The Good News of Isaiah 61:9 = Benefits and Blessings

The Good News of Isaiah 61:9 = Benefits and Blessings.

“Your descendants will be honored among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. Everyone who sees them will take notice and realize that they are people the Lord Yahweh has blessed with favor.” (Isaiah 61:9).

Covenant Faithfulness. In Isaiah’s prophecy here the Lord God promises to maintain His care for the chosen people from one generation to the next. God vows to remain loyal to His eternal covenant agreements with Abraham, Moses and David. The Lord Yahweh promises to keep His side of the bargain, and He will bless His people whether they fulfill their side of the agreement or not.

Blessed with Favor: Granted with what is needed to flourish, thrive and prosper; to receive undeserved favors and benefits; to be made fruitful and productive; to receive what is needed for one’s well-being and fulfillment; to have God act in their best interests; to be able to enjoy wholeness and spiritual abundance; to be able to live as God intended all people to live.

When God’s believers are blessed, God gets the glory. When God’s chosen people flourish, everyone recognizes that those people haven’t done anything to make themselves thrive, therefore it must all be God’s doing. It’s like when a child is obviously maturing into a solid citizen, it reflects well on the parents. God Himself declared that He didn’t choose the people of Israel because they were particularly numerous, successful, righteous, gifted or powerful. The chosen people were actually a rather insignificant tribe of very stubborn people. Their success in this world was clearly not due to their own efforts or abilities, but is instead an obvious case of God’s grace. The fruitfulness of the children of Abraham was and is a testament to God’s favor and empowerment despite the people’s faults and inadequacies. Because the Lord blessed an inadequate people, the nations had no choice but to acknowledge God’s adequacy. Since His people don’t seem to be naturally all that virtuous, any virtue we see in them must have come from God’s character which is the original source of all virtue.

What God’s Blessings Look Like: High Priest Aaron’s Version. When the Lord dictated Aaron’s high priestly blessing, we are able to see one angle of the God-blessed life. The first phrase of that prayer in Numbers 6:22-27, “May the Lord bless you…” is the topic sentence, the summary of what is to follow. The rest of the prayer reveals a profound glimpse of what God’s blessings look like…

1. The Lord blesses us by keeping us, protecting us, providing for us on our journey; by sustaining us and enabling us to live a godly life each day; by being our refuge and stronghold from spiritual enemies.
2. The Lord blesses us by making his face to shine upon us, revealing His glorious face to us so we can spiritually experience Him eye-to-eye; by enabling His face to light up when He looks upon us in intimate friendship; by radiating His light onto us as he takes pleasure in us and reveals His fondness for us; by expressing His divine approval of in His presence.
3. The Lord blesses us by being gracious to us, by showing us His undeserved favor and His unearned gift of good will; by revealing to us His unmerited kindness and His unexpected spiritual blessings that bring us delight and pleasure; by offering us His free gift of acceptance with no strings attached and His divine favor to those who don’t deserve it; by showing mercy to all of us who haven’t earned it, free of charge; by restoring, renewing and healing all of us who are broken whether or not we deserve it; by providing compassion and lovingkindness as a free gift for no apparent reason other than sheer grace.
4. The Lord blesses us by lifting His face towards us, by being our watchman who is always standing by without passing us by; by giving us His attention and looking upon us with favor; by allowing us to see Him face-to-face through His Holy Spirit; by personally recognizing us as His beloved; for giving us spiritual eye contact; by agreeing to be intimately familiar with us and not merely a passing acquaintance.
5. The Lord blesses us by giving us shalom, by enabling us to be reconciled with Him; by strengthening us to be freed from anxiety and worrisome fears; by helping us to remain at peace with friends and enemies; by empowering us to heal strife and discord between others; by healing our inner divisions in our spirit and mind; to desire for us to flourish, to thrive, to enjoy wholeness and well-being; by granting us spiritual abundance through Jesus.

