#blessed: Lesson 2: Part 1
Welcome back to 10-Minute Bible Study!
I am so excited to get into this week’s lesson. We are studying the word blessed, so let’s refresh our memories quickly.
BACKGROUND
There are four main words which have been translated blessed in our modern English Bible translations:
Old Testament (Hebrew)
barak
esher
New Testament (Greek)
eulogeo
makarios
APPLICATION
Last week we started with barak and eulogeo, and next week we will move on to esher and makarios. This week we are going to finish up our study of barak and eulogeo by answering one final (but very important) question:
Is there more to the word blessed than popular culture acknowledges?
Oh my goodness…YES!
Last week we looked at the first time God blessed man in the Bible:
God blessed [barak] them [Adam and Eve]; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28, NASB)
The second time God blessed man in the Bible was very similar:
And God blessed [barak] Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth…(Genesis 9:1, NASB)
The word translated fruitful in these passages means “to bring forth fruit.” It includes the insinuation of growth. In Scripture, and in nature for that matter, “fruit” is symbolic of that which brings good to others.
The word translated multiply means “to be or become much, many, or great,” and it essentially refers to increasing the numbers of something.
In God’s first two recorded blessings to His people, He commanded them to be fruitful and multiply. Now let’s take a look at the third time God blessed man in the Bible because this time it’s a little different. We glanced at this passage last week, but today I am going to pull in verse 1 in order to get the full context:
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3, NIV)
This is the first time God’s blessing is spoken as a promise - God says I will. It is a promise which is contingent upon Abram’s (later called Abraham) obedience to God’s command. In the first two blessings, God commanded them to be fruitful and multiply. This time, however, God acknowledges man’s dependence upon Him. God says if Abram would be obedient, then He would do fruit-bearing and the multiplying.
This promise of blessing was confirmed to Abraham and his descendants:
Abraham
↓ (Genesis 26:2-5)
Isaac
↓ (Genesis 35:9-12)
Jacob (later called Israel)
↓ (Genesis 32:22-28)
JESUS
Just as we talked about in Lesson 1, Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham because ALL people on earth were blessed through him!
When Jesus showed up, the reach of the blessing broadened. All of a sudden, the promise God gave to Abraham went from being an inheritance of the Israelites to being an inheritance of the whole world.
There’s something really interesting I have to stop and point out here. The modern English word bless originated from the Old English word blod. Does that word remind you of anything? You probably guessed it…
Blood!
When Jesus gave His life on that cross, He became the final, ultimate, perfect sacrifice for the sin of mankind.
Therefore, as we said last week, if we accept this gift then we can inherit the blessing of God’s promise because of the blood of Jesus Christ!
God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. (Galatians 3: 8b-9, NLT)
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:29, NASB)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:3, ESV)
When we accept the gift of Jesus Christ, we are in Christ. To be in Christ means we have:
believed He is the Son of God Who came to earth to die as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins
confessed our sinfulness before God and asked Him to forgive us
committed to live our lives for Him
We know from what we learned last week that when we accept the gift of Jesus Christ, we are fully blessed and consecrated to God. Furthermore, when we are in Christ we become heirs to the promises given to Abraham and his descendants, and we become heirs to every spiritual blessing found throughout Scripture!
Every. Spiritual. Blessing.
Favor.
Protection.
Grace.
God’s presence, attention, love, and friendship.
Peace.
God’s Name upon us.
And those are all found in just one passage of Scripture! (Numbers 6:22-27)
Oh how I would love to be able to dive into a study of the blessings right now, but we’ll save that for another lesson.
The ultimate question is why? Why do we inherit every spiritual blessing?
To be fruitful and multiply!
We are meant to produce spiritual fruit to multiply the numbers of Heaven. It goes back to what we learned in Lesson 1: we’re blessed to be a blessing.
We inherited the blessing to be a blessing!
And with that, I’ll see you back for Part 2 in a few days:)
PONDER
1. I know we asked last week, but we are asking one more time: Am I in Christ?
*If your answer is “no” or “I’m not sure,” you can change that right now - in prayer just between you and God! You can pray something like this:
God, thank You for creating me and loving me. Thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay the price for my sin. Forgive me of my sins, and make me new. From this moment forward, I give you my life. Thank you for saving me.
If you prayed that prayer for the first time or the first time in a long time, please let us know! You can contact us here____________. We will be happy to help you get connected to a church in your area if you don’t already have one!
2. If I am in Christ, am I living in a way in which I fully understand the spiritual blessings I have inherited?