Jacob: Faith to Worship While Dying (Hebrews 11:21)

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May 16, 2022

Description: Faith is seen in Jacob in his dying moments when he blesses Joseph’s sons and worships. An exposition of Hebrews 11:21.

00:00: ♪ Holy ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm ♪ ♪
00:08: What heights of love, what depths of peace ♪ ♪
00:13: Where fears are stilled, when striving ceases ♪ ♪
00:19: My comfort, my all in God ♪ ♪
00:25: Here in the love of Christ, I stand ♪ ♪
00:41: Christ alone, who took on flesh ♪ ♪
00:46: Fullness of God in hell is made ♪ ♪
00:52: This gift of love and righteousness ♪ ♪
00:58: Scorned by the ones He came to save ♪ ♪
01:04: Till on that cross, as Jesus died ♪ ♪
01:09: The wrath of God was satisfied ♪ ♪
01:15: For every sin on Him was laid ♪ ♪
01:21: Here in the death of Christ's body laid ♪ ♪
01:42: Life was slain, then birth defied ♪ ♪
01:50: In glorious day of life ♪ ♪
02:50: No fear in death, this is the power of Christ ♪ ♪
03:00: His first cry to the final death ♪ ♪
03:05: Jesus commands my destiny ♪ ♪
03:10: No power of those scheming men could ever block
03:21: His hand ♪ ♪ Or cause me harm here in the past tense ♪ ♪
04:23: We're called, we're healed, we're given, we're free ♪ ♪
06:35: Do you feel the world is broken, we do ♪ ♪
06:40: Do you feel the shadows deepening, we do ♪ ♪
06:48: But do you know that all the dark won't stop the light from getting through, we do ♪ ♪
06:58: Do you wish that you could see it all here? ♪ ♪ Creation growing, is a new creation coming?
07:27: ♪ ♪ A light within a mist, is it good that we remind ourselves of this?
07:48: ♪ ♪ Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole?
07:55: ♪ ♪ Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?
08:01: ♪ ♪ The Lion of Judah conquered the grave ♪ ♪
08:09: Is David the rune and the lamb who died to ransom the slave? ♪ ♪
08:15: Is he worthy? Is he worthy of all blessing and honor and glory?
08:27: ♪ ♪ Is he truly loved?
08:47: Does the Spirit move among us? ♪ ♪
08:54: And is Jesus our Messiah, old forever knows He loves?
08:59: ♪ ♪ Does our God intend to dwell again?
09:10: ♪ ♪ He does, we see
09:23: Him and understand, is
10:12: He worthy? ♪ ♪
11:12: Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
11:19: Him, how I prove
11:25: Him whole and whole. ♪ ♪
11:32: Jesus, Jesus, precious
11:38: Jesus, oh, for grace to trust
11:48: Him more. ♪ ♪
12:12: It is so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take
12:24: Him at His word. ♪ ♪
12:45: It is so sweet to trust in Jesus, just from sin and stuff to see.
13:20: ♪ ♪ Taking all my pain and joy.
13:37: Jesus, Jesus, how
13:42: I trust Him, how I prove
13:49: Him whole. ♪ ♪
14:09: Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust Him more. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take
14:34: Him at His word.
15:49: ♪ ♪ It is so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take
16:07: Him at His word. Jesus, Jesus, how
16:28: I trust Him more. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how
17:30: I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how
18:03: I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus, how
18:10: I trust Him more. Jesus, Jesus ♪ And I am safe on this solid ground.
18:22: The Lord is my salvation. ♪
18:29: I will not fear when darkness falls.
18:48: His strength will help me stand these walls. ♪
18:56: I'll see the dawn of the rising sun.
19:02: The Lord is my salvation. ♪ Strong to stay faithful in love.
19:24: My debt is paid. And the victory is my salvation.
19:53: Good morning and welcome to Kootenai Church.
22:39: We're going to open up our service this morning with a call to worship out of the book of Ephesians. In chapter 5, verses 15 through 21, it says,
22:49: Therefore look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
22:56: On account of this, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for this is dissipation, but be filled with the
23:04: Spirit. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the
23:12: Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the
23:18: Father, and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Let's stand this morning as we sing,
23:25: Come Christians, Join to Sing. Come Christians, Join to Sing, Alleluia, Amen.
23:42: Come, raise to Christ our King, Alleluia, Amen.
23:50: Let all with loyal voice before His throne rejoice,
23:57: Praises His gracious choice, Alleluia, Amen.
24:07: Come, lift your hearts on high, Alleluia, Amen.
24:15: Let praises fill the sky, Alleluia, Amen.
24:22: He is our guide and friend, To us till God may send,
24:29: His love shall never end, Alleluia, Amen.
24:40: Rage yet on Christ again, Alleluia, Amen.
24:47: Life shall not end thus free, Alleluia, Amen.
24:54: On heaven's blissful shore, His goodness we'll adore,
25:00: Singing forevermore, Alleluia, Amen.
25:30: God, we've seen your faithfulness, From the wilderness.
25:42: But of mercy, dear
25:58: Lord, Will you comfort our distress? Until the promise to die,
26:12: To you from deepest grief, Mercy, dear
26:20: Lord, be our mother, Our Redeemer.
26:28: In this barren land, Be our hope and strength,
26:35: Until glory we will trust and see,
26:42: Alma Mater, hear our plea.
26:58: Void creation's longing groan, To take your ransom,
27:09: For with the eyes of old, You'll see the secrets of deep.
27:25: Redeemer, in this barren land,
27:31: Be our hope and strength, Until glory we will trust and see,
27:41: Alma Mater, hear our plea. For with the eyes of old,
27:59: You'll see, The God of mercy, hear our plea.
28:07: Our Father, our Redeemer, In this barren land,
28:16: Be our hope and strength, Until glory we will trust and see,
28:26: Alma Father, hear our plea. Our Father, our
28:35: Redeemer, In this barren land,
28:41: Be our hope and strength, Until glory we will trust and see,
28:50: Alma Father, hear our plea.
28:57: Alma Father, hear our plea.
29:15: Rest, O Jesus, ruler of all nature,
29:23: O Thou of God, Heaven and the
29:31: Son, Ye will I cherish, ye will my honor,
29:41: Thou my soul's glowing joy and crown.
29:49: Fair are the meadows, fairer still the moonless,
30:00: Robed in Thy blooming heart of spring.
30:08: Jesus is forever, Jesus is pure over,
30:16: Who makes the hopeful heart to sing.
30:25: Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight,
30:34: And all the twinkling star belongs.
30:42: Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer,
30:51: Than all the angels, devils, and monsters.
30:59: Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations,
31:07: Son of God and Son of Man, Glory and honor, praise and adoration,
31:24: Now and forevermore be Thine.
31:39: For the scripture reading this morning, we please turn to the book of Psalms, to Psalm 46. Psalm 46, and I'm gonna read from there here in just a couple of moments, but a couple of announcements before I do.
31:55: We have coming up next week the beginning of the evangelism class that you can sign up for on the sign -up sheet that is in the foyer.
32:02: Peter Hammond is going to be teaching that and leading a group through that, and somebody has graciously offered to purchase all the books that you'll need for that.
