God's Final Word

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Amen.
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Please take out your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis and chapter 46.
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Now, as we do each week, my plan is to read all of the texts that I'm going to preach, and we are going to be looking at verses 1 to 30.
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So we're not doing the whole chapter, but there is a section beginning at verse 8 that goes all the way down to, I believe, verse 24, 25.
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That is a very long list of names, and I do plan to try to read every one of them, but I would implore you, no snickering if I make a mistake.
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There are a lot of names in this list, and we've done this before.
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We've gone through every verse of Genesis up until now.
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We are in our third year of study of this text, so we have gone through genealogies before, some even more lengthy than this.
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So this is not a first time for many of you, but I know that some of you are maybe new to the church.
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You haven't been with us to this study, and it might surprise you that we do read through all that we are going to study.
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But before we read it, I want to say a few preliminary words to prepare our minds.
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The book of Hebrews begins with these words.
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It says, Long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
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That passage in Hebrews reminds us that God's revelation of Himself has not always been in the same way.
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It literally says God at many times and in many ways spoke to our fathers.
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Abraham never had a Bible.
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Can you believe that? He lived his whole life without a Bible.
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Isaac didn't have a Bible.
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Jacob did not have a Bible.
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For that matter, neither did Noah or Enoch or Adam.
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The first person to write a book of Scripture would be Moses, and he lived over 400 years after the events that we have been studying in Genesis.
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Yet even though our forefathers did not have a Bible, this does not mean that they did not have revelation from God.
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They had direct revelation from Almighty God, which came to them, as the writer of Hebrews says, at many times and in many ways.
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We've already seen some of those ways.
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God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden.
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Noah was given specific instructions for how to build the ark.
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God spoke directly with Abraham when He called him out of Mesopotamia, and later God would appear to Abraham as a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch.
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He later would appear to Hagar in the wilderness as the angel of the Lord, and He would appear to Jacob as a wrassler, battling him all night long.
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When you're in the south, when you're south of the line, it's a wrassler, not a wrestler, just so you know.
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And in some ways, this might tempt us to envy our forefathers, because they had personal encounters with Almighty God.
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Yet I want to remind you today that we have in our hands the blessed revelation of God, right here.
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And the Bible is no less a revelation from God than anything that was experienced by our forebearers.
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In fact, I would say this, we could argue that what we have is in a way much better, because we are able to know God's story from beginning to end within the pages of His Word.
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We have so much more than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in many ways.
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And the reason why I'm beginning today by talking about the revelation from God, you might think, how does this fit into the narrative that we're going to discuss today? Well, two reasons.
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Number one, we have come to the point where we are going to hear the voice of God for the last time in Genesis.
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This is the last time where God is going to speak audibly that we know of.
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It could have happened, but the last time that we know of that God is going to speak to the patriarch.
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In fact, the next time we see God speak directly to someone in the Bible is over 400 years later when Moses hears the voice of God from the burning bush.
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But also, in my sermon today, I want to address an issue with this particular chapter that has been raised by scholars.
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This particular chapter has been accused of containing contradictions.
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And I want to deal with that because I want to show you that the Word of God can stand up to scrutiny and that we have a Word upon which we can stand.
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His final Word.
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So with that in mind, we're going to stand and hear God's Word preached.
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We're going to go from chapter 46, verse 1, down to verse 30.
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So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
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God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob.
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And he said, Here I am.
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Then he said, I am God, the God of your father.
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Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.
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I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.
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Then Jacob set out from Beersheba.
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The sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
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They also took their livestock and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his daughters' daughters, all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.
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Now these are the names of the descendants of Israel who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons.
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Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and the sons of Reuben, Hanak, Pahlul, Hezron, and Carmi, the sons of Simeon, Jemuel, Jaman, Ohad, Jashon, Zohar, and Shayul, the son of a Canaanite woman, the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the sons of Judah, Ur, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah, but Ur and Onan died in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul, the sons of Issachar, Tola, Puva, Job, and Shimron, the sons of Zebulun, Sered, Elon, and Jaliel.
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These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, together with his daughter Dinah, all together, his sons and his daughters, numbered 33.
