God's Blessings Through the Ages

William Milne

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon – 2013

Hello and greetings, brethren. I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful time and being able to rejoice this year at the Feast of Tabernacles, and making the most of this great opportunity to receive more of God's blessings into your life at this time.

In starting off I would like to just share with you a little bit of looking back on my own life, my earlier life. I remember that my first awakening into an awareness of God and His Kingdom was when I was about five years old – this is in the late 1940's - and remembering back I can remember that... my mother taking me along to school to start my primary education and how I wasn't all that keen in going, but anyway, as we all do we are taken along and we join in. In those days was the class teacher would start each morning with 'The Lord's Prayer' and we'd have our whole class participating in this, indeed. Of course, 'The Lord's Prayer' itself we understand it's actually an outline given to the disciples so that it could help them to pray to the Father. Well, what was remarkable to me in 'The Lord's Prayer', shall we say, is in the reciting of these words every morning, when Matthew 6 and in verse 9, it starts and it says, Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. And then at the end where it says, For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

So this was, I suppose, rather a puzzle to me because I hadn't really heard about God or His Kingdom up to that point. My parents weren't regular church goers as such and I hadn't received any formal training as far as religious education was concerned, so it was a bit of a mystery to me and I just took it in, obviously as part of the school curriculum at that time.

Of course, much of this initial mystery and confusion in my mind with regards to this mysterious Kingdom of God has been removed over time, and this was especially true when I came across – in my late teens, this would be – I came across Herbert W. Armstrong for the first time and 'The World Tomorrow' program. This was in the Philadelphian Era of the Church. It was a regular feature on Radio Luxembourg. I really wouldn't have known anything about this – what, we're talking about 1959, 1960 possibly - and the reason I came across it at the time was that I had an interest as a teenager in listening to a popular music of the time and they had a late night show on what's basically called, 'The Talk 20', and they would start at number 20 and go down and down to 3-2 and then the top 1 of that particular week was played. So I was really interested in pop music at that time, especially the era of Elvis Presley, and of course I was into Elvis Presley and I thought he was a great singer. But at the end of that program we went directly on to 'The World Tomorrow' program at half past eleven at night and it really caught my imagination in a very strong way, it was very hard hitting, it was very 'grab your attention', the half hour programs that Mr. Armstrong was putting over and how he was answering all the amazing questions about "Why were you born?" and "Just what do you mean by salvation?", "water baptism", and beginning to explain the world as it had never been explained to me before. And that really did catch my imagination at that time.

Then from there we could say that it advertized the church magazine, which was called, 'The Plain Truth' magazine, and I subscribed to that and then I found the articles very informative and very...you know, they lifted the lid off so many mysteries to me at that time and it really did grab my imagination. I remember my wife saying that... talking about the radio program again, which... 'The World Tomorrow' program, that I was probably one of the very few people that switched...kept it switched on as a lot of people did listen to Radio Luxembourg at that time for the music content, but once Mr. Armstrong came on they would have switched it off because they weren't really wanting to go there in their thinking. So I was probably one of the few in the area that would continue to listen on.

It was also, I thought, it came to my mind in listening to the radio program, although we were – I think it was Johnny that mentioned a program back in the early days that would fade away and come back if you were going along, driving along the road and going into a dip. But that kind of experience happened to me quite often listening to it at home because the radio signals would fade away and come back and there was this...you definitely had to be keen on it to stay and listen to it.

Anyway, we progressed through 'The Plain Truth' and we came to the Correspondence Course and that sounded quite interesting so we enrolled in that and it really was an eye opener how it went through all these different subjects month by month, and how it just caught your imagination, and it fired my imagination anyway, and then a study came to where if you go through each subject and it would give you the scriptures and then you would be able to fill in a little card at the end of your studies – it was a multiple question card, if I remember right, and it would ask you various questions on a particular aspect of it and you would tick what one you thought would be and you would send away the card and hopefully you may get over 90% coming back to you as a result, and if you got that, well, you'd be quite happy with that and so forth and so on it went.

So in this way I learned so much more about God's Kingdom, this mysterious Kingdom beginning to put flesh to me and beginning to live, how learning about this world Government and the Feast of Tabernacles and God's Holy Day program and the Millennium and how it would last a thousand years and just how this whole amazing time period would be ushered in by Jesus Christ and His saints at that time.