32:09: So if you would like to be trained and equipped in evangelism and just personal evangelism or street preaching or anything like that, then that class is for you, and I would encourage you to sign up for that on the sheet that is out in the foyer.
32:20: And then in three weeks' time, June 3rd to the 4th is our conference. That's coming up. And we had a visitor with us a few weeks ago who, when they saw our advertisement for that conference with Daryl and Virgil online, they thought we were promoting critical race theory and Black Lives Matter and Marxism and woke
32:37: Christianity. They thought that the conference was us bringing those guys in to tell us North Idaho intolerant rednecks how to be more tolerant and loving and anti -racist.
32:47: And as it turns out, that's not what that seminar is about or that conference is about at all. So I'm grateful that we had the opportunity to clarify that with him.
32:58: So if you were thinking that that's what that conference was about and that's your reason for not signing up, I'm just taking away any excuse you have for not attending that.
33:06: You can still sign up in the next couple of weeks, and I would encourage you to do so. I think one of the greatest threats that we have going on in the church today and is attacking us from every angle, politically, culturally, in our entertainment, in all of our institutions, is the social
33:19: Marxism that's being pushed in every way, and it's creeping into the church. I read a book, just finished one a couple of weeks ago,
33:27: Wokeness and Christianity by Owen Strand, or Christianity and Wokeness, I forget which one he had first, but Owen Strand's book on that subject, and he just details in that book how ubiquitous the whole
33:38: Marxist approach is in our culture and in the church, and it is taking over the seminaries, it is taking over the pastorates, it's taking over everything, and if you want to be equipped to deal with that and think biblically about those issues, this conference is what you're going to want to attend.
33:54: So I would just encourage you again to take a second look at that if you haven't already. And they're going to be here teaching adult
33:59: Sunday school class and preaching on the Sunday that follows that conference. And then one last thing that I mentioned a few, several months ago, actually before, well, it was a long time ago now because it was back when
34:10: COVID was a thing, that we had an Israel trip that was planned that got canceled.
34:16: We have eight spots available for that, so if you are interested in going to Israel with myself and Justin Peters and another pastor from Spokane, another church that we're partnering with, we have eight slots available, and so if you want that, then please let me know, talk with me afterwards, and I'll give you some instructions on how to sign up for that.
34:33: And for that conference, oh, back to the conference, sorry. Not only do we have room available, we also have need for volunteers if anybody would like to help with the preparation for that, the setup for it and cleanup, talk to Shelley Cowell or to Kathy Conger.
34:45: Now, Psalm 46, for our scripture reading, Psalm 46. For the choir director, a psalm of the sons of Korah set to Olamoth, a song.
34:56: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
35:11: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. The holy dwelling places are the most high.
35:17: God is in the midst of her. She will not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns.
35:23: The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered. He raised his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.
35:29: The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Come, behold the works of the Lord who has wrought desolations in the earth.
35:37: He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariots with fire.
35:44: Cease striving and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.
35:51: The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Let's pray together. Father, it does seem as if we live in a world where the mountains are slipping into the sea and everything that we have once trusted and held fast to in this world are quickly changing and being taken from us.
36:07: This can only serve to set our heart and our attention and our affections upon you and your goodness to us in your
36:13: Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a tendency to cling to the things of this world, to the comforts and the conveniences that it brings.
36:22: We pray that in the midst of all that is changing so fast around us, and all of the turmoil, while the nations rage, that you would set our hearts and our minds and our affections upon the
36:32: God of Jacob, and that we would rest in you and in your goodness and in all the grace that you have shown us.
36:38: We pray that you would comfort our hearts and encourage us together, help us to see you, help us to see your attributes and your glory, and to take comfort in the fact that you rule and reign over all.
36:48: You are in the heavens and you do as you please. Be glorified amongst us in our hearts and in our affections, in our minds, as we think about you, as we praise you and sing to you.
36:59: Be honored here and glorified in us and in your church, both now and forever, we pray in Christ's name.
38:11: Wondrous love is this That caused the
38:18: Lord To send his precious hope
38:26: For my soul, for my soul
38:33: To send his precious hope
38:38: For my soul And I was sinking down,
38:51: Sinking down, sinking down And I was sinking down,
39:03: Sinking down, sinking down God's righteous friend
39:21: Christ laid aside his crown For my soul
39:34: Christ laid aside his crown For my soul
40:08: Mercy, my soul
40:36: Mercy Upon my soul
40:54: I'll sing more than when
41:16: From joyful heart
41:38: Throughout eternity I'll sing throughout
41:55: I'll sing This morning we're gonna sing a new song called
42:55: Cling to Christ. So would you please stand with us as we sing. Father, I can come to you
43:23: And boast of deeds I've done In my pride
43:30: I strive to earn The favor Christ has won
43:37: He alone pleased my acceptance All my works last night
43:46: So I come with empty hands And I cling to Christ Father, I can go astray
44:06: And battle needless foes Voices tell me
44:13: I'm content And that I can draw near But your spirit calls me over With your words of life
44:28: Jesus, Lord of every sin So I cling to Christ It's more than I can do
44:43: To keep my hold on you But all my hope at peace
44:52: Is that you cling to me It's more than I can do
45:00: To keep my hold on you But all my hope at peace
45:09: Is that you cling to me Father, all my earthly aims
45:20: In time will turn to dust Let me learn what loss is gain
45:29: For those who know your love All the treasures of this world
45:37: Will never satisfy You alone are endless joy
45:46: So I cling to Christ You alone are endless joy
45:57: So I cling to Christ The psalmist says in Psalm 19
46:07: Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults Also keep back your slave
46:13: From presumptuous sins Let them not rule over me Then I will be blameless And I shall be acquitted
46:19: Of great transgression Let the words of my mouth And the meditation of my heart
46:24: Be acceptable in your sight O Yahweh, my rock and my redeemer
46:48: Rock and my redeemer Greatest treasure
46:55: Of my longing soul My God, like you
47:03: There is no other True delight
47:08: Is found in you, O Lord Your grace, a wealth
47:17: Indeed to fathom Your love exceeds
47:23: That heaven's reach Your truth, a fount
47:30: Of perfect wisdom My highest good
47:35: And my unending need O Lord, my rock and my redeemer
47:56: Strong defender Of my weary heart
48:03: My sword to fight The cruel deceiver
48:10: And my shield Against disdainful guards
48:17: My song when enemies surround me
48:23: My hope when tides of sorrow rise
48:30: My joy when trials are about me
48:36: Your faithfulness My refuge in the night
48:44: Rock and my redeemer
48:58: Gracious Savior Of my ruined life
49:06: My guilt and cross Laid on your shoulders
49:12: In my place You suffered, bled, and died
49:19: You rose The grave and death are conquered
49:25: You broke My bonds of sin and shame
49:32: You rose The grave and death are conquered
49:38: You broke My bonds of sin and shame
49:45: O Lord, my rock and my redeemer
49:50: May all my days Bring glory to your name
49:57: May all my days Bring glory to your name
50:06: You may be seated. Turn now, please, to Hebrews chapter 11.
50:23: Turning to Hebrews chapter 11. We're going to read together verse 17 through verse 22.
