Crystallization-Study of Ezekiel (2)
Message Four
The God of Blessing and the Blessing of God
Scripture Reading: Ezek. 34:26-27a; Gen. 12:3; 1:28; Num. 6:23-27; Psa. 133:3; Eph. 1:3; Gal. 3:14; 1 Cor. 10:16a
I. Through His shepherding, the Lord brings us into the enjoyment of His blessing and causes us to become a source of blessing under the showers of blessing—Ezek. 34:26-27a, 29; Zech. 10:1:
A. First, we ourselves enjoy the Lord’s blessing, and then the Lord will cause us to become a source of blessing to others so that they may be supplied—Ezek. 34:26.
B. God will cause the showers of blessing to come down in their season—Zech. 10:1.
II. God is a God of blessing—Gen. 1:22, 28; Psa. 115:13:
A. In His creation of man, God intended that man might enjoy God as his blessing, but through the fall of Adam, man lost God as his blessing and enjoyment—Gen. 1:28; 3:23-24.
B. God’s blessing promised to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 consists of the blessings of creation and redemption, including all that God wants to give man—God Himself and all that He has in this age and in the age to come:
1. In His preaching of the gospel to Abraham, God promised that He would give Himself to the called ones as a blessing—Gal. 3:8, 14.
2. According to Genesis 22:18, this blessing would come to all the nations through Abraham’s seed, who is Christ—Matt. 1:1; Gal. 3:16:
a. God’s blessing of Abraham eventually issued in Christ as the unique seed in whom all nations of the earth are blessed—Acts 3:25-26; Gal. 3:16.
b. All the believers in Christ, as members of the corporate Christ, are included in this seed as heirs of God’s promised blessing—1 Cor. 12:12; Gal. 3:7, 29.
III. We need to treasure God’s blessing—Deut. 28:2-8; Psa. 84:4-5; Eph. 1:3:
A. The normal life of a Christian is a life of blessing, and the normal work of a Christian is a work of blessing—Num. 6:23-27; Matt. 5:3-11; 24:46; John 20:29; Gal. 3:14; 2 Cor. 9:6; Rom. 15:29.
B. The day must come when we realize that in our work, in our Christian life, and in our church life, everything depends on God’s blessing—Eph. 1:3.
C. In serving the Lord, we should believe in and treasure God’s blessing—Rom. 15:29:
1. We need to learn to live and to practice the church life in a way that does not hinder God’s blessing—Acts 1:14; 2:46; 4:24; 5:12.
2. We should rely on God’s blessing and eliminate the barriers that prevent us from receiving it.
D. We need to treasure and focus on the New Testament blessings: regeneration (John 3:3, 6; 1 Pet. 1:3), the divine life (1 John 5:11-12) and the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), the indwelling Spirit (Rom. 8:9, 16), transformation (2 Cor. 3:18), being one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), and being like God (1 John 3:2) and entering into His glory (1 Pet. 5:10).
E. Like Paul, we may experience “the fullness of the blessing of Christ”—Rom. 15:29.
IV. In Genesis 1:28 God blessed man to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it:
A. Before God had a man to express Him and represent Him, there was no way to pour out His full blessing—vv. 26-27.
B. After God created man, He was able to see on earth a living creature bearing His image and having His dominion, so immediately, God bestowed His full blessing upon man.
C. The qualifications for receiving God’s blessing are image and dominion—vv. 26, 28.
D. Because the priesthood is for God’s image and the kingship is for God’s dominion, God’s blessing is with the priesthood and the kingship—14:17-19.
V. In Numbers 6:23-27 the Divine Trinity is revealed in the threefold blessing of Jehovah to His people:
A. The blessing in Numbers 6:23-27, like that in 2 Corinthians 13:14, is the eternal blessing of the Triune God:
1. This eternal blessing is the Triune God dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity into us for our enjoyment.
2. In the entire universe the unique blessing is the Triune God, and this blessing comes to us through the dispensing of the Divine Being into us in His Divine Trinity—in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—Eph. 1:3-14.
B. In Numbers 6:24-26 we have the blessing of the Triune God:
1. “Jehovah bless you and keep you” can be ascribed to the Father—v. 24.
2. “Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you” can be ascribed to the Son—v. 25.
3. “Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace” can be ascribed to the Holy Spirit—v. 26.
4. The Father blesses us, the Son shines upon us, and the Holy Spirit lifts up His countenance upon us; as a result, we are kept, we receive grace, and we have peace.
VI. Psalm 133 reveals that the blessing of life is intrinsically related to the oneness of God’s people; we must practice the oneness to bring in God’s blessing:
A. The life in Psalm 133:3 is the eternal life of God (John 3:16; Eph. 4:18), which is commanded by God as a blessing to those who dwell together in oneness in the church life:
1. Psalm 132 typifies the church life, and Psalm 133 typifies the church living—the highest living, a living in which the brothers dwell together in oneness.
2. Such a living causes God to come in to bless us with the anointing Spirit, the watering grace, and the eternal life—vv. 2-3.
B. If we would be under the Lord’s commanded blessing of life, we must be on the ground of oneness—v. 3.
C. The one accord is the master key to every blessing in the New Testament—Rom. 15:5-6, 29.
VII. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ—Eph. 1:3:
A. The Father is the source of the divine blessing, the Spirit is the nature and essence of the divine blessing, and the Son is the sphere, the element, and the means of the divine blessing.
B. The nature and essence of the divine blessing are of the Spirit, but the element of this blessing is Christ Himself; for Christ to be the element of God’s blessing means that Christ Himself is the divine blessing.
C. Christ, the Son Himself, is the blessing; the Spirit is the nature and essence of the blessing; and the Father is the source who gives this blessing.
VIII. Galatians 3:14 indicates that the Spirit is the blessing that God promised to Abraham for all the nations and that has been received by the believers through faith in Christ—vv. 2, 5:
A. The blessing promised by God to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 for all the nations of the earth was fulfilled; the blessing has come to the nations in Christ through His redemption on the cross—Gal. 3:13.
B. In the gospel (v. 8), we have received not only the blessing of forgiveness, washing, and cleansing; even more, we have received the greatest blessing, which is the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—as the processed, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit dwelling in us in the most subjective way for our enjoyment.
IX. The Bible uses the word cup to indicate blessing—Psa. 23:5; 1 Cor. 10:16a:
A. Under Christ’s shepherding, our cup runs over as we enjoy the Father as the source of blessing—Psa. 23:5; Eph. 1:3.
B. In 1 Corinthians 10:16a Paul speaks of “the cup of blessing”:
1. This cup is the new covenant, comprising all the rich blessings of the New Testament, including God Himself—Matt. 26:28:
a. In this new covenant God gives us forgiveness, life, salvation, and all spiritual, heavenly, and divine blessings.
b. When this new covenant is given to us, it is a cup, a portion for us—Luke 22:20.
c. The Lord shed His blood, God established the covenant, and we enjoy the cup, in which God and all that is of Him are our portion.
2. At the Lord’s table, when we drink the cup, we receive God’s blessing—the blessing that is God Himself—Psa. 23:5; Matt. 26:27-29; 1 Cor. 11:25.