So, the scriptures that stick in my mind would be, for example, the likes of Jude 1:14 where it says, And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints.

And also, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 - For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the Trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain should be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. These things, obviously, have caught people's imaginations over time and they certainly caught my imagination. Yes, and thinking... and so much is the excitement of God's Holy Day program as we learned about it and the Feast of Tabernacles and how this time symbolized the world tomorrow which it depicted, a world that was really full and had super abundance in it and it really was abundant with God's blessings. And I realized at that time, or I increasingly realized that we were having a troubled world and if the world was going to achieve a long-lasting peace, stability, and economic prosperity we would have to turn to God as these conditions depend upon God's blessings to guarantee an abundance in all our endeavours.

So, just ahead of us now are some of the greatest blessings that mankind is ever going to experience at the return of Jesus Christ with the 144,000 to set up God's world ruling Government, and part of these blessings will manifest themselves in a super high level of peace and a world without fear far beyond anything we have ever known. And on top of that the Government of God, which will be there at that time, along with the remnant Church, will then be given the privilege of bringing the knowledge of salvation and the way to eternal life to every human being then left alive at that time.

So the name of the sermon today that we're going to give is called God's Blessings Through the Ages, and today we're going to look at just how the blessings of God's Kingdom have been poured out and been with His people through millennia of time.

I will start quickly by defining what the title means, by what blessings, and then we'll move on to consider the examples of blessings from the Old Testament times from God, and then we'll move on to the present age and we'll finish off with having a look at some of the blessings that will come on the earth and on the people of God in the age to come.

So, exactly what do we mean by what 'blessings'? And looking up the definition of blessing in the Oxford Dictionary recently I came across the following. It can have various shades of meaning right enough and it does say that it could mean that 'a person is giving sanction or support to another person', for example, "He gave the plan his blessing even before it was announced." Also it can mean, 'a beneficial thing that is done for someone, which the person receiving it is very grateful for'. But I think the most appropriate meaning of the word 'blessing' or 'blessings' to be given is probably the one that says, 'related to God as having God giving favour and protection to an individual or a group of people'. As I said, there are various shades of meaning of the word 'blessing' but that's the one that we're going to focus on today.

So if we look at the beginning we're going to turn to Genesis 1 and read from verse 9. So looking at the beginning, back at the recreation of the earth where at the time God was reforming the earth so that man could have an environment whereby he could live and thrive and prosper. God's blessings certainly have been seen from the beginning of man's time here on earth right up to the present time, but in Genesis 1 and reading from verse 9 we read - And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear: so it was done. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas: and God saw that it was good. So that's important, one being good because it was very functional. Everything God does has a good function and it functioned well and works within in the laws that He has established.

Going on to verse 11 now - And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass and herb yielding seeds, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was after his kind... after his kind: and God saw that it was good. So in every sense of the word God starts the whole thing off and the situation is just full of blessings from God.

So we move on now to the next verse in Genesis 1 which is Genesis 1:26, where God brings into it, existence, mankind in the shape of Adam and Eve. And again, this is a blessing to give us awareness, to give us life, to give us a sample of what life can be and possibly what it shouldn’t be at this end-time. So it's there in verse 26 God says, And God said, Let us make man in our image, so that, to us, is a very important statement, because obviously God is creating man after His likeness; in a physical sense He's showing what He is like, but more importantly the long term goal is, of course, as we move through the plan is to be in the likeness of God in a spiritual sense whereby we put on the attributes and the characteristics and the nature of God as possibly described in Galatians 5, for instance, where you have the fruits of the spirit.

So it says, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created Him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them, see, He blessed them, so it was a blessing from God. And God says, Let them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it. So He's thinking through His plan ahead here where He wants to have a lot of children, a lot of people like Him in His Family, so He's making them fruitful and He wants them really to multiply the kind, the human kind on the earth.

So moving up to verse 31 it says, And God saw everything that He made and behold, it was all very good. So He was really pleased with His plan up to that point on and what He had created.