50:30: Hebrews chapter 11. Beginning at verse 17, By faith
50:35: Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.
50:42: It was he to whom it was said, In Isaac your descendants shall be called. He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which also he received him back as a type.
50:53: By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come. By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.
51:03: By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.
51:09: Let's pray together. Our Father, it is our desire that you would be honored and glorified in your word and our understanding of your word.
51:17: We pray that you would give to us the insight that we need, and that your spirit would be our teacher and our guide today. Help us to understand what the intention of the
51:25: Spirit of God is in pointing these things out to us, that we may give honor and glory to you in obedience to your word, and that you would increase our faith and our confidence in your word and our trust, not only in Christ, but in the truth of your word and in the glories that are to come.
51:40: We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Abraham, Isaac, and now
51:46: Jacob. This is the third of these three patriarchs. These are the three founding patriarchs of the nation of Israel.
51:53: These are three men to whom God attaches his own name in Scripture. You see it when you read through Scripture and you read of the
51:59: God of Jacob, or the God of Isaac, or the God of Abraham, or when they're all three put together, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and sometimes just in a shortened form, the
52:08: God of our fathers. And by fathers, usually the author means the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob being the fathers.
52:15: God attaches his own name to these men's name throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament.
52:21: So, for instance, when Moses was commanded to lead the children of Israel up out of Egypt in the Exodus, we read in Exodus 33, verse 16,
52:29: Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me saying,
52:36: I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. That is a passage that is quoted by Jesus in the
52:42: New Testament, Matthew 22, 32. I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the
52:47: God of the dead but of the living. Stephen, during his trial and his testimony prior to his martyrdom in Acts chapter 7, says the
52:55: God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he decided to release him.
53:03: Sorry, that wasn't Stephen, that was Peter in Acts chapter 3. So that description, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is connected to God because of, or those names are connected to God's name because of the covenant that God made with those three men, or actually he made it with Abraham and then reconfirmed and reiterated the promises of that covenant to Isaac and then confirmed and reiterated the promises again to Isaac's son,
53:27: Jacob. So as we study the Old Testament plan of salvation, we go all the way back to Abraham and we cannot divorce
53:35: God's plan of salvation from the Abrahamic covenant. It is only inside of the Abrahamic covenant that salvation is offered to those who are provided to Gentiles.
53:44: Outside of that, there is no salvation promised to Gentiles, but because of God's work through and in the
53:50: Abrahamic covenant and in time, the study of the doctrine of salvation, God's plan of salvation through history, is rooted and grounded in the promises that God made to Abraham.
54:00: And that name is attached to those men, God's name is attached to those men because those men and the promises that God made to Abraham specifically, those men determined, how we understand the
54:11: Abrahamic covenant determines what it is that's gonna happen in the future. Our understanding of future events comes back to the promises that God made to those three men.
54:19: So our study of faith and what it means, the working of God, the providence of God, the promises of God, God's plan of salvation, the future, the history of the world, all of it comes down to, it's rooted in this
54:31: Abrahamic covenant, these three men. Our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And these are imperfect men, but they still left us a legacy of faith and we're seeing that even in the midst of their imperfections and their idiosyncrasies and their sin and their blatant failures,
54:47: God still used these men and he still worked through these men. And our next example now is in verse 21 in Hebrews 11 and it is
54:53: Jacob. We've looked at Abraham in verse 17, Isaac in verse 20, and now we turn our attention to Jacob. And our pattern here is gonna be the same that we've done in the last couple of weeks.
55:02: And we have to jump right into the story of Jacob because last week I ran up against the clock in our study of Isaac and I could have divided that into two messages.
55:13: Mercifully for you, I didn't. It was only one message. But I have even more material to go through with Jacob because Scripture says so much more about Jacob than it does about Isaac.
55:22: So our pattern is gonna be the same. We're going to in a moment go back to the book of Genesis, but I want you to just observe the details of chapter 11,
55:29: Hebrews verse 21. Observe the things that are mentioned here so that when we go back to Genesis, then we will see how it is that the author makes mention, or what it is that the author is referring to here in Hebrews 11.
55:41: Verse 21, By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.
55:47: I want you to notice three things. First, the instance that is chosen here to highlight Jacob's faith is something that was done in his dying moments.
55:54: And as it turns out, it is much closer to his dying moments than Isaac's blessing of his two sons. Isaac thought he was dying.
56:01: Jacob actually was dying when he blessed both the sons of Joseph. And this is something that we highlighted last week that for Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, these three men, the example of faith that is given in Hebrews 11, 20, 21, and 22, these are all things that came from their dying moments or something that happened at the end of their life where, at least in Isaac's case, he thought he was dying.
56:21: And we would have to observe that and ask, why is it that the author chooses instances from the lives of these three men that pertain to moments when they were dying?
56:30: Why does he do that? Certainly, there are other examples from the lives of those men that the author could have cited.
56:36: For instance, he could have said concerning Isaac, by faith, Isaac prayed and Rebecca, his wife, conceived after 20 years of barrenness.
56:43: He could have done that. For Jacob, he could have said, by faith, Jacob returned to the land of Israel with his four wives and all of his children and was reconciled to his brother
56:51: Esau. Or, by faith, Jacob wrestled with God and asked for God's blessing and would not let
56:56: God go until God blessed him. For Joseph, he could have said, by faith, Joseph rebuffed the advances of Pharaoh's, I don't know if you use the word rebuffed, but avoided the advances of Pharaoh's wife in faithfulness to God because he didn't want to sin against God.
57:10: There are examples of faith from all three of these men that he could have cited, but instead, the author zeroes in on these examples of faith in their dying moments.
57:18: And I think that the reason for that is to show how their faith was present and preserved them all the way to the end of their lives.
57:25: So it's not just a faith that they had in the beginning that petered out over time. It's not a faith that waxed and waned and grew strong and grew weak and then was absent from their lives in their dying moments.
57:36: No, these men were as strong in faith at the end of their life when they're lying on death's bed and the specter of death hung over their head like dark, foreboding clouds.
57:45: Their faith was strong in those moments and in those moments, they're still expressing their confidence in God and what
57:51: God had promised to give them. And second, I think the reason that these examples are cited from the moments of their death is to show us that really their faith was in a resurrection.
58:01: Their faith was in what God was going to give them in the resurrection. These promises would be fulfilled not in this life but in the life that is to come.
58:09: And these men would enjoy the full reception of and the full benefit of all of these blessings not in this life but in the resurrection.
58:17: Second, I want you to notice that the act of faith is in blessing his descendants just as with Isaac in verse 20.
58:22: By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. Well, verse 21, by faith, Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph.
58:29: So this is an active faith that is conferring upon Joseph's sons blessings that Jacob himself had received from Isaac.
58:37: And third, I want you to notice in Hebrews 11, 21, that it is in faith while he was dying, he worshiped.
58:43: His dying moments were worshipful moments. It is in his death, it is in faith, that he is not only blessing
58:51: Joseph's sons, but he is also leaning on the top of his staff and worshiping God as he is dying.
58:57: So faith of Jacob is active in dying, in blessing, and in worshiping. And that would be our three -point outline if we were sticking here, but we're not.
