What Is a Benediction?
In John 4:23, Jesus conveys one of the most arresting statements made in Scripture. The Father is seeking worshipers. How is He seeking them? He’s seeking them through the gospel of Jesus. Jesus offers living water (John 4:10, 14), water that purifies and satisfies, even to the likes of this Samaritan woman. All who believe in Jesus are cleansed of sin and consecrated in Christ. As those rescued from sin and falsehood by His initiating grace, we are made worshipers. There is a sense in which believers worship in all that we do. All life is lived to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). But there’s another sense in which worship is a designated activity of the gathered people of God (Heb. 12:28). We assemble according to biblical mandate (Heb. 10:25) and we offer our sacrifice of praise (Heb. 13:15). We enter into His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise (Ps. 100:4).
However, in this worship of God, while we offer our praise for His mercy, God still takes the initiative. He calls us into His presence (Ps. 100:2). He speaks His word of peace in preaching (Eph. 2:17). He sends us out with His blessing (Num. 6:24–26). In the worship of God, we don’t waltz into His royal courts as though we have an inherent right to be there. Like the king with Esther, our God extends His scepter to us. He has called us into fellowship with Jesus (1 Cor. 1:9), and He likewise calls us to come before Him (Ps. 134:1). Imagine that—sinners invited to God’s throne room, sinners welcomed to the heavenly Jerusalem. In this moment of worship, we are caught up to Mount Zion and join our voices in praise with innumerable angels and the spirits of the righteous made perfect (Heb. 12:22–23). Oh, that this moment of heavenly entry could last forever! One day it will (Rev. 21:3–4).
But for now, in this fallen world, where worship is a reprieve and refreshment for weary souls, God not only calls us to enter His presence, but He also sends us out with His blessing. That is the beauty of a benediction. It is literally a “good word.” But it’s not just any good word. It’s the incorruptible word of the faithful God who has determined to bless His people. The benediction is a message to encourage believers contending with all kinds of trouble in the world: God is with you. God will keep you. God’s peace abides upon you.
A benediction is as though God stamps us afresh with the word that He is our God and we are His people.
The pattern of declaring God’s blessing is seen first in the famous Aaronic benediction in Numbers 6:24–26. There Moses is commanded to tell Aaron and his sons to bless God’s people. But the blessing is not from these men. It’s God’s own 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. (emphasis added)
Thus, Moses is told that Aaron and his sons are putting the Lord’s name on His people.
A benediction is as though God stamps us afresh with the word that He is our God and we are His people. You see, this good word is not a prayer—an offering up our desires to God for things agreeable to His will. Neither is it a doxology—our eruption of praise to the God of our salvation. A benediction is God’s assurance of His promises. It’s God expression to us of His favor.
Now, that favor does not come automatically. We are blessed because Christ was cursed for us. His outstretched arms on the cursed tree received the blow for our sin. He tasted death for us (Heb. 2:9). He took God’s unmitigated wrath, and He satisfied the justice of God for all who believe in Him. He Himself is our peace (Eph. 2:14). By His blood we draw near. We come to the Father by faith in Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18). And as we look to Christ and rest in Christ, God’s good word of blessing attends to us.
When Jesus ascended to heaven, our Great High Priest lifted up His hands in blessing (Luke 24:50). And when the church assembles to worship, in like manner, the last action of the service is one of divine blessing. The minister, as the ambassador of Christ, the man through whom God is making His appeal (2 Cor. 5:20), stands with outstretched arms and conveys God’s good word. In the New Testament, there are numerous benedictions—and strikingly, sixteen of the twenty-one epistles end with a benediction. Furthermore, the Bible’s last word is a benediction: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen” (Rev. 22:21). In other words, the Apostolic pattern was to send the saints out with God’s blessing. From the liturgies of Justin Martyr in the early church to Bucer, Calvin, and Knox in the Reformation, to the Westminster Directory, down to the present, the church has seen this biblical pattern and closed its services with God’s good word to His people.
What an encouragement it is to hear the triune God send us out assured of His love, grace, and abiding fellowship (2 Cor. 13:14). We are pilgrims eyeing the better country (Heb. 11:16), and the Lord is saying His goodness and mercy will pursue us all the way home (Ps. 23:6).