And so we know what happened after that and as much as the human species developed and really mushroomed on the earth and God had a terrible time with them in as much as they were doing all the wrong things and eventually He had to cut their existence short by bringing along Noah at that time so that mankind could be sustained and taken into the next era's. So the next major blessing on mankind would probably be when God decided that He was going to continue this plan through Abraham – at that time he was called Abram. So during the lifetime of Abram He started working with him and laying the foundations of an eternal spiritual relationship with mankind. It was then that God began to reveal some of His plans to mankind, to Abram, and to pour out major blessings on Abram and his descendants. Abraham was a man that God could work with. He was a man who had an attitude whereby he was willing to cooperate with God, to walk with God in the sense of agreeing with Him and knowing that God knew best and that at the end of the day things would work out great. And he was willing to learn and to think the same way as God.

So let's go back to the story in Genesis and see how God promises some amazing blessings to come Abraham's way, and we arrive at the time when God's making this covenant with him. Remember God's focus was from the beginning, was to create a Family of like-minded sons and daughters, and it would be through this covenant relationship with His people that He would progressively reveal His own perfect character and way of living that would produce age-lasting peace. This would happen not only by revealing His laws of living but also in the way He was going to dispense His blessings on mankind. So to start the process off God planned to start up this relationship with Abraham, who He knew to be someone He could work with and he wouldn't put up any high degree of resistance against Him to where we'd make progress and practical.

So we now come to Genesis 12 starting at verse 1; so Genesis 12 and verse 1 we read - Now the LORD said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and give thy....and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So, full of promise, full of blessings at that point.

So we'll just go on and read in Genesis 17 now, another encounter between God and Abram. Genesis 17:1 we read - And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect. So there were conditions involved here, conditions in the relationship, in other words.

And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. So the foundations are laid for a huge family, for the potential for a huge family to be brought into existence eventually. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. So very positive language here that God says is more or less. 'I have made thee' is more or less a certainty it's going to happen.

Okay, in verse 6 it goes on and says, I will make thee exceeding fruitful and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generation for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee, the land, another blessings, the land, they're going to have a...the children of Israel were going to have a relationship with the land of Canaan and it would be a great blessing to them as well. ...wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. And God said to Abraham, Thou shall keep My covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. So then wonderful blessings  are being poured on Abraham here, but through the promises that God is giving to Abraham. So Abraham see's that God has a lifestyle where He dispenses blessings and they are a natural by-product of if you cooperate with God He in turn through His lifestyle dispenses these blessings. And also Abraham realized that God had the power to make sure that these blessings did happen in people's lives and He, God, was committed to a lifestyle of giving and serving.

So then we move on through time through the time of Israel, through the time where they had two great kings by way of David of Solomon and how they were blessed to have these kings ruling over them; although they were not perfect they certainly worked well at the time of the peak of unity in Israel. And then through them, of course, we have the line of David, and then we came to the time of Christ where Christ Himself brought great blessings to mankind through His relationship with God and how He had to suffer persecution, a death, and He was resurrected. And through that resurrection there was a provision of a door being opened for mankind, that He was the Passover Lamb of God and that was God's sacrifice to mankind as such; so that door was opened where mankind could begin to have a spiritual relationship with the Father.

Then we have the blessing, the provision of the New Testament scriptures and the seven eras of God's Church, all blessings that God has given, during, shall we say present day situation, and then the training of large numbers of 144,000 during this period of time, who's membership we don't know but we'll find out eventually. And then we come to the raising up of Herbert Armstrong and the restoring of the Church and the Philadelphian Era – all these things are blessings, and in a way although you can look at it that the Apostasy was a terrible thing, and it was a terrible thing, but at the same time can be looked to as a blessing and as much as it's a massive lesson for mankind, for the future of mankind to learn from, and it's something that we should be very grateful for, that God has allowed us to come through that situation and of course enter into the remnant Church at this end-time; that is the Church of God – PKG, Preparing for the Kingdom of God.

And also, all these blessings work together to create a beautiful harmony, a beautiful whole, and creating and building God's spiritual Temple in as much as the form and shape of God's spiritual Family. All these people are being developed into the very spiritual image of God.