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The sons of Gad, Ziphion, Haggai, Shunni, Esbon, Eri, Erodai, and Ereli, the sons of Asher, Imnah, Ishva, Ishvi, Beriah, with Sarah, their sister, and the sons of Beriah, Heber, and Mauchiel.
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These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, 16 persons.
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The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, Joseph and Benjamin, and to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, the priest of On, bore to him.
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And the sons of Benjamin, Bela, Betcher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Mupin, Hupin, and Ard.
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These, sorry, Mupin, Hupin, and Ard.
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These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob, 14 persons in all.
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The sons of Dan, Hushim, the sons of Naphtali, Jaziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shalem.
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These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, seven persons in all.
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All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's sons' wives, were 66 persons in all.
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And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two.
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All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were 70.
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He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen.
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Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen.
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He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.
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Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.
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This is the word of God.
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May he write its eternal truths upon our heart.
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Amen.
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You may be seated.
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When our last message ended, Jacob had just received the glorious news that his son Joseph was still alive.
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For 22 years, he had been in a state of absolute grief.
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In fact, if you go back in the text, you will see that it says that his sons and his daughter-in-laws and his family tried to bring about some sort of consolation for him, but he was unwilling to be consoled.
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After the death of Joseph, Jacob was a broken man.
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And not only that, Judah had departed his family.
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He had gone away for a long time.
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He seems to only recently have returned.
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A famine has struck the land.
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The only place to go for food was Egypt.
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His brothers went to get food from Egypt, were accused of being spies.
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One of them was taken as collateral, and a command was told, Go and bring your youngest brother back.
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Jacob did not want to lose his youngest son, Benjamin, like he had lost Joseph.
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So he was unwilling, until such time as the food completely ran out and they began to starve.
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Finally, Jacob was willing to let Benjamin go back.
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And when he went back, he went back and he met Joseph, though they knew not that it was Joseph.
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Benjamin is accused of being a thief, having stolen the cup of Joseph.
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And Judah arises among his brothers as not only a leader, but as a savior, and offers himself up as a substitute for his youngest brother, saying, Do not take the boy, but take me.
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And at that moment, as we saw last week, we finally come to the point where Joseph can no longer contain himself.
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He's held back his identity for long enough.
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He sends the Egyptians out of the room, and he bursts down into an emotional just torrent of tears, and he begins to say, It is I, Joseph.
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And his brothers are stunned.
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At first, they are afraid.
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In fact, that fear will stay with them, even until chapter 50, as we will see when we get there.
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They're still somewhat afraid that Joseph is going to bring some form of recompense to them.
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So his brothers don't know what to do.
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And he says, Is my father still alive? And they say, Yes.
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And he says, Well, go and get him and bring him back.
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And I'm going to give you all the best of the land.
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I'm going to give you the pasture land of Goshen.
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Pharaoh also offered to give them land.
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And so the brothers go home to Canaan.
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And when Jacob hears that his son is alive, he does not want to believe it.
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He is skeptical.
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He does not want his heart to be torn in half again.
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And so he does not believe, but he is able to be persuaded when they begin to show him all of the gifts that they brought back.
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They brought back clothing, and they brought back food, and they even brought back wagons, so that the items from the home can be brought back to the land, back to Egypt.
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Joseph has sent with the brothers, as it were, a traveling party and said, Bring my father back, bring everything you have and come and live with me in Egypt.
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So that sets the stage for where we are today.
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Jacob is going to journey with his sons to see Joseph.
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And all of his family is going to come with him.
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No one is going to stay in the promised land.
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No one is going to stay there and stake a claim or hold a flag for Israel.
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All of Israel is now going out of the land of promise and into the land of Egypt.
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But first, a stop must be made.
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The God who, in a sense, raised Joseph from the dead, in the eyes of Jacob, his son was dead, the God who has risen Joseph from the dead must be sought and he must be worshipped.
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And so that is where our narrative begins.
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I have an outline today, four parts of the outline.
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You can see it on the screen.
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We're going to see in verses 1 to 4, Israel worships God.
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Verses 5 to 7, Israel enters Egypt.
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Verses 8 to 27, as we just read, Israel is numbered.
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This is an important part and we're going to spend some time when we get there because that part, one, shows the massive expansion of Israel from the time of going into Egypt to the time of coming out.