59:04: We're going back to Genesis. So turn back now to Genesis 28. And we're going to notice Jacob dying, and blessing, and worshiping in Genesis 28.
59:15: Now when we last left Jacob, he had just robbed the blessing from Esau.
59:21: So the Jacob that we're talking about here is the same Jacob who finagled his way into the birthright and then into the blessings.
59:28: It's the same Jacob whose ignoble shenanigans we looked at last week. And we're going to fast forward through Genesis from chapter 28.
59:37: We're going to go all the way to chapter 48 today. So we're going to be giving an overview of 20 chapters.
59:42: I know. And so I need to set a little bit of a context for this. And some of what
59:48: I'm about to say here is going to be of trivial interest to you. But I want to do some math and overlap some lives here so we have some idea of the order of these events and the ages of what's unfolding for us in the lives of these patriarchs.
01:00:01: So you are welcome to check my math for two reasons. Number one, I am the product of the public school system.
01:00:07: And number two, I did not pay attention when I was in the public school system. So I have two strikes against me already.
01:00:13: So feel free to examine this as I go through it. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham was 100 years old when
01:00:19: Isaac was born. Abraham was 175 years old when he died, which means that when
01:00:25: Abraham died, Isaac was how old? 75 years. Yep.
01:00:31: You're all with me to this point, right? Because we're not all public school students here. You're all with me to this point.
01:00:37: So Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Abraham dies at 175. Isaac, when he married
01:00:44: Rebecca, was 40 years old, Genesis chapter 25. She was barren for 20 years.
01:00:50: And when Isaac and Rebecca conceived and the twins, Jacob and Esau, were born,
01:00:57: Isaac was 60 years old. Now if Isaac was 75 years old when Abraham died, and Jacob was born when
01:01:04: Isaac was 60 years old, that means that Jacob was how old when Abraham died?
01:01:10: 15. Which means that Esau was how old when Abraham died? Carry the one.
01:01:17: Also 15 because Jacob and Esau were twins. I know some of you are like, okay,
01:01:23: I missed the math somewhere. That's it. They were twins. So he was also 15 years old. Now Esau married at the age of 40.
01:01:30: Esau married at the age of 40, which means Jacob was how old when Esau married? Keep testing him. 40 years old, right?
01:01:36: Now as soon as Jacob had stolen the birthright blessing from Esau, it says that Jacob was commanded by Isaac and Rebecca to go to another land outside of there and to not take a wife from the sons of the
01:01:49: Canaanites, but instead to go back to Rebecca's family and take a wife from there. And at that time, when
01:01:56: Esau heard what Jacob was commanded, he went and took another wife and added them to the wives that he already had, which means that when
01:02:05: Jacob stole the blessing from Esau, he was how old? At least 40.
01:02:13: Now in your mind, how old did you picture Jacob being when he and Rebecca finagled that whole thing and worked together to take that from him?
01:02:24: What were you thinking? 18, 20, 22, 15 years old maybe? Something like that? He was minimum 40 years old when he stole the blessing from Esau.
01:02:33: Then Jacob departed from the land of Canaan and he was gone for at least 15 years. He worked seven years for Leah and he worked seven years for Rachel and by the time he comes back into the land, he has four wives, the handmaids or the maids of both of those two women plus 11 of his 12 sons are born and he's had daughters who have been born in the meantime as well.
01:02:54: So if Jacob was 40 years old when he stole the blessing from Esau and then he fled the land for at least 15 years, we could probably estimate, we know that when he came back to the land that he reconciled with Esau and then at some point buried
01:03:09: Isaac who died at the age of 180 and Jacob then was 120 when he and Esau buried
01:03:16: Isaac. He would have been 120 years old and then Jacob is 130 by the time he gets down into the land of Egypt.
01:03:23: Now why do I go through all of that? To simply say that the age of Jacob and Esau when Jacob stole the blessing from him,
01:03:28: Jacob would have had to have been minimum 40 years old. He could have been older than that because there's a large window in which those events could have happened.
01:03:36: We know that by the time he comes back to the land of Canaan which is the land of Israel that was promised to him, the promised land, by the time he comes back there he had to have been old enough to have conceived 11 of his 12 children.
01:03:49: So he's an older man which would put him probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 or 80 years old
01:03:54: I'm guessing. Scripture doesn't nail that down unless there's some detail that I'm unaware of. So these are old men to whom these events are happening in Genesis as we read them.
01:04:02: Now let's fast forward through the life of Jacob. First Isaac, after Jacob steals the blessing from Esau, Isaac sends him away to get a wife and when he does so he reaffirms the covenant that God made with Abraham and confers these blessings upon Jacob now not just a second time but also recognizing the providence of God that God was involved in orchestrating the events that happened as they unfolded in his providence.
01:04:27: He used the deception of Jacob in deceiving Esau to get the blessing upon Jacob which is where God had intended it to go from the beginning.
01:04:34: So in chapter 28 verse 3, Isaac as he's sending Jacob away reconfirms the blessing that God would give to him.
01:04:41: May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may become a company of peoples. May he also give you the blessing of Abraham to you and to your descendants with you that you may possess the land of your sojournings which
01:04:52: God gave to Abraham. So there Isaac is simply recognizing that God's hand has been involved in this and I'm sending you away but even though you're going outside of the land that God has promised to Abraham and to me and now to you
01:05:03: God is going to give to you everything that he has promised to Abraham. So Jacob is now the promised seed.
01:05:12: Chapter 28 verse 10, Then Jacob departed and here's where God reconfirms the blessings to Jacob.
01:05:18: Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set.
01:05:24: And he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place. He had a dream and behold a ladder was set on the earth and its top reaching to heaven.
01:05:32: And behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the
01:05:37: Lord the God of your father Abraham the God of Isaac the land on which you lie I will give it to you and to your descendants.
01:05:43: Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.
01:05:49: And in you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what
01:05:59: I have promised you. And Jacob awoke from his sleep and said surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.
01:06:04: He was afraid and said how awesome is this place. This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.
01:06:11: So Jacob at that moment got a vision a glimpse into heaven and in that moment God took the opportunity to reconfirm the blessings and to remind
01:06:19: Jacob that what was promised to Abraham was not the heaven into which Jacob was looking and was nothing that was going to be given to him when he died and went to heaven.
01:06:27: Again the promise has to do with the land. Verse 13 The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants and your descendants will be like the dust of the earth.
01:06:36: And this is confirmed to Jacob before he has a wife or any children. He is single he has no descendants and God has reiterated to him though you're going out of the land
01:06:44: I'm going to bring you back here I'm going to fulfill all of my word just as I promised to Abraham and to your father Isaac. In chapter 29
01:06:53: Jacob meets Rachel and then he is tricked into taking a woman that he did not love.
01:06:59: There's a little bit of poetic justice in that is there not? You kind of read that and you have a hard time feeling sorry for Jacob when he gets sort of tricked into that and he wakes up with a wife that he didn't bargain for after working seven years for her and then he has to work another seven years for Rachel and she bears children to him in chapter 30 kids are born to him maids bear children and you can just look through the narrative as I'm fast forwarding here
01:07:23: Jacob actually ended up with four wives and a whole bunch of children and it's very difficult at this point not to hear the lyrics of a 1990's
01:07:29: Rich Mullins song echoing around in your head right? Jacob he loved Rachel and Rachel she loved him and Leah was just there for dramatic effect.
01:07:36: Am I the only one that knows that song? A couple others? Yeah? The world is best as I can remember it?
01:07:42: It's this whole story that we're hearing here. If you listen to the song then you know where this is going. In chapter 31
01:07:48: Jacob ends up leaving Laban and tricks Laban out of some of his herd after Laban had taken advantage of him on numerous occasions.
01:07:54: In chapter 32 he prepares to meet Esau. Now the last time he saw his brother Esau was right after he had tricked him out of the blessing and Esau was in a murderous rage waiting for his father
01:08:05: Isaac to die so then he could kill Jacob. So Jacob was fearful and in chapter 32 verse 11 he in praying prays for deliverance from his brother
01:08:14: Esau but he reminds God of the promises that God had made to him. Verse 11 Deliver me I pray from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau for I fear him that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children.
01:08:26: And now he's speaking to the Lord and he reminds the Lord for you said I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea which is too great to be numbered.
01:08:33: Now Jacob is terrified at the prospect of meeting his brother because the last time he saw Esau Esau was kind of giving him one of those nods like yeah our paths are going to cross again and when it does it's not going to be good for you.
01:08:44: Dad will be dead and we will reconcile all of this at some point. You can run away now but our eyes will meet again.
01:08:52: That was the last Jacob saw of Esau and now he is about to meet Esau be reconciled approach
01:08:58: Esau and he is fearful that Esau has not had any of his anger assuaged and he is going to be equally as angry as he was when he left him and of course he has every reason then to fear for his life.
01:09:09: So he reminds God look you said all of my descendants and here I have them four wives and all these kids these are the ones to whom you have promised this land so I am just reminding you
01:09:18: Lord before I go meet my brother these are the ones you have to keep them alive them and me just remember that tomorrow when we meet and then
01:09:26: Jacob wrestled with God chapter 32 verse 24 then Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until daybreak this is the angel of the
01:09:32: Lord pre -incarnate appearance of the Christ and when he saw that he had not prevailed against him he touched the socket of his thigh so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him then he said let me go for the dawn is breaking but he said
01:09:45: I will not let you go unless you bless me so he said to him what is your name and he said Jacob and he said your name shall no longer be called
01:09:50: Jacob but Israel for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed then Jacob asked him and said please tell me your name but he said what is it that you ask my name or why is it that you ask my name and he blessed him there so Jacob named the place
01:10:02: Peniel for he said I have seen God face to face yet my life has been preserved he understood that he was wrestling with somebody who was in physical appearance in physical form
01:10:10: God in the flesh or some sort of a physical manifestation of God Yahweh now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Peniel and he was limping on his thigh this is what most commentators believe is the conversion experience for Jacob now it's hard to know for certain but it seems as if Jacob's demeanor changes from this point forward from this point forward he has been now physically handicapped he is limping after the socket of his thigh has been put out of socket his thigh has been put out of socket so now he is having a hard time walking and what is he about to do?
01:10:42: he is about to meet his brother Esau and he might wish at that moment that he at least had the ability to run from Esau if things kind of soured but now he doesn't have the ability to run from Esau now he is really dependent upon the
01:10:53: Lord and his demeanor and his attitude from this point forward changed notice that his name has changed to Israel and I'm not going to refer to him as Israel but just as Jacob I'm having a hard enough time keeping
01:11:02: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob separate in my mind as I'm rattling off names I'm not going to add Israel to the mix but Jacob's name
01:11:10: Jacob the name Jacob meant heel grabber the name Israel means God's fighter or he who strives with God and that's truly just as good of a description of him as was the name
01:11:19: Jacob because he ends up in the course of his life fighting with his brother his father his father -in -law his wives and now he's wrestled with God and he's physically handicapped and must now rely upon God for protection
01:11:31: Genesis chapter 33 here is where he meets Esau then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked and behold
01:11:37: Esau was coming and four hundred men with him that would just strike terror into your heart so he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids he put the maids and their children in front and Leah and her children next and Rachel and Joseph last now here's a man who grew up in a home where daddy played favorites and didn't even try hiding it from him and he has done the same thing now he has put the wives the maids and the children that he has with them out in front and then
01:12:04: Leah in the middle and then Rachel and Joseph very last Rachel was the woman that he loved in the beginning it was his favorite wife and now he has a favorite son and it's
01:12:13: Joseph if you're one of those kids and you're up at the front of that line what are you thinking? you're thinking oh
01:12:19: I get to ride in the front caravan now finally I get the front seat up here with the adults and then your dad says to you now you hear over him saying to the wives we just hope that if Esau goes on a murderous rampage that he's sick of killing women and children by the time he gets back to Joseph so we're putting all the rest of you up front and if you were to ask
01:12:36: Reuben or Simeon or Levi any one of the first four or five first born sons what would you be thinking? pardon me?
01:12:43: you're putting me up here why? he's obviously showing favorites here in chapter 35
01:12:49: Jacob moves to Bethel where God appears and confirms the promises again in chapter 35 verse 9 then
01:12:54: God appeared to Jacob again when he had come from Padan Aram and he blessed him God said to him your name is Jacob you should no longer be called
01:12:59: Jacob but Israel should be your name thus he called him Israel God also said to him I'm God almighty be fruitful and multiply a nation and a company of nations shall come from you and kings shall come from you the land which
01:13:10: I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you and I will give the land to your descendants after you in verses 26 and 21
01:13:15: Rachel dies while giving birth to Benjamin in chapter 36 Esau's children in the details
01:13:22: Esau's children and the chiefs that came from him chapter 37 picks up the story of Joseph and takes who takes the stage of the narrative really from this point forward with the exception of chapter 38 and from this point forward really it's
01:13:35: Joseph's story which intersects later on with Jacob and we'll come back to Joseph next week Joseph's story intersects with Jacob because Joseph sends or sorry
01:13:44: Jacob sends Joseph off to visit his brothers and you remember that they plot his murder and then Reuben rescues him from the hands of his brother and instead they come up concoct this story sell him into slavery he goes down into Egypt and then his brothers lie to their father
01:13:57: Jacob telling Jacob that he was attacked on the way and they found his coat covered with blood and so yeah
01:14:02: Joseph must be dead and they kept this a secret from Jacob all of these years until finally we get to chapter 45 after Joseph who has become now a prince in the land of Egypt and has stored up all of the grain in the land of Egypt and is providing to others during the midst of a famine he reveals himself to his brothers verse 24 of chapter 45 so he sent his brothers away and as they departed he said to them do not quarrel on the journey then they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father
01:14:28: Jacob and they told him saying Joseph is still alive and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt and he was stunned he did not believe them when they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him the spirit of their father
01:14:43: Jacob revived he is 130 at this point close to it and Israel said it is enough my son
01:14:50: Joseph is still alive I will go and see him before I die now this puts a little bit of a pep in his step he kind of has a reason to live after this and it revives him he gets into the land of Egypt he gets into the caravan that Joseph has sent to take him back to the land of Egypt and goes down to the land of Egypt by this point
01:15:04: Jacob had been in the land for a number of years probably some decades he has lived in tents like Isaac and Abraham and he knows the land is his and he expected at this point to die in that land just as Abraham had and just as his son