So we come to this present time. As we know, God has allowed mankind to experience 6,000 years of going his own way, doing his own thing, both at a personal level and a national and government level. And the lessons to be drawn from all this, and from all that, is that in the longer term, no matter what approach we take throughout our thinking, we are continually experiencing unpleasant consequences because of our choices. It's a cause and effect situation. So often our choices are wrong because God is not in the picture, and so we suffer for these poor choices and the effects are seen as inconvenience and curses in our lifestyle. On the other hand, if we as an individual or as a group start to make right choices in unity with God's thinking we will begin to be rewarded with blessings as we move in that direction. So blessings are a natural by-product of agreeing with God and starting to adopt His lifestyle.

Of course, man's big handicap is that he has been created to be totally hostile to God's way of living, and it's only since the death and resurrection of Christ that the way has been open on a spiritual level and that we have had an opportunity, once called by the Father, to have His spirit made available to us after personal baptism. Then we can go on to develop a spiritual relationship with God over a lifetime of overcoming of our natural human self. Then we can call on God through God's presence actually dwelling within us to help us overcome our inherent weaknesses and character faults and the spiritual problems and barriers in our life, and continue on through our lifetime journey to develop...to be developed into the likeness of Jesus Christ and of our Father. In other words, we are to become more and more likeminded with God and in unity with Him and His way of thinking.

The blessings are there and are given by God to encourage us along the way into realizing that it is well worthwhile to take the effort at overcoming our natural carnal natures and moving forward in cooperation with Him as He moulds and fashions us, and that as some future point in time He will be able to accept us into His spiritual Family as He will have tested us in this way and He will know us.

God's act, presence, and primary focus in the world today is in His work of moulding a people for His future Family through the means of His Church. At this time His Church is known by the name of, 'the Church of God – PKG'. The Church today is a significant blessing to mankind in that as much so much has been given to us through an abundance of spiritual food contained in the weekly Sabbath sermons given over the past few years. Looking at another aspect of our journey we recognize that we have had a difficult and sometimes stormy journey because of the frequent and unexpected turns of events in our recent history, nonetheless, it has been a journey of blessings and opportunities for overcoming our own built in personality and problems in our thinking and that it can and has resulted in spiritual growth for many people.

Now, we'll continue on by looking at Revelation 2 here and we can see a focus very much in Christ's mind when He was sending His letters, His messages to the various Church eras of God. The emphasis was very strongly placed on overcoming, and many.... we have many spiritual challenges in our lives, everybody has, and we have to overcome these challenges in our lives and continue in a relationship with God and with a life in His Church.

So now we'll read from Revelation 2 starting at verse 7 – Now in reading these blessings, I'm really going to be focusing on skimming over what Christ is saying related to overcoming as far as the first Churches are concerned, of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, and Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, just to focus on the positive here. And starting in verse 7 it says ...To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, so we're talking about part...eternal life here, and the tree of life, which is in the middle of the paradise of God.

And then it goes on to say, He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death, talking about, again, being allowed to enter into eternal life.

And then it goes on, Christ goes on to say ...To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna...

And then again, He says to Thyatira ...But that which ye have already, hold fast until I come. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations...

And then on to Sardis, it says ...Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain ...And remember therefore how thou hast received and heard; hold fast, and repent. The reason being that you don't want to defile your garments. So there are a few in Sardis that haven't defiled their garments and so God really wants them to be in a good condition so that they can...Christ can work with them and He says that...He that overcometh ...shall be clothed in white raiment...

And then going on to Philadelphia it says - Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar...a pillar, in the temple of My God, .... and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the City of My God, which is the new Jerusalem... So it's blessing upon blessing upon blessing upon positive comments through here.

And then when it goes on to Laodicea, although it says we have problem, we have kind of fallen badly, one of...harder, shall we say, but it goes on to say, I counsel you... to state that, I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in fire, so it's through... it's through the trials of this life that we can make progress here and overcome. ...As many as I love I have rebuked and chastened, therefore be zealous and repent. So it's all very much positive talking in many ways. So ...To him that overcometh I will grant to sit with Me on My throne even as I also overcame and are now set down with My Father on His throne.

And then as a final word on overcoming we move on to Revelation 21 starting at verse 5 where this message is coming now from on High as a final word in this situation. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And He said to me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be My son and daughter.