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So we'll talk about that when we get there.
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Because you know there's a whole book dedicated to the number who came out.
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It's called numbers.
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Somebody said Exodus.
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I was going to say Exodus, but it's numbers.
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That's where we get the number that we know came out, 603,550 fighting men.
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That means there was probably well over a million people.
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The 603,550 fighting men probably had women and probably had mothers and fathers, many of which may have still been alive and some had children.
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We're talking a lot of people.
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And then finally we'll see as we close today, Israel's reunited with his son.
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So let's look first at Israel worshipping God beginning at verse 1.
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It says, so Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
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Now understand this, Beersheba has been mentioned many times.
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It was the place where Abraham had dug a well and pitched his tent.
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It means literally the well of the oath.
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It was an oath that was made between Abraham and one of the kings and he made an oath there and this place was profoundly significant.
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God had met with Hagar there when she departed from Abraham's home.
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Isaac had built an altar there in Genesis 26 and this was also there that the family had camped.
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It was in Beersheba where Jacob fooled his father by wearing the clothes of his brother.
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So many things have happened in this place.
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It was at the southern limit of the promised land.
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It was the last venue before you went into the desert and headed towards Egypt.
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I don't know how many of you have ever been out west, but if you ever go out west and you travel, you'll find places where there's sometimes many, many dozens of miles, sometimes even 100 miles between places where you can get gas and get something to drink and there'll be a big sign on the place that says, last gas for 120 miles or last food and drink for 120 miles.
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Well, that's sort of what we have here.
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They have departed from where they were.
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They're coming down and they're going towards Egypt and they come to the southernmost point, this place here in Beersheba and they know they're about to hit this long expanse that's going to take them over into Egypt and they stop here in this place.
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And why did they stop? Well, they didn't stop to gas up.
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I mean, they may have gotten some supplies, but their gas was much cheaper than ours.
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Couldn't help myself.
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Why did they stop? Well, the text doesn't tell us.
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All it tells us is what he did.
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It says Israel took his journey with all he had.
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He came to Beersheba and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.
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It doesn't tell us why he stopped and there have been a lot of conjecture about the reasoning, but we know for certain one thing.
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He stopped for the purpose of worship.
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Some people think that he was afraid and I do think that that's possible.
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I think that it's possible at this point that Jacob is afraid because he's leaving the promised land.
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And you understand, that's the place that God had promised his people to have their generations.
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That's the place that God said, I'm going to give you a people and I'm going to give you a land.
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That's the two promises of the Abrahamic covenant.
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A seed and a land.
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And he's now leaving the land and he's taking all the seed with him.
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And so there is a chance where there was fear that had welled up within the heart of Jacob.
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Am I doing the right thing? Am I going to the right place? I know I want to see my son.
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There's no doubt.
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If there was a chance, I would have already been there.
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But now I'm headed there.
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I'm taking everybody out of the promised land.
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God, is this the right thing to do? And by the way, God had forbidden going to Egypt back in chapter 26 with Isaac.
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So he probably knew that his father, and he knew that when his grandfather had gone to Egypt, when Abraham had gone to Egypt, he had messed up.
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Remember, he had his wife taken away from him and all of that.
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That had happened in Egypt.
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He knew his father was forbidden to go there in chapter 26.
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And now he's headed to a place where he's not certain and confident.
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So he wants to seek God.
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He wanted confirmation that leaving the land was safe.
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And I would add to that.
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Because I don't know that it's only fear that motivated him.
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Even though fear is a good motivator.
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Fear can be a good motivator.
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There's also something else.
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I think that he's worshipping God because he's thankful that his son is still alive.
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He knows that Joseph is still alive.
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And before he leaves the promised land, he's going to go to the place where his ancestors had worshipped.
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And he's going to worship the God of his father who is in fact his own God.
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And he's going to go to this place and he's going to worship God.
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And that's what it tells us.
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It says that he offered sacrifices to God.
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That is an act of worship.
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He has matured in his faith.
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He has grown in his understanding.
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And God speaks to him.
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As I've already said, this is the last time God will speak to him directly that we know of.
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Now one could argue that when he gives the prophecies in chapter 49, that's God speaking through him.
