With these words this wonderful chapter closes, and the great object of God in bestowing His blessing upon His people is revealed: "They shall put My Name upon the children of Israel," or, in other words, shall cause them not only to become the people of God, but also to become manifestly such.
In olden time names were not meaningless, but were descriptive of character or relationship. The various names of God are all full of significance, and each is always used designedly in the Bible: failing to recognize this, learned, but spiritually-ignorant men have imagined the Old Testament writings to have been mere compilations from the works of different authors, and have failed to see the beautiful appropriateness of the various names of God as they are used in different connections.
In the preceding benediction the thrice repeated Name of Jehovah has revealed to us the triune God in His gracious relations with His redeemed people, and has also reminded us that in these relationships He is the unchanging One, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; for all this is contained in the Name Jehovah. And thus the expression, "They shall put My Name upon the children of Israel," implies the purpose of God that in His people should be manifested, not only the beauties of His Divine character, but also the unchanging relationship in which they stand to Him. Israel of old was, and still is, God's witness in the world. In all their unfaithfulness, their very existence as a separate people is a standing miracle, witnessing to the truth of prophecy. But had they been faithful they would have been much more than this; for the beauty of the Lord their God would have been upon them; and receiving His blessing themselves, they would have become a blessing to the world. We who are now the children of God—Christians upon whom the Name of Christ has been called—are intended to be witnesses for our Master, and to show forth the beauties of Him who has "called us by His own glory and virtue." (2 Peter i. 3.—R.V.)
There is an interesting parallelism between the passage we are considering and the commission given by our Lord to His people to disciple all nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. True Christians are kept by the power of God ("the Lord bless thee and keep thee"), in the grace which is in Christ Jesus ("the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee"), and receive the illumination of the Holy Ghost ("the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee"), in order that they may shine as lights in the world, and become living epistles, known and read of all men.
It is deeply interesting also to connect the sealing of this passage with that of Rev. vii and xiv. In the former passage (Rev. vii. 1-3) we see the powers to whom the plagues are committed restrained until the sealing of the servants of God is completed. The hundred and forty and four thousand are all sealed—a mystical and symbolical number of the mystical and symbolical Israel, not of Israel according to the flesh. For in this book of Revelation the Lamb does not mean an animal, but the Lamb of God. The beast does not mean a literal wild beast, but the spiritual wild beast who destroys the children of God. So the twelve thousand of the tribe of Judah refers to the praising ones of Christ's fold; the sealed of Asher to the happy ones, who bless the Lord at all times; those of Naphtali, to those satisfied with favour, full with the blessing of the Lord; those of Reuben, to the once unstable as water, but now fully saved ones; &c., &c.
In Rev. xiii we find the great tribulation in progress, and those still left on the earth persecuted sorely, many of them to the death, by the beast. But the hundred forty and four thousand of Rev. xiv are not among them; they were caught up before the tribulation commenced, having been accounted worthy (Luke xxi. 34-36), to escape the things coming on the earth, and to stand before the Son of Man. Such are not only virgins, undefiled by spiritual adultery with the world, but also wise ones, filled with the Spirit: they are not only waiting for the coming of the Bridegroom, but ready for that coming; whereas the unwise have to go and buy oil, and so miss their opportunity. In Rev. xiv we see that God's Name is written on the foreheads of these wise virgins, and that in their mouths is a song which no one else can sing. They are a first-fruits Bride united to the first-fruit's Bridegroom, and were redeemed (not from among the Jews only, but from among men), unto God and the Lamb. Other believers, then in the tribulation, shall join them later and form the harvest unto God (Rev. vii. 14-17), and will come with the Bridegroom and Bride when our Lord is revealed from heaven in flaming fire to take vengeance on the ungodly (2 Thess. i, 6-10). The harvest is not only separated from the first-fruits in Rev. vii and xiv, but also in Rev. xx. We may read verses 4-6 more clearly if we render the second clause of verse 4, "I saw also the souls of them, &c.," instead of "and I saw, &c." and the last clause, "They also lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." We thus see the enthroned Bridegroom and Bride and the harvest, the Body of Christ, forming the first resurrection, and together reigning in glory.
"And I will bless them." A word of encouragement to Aaron and his sons in pronouncing the blessing, as well as to the people who received it. The blessing was preceded by God's command ("Speak unto Aaron ... On this wise ye shall bless"), and followed by the promise quoted above; even as our Saviour in giving His last commission to disciple all nations, preceded it by, "All power is given unto Me...: Go ye therefore;" and followed it by the assurance and promise, "Lo, I am with you alway." In the word of a King there is power; and when His servants carry out His commands, our King is present to authenticate them, and to ensure the result.