The Death of Jacob and Joseph

0:00We've made it to the end of Genesis. And what a journey it has been through this book. We have seen the beauty and joy of creation, right? Followed by the pain and loss of the fall. We saw the results of the fall in the murder of Abel. And God's judgment on the world in the flood. We saw man trying to ascend to the heights of God, right? We saw God descending to man to call Abraham and to promise to save a people through him. We saw the promise begin to be fulfilled with the birth of Isaac. And then through Isaac, a foreshadowing of the sacrifice that God Himself will provide to cover our sins. We saw this promise continue with the birth of Jacob and Esau. Where God displays his sovereignty to show compassion on whom he will show compassion and mercy on whom he will show mercy. We saw Jacob fall into sin and deceit, and God using even that for his purposes. We saw Jacob unwillingly marry the unloved daughter of Laban, Leah, and then God displaying his tender compassion for the rejected by choosing Leah to be the one through whom the Messiah will come. We saw Jacob wrestle with God. And God give him a limp as a reminder of his dependence on God. This was also the time where Jacob was given a new name, remember, and a new identity: Israel, which means striving with God. We saw Joseph betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery, with Judah taking the lead in that betrayal. We then saw Judah humbled through deception, and God once again using the sinful actions of sinful people for his purposes. We saw this even clearer in Joseph when he was falsely accused and thrown into prison, only to be then elevated to the highest rank in Egypt on account of God's blessing and revelation to him. We saw God's wisdom in Joseph to save an untold amount of people from starvation, including his own brothers, his betrayers. We saw the reconciliation of that family upon the recognition that God was accomplishing his purpose of salvation even through these continued sinful acts. We saw that nothing was going to stand in the way of God saving his people, didn't we? We saw the continued promise of God that he was going to preserve his people and again promise them a land and a place that they will one day return. Finally, as we see the deaths of Jacob and Joseph this morning, we are left where we are now, eagerly awaiting the fulfillment of the promise to bring us home. And we, of course, now have the benefit of seeing the means by which God will bring us home, right? Namely the person and the work of Christ. But it is still by that same faith and hope of glory that we await the heavenly kingdom. Philippians 3. I put, I don't, I marked this in my notes, and that's not the right, that's not the right heading. But anyway, Philippians, this is Philippians 3.20, I believe. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown stand firm thus in the Lord my beloved. So that is more or less how we are going to wrap it up, and we'll expand and expound upon that a little bit this morning. But before we jump into the text, I need to give you a short preview of what's ahead. As I've said, the next big journey that we're going on is the book of Hebrews. I am excited is probably not the right word. I'm really, really excited, I'll say it, uh, to go into the book of Hebrews. Uh but we'll have a few weeks in between where we will have a few selected uh sermons before we start down that road. Brother David, assuming everything is health-wise, is fine. We're gonna hope that he's back full strength next week. Um and he'll be delivering the message from Romans, uh, and then we'll update a little bit after that. Um so the plan at this point is that we're gonna begin Hebrews on October the 13th, which is basically uh essentially almost four weeks from now. Um so that's all. Okay? Stand with me and let's read the passage uh for today. We're gonna start in um we're gonna start in uh uh in 49, verse 29. We're gonna start reading in Genesis 29. I don't know why I'm stepping off to the side. Verse uh verse 29. 49, 29. Then he commanded them, and he said to them, I am to be gathered to my people. Bury we with bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field at Malkmachpelah, the east to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. There they buried Abraham, Sarah, and his wife, and there they buried Isaac and Rebekah and his wife, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites. When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. Skip down to verse fifteen of chapter fifty. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did. So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, Your father gave us this command, sorry, gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you. And now please forgive the transgression of your servants of God, uh of the God of your father. Joseph went when they spoke, uh Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, Do not fear, for I am in the place of God. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. To bring about, to bring sorry, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. And then finally, uh starting in verse 24. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will visit you and will bring you up out of this land, to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, again, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the whole of the book of Genesis and the message that you have communicated to us, Lord. Look, I pray and ask now that you would speak for Christ's sake, isn't in his name that I pray. Amen. So we need to begin this morning by wrapping up Jacob's life. We didn't read this section, but in Genesis 48, I put 28 in my notes. That's a typo. In 48, uh, as Jacob is nearing the end of his life, he brings Joseph, or Joseph brings his sons to him to be blessed, right? So Jacob is nearing the end of his life. Joseph brings his two sons to Jacob to be blessed. And in doing that, Joseph places the older Manasseh on Jacob's right side and the younger Epaphim on his left. When Jacob reaches out his hands, though, to bless them, he crosses his arms so that his right hand is on the younger Epaphim. Joseph tries to correct this, and he actually picks up Jacob's hands and tries to swap them. But Jacob says he knows what he is doing. Okay? And I find this interesting, very interesting, especially coming from Joseph, who is the youngest of his brothers, save Benjamin, right? But he knows, Joseph knows that he was the one whom God used so powerfully to work and to save so many. And further, surely he knows about God choosing his own father, who was the younger, right, over Esau. But despite that, despite all of that, Joseph is still holding on to their birthright traditions. Okay? It's like the idea of being owed something because of a tradition, or that birth order constitutes merit, is something that is ingrained in them somehow. And so many times now throughout Scripture, God operates in contradiction to that tradition for the sole purpose of demonstrating that our value and blessing is assigned by God according to His will and has nothing to do with merit. Nothing. No one is owed anything in God's kingdom. Nor does anyone have the right to claim anything, and when someone thinks that they do, God always does the opposite to show that such thoughts are foolish. God does what he does so that everyone knows or should know that it is God who does it, not man. And I hope that that truth humbles us. I hope that that truth humbles the one who thinks that they have earned or are owed something. Because that simply is not true. Romans 4, 4 to 5. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Okay, so Jacob blesses Joseph's sons according to the will of God, and blesses all of his other sons, right? Not just Joseph's sons, which was his grandsons, but he blesses all of his sons. And in particular, he blesses Judah. And this is the majority of chapter 49, it's his blessings over his sons. But he specifically blesses Judah with the longest of his blessings, saying that, quote, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, end quote. This is the blessing of Jacob. The scepter shall not depart from Judah. And the scepter is a symbol of sovereign authority, right? Which is Jacob's way of blessing and saying that the royal lineage and authority will run through Judah. And we, of course, know that from Judah came King David, Solomon, King Solomon, and ultimately King Jesus from Judah. So this blessing was obviously ordained by God to show his purpose through the line of Judah. Okay? The other point to note about Jacob, which is where we started reading this morning, is that he makes his son's promise that they will not bury him in Egypt, but that they will take him back to Canaan and lay him with his family, with Abraham, with Sarah, with Isaac, with Rebekah, and with Leah. And there is much to be said, or that could be said, about this command from Jacob, but I'll say two things about it. First, this shows his love of his family and the land which God gave him, that he wants to be buried with them in his home on God's promised land. All traditions aren't bad when there is eternal significance to them. And certainly we see tremendous value in Jacob's desire to be laid to rest with his family. Okay? That's because the second point I want to make is that this is that such a command, or by Jacob, his command to be buried with his family, clearly demonstrates Jacob's faith in God. Specifically, his faith that God will bring his people back into the land that he promised. He trusts that God is going to deliver his people back to that land, and when God does deliver his people back to that land, he wants to be there with them. He wants to be resting with his people when God fulfills his promise. He wants to be there. This is an incredible act of faith in which Jacob is saying, I know God is going to bring my people back. And I need you to swear to me that you will bury me there so I can be with my people when he does. What an incredible long-term show of faith, right? An incredible blessing for his people to bolster their faith that he has that much confidence in God. Jacob does. And Amanda and I talked about this recently. She pointed out the whole conversation happened. This is not exactly what she pointed out, but this is one of the reasons why many churches have historically had their own gravesites on site. These are beautiful acts of faith, of saying that I know that our Lord is going to return. And when he returns, our people will rest together until he does, and we will be raised together in glory. What a testimony that is, isn't it? Maybe the Lord will bless us one day with a gravesite so we can do that. I'd be happily buried with all of you. I would. Awaiting glory. So next we need to mention the funeral of Jacob. And again, we skipped over this part in our reading because it was kind of long, but there was a significant amount of fanfare surrounding Jacob's funeral. There was this great company of men, the text says. Servants of Pharaoh went, right? These are Gentiles. Servants of Pharaohs went, the elders of his household, of Pharaoh's household, the houses of Jacob and all of his brothers. There was this whole caravan of chariots and horses, with all the people mourning for days and days as they went. And even when they crossed over into Canaan, the text says that the people there also mourned with them when they saw their mourning. So