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But what I mean is direct, audible revelation from God to the patriarch.
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And we see God speak to him in a loving way.
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It says, and God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob.
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Now I want you to note this very quickly.
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The first time he is mentioned in this chapter, he is not called Jacob.
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But he is called Israel.
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Israel represents a time in Jacob's life where there was a change in his life.
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It represents a time where he went from being Jacob, which means heel grabber or supplanter or usurper, to the time when he went to the one who is called Israel, he who prevails with God or who wrestles with God.
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He was given that name the night that he wrestled with the angel of the Lord all night long.
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And he was called Israel.
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And so it says here, beginning in verse 1, Israel took his journey.
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But when God speaks to him, God speaks to him in his old name.
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In fact, this is one of the reasons why some people have conjectured that maybe he was afraid.
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Because God is speaking to him in the name of weakness.
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But God speaks to him in the two-fold use of the name, which we know in Hebrew literature was often meant to draw attention to.
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You remember when Simon Peter, when Jesus would say, Simon, Simon.
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Or verily, verily, I say unto thee.
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Right? The doubling of the word was meant to call attention to that thing.
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And so he says, Jacob, Jacob.
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And what does he say? Jacob says, here I am, which is the same response that his fathers had given to God when God spoke to them.
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Here am I.
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Here I am.
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And he said, I am God, the God of your father.
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Do not be afraid.
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See, this is why I do think that there is merit in the idea that he was perhaps afraid.
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Because one, God speaks to him in this name, this name of weakness.
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But he also speaks to him in love, and he says, do not be afraid to go down to Egypt.
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For there I will make you a great nation.
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First of all, just for a moment, this is an amazing promise.
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Because God has already promised to make Abraham a great nation.
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God has already promised to make Isaac a great nation.
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And God has already promised to make Jacob a great nation.
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But now the national growth is going to happen somewhere other than the place that everyone expected.
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Because everyone expected the national growth to happen in the land of Canaan.
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But no, it's going to happen in Egypt.
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He's going to go to Egypt with just a few dozen.
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He's going to come out of Egypt with an army.
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And notice what he says.
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He says, I will be with you.
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I will go down with you to Egypt.
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There's great comfort in that.
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Think about this.
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Wouldn't it be great if you knew for certain that whatever you were doing or wherever you were headed was God's will for you? That God just met you at the night and told you where you're going is where I have you going.
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Where you're going I'm going to prosper you.
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And where you're going is the place I'm going to go with you.
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That's the blessing that he has here.
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He's given assurance for the journey.
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He's given four promises in this passage.
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He's given the promise of posterity.
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He says in Egypt you're going to be made a great nation.
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He's given the promise of presence.
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When you go I'm going to go with you.
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He's given the promise of deliverance.
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Even though you're going there you will not stay there, but you will come out.
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And what we need to realize is that's not a promise to Jacob personally.
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That's a promise for his descendants because that's a promise of the exodus.
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Now you could argue that it is a promise for him personally because his body is going to be embalmed and it's going to be taken back to Machpelah which is where the cave was where Abraham was buried.
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That's going to happen so physically he's going to come out, but the promise of God in the deliverance is not going to be experienced by him during his lifetime.
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It's going to be experienced by his descendants after he dies.
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And he says you are going to be brought back out and he's promising the exodus.
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But he also promises him comfort.
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He says your son Joseph will close your eyes.
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You're not going to die on the way.
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He's not going to die before you get there.
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He is going to be the one who is going to close your eyes.
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And that is a euphemism for the idea he's going to be with you at death.
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There is a sense in which sometimes people die with their eyes open and the person will push their eyes shut and there is symbolism in that of letting go and letting them be gone.
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And so there could be that physical act.
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But the idea is Joseph is going to be with you in your death.
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The son that you lost 22 years ago that you thought had been eaten by a wild animal is going to stand by your side.
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So it is with all of these promises that Jacob is now confirmed to leave the promised land and go to Egypt under the care of Joseph.
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God gives his final word.
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Go and you will be made a nation.
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I will be with you and Joseph will close your eyes.
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Well then we get to verse 5 and we see the entrance into Egypt and not much need really be said about this.
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It just simply says when then Jacob set out from Beersheba, the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father.