So where are we today? We stand at the threshold of a new age which will be bringing a time of undreamt of blessings to mankind, a change as God sets up His Kingdom. So let's now turn to Daniel 2 verse 44, a very inspiring verse, and we'll read from there. Daniel 2:44 - And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

And again, we're taken to Revelation 11:15, we'll just continue in that theme. Revelation 11:15 - Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our LORD and His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.

So what a blessing is in store for the whole world just in the immediate future, so it's to do with the Feast of Tabernacles. There is a command that comes from God to rejoice. God has declared long ago that there is a divine set theme for the Feast of Tabernacles that the people of God are commanded to rejoice, because of the wonderful time, because of His plan, because of the blessings that are just flowing from Him, and this has been commanded to take place during this thousand year period of time.

So let's just turn to Deuteronomy 16:14 and see what it says. So verse 14 – And thou shalt rejoice in thy Feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. Seven days shall you keep a solemn Feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore you shall surely rejoice. Notice the words – 'surely rejoice'. Other translations would render this – 'Be altogether joyful'.

So what does the Bible say about what it will be like in the age to come, to live into an age that is in complete contrast with what we are familiar with, an age of awesome blessing, which we can catch...we can catch a glimpse of this as it has been recorded in the Bible thousands of years ago? So what I have in mind is turning to Deuteronomy 28 and reading from verse 1; Deuteronomy 28, which is blessings and cursing's. Verse 1 - And it shall come to pass that if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shall hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, and the increase of thy kine, and of the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

And then in verse 8 it says, The LORD shall command and a blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand to do; and He shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. The LORD shall establish thee a holy people unto Himself, as He hath sworn unto thee, if, IF thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God and walk in His ways.

Moving on to verse 11 – And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

And the LORD, (verse 12)... And the LORD shall open unto thee His good reassures in heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thy shall led unto many nations and thou shalt not borrow.

And verse 13 – And the LORD shall make thee the head and not the tail, and thou shall be above only and thou shalt not be beneath; if thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD they God, which I command thee this day to observe them and to do them.

So in verse 14 it finishes off: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I commanded you this day, to the right hand, or to the left hand, to go after other gods and to serve them.

And so in concluding this sermon we'll just look back and see what we've done. We have focused in a more concentrated way on the fuller meaning of the concept of 'blessing', especially where God is blessing man. And we have carried out a quick survey on our journey through 6,000 years of time in the way that God has blessed us. So the windows of heaven have continued to be opened to mankind, possibly in a limited way because of a rebellion in a general sense, but some have been opened on mankind in a spiritual way to His people and to His Church.

Then we have come to the present day and we have seen such a period of dynamic blessings on God's word recently through the Philadelphia Era as a work, and such a powerful work to the world in a few decades past, and end-time blessings to mankind, and warning them of things to come and then as we have transferred onto the new era of the Church, the Church of the remnant, shall we say, the Church that has been promoting the warning through '2008 – God's Final Witness' and the way that God is still leading His people to maximize their spiritual growth at this time. We have looked at these things and we've looked at Deuteronomy where it's giving us a preview of the way blessings are really going to open up to us at that time.

In finishing off I'd just like to comment on God's feelings towards us and what He says in a couple of scriptures here. So the first one is to do with Jeremiah 29, starting at verse 10, and it's talking about another remnant here, the remnant of Judah coming out of Babylon at that time, and this is what God said: For thus saith the LORD, After seventy years are complete at Babylon I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place, that is Jerusalem, and to rebuild the temple. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, and to give you a future and a hope.

Then in verse 12 He says, Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you.

And in 13 it says, You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you, say's the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; and to do, we can look in that and say bringing us back from a spiritual captivity into a stronger relationship with our Father.

So it says, I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, said the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Then as a last comment I would just like to quote from Numbers 6 at verse 22. This is a priestly blessing that was given by God to Moses and was passed to the priesthood at that time with which they could bless the people on God's behalf. So Numbers 6:22 - The LORD said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons, This is how you are to bless the children of Israel; say to them, The LORD bless you, and keep you: The LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to You: The LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace. So they, the priests did that, As I put My name on the children of Israel and I will bless them.

So in looking at these two quotes from scripture we can see the intent and the motivation and the purpose of God towards His people Israel.

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