Christ's Mission Described in the Aaronic Blessing

Not long after Moses and the children of Israel constructed their tabernacle, Moses explained several religious practices to the children of Israel. One of those was what is called the Aaronic blessing, which is a priestly blessing that Aaron and his sons were to give to the people on a regular basis. Although that blessing does not say what Jesus was anointed to do, it still gives good insight into his mission and ministry. Moses received the words of the blessing by revelation. Here is the Aaronic blessing found in Numbers 6:

24) The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

25) The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

26) The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Jeff Benner, a Christian scholar who has extensively studied and written about ancient Hebrew, understands and translates the Aaronic blessing this way (http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/12_blessing.html):

Yahweh will kneel before you presenting gifts and will guard you with a hedge of protection,

Yahweh will illuminate the wholeness of his being toward you bringing order and he will beautify you,

Yahweh will lift up his wholeness of being and look upon you and he will set in place all you need to be whole and complete.

When Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ, gave Moses the revelation with the words of the Aaronic blessing, he explained that the Aaronic blessing is a means of putting his name on the people – “And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:27). In Hebrew, the word ‘name’ also means ‘character’. So the Aaronic blessing describes how Christ ministers to people in order to put his name on them, or to give them his character, which is “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). The Aaronic blessing has three parts, which describe how Christ progressively ministers to us. The first step level of ministration is that Christ will bless us and keep us, or help us turn from a worldly, or Telestial, lifestyle to a basic Christian lifestyle. This is fairly equivalent to someone being “converted unto the Lord” (Alma 23:6), getting baptized, and becoming an active member of the church. The second level of Christ’s ministry is to assist us to get to the point of living a steady, honorable life, or living “the law of a terrestrial kingdom” (D&C 88:21). The third level of Christ’s ministry is to assist and enable us to gain the knowledge and make the sacrifices necessary to live “the law of a celestial kingdom” (D&C 88:22) and “overcome by faith, and [be] sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true.” (D&C 76:53).