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I thought that was interesting.
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It says he was carried with their little ones and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent.
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So Jacob is not having to walk this trip.
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He's walked this trip before.
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He's made long journeys by foot before.
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But now he is going by wagon.
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His son caring for him and sending him a wagon to ride in.
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And so he is being taken along by his sons.
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They also took their livestock and their goods which they had gained in the land of Canaan.
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They came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him.
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By the way, this is a bunch of people and a bunch of livestock.
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This is moving an entire generation of people.
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It's a giant group, not just of people but of animals and property.
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It says his sons, his sons with him, his daughters, his sons, daughters and all his offspring he brought with him to Egypt.
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This is an entourage.
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This is a large group and they're migrating slowly, not quickly, down toward Egypt.
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Now, I had considered for this next part bringing in a whiteboard because you all know me.
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I like to teach and this next part is going to require, is going to require just a little bit of explanation.
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And I could do as some preachers have done and I've seen them do it.
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Literally just skip it because they didn't want to deal with it.
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But I'm not going to do that.
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Because Genesis 46, beginning at verse 8, going all the way down to verse 27 is a listing of names.
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Now, we've seen this before.
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We've seen generations many times throughout the book of Genesis.
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We've seen genealogies, but there's something different attached to this genealogy.
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And that is the numbers are attached to this genealogy.
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And this particular set of texts has raised many questions among scholars and among Bible commentators.
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Because, and here, stay with me.
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Let me say this before we start.
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Number one, I believe in the inerrancy of Scripture.
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I believe that the Bible is true.
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But a simple reading of this list of names does contain some issues that we have to work through.
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And I will say this.
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Some guys will skip it.
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I have an apologist heart.
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If you don't know that, you don't know me.
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We all have different hearts, right? And I have the heart, my preaching style has always been when I come to something that's confusing or difficult, I spent two days writing a chart out for all these names.
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That's what I do.
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Because I believe the word of God not only can be defended, I believe it should be stood upon and we stand and we give a hope or the reason for the hope that is within us.
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So that's my heart.
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You may not have interest.
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I have interest in this.
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Because number one, the numbers don't add up.
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Number two, the final number doesn't make sense.
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Number three, when Stephen tells this story in the New Testament, he gives an entirely different number.
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Because the number that is here in this text is 70.
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The number Stephen says in Acts chapter 7 is 75.
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So don't you think unbelievers just take that and run with it like a football? Don't you think that every time our kids go off to college and they face guys like Bart Ehrman and Dan Barker and other people that those guys are throwing texts like this up in their face and saying, hey, here's where the Bible has problem.
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Oh, and by the way, this is not a King James issue.
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If you think, well, the King James had no, the same problems are in the King James and the New King James and the NIV and the NASB and the ESV because they all have the same numbers.
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It's not, this is not an issue of that.
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And it is, there is a chance where this is a possibility where we do have what is called a textual variant.
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Because there is a textual variant in this text.
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And if you don't know what a textual variant is, hold your breath, a textual variant is where in the tradition of handwritten manuscripts that have come down through the ages, there have been introduced discrepancies in those manuscripts.
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So it doesn't call into question the validity of the original, but it does call into question what the original said because we have manuscripts that have differences.
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That's what a textual variant is.
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Now the New Testament has over 5,000 handwritten manuscripts.
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So we're used to seeing this in the New Testament because the New Testament has these manuscript discrepancies.
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I've taught on this at length.
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If you're interested, you can go to our sermon audio page.
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I have several hours of me teaching on textual variation, how it works, why it matters and why we should understand it.
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But when it comes to the Hebrew, we don't run into this as much.
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And the reason why is we don't have as many manuscripts of the Hebrew as we do of the Greek.
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You understand that the oldest Hebrew manuscripts that we have is known as the Masoretic text.
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And it dates around 900 years after Christ.
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But we have a Greek manuscript of the Hebrew.
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It's a translation called the Septuagint, which existed 1,000 years before that.
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So we still have ancient manuscripts that go back far, but they're in different languages and sometimes there are discrepancies between them.
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So if I scared everybody, y'all nervous? Don't be.
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I'm dealing with this all week.
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Y'all just had it for the last five minutes.
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I'll give you some thoughts.