01:15:18: Isaac had but circumstances now seem to be driving Jacob out of the land of Israel and into the land of Egypt he was going down to Egypt and leaving the land of Israel and God had promised to bring him back to the land and to give him that land and now it seems that the famine and the circumstances are driving him and all of his descendants out of the land that God had promised and down into the land of Egypt chapter 46 verse 1 so Israel set out with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the
01:15:46: God of his father Isaac and God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said Jacob, Jacob and he said here
01:15:51: I am he said I am God the God of your father do not be afraid to go down to Egypt for I will make you a great nation there
01:15:57: I will go down with you to Egypt and I will also surely bring you up again and Joseph will close your eyes so the famine notwithstanding all of them every descendant was to go down to the land of Egypt and to leave the land that God had promised them and it seems as if now the providence of God was taking away from them what had already been promised to them
01:16:15: Jacob is going to die down in the land of Egypt and Joseph is going to close his eyes as the text says chapter 47 verse 7 then
01:16:23: Joseph brought his father so now Jacob has arrived in the land of Egypt Joseph has already intended to bring him to Egypt and to give them the best of the land the land of Goshen verse 7
01:16:32: Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh Pharaoh said to Jacob how many years have you lived so Jacob said to Pharaoh the years of my sojourning notice that word the years of my sojourning he still views himself as an alien and an exile a stranger in the land the years of my sojourning are 130 few and unpleasant have been the years of my life nor have they attained the years that my father's during the days of their sojourning and Jacob blessed
01:16:57: Pharaoh and went out from his presence so Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt in the best of the land in the land of Ramses as Pharaoh had ordered
01:17:05: Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father's household with food according to their little ones so you notice his perspective that he is a sojourner so like Abraham and like Isaac he viewed himself as one who lived in the in the land of Canaan but never possessed it but he is waiting on the promises to be fulfilled but now there's been this turn of events where Jacob has been taken down into Egypt out of the land that he has promised and all his descendants have descendants are down there and now we come to the point where Jacob blesses the descendants of Joseph we reach now the end of Jacob's life he comes into the land of Egypt at 130 chapter 47 verse 27 now
01:17:41: Israel lived in the land of Egypt in Goshen and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous
01:17:47: I want you to notice that that's very significant children of Israel are there they have acquired property they have prospered in the land they've become very numerous verse 28
01:17:57: Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years so the length of Jacob's life was 147 years those last few years of his life were the most comfortable years that he had ever spent anywhere it's not intense it's in the land of Goshen every need he has ever had has been provided every want he could he's got the prince of Egypt is his son do you think he wanted for anything for 17 years do you think there's any comfort any convenience any modern technology anything at all that Jacob lacked during the last few years of his life not a one
01:18:30: I think it's Spurgeon who said not a dog in the land of Egypt would have barked toward Jacob without Joseph taking action to defend him and move move on his behalf everything
01:18:41: Jacob could have wanted he had he's in the best of the land of Egypt and his son controls the treasury and all of the food in the land for all of that time verse 47 a chapter 47 verse 29 when the time for Israel to die drew near he called his son
01:18:58: Joseph and said I Joseph and said to him please if I have found favor in your sight place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness this was an ancient way of swearing from one person to another please do not bury me in Egypt but when
01:19:10: I lie down with my fathers you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place and he said
01:19:16: I will do as you said he said swear to me so he swore to him then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed that's the phrase that's quoted in Hebrews chapter 11
01:19:25: I'll just read to you Hebrews 11 again by faith Jacob and his son blessed each of the sons of Joseph so this is the occasion of it and worshiped leaning on the top of his staff hold on a second verse 31 of Genesis 47 says
01:19:40: Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed Hebrews says he bowed in worship leaning on the top of his staff so which is it is that a contradiction did anybody notice that before I highlighted it maybe
01:19:53: I should just shut up and save myself the next 60 seconds or so I'll try and explain to you why it is there is a difference in translation there the
01:20:02: Hebrew text or what is in the book of Genesis is the Masoretic text and it renders the it renders that word as bed it is the
01:20:11: Septuagint or the Greek translation of the Hebrew text that renders it as staff the author of Hebrews is using the
01:20:18: Greek translation of the Old Testament which reads that he worshipped leaning on the top of his staff and the
01:20:23: Greek translation translates that bed as sorry that word as staff instead of bed why is that it is because in the ancient
01:20:32: Hebrew there were no vowel there were there were vowel sounds but there were no written vowels in the
01:20:38: Hebrew language so imagine that you had a language with no written vowels but instead you just had consonants and then imagine that you came across the word stff what would that be could be staff could be stiff could be stuff could be any one of those and you wouldn't know that unless you lived in an oral culture where that type of thing was communicated you wouldn't know which one of those words it should be unless you had some indication as to what the vowel sound should be and it wasn't until 600
01:21:08: AD that's 800 years after the Septuagint was translated that the Masoretics and the text started putting in little dots and dashes in the
01:21:15: Hebrew language in order to indicate what the vowel pronunciation of those words should be so when you have the
01:21:21: Hebrew Bible it just has that type of a consonant language which could be staff it could be bed and the author of Hebrews and because he's citing the
01:21:29: LXX the Septuagint he translates it or brings that into our Bible as staff it means that Israel Jacob worshipped leaning on the top of his staff or leaning at the head of his bed and since the
01:21:42: Spirit of God used the Septuagint translation in Hebrews I think it is best to understand that even the
01:21:47: Hebrew there as being a reference to leaning on the top of his staff and why the word staff and why would the author of Hebrews include that the staff is a symbol of what what do you do when you have a staff other than swing it at your disobedient children what do you do with the staff you're walking with it right you're journeying sojourning and what is the whole theme of this portion of Hebrews been that these men are just sojourners that is why
01:22:11: I think the author of Hebrews highlights that he cites the Septuagint rather than rendering it as the Hebrew might have because he is trying to emphasize the fact that even at the end of his life here is a man with a staff by his side it's as if he is ready to get up and go and he is worshipping while leaning on his staff probably also at the head of his bed chapter 48 verse 1 is the author's way
01:22:32: Moses's way of including all of these events together chapter 48 verse 1 now came about after these things that Joseph was told behold your father is sick so he took his two sons
01:22:40: Manasseh and Ephraim with him so Jacob is sick and he is in bed he is weak verse 10 of chapter 48 says he is blind he has just asked
01:22:49: Joseph to promise him that when he dies and lays down with his fathers that he would take his body up out of the land of Egypt and bury it in the land of Canaan this is what he desired he knows that the
01:22:59: Lord is going to fulfill his promise to give the land to him and to his descendants he knows again that he will walk in that land at some point and even though he has lived in Egypt for 17 years in the most lavish comfort that he has ever enjoyed in his lifetime his heart is really back in Canaan in tents
01:23:15: C .H. Spurgeon described it this way those 17 years must have been bright and full of rest for the old man but sense has not killed his faith luxury has not destroyed his spirituality his heart is still in the tents where he was where he had dwelt as a sojourner with God you can see that not even one single rootlet of his soul has taken hold upon Egypt his first anxiety is to take care that not even his bones shall lie in Goshen but that his body shall be taken out of that country as a reminder to his family that they are not
01:23:45: Egyptians and that cannot be made the subjects of Pharaoh and that Canaan is their possession to which they must go by his dying charge to bury him in Machpelah he practically teaches his descendants that they must set loose of all the good land which they have possessed in Goshen for their inheritance did not lie on the banks of the
