FBC Morning Worship Service

Well, good morning. Good to see you on this Lord's Day. So thankful for all that the Lord has done for us in this past week. He's shown himself faithful. And truly, we're gonna have a verse here in just a moment to prepare our hearts to worship together, but truly his mercies are new each day and his faithfulness is great.

And we're thankful for that. Before we begin the service itself though, just a few announcements in your bulletin to highlight and emphasize. One of them is that Wednesday night, we started this past Wednesday evening at seven, a video series entitled The Torch Lighters.

And each of these episodes kind of highlights a different character from church history. And they do this in an animated format so that it's very appropriate for children. They gravitate to that, of course.

And yet, they tell us about these characters and the important things in their lