The first use in my Bible is in a description of what happened after Aaron made a golden calf and the people accepted this “god” and had a big party. Not everyone fell for it though. Moses rallied all who had not been involved. When the Levites responded, he commanded told them to go through the camp and kill any who persisted in this idolatry. Three thousand Israelites were killed by swords. Others died by a plague. After completing this gruesome task the Levites were set apart to the LORD . . .
And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.” (Exodus 32:29)
Right away I get it; God bestowing a blessing can involve a cost. The next use of bestow hints at another truth in which bestow is used as a punishment for Eli. He was not faithful to his role as priest. God said to him that he, “in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever . . . . and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men. And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day. And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. (1 Samuel 2:32–35)
In human terms that faithful priest was given to a descendant of Aaron, but in the ultimate sense the “faithful Priest” and “Anointed One” both describe the Lord Jesus Christ who is both Priest and King.
Before that happened, David was exalted as king. He said: “O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults! . . . His glory is great through your salvation; splendor and majesty you bestow on him. For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence. For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.” (Psalm 21:1; 5–7)
After David, “The Lord made Solomon very great in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.” (1 Chronicles 29:25) God is called “the bestower of crowns” who can put up kings and take them down, but also ruin entire cities and nations for their pride and failure to honor Him. (Isaiah 23:8–9 and Ezekiel 16:14–15)
Then came Jesus. He began with physical blessings, “healing many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight.” (Luke 7:21) His saving power extended when He died for our sin and rose from the dead to offer His eternal life to all who believe. As the gospel declares:
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. (Romans 10:12)
Jesus was “found in human form, and humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:8–11)
Because God bestowed on Jesus this powerful name, He also bestows His love on us — a great gifts that makes us His children:
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:1–3)
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. This says by fully seeing Him I will be transformed into His likeness. For now, gazing into His glory will also do that, not fully in this life yet the Lord bestows His likeness on those who deal with sin (confession and repentance) and put their faith in Him as Redeemer, Savior and Lord. Thinking about His grace and His gifts has great power. Gazing at anything else, even glorious sunsets and majestic mountains (or the television set) cannot do that!
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