01:24:02: Nile but on the other side of the desert in Canaan and they must be on tiptoe to journey there the blessing which he gave to the sons of Joseph was but an utterance of his firm faith in the covenant which gave the land to him and to his seed it was confirmed by that faith of his which let go of the present and grasped the future renounced the temporal and seized the eternal refusing the treasures of Egypt and clinging to the covenant of God and see so even as death is overshadowing him and death is a very real specter in his life haunting over him as it were he understands that his his home is not in Egypt that's not where his inheritance is and though he expects to die there he knows that someday he will walk in the land of Canaan not as a sojourner but as an owner and not as an alien but as a possessor of that land and he's asking
01:24:50: God to take him back there he wants to go back to that land so that he can be buried in the land that is given to him and rest in that land until the day that God raises him from the dead and gives it to him he understood what his inheritance entailed and he did not let his heart get tied to this world attempting it would have been right to be in Egypt and to enjoy all those comforts and say this is this is really comfortable this is the best
01:25:15: I've had it my whole life this is the best I've had it I live in houses now everything
01:25:21: I need has been provided for me now everything I could ask for is here I'm not even sure
01:25:26: I really want to go back to the land of Canaan and live in Thames and yet Jacob's heart was not there his 17 years in the land of Egypt did not lessen his confidence one wit that God would give him the land look at verse 2 of chapter 48 when it was told to Jacob behold your son
01:25:42: Joseph has come to you Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed Jacob said to Joseph God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me and said to me behold
01:25:52: I will make you fruitful numerous I will make you a company of peoples and give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession now your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are mine
01:26:02: Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Reuben and Simeon are but your offspring that have been born after them shall be yours they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance in this statement
01:26:13: Jacob is adopting Joseph's two sons Ephraim and Manasseh who were born to him in Egypt he is adopting them as his own and and those two sons end up being included in the the promises given to Jacob and they end up getting territories within the land of Israel when
01:26:28: God eventually gives them the land and they get those territories because and we skipped over this part because Reuben Jacob's firstborn son ended up sleeping with one of Jacob's wives and thus disqualified himself from getting that inheritance and so when
01:26:43: Jacob gives the blessing to Ephraim and Manasseh he is really giving to Jacob a double portion of the inheritance because now
01:26:50: Joseph's inheritance becomes that which is given to Ephraim as well as that which is given to Manasseh so Joseph ends up not really getting an inheritance as it were himself named that way but all of Joseph's descendants end up becoming named by Ephraim and Manasseh so they get the inheritance that Reuben has forfeited so Joseph ends up becoming in a sense the firstborn getting a double portion of the inheritance and he's passing that on here to Joseph's sons
01:27:14: Jacob is conferring listen to this Jacob is conferring the rights of the land promises to Ephraim and to Manasseh a land that he did not yet possess a land in which he was not living and a land that he would never see again but he is conferring those blessings on those two boys that is faith it is the conviction of what you do not see it is confidence in what you know to be true because God said it even though you have not experienced it or tasted it yet he is conferring blessings and an inheritance in that land upon two of his grandsons and was a land that he wasn't in at the time and he was not going to see again before he died verse 8 when
01:27:56: Israel saw Joseph's sons he said who are these Joseph said to his father these are my sons whom God has given me here so he said bring them to me please that I may bless them it seems that the scene is somewhat familiar right the eyes of Israel verse 10 were so dim and aged that he could not see so as he has
01:28:09: Joseph's sons before him he says who are these I wonder if Jacob was remembering that time when Isaac was blind and couldn't see who it was that he was blessing and now he sees himself in the same position that his father
01:28:19: Isaac was in and wants to make sure that he gets the blessing straight and he does get the blessing straight it doesn't look like he's going to get it straight at first verse 10 the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see then
01:28:29: Joseph brought them close to him and he kissed them and embraced them Israel said to Joseph I never expected to see your face and behold
01:28:35: God has let me see your children as well then Joseph took them from his knees and bowed with his face to the ground
01:28:40: Joseph took them both Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right and brought them close to him but Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim who was the younger and his left hand on the head of Manasseh crossing his hands although Manasseh was the first born so Joseph is facing him and he puts
01:28:59: Manasseh on Jacob's right and Ephraim on Jacob's left intending for Jacob to give the greater blessing to the first born which was
01:29:07: Manasseh and the lesser blessing to the second born which was Ephraim and Jacob does the exact opposite of what
01:29:13: Joseph was intending and that is he crosses his hands like this to put his right hand in the greater blessing on the younger son
01:29:20: Ephraim and his left hand in the lesser blessing on his older son Manasseh and of course this would cause
01:29:25: Jacob to object to this which he does later on the intention here is to bestow Jacob's intention is to bestow the greater blessing on the younger son as it turns out it was
01:29:35: God's will in that moment for Jacob to bestow the greater blessing on the younger son just as it had been
01:29:41: God's intention for Isaac to bestow the greater blessing on the younger son Jacob when Jacob was a child but now
01:29:48: Jacob is about to do the same thing and he is being obedient to God unlike his father Isaac because of Isaac's disobedience remember the whole fiasco we looked at last week all the sin that went on there
01:29:58: Jacob has learned his lesson and he is now bestowing the blessings in the proper order much to Joseph's chagrin verse 15 he blessed
01:30:08: Joseph and said the God before whom my father's
01:30:13: Abraham and Isaac walked a God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day the angel who has redeemed me from all evil bless the lads and may my name live on in them and the names of my fathers
01:30:22: Abraham and Isaac and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth notice the intimate language that Jacob uses to describe
01:30:29: God there the God who has been his shepherd the God who has redeemed him by the way this is the first time in the book of Genesis that God is referred to as a redeemer first time in scripture that God is referred to as a redeemer
01:30:38: Jacob has understood something of God's nature there as he refers to him as a redeemer verse 17
01:30:44: Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim's head and it displeased him and he grasped his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head
01:30:50: Joseph said to his father not so my father for this one is the firstborn place your right hand on his head he assumes that the blind old man has got this wrong and he has crossed his hands inadvertently but his father refused and said
01:31:02: I know my son I know he also will become a people and he also will be great however his younger brother shall be greater than he and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations he blessed them that day saying
01:31:14: I am the blessing by you Israel pronounced blessing saying may God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh thus he put
01:31:19: Ephraim before Manasseh so that's the blessing how is it in his expression of Jacob's faith and it's an expression of Jacob's faith because he is inferring upon conferring upon these two sons blessings which could have belonged to Joseph he is now putting them on the head of these two sons and he is making them great and giving them equal status adopting them into the promises promises he has not yet realized and if you were an ungrateful son believer sitting there that day and you observed what was going on you would have thought what is this crazy old man doing he's not even in this land he's never possessed any part of that land until a few years ago he was living in tents in that land and now he's conferring these he's giving that land to his sons as if he actually possesses them yes because in Jacob's mind he did already possess them because God had promised that land to him and he was absolutely certain that he would get it in chapter 49 the he blesses the rest of the descendants the rest of his sons there these two occasions are closely associated probably at the same time after blessing the sons of Jacob or sorry