what we see here is that the death of Jacob and his funeral brought many Gentiles, both Egyptians and Canaanites, into a grieving loss over the one over God's one of God's own. This man called Israel, Jacob. Gentiles mourning over Israel. Matthew 8, 8 to 11. But the centurion replied, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, when soldiers with soldiers under me, and I say to one, go, and he goes, and to another come and he comes, and to my servant do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, Truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and from west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. The burial of Israel foreshadows the very thing that Christ Himself says will happen, yet when Christ says it, Israel, the nation, wants to kill him for it. The message of salvation by God in Christ is for everyone. It's for everyone. This funeral and those mourners are foreshadowing, are the foreshadowing of a global people from the east and from the west that will all come together and recline at the table breaking bread in paradise. And it will be not from those who are born in the right place, but rather for those who mourn over their sins and trust in the promise of God, Jesus Christ, for their salvation. At least in my eyes, and I hope you see it too, this was made so clear in the Old Testament that this was always the plan. Yet so many still miss it. We fail to see that the true God is the God of the American and the God of the Chinese, or insert any other nationality you want. The true God is the God of the African tribe or the Australian down under. I won't use my Australian accent. Even more, he is the God of the suburban mom and the recovering alcoholic. He is the God of the businessman, the oil field worker, and the redeemed drug addict, along with the one who never strayed from the narrow way all his life. Our God, the true God, doesn't have a type or a nation. He's not affected by money or status. Like these things don't mean anything to him. All who come to him, he will receive. And we can confidently say that all will indeed come to him, because God has revealed this to us, Revelation 7, 5 to 9. After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hand, and crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Everyone is there. All nations, all peoples, all tribes, all languages are represented there. So may we see the foreshadowing of Jacob's funeral and the words of Christ. That the one who today may, the one who today we may turn our face from, that one may one day be clothed in white. Worshiping before the throne of God. So let us then lay aside all prejudices and judgments and pray that God would have mercy on all. From the worst to the best, from the most corrupt to the closest of Christ, all need salvation, and in Him alone they will find it. Okay. The last major section we need to cover is what immediately happens after Jacob dies, right? And after they bury him in Canaan. And the thoughts of the brothers turn again to the wrongs that they've done to Joseph, right? They fear that now that Joseph is, or sorry, that Jacob is dead, Joseph will seek revenge against them in hopes of heaven. That off, they tell Joseph that their father told them to tell Joseph to forgive them for their transgressions. This is almost certainly a lie on their part. They still can't stop lying. Right? They just want to save their own skin because it isn't recorded that Jacob said that to Joseph's brothers, and Jacob had plenty of time to talk with Joseph as he was dying, such that if he felt he needed to tell Joseph that, he would have just told them himself. In any event, his brothers are scared and they lie, likely lie. We don't know for sure, but it's almost certainly a lie. And they tell Joseph, hey, our father told us to tell you to forgive us and not try to get back at us, right? The reply of Joseph, right, is now the second time that he's made such a statement as this. And these words from Joseph are in and of themselves a foreshadowing of a fundamental component of the gospel. And then verse 19 of chapter 50, but Joseph said to them, Do not fear, for I am in the place of God. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear, I will provide for you and the little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Joseph sees the evil that was done against him, or he sees that the evil that was done against him was ultimately from God for the purpose of saving many people. And in that respect, he doesn't need to exact revenge because he sees that God has done what he's done through it, all the good that God has done through it. And that doesn't mean that we minimize sin and wrongdoing because we know that God will be gracious through it. Certainly not, right? That's what Paul says. But rather it means that we trust that because God is sovereign over all things, both good and bad, he will ultimately work good out of everything that happens to us. We don't have to get flustered when we are wronged. We don't have to get revenge when we are hurt or panicked when things don't go the way we expect. God is not flustered, nor is he met with the unexpected. He has everything ordered for our good and for his purposes, and his purposes are so much higher than we could ever know. We need to trust that he is caring for us, that he is providing for us, that he's working good in us and for us, and will ultimately bring us to himself in glory. This we can be confident in. Okay, a few points of application as we close. I really thought about just dragging this conclusion out for a long time because I'm a little sad to close Genesis. But I'll do my best to wrap it up. First, application is this text teaches us to look far beyond what we can