Joshua’s hands: Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (ESV) 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Blessing sticks if we choose life, choose obedience, choose the blessing. As soon as we choose disobedience, the curse of death begins to creep in and creates chaos.
Thus, hearing the Lord in all the ways the Lord chooses to speak and obeying him is vital to staying in the power of the blessing and the power of life available to the people of God.
Application: How can we participate with God in blessing?
1. Understand the people of God blessing one another with all the truth of God is not complicated.
Blessing with our words is just fact and the way God wired his world to work.
We are just unfamiliar with blessing, and we have by default in our tribe seen such biblical things as “hooey”. That’s a shame.
The questions for us are: Will we believe what God has said, and will we discipline our words to only bless and not curse?
2. Understand blessing has powerful effect, and it is also not a one-time fix all.
Blessing is an ongoing God-given tactic of spiritual warfare to help us overcome the power of the curse of sin in individuals, the local church, and the creation.
Don’t assume blessing remains without ongoing repentance, ongoing faith, and continual blessing. We can’t bless one another enough with our words.
Do expect good when we bless and those blessed are quick to repent and strive by the Spirit’s help to stay in the course.
3. Just like blessing is powerful, so is participating in lies and deceit.
Lies and deceit bring us in league with dark forces in putting the curse and spiritual destruction on people.
Be careful how you use your tongue, and I don’t necessarily mean the occasional salty and frustrated exclamation. I do mean putting disparaging names and character traits on people in frustration over their behavior. Example: You are lazy and a no-good fool! Such a statement defines a person’s being and informs actions, and my hunch is most of us really don’t believe that in spite of what the Bible says.
The dark forces and their prophets among us wield evil words with effect. Don’t be in league with them.
Don’t be caught off guard by them when they throw evil your way.
Listen to God’s word and be aware: Proverbs 26:2 (ESV) 2 Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight.
The implication is that evil words with a cause can land. If it were not so, God would not have likened a causeless curse to be like a flitting bird.
By implication, a curse with cause is like a tomahawk cruise missile, and they will destroy what they hit.
Jeremiah 29:21-23 (ESV) 21 ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. 22 Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” 23 because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.’”
God gives us an example of a curse, the opposite of blessing, that is rooted in the disobedience and rebellion of Zedekiah and Ahab to be applied on the similarly disobedient and rebellious with the effect that those it is directed at would epitomize the nature of the curse spoken.
The purpose of sharing this text with you is to give you a negative example of blessing. The implications here are worth discussing, but not now. I want you to wrestle with it a little.
We can no longer let the forces of darkness and their followers own the supernatural and powerful. All things are ours in Christ, and part of our kingdom labor is ruling over it like God sent us to do in Genesis 1:26-28.
4. Use your tongue to bless your family and your church family.
Use your tongue to bless your wife, husband, and children. Speak the Bible over them and speak the truths of creation to them.
Use your tongue to overwhelm sin with the blessing of the name of Jesus on and over one another in the local church.
We have enough gossip and discontentment in local churches.
Try speaking blessing to and over folks.
5. Let’s pray together and receive the blessing of God’s word.
Increase us.
Help us to be holy.
Send us.
TRC, receive the blessing of the LORD in his name being placed on you: Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV) 24 The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.