What God’s Blessings Look Like: King David’s Version. “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” In Psalm 103 we find an exquisite song of praise composed by David. He is finding great joy in simply counting His blessings, since “benefits” basically means blessings of divine favor and kindhearted acts of good will. David is exulting in Yahweh’s generous deeds of love and His bountiful mercies, celebrating what it means to be blessed by His Lord God. The Hebrew term for benefits implies that all these divine acts of favor are rewards for remaining loyal to the Covenant agreement, the rewards being Covenant blessings for obedience to what God expects of His people. David’s list of rewards for obedience are covenant blessings and miracles of kindness… forgiving all our sins; healed from all manners of spiritual sickness; redeemed from the very pit of hell; surrounding us with His grace and compassion; making  us content with His goodness; renewing within us the inner strength and vitality of our youth; bringing justice to those of us who are oppressed, demonstrating His character as expressed to Moses on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 34, being merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in grace and forgiveness; treating us  better than we deserve and not holding grudges against us for our sinfulness; removing our sins from us an immeasurable distance; extending His righteousness from generation to the next, providing we keep His Covenant and remember to do what He wants us to do. David provides a worthy example for all of us as he rejoices in God’s benefits, celebrates the rewards of obedience, and simply counts his blessings from a joyous heart of gratitude.

What God’s Blessings Look Like: Rabbi Jesus’ Version. The Lord’s blessings are often gradual and in process, they grow slowly over time and circumstance. His blessings often require our trust in His character, that He indeed is good, merciful, and wants what’s best for us. His blessings are not necessarily sudden gifts from God’s hand, but may actually begin with what looks more like a curse than a blessing, more like a punishment than a gift. The beginnings of a blessing may not look like the finished product. The root of a blessing is often below the ground unseen, and may not be apparent until the blessing breaks ground and reaches full bloom. Sometimes the welcome embrace of a blessing begins with something that feels more like a kick in the teeth. Our Lord is a Redeemer who loves to take something bad and turn it into something good, a situation in which we deserve to be pitied replaced by a blessing in which we deserve to be envied. The Redeemer seems to have designed His blessings with that in mind… opportunities for redemption. The beginnings of a blessing  might be something to complain about which then becomes something to be grateful for. The Lord’s blessings are God’s acts of good will and are generous gifts of love, but they often come in disguise. For example:

1. We are actually enjoying God’s favor when we are poor and helpless. We will shout for joy when we are humbled by life and left empty-handed. This is a blessing because when we are spiritually bankrupt and dependent on God, the Messiah comes to us offering spiritual riches. Blessings in the full bloom of hope and courage replaces our poverty with fullness of life. We are to be congratulated with this blessing because we are now ready to leave our destitute condition and enjoy the Kingdom of God. He will now complete His blessing by filling our spiritual bank account.
2. We are being blessed when we are brokenhearted. We will sigh with relief when we find ourselves broken by rejection or loss, by shame or guilt or failure. The irony of this blessing is that when we are grieving in sadness, we know that the blessings of joy and healing are just around the corner. When we mourn we are most fortunate, because the anointed Messiah is ready to heal our woundedness, to comfort us in our sorrow. Happy are we when we realize we are not alone in our brokenness. What a blessing when He is present with us in the midst of our pain and joins us in our despair. The Anointed One blesses us with His comforting grace and healing presence, and will revive us and restore us to full health and gladness.
3. What a blessing it is to be in a state of weakness.  No one can explain this truth better than St. Paul… “I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me: ‘My favor and lovingkindness are enough for you; My merciful love is all you need. In fact, my strength comes into its own in your weakness. My power shows itself most effective when you are weak.’ Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weakness and infirmities, so that the strength of Christ Jesus may pitch a tent over me and dwell upon me. Now I take limitations in stride and with good cheer, delighting in opposition, in bad breaks, in insults, in weaknesses, in perplexities, in distresses, and in all kinds of hardships. I just let Christ take over! For when I am weak in human strength, then am I truly powerful in divine strength. The weaker I get, the stronger I become!” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, a weaving together of the Message, NIV, and the Amplified Bible versions).
4. God is blessing us when we are persecuted and insulted. W are to be congratulated on our good fortune when we are mistreated for doing what is right. What a blessing to be a charter member of a select group known as the Fellowship of Suffering (Philippians 3:10). We are in good company when we are treated badly for doing good. As Jesus proclaimed in Matt. 5:11-12, “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.” “Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.” (Luke 6:22-23).
5. You are being blessed when you are burdened. The roots of this blessing may appear to be anything but a gift from God. When this blessing breaks ground, though, the sense of oppression or being weighed down by life will joyfully result in those burdens being lifted, and the feelings of being bruised by life’s difficulties will eventually result in healing and encouragement and great strength. Come to Me, says Jesus, if life is burdensome, and I will give you rest for your souls. Come to Me, says Jesus, and My blessings will continue to abound in your life.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39).