The final credits in a movie are irrelevant to most people. They simply announce the end of the movie and that it’s time to leave the cinema. As a child sitting in church, I had a similar understanding of the benediction in worship. I always looked forward to the minister standing before the congregation, lifting up his arms, and pronouncing the benediction. For me, it signalled the end of the worship service.
As a child, I saw the benediction as irrelevant. It simply meant it was time to go home and have lunch. However, seeing the benediction merely as the end of a service misses the whole point. The benediction is a profound blessing for the believer.
Defining Benediction
The word “benediction” comes from the Latin words “bene” meaning good, and “dicere” meaning to speak. Thus, a benediction is to speak good of someone. When God, in his Son Christ Jesus, speaks good of his people, it is a blessing for his people. The American Presbyterian theologian William S. Plumer best defined a benediction as “the ministerial and authoritative pronunciation of a blessing upon the people in the name of the Lord.”
Benedictions in the Bible
The first instance of the sacerdotal benediction is in Genesis 14, where Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, blessed Abram in the name of God.
Later, in Sinai, in Numbers 6, God tells Moses to speak to Aaron and his sons, whom he made priests of Israel, to bless the people with what we now call the Aaronic blessing: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
When the priest of Israel pronounced these words with his hands lifted high over the congregation, God himself blessed his people. Numbers 6:27 makes this clear, where God says, “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Thus, the benediction is no ordinary, empty religious ritual. It is an objective reality of God blessing his people through the officers whom he has ordained to minister to him and his people. In these sacred blessings, the covenant people of God receive true blessings when the word of God is pronounced over them, invoking God’s holy name.
The Benediction of Jesus Christ
As those who have broken covenant with God, sinners deserve to experience the covenant curses for disobedience. Instead, God does not curse us; he pronounces a blessing. God blesses us because he cursed Christ Jesus on the cross for our sins.
As Saint Paul writes in Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'”
Christ not only dies to forgive our sins but also to remove the curse of the law and to usher in God’s blessing. It is always God’s desire and deepest delight to bless his people through those who serve as his ministers. This finds fulfilment in Jesus Christ, who is God’s high priest and minister. Only in and through Jesus Christ can anyone receive blessing from God.
After Jesus died for the sins of God’s people and rose to new life, he pronounced a benediction as he ascended into heaven. In Luke 24:50-51, we read, “And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.”
Thus, we see that the blessings of God are now given to his people in his Son, Christ Jesus, to all those who are united to him by faith.
Benediction in Worship Service
Christ has ascended to the heavens, and he is no longer physically present with us. But he still pronounces his endless benediction upon his people in the church through his ministers. Thus, when the minister rises, raises his arms, and pronounces God’s word of blessing upon you, God is the one who is blessing you through him.
As a minister of the gospel, I look forward to pronouncing the benediction every Lord’s Day. I consider it one of the greatest privileges I get to do as a pastor. Through this weak, sinful, and unworthy vessel, God blesses his people.
It is the blessed privilege of the people of God to come to church week after week and receive God’s benediction. What an incredible thing it is to know that you did nothing to deserve this blessing of God, yet hear it freely pronounced to you in Christ Jesus every Lord’s Day! Blessed be God for his beautiful benediction!