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One of the ways that some scholars try to deal with this is they say that it's okay that the numbers don't add up because the whole point is the number 70 in Hebrews, or rather in the Hebrew culture, the number 70 represents completion.
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And therefore, by trying to get to the number 70, all the author is telling us is that all of the descendants of Israel came because it would show completeness.
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There is some defense for that because if you go back to Genesis chapter 10 and you count up the number of nations that's in Genesis chapter 10, it does come up to 70.
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But that's because they specifically did that to represent all the nations.
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And so they made a point to give you 70 names to come up with 70 nations so as to represent all the nations.
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So is it possible that the number 70 represented all of Israel coming out, but it wasn't specifically 70? Yes.
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That is called the use of round numbers.
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We see that all the time.
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We see that in like when the Bible talks about 20,000 this or 5,000 this.
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Oftentimes that's a round number.
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And the Bible uses round numbers and that's okay.
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Is that the answer? I would say that's a potential answer.
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But I was not satisfied.
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So I went further.
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Are you guys ready? Okay.
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I didn't bring a whiteboard so let me just explain how this works.
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The descendants of Leah are 33.
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The descendants of Zilpah are 16.
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The descendants of Rachel are 14 and the descendants of Bilhah are seven.
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If you add all those up, it's 70.
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But the problem is it says you add all that up and you get 66.
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Okay.
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That's not good.
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But if you read through the list, two of the guys are dead.
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Onan and Ur are dead.
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So those two are out.
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And three of them are not coming from Canaan into Egypt.
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Three of them are already there.
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Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim are already there.
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So now you get down to 65.
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Okay.
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But it says 66.
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If you read the list, Dinah is not included in the list until the very end.
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So you get back to 66.
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So there's your 66.
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You say, but wait a minute.
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It says there's 70.
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66 plus Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh are how many? 70.
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So you get to 70.
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So that's how we can...
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That's one of the ways to solve the issue of the numbering in that list.
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Now, it's not the only way.
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There are other creative ways to get around it.
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I'm not trying to get around anything.
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That sounded bad.
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Like I'm trying to...
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I ain't trying to eight ball in the corner pocket here.
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I'm just saying that's one of the ways to understand it.
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We don't know how they numbered.
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That's just one of the ways it could have been to get to the number 70.
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But you say, but wait a minute.
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Why did Stephen mention 75? And some people say he just got it wrong.
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He didn't get it wrong.
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Oh, now I'm really confusing.
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Stephen is not quoting from the Hebrew text.
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Stephen is quoting from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew text.
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And the Septuagint adds in additional sons of Joseph that are not listed in the Hebrew text.
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And that gives us our extra five names.
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So we get to 75.
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Now you ask...
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Here's the big question.
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And you can go home and talk with your kids and you can come back and tell me the answer.
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You know, kids know everything.
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Because the big question is which one was what Moses wrote? I tend to think actually that the Septuagint is probably the more accurate.
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Because the Septuagint is older than the Masoretic text.
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And it probably represents an older, more ancient version of this particular text.
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However, and by the way, if you read the Septuagint, it not only says 75 in Genesis 46, it says 75 in Exodus chapter one when this number is given again.
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So it's not like it was a mistake.
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So here's the thing.
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You want to come to me later and you say, I think it was the Masoretic text that was right.
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God bless you.
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Go home, eat your chicken.
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Do whatever you got to do.
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I'm not going to argue over it.
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But we do know why it is here.
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And we're able to deal with it intelligently from history and from the text.
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We don't ignore it.
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Let me tell you something.
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And I'm going to throw this out as an application.
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When your kids come to you with a hard question about your faith, don't you dare ignore them.
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You spend some time with that question.
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You deal with that question.
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And if you don't know the answer, you find somebody who can help you.
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Because our children do not need to be raised with an ignorant faith.
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We do not check our brains at that door.
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The Bible says we are renewed in the mind as well as in the spirit.
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So we need to come at these things like scholars and we need to deal with them like we should.
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Is that helpful? If anybody wants a copy of my chart, it's two pages.
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I'd be happy to email it to you.
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It's much more than I was able to say.
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But as I don't want to do, I don't want to sit here and literally draw out the chart for you.
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But if you want it, send me an email.