presently see, toward the fulfillment of that great promise. Look far beyond what we can presently see, towards the fulfillment of that great promise. In Hebrews 11, we're going into Hebrews, verse 22, it says, By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. This is, again, right, make the connection. This is Hebrews 11. By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. Right? We read that this morning, that as Joseph was dying, he told them that God will visit them and will deliver them, and when he does, take his bones out of Egypt and lay them with his father and with his family. Joseph is then by faith looking way out, in this case, hundreds of years out, and hoping in the promises of God. His decisions then, his reactions, and his instructions are based not on what he presently sees, or with some short-sighted view, but are based on what he cannot see but hopes in based on the promise of God. And that's the definition of faith, right? Hebrews 11, 11. Now faith, or this is chapter 1, I think, or verse 1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. So to walk by faith doesn't mean we walk by blind hope in something that may or may not happen, right? And that we're just hoping might or does. This is how the blind define faith. This is how the blind think that we live as Christians. To walk by faith and to live by faith means that we live based on the assurance of those promises made to us. And I think Gerardo said that exact same thing this morning in Bible study. We don't stand on hope as though hope is not grounded on something. Okay? The hope of the blind crosses their fingers and hope things turn out okay. The hope of the redeemed lives confidently knowing that all things unseen will turn out okay. And we can live assured of this. Because our hope is grounded in a promise made to us by God and a person who is making sure that all such promises come to pass. So our call is to live then, and to make decisions not just for today, but that when our story is written, people may know in our actions and our work that we trusted in things far beyond our reach. We trusted in the promises of God. Secondly, the text shows us that the timing of these promises always belongs to God. Right? Joseph looked out to those promises, but God waited 400 years to fulfill them. I understand how impatient we are at times. And the present culture is far from being conducive to the cultivation of patience. Okay, here are the words of the Apostle Peter, though. This is 2. I put 1 Peter, I think this is 2 Peter. I had a lot of typos this week, sorry. They will say, Where is the promise of his coming? They meaning the scoffers, right? The deniers. They will say, Where is this promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. But according to his promise, there's the main text. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. His timing is perfect in all things. We are to wait on our God. Okay, finally, this text again calls us for and to hope for restoration and paradise. Right? We know the rest of Joseph's story. When Moses took the people out of Egypt, right, 400-ish years later, they took Joseph's bones with them, right, as they had promised, and they kept them through the entire journey, through their entire wandering, until finally at the end of Joshua's life, they, meaning Joseph's bones, finally made it home. This is Joshua 24, 32. As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought out from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph. Joseph was laid to rest in Egypt with the assurance that he would one day make it home, and he did. Joseph was laid to rest in Egypt with the assurance that he would one day make it home, and he did. He is now resting with our Lord and with his family, with the assurance that one day he will fully make it back to his forever home, the global promised land of God. And this is our hope. That is based solely on the promise of God, that he will do the same for us as he has done for all of those who have come before us. He will bring us home. Maybe I emphasized that wrong. He will bring us home. All things will be made new. This has to be true. Because God said it. And the best part is we don't have to wait until we are buried here on earth to finally rest in these promises. The promises are for us now. Today. And they are given to us so that we may have hope and joy now. How would you live today? This is a question. How would you live today if you knew that everything was going to work out perfectly for you? How would you live? Have you ever been nervous about something and then when it worked out, you thought, like, man, what was I all worked up about? Easier said than done, I know. But the reality is that according to the blessed promises of God, everything is going to work out alright. Let that peace and joy of that fact wash over you this morning and live abundantly. Walk by faith. Being assured that our God has promised you eternal glory in paradise, and he will surely get us there. Amen. Let's pray. As always, Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the hope that you've given us in your word, that you've grounded in your promises, Lord, and in the truth that you've revealed to us and proven to us time and time again in your word. Lord, we pray and we ask, Lord, that we would trust you. Lord, and that trust would give us hope and joy, and that we would live now abundantly. Lord, standing on those promises that you have made to us. And we thank you for them. We pray now, Lord, as we go from here, Lord, we would receive this word, Lord. Allow it to change us. And may we go out into the world now, fearless and joyful, in your name. It's in the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.