01:32:23: Joseph Jacob would have turned and blessed the other sons and that entire chapter is filled with the blessings that are given to the other tribes it's interesting and we don't have time to go through them certainly not going to read them but those blessings that he bestows upon those other sons have hints of the land promises that the land that each tribe would eventually get there's some descriptions of that as well as the prosperity and future events that would happen to each of those children particularly of interest is the blessing that is given to the son
01:32:48: Judah because to him is described as the one who would rule a scepter that would never depart from the tribe of Judah speaking of this king that would come and rule the lion of the tribe of Judah which is the
01:33:00: Lord Jesus Christ and Jacob foresaw all of that by faith Genesis 49 verse 28 all these things all these are the twelve tribes of Israel this is what their father said to them when he blessed them we're in chapter 49 verse 28 he blessed them everyone with the blessing appropriate to him then he charged them and said to them
01:33:18: I'm about to be gathered to my people 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 of Machpelah which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan which
01:33:26: Abraham bought along with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a burial site there they buried Abraham and his wife
01:33:32: Sarah there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebecca there I buried Leah the field and the cave that is in it purchased from the sons of Heth now he is giving instructions here regarding his body and by the way the practice of burial only makes sense if you believe in bodily resurrection because the practice of burying somebody is in fact a testimony to the theology of bodily resurrection we bury bodies instead of burn bodies it's not to say that cremation is sin or that you've messed up the plan of God in resurrection if you have cremated somebody but it is to say that burial is a theological statement we put the body in the ground because we are saying when we do so we believe that this body will rise again and if you look at cemeteries you'll see that all of the graves are facing to the east why is it that graves face to the east because we believe that when the son of man comes again he will raise the dead from out of the ground and they will come up and they will be facing the east burial is a
01:34:24: Christian practice and it is a theological statement that we make when we bury somebody well this theological statement is a two -fold symbolism first there is the symbolism that yes we believe this body will rise from the dead but then there is the symbolism
01:34:36: I want to be buried in the land that I am going to be given so that when I am resurrected I'll be buried right there it will be a short journey back to the land that God has given to me this is faith on display verse 33 when
01:34:49: Jacob finished charging his sons he drew his feet into his bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people by the way if I get to choose how it is that I die
01:34:56: I want it to look something like this this is how I want to go I wouldn't mind it being quick but if it's going to be slow
01:35:08: I want it to look just like it has right here for this man of faith this man of faith I want it to look like I want it to look like well that's
01:35:14: Jacob's life though it was the most the early years of his life were not characterized by the most noble of events certainly was not he ended his life well facing death with peace and resolve and that really is the evidence of his faith there is something about there is something about the reality of death and facing it that strips away all of the shams and the pretenses and the fakery isn't there you are standing there and you are looking at the veil and you are about to pass through it and you know that death is nigh there is something about facing the reality of death and the reality of that that just all the pretenses get washed away and unless your conscience is seared unless your mind is deluded and you are under the judgment of God everything unreal everything fake all of the false priorities that you have all the pretenses the sham faith if it is a sham faith all of it melts away because it is in death that we come face to face with the realities that we have believed and trusted all of our lives and death for Jacob was not the refutation of God's promises in fact it was the passage of the pathway to God's greatest blessings death has no sting for the believer and really brings us no loss we don't lose in death anything that is truly cherishable or anything that we truly should cherish because death can take nothing of any real value from us it can only take this world from us but it can't take anything of real value from us and his final act
01:36:34: Jacob's final act is the consummate expression of faith because everything that he saw in his dying moments everything
01:36:41: Jacob saw suggested to him that that promise was now much harder to be fulfilled right because now
01:36:48: Jacob how many of Jacob's descendants were living in the land that God had promised to him zero all of them are in Egypt all of them are comfortable they are multiplying and with every generation that would pass it would be that much more unlikely that they would ever leave that land
01:37:02: I mean something would have to happen to get all of those descendants of Jacob to say you know what we really don't like being here they would have to have everything taken from them they would have to be maybe enslaved they would have to be maybe beaten and made to make bricks or something horrible like that before they would sort of lose the taste for Egypt but as Jacob is dying all of his descendants are comfortable they're prosperous they have owned their own property now they have acquired possession this is the best that it has ever been for them and he has to be looking at the multiple generations laid out in front of him and thinking to himself we've just come down here
01:37:36: I have no descendants in the land of Canaan in fact the likelihood that all of these people will ever want to go back is almost zero because who would ever want to leave this to go back there and dwell in tents again and yet he is confident that God will bring them back so much so that he gives orders that his bones be taken up back to the land of Canaan why so that when the children of Israel go back and get that land he will already be there waiting for them that is how confident he is in the promises of God Jacob expressed that confidence that God would give him the land that he would possess it and then he begins allotting portions of that inheritance to his sons before he even had it himself that is faith he was confident of what he had not seen and he was convinced of the very thing that he hoped for and he was unwavering in that to the very end may
01:38:22: God grant to you and I the same quality the same kind and the same perseverance of faith let's pray my father we thank you that you are worthy of our confidence and trust there's nothing about you that would suggest that you are in any way untrustworthy and undeserving of all the confidence that your people could place in you to fulfill your every word we know that no purpose of yours can be thwarted we know that you are writing history and that the future is yours that you are sovereign over all things over all the nations over us over our faith our belief and our perseverance all of it rests in your hands and we thank you that we can trust you we pray that you would strengthen our hearts with the resolve and with the faith and with the confidence that is necessary for us to trust you in all of the ups and downs of life and even when providences seem to mitigate against you ever fulfilling your word in to us in this world we know that you will fulfill it in the world and in the age that is to come we thank you for the blessed hope of resurrection we pray that you would console our hearts with that truth and comfort us and encourage us and strengthen us to be bold and to be faithful to you in this world and we will give you praise and glory to your great name both now and forever in the name of Christ our
01:39:35: Lord amen please stand and let's sing together he leadeth me he leadeth me oh blessed thought oh words with heavenly comfort brought what e 'er
01:40:05: I do where 'er I be still tis God's hand that leadeth me he leadeth me he leadeth me
01:40:19: By his faithful follower
01:40:28: I would be, For by his hand he'd lead me.
01:40:36: Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine, Nor ever burn or repine,
01:40:47: Content whatever lot I see,
01:40:53: Since tis thy hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me,
01:41:03: By his own hand he leadeth me.
01:41:08: His faithful follower I would be,
01:41:14: For by his hand he'd lead me. And when my task on earth is done,
01:41:24: When by thy grace the victory's won, In death's coming
01:41:32: I will not flee, Since God through Jordan leadeth me.
01:41:41: He leadeth me, he leadeth me, By his faithful follower
01:41:58: I would be. According to the foreknowledge of God the
01:42:04: Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you.