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I'll send it to you.
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So that takes us down to verse 28.
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And we get to the beautiful part.
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I didn't want to end with that.
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I felt like that would be a bad way to end.
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I want to end with the good part.
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Because the listing of names, again, it's just about the whole family coming.
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That's the most important part is the whole family made it.
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And when they make it, we see verse 28.
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It says that he, that is Jacob, had sent Judah ahead of him.
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By the way, notice Judah is again taking that position of preeminence.
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Even though he's not the firstborn son, he is the one who's taken lead.
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And he sends Judah ahead of him to show the way before him in Goshen.
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And they came to the land of Goshen.
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By the way, the land of Goshen is in the eastern part of the Nile Delta.
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And the word literally means drawing near, which is interesting because Joseph said, I want you to live there so you'll draw near to me.
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So there's some meaning behind the word here.
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And it was far enough from the center of Egypt that the influx of Hebrews and Egyptians wouldn't intermingle as much.
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And so there was an attempt to keep separation.
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We see that separation actually lasts down through the ages because after 400 years, the Egyptians had enslaved the Hebrews, but there was still a distinction.
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It wasn't as if you had a mixing.
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There wasn't a mixing.
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There was still a division between them.
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You knew who the Egyptians were and you knew who the Hebrews were.
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And there was a reason for that.
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And God kept them that way for that reason because he was going to bring his people out 400 years later.
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So they go to the land of Goshen.
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And Joseph prepared his chariot.
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He went up to meet Israel, his father in Goshen.
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He presented himself to him.
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By the way, that likely meant he bowed to him.
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That's what to present yourself to someone was to bow down.
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He sees his father.
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He runs, he bows, and then he falls on his neck and he wept on his neck a good while.
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And I know the Bible is given to understatement.
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That's one of them.
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It says he wept for a while.
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Yeah, I imagine it was a long while.
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And in this blessed reunion, words can barely describe what these two men were feeling.
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Separated by 22 years.
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Separated by lies and deceit.
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Now they have been brought back together.
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They are weeping on one another.
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And Israel looks at his son.
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In verse 30 it says, Israel says to Joseph, Now let me die.
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By the way, that's not a desire for death.
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He's not saying, I want to go die.
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You realize he's going to live 17 more years? That's what it says.
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He goes another 17.
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And what's interesting about that, Brian Borgman pointed this out.
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Brian Borgman said, It's interesting how God uses symmetry.
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Because Joseph spent the first 17 years of his life with his father.
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He is then separated from his father for 22 years.
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And now his father will spend his last 17 years with his son.
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Here in Egypt.
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So when Jacob says, Now let me die.
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He's not saying, I want to go die right now.
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What he's saying is, My heart is satisfied.
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I have seen my son and my heart is satisfied.
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Very similar to Simeon in the New Testament.
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When he sees Jesus Christ, what does he say? Now you are letting your servant depart in peace.
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Today's narrative began with Jacob seeking God's face and trusting God's word.
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He's now in Egypt.
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He's at peace with God and man.
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And he's at peace with his beloved son.
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And whatever fears he had in going have been washed away by the presence of the promise of God.
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Jacob trusted the word of God.
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And I want to finish by saying this.
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The world will always try to give you reasons not to trust the word of God.
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Those numbers don't add up.
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Those names don't make sense.
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Whatever.
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The world will always try to give you reasons not to trust the word of God.
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But the word of God is sure.
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It is perfect.
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And it is final.
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And if you are here today and you have not placed your trust in the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ, and hold fast to the written word, his word, then I call on you to repent and trust today.
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Because he is trustworthy.
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This word is trustworthy.
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This is his final word.
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Let's pray.
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Father, I thank you for your final word.
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I thank you that, Lord, you spoke to our ancestors in many ways and at many different times.
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But Lord, you have spoken to us through your son.
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And you have given us your written word as a testimony of what you have done, what you are doing, and what you're going to do.
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And I pray, oh God, that you would give an encouraging word to our people, that if any person in this room does not trust in the word of God, that they would trust in that word today.
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And I praise you and thank you.
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And I ask that you be with us now as we participate in the Lord's Supper.
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Help us to respond to your word.
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In Jesus name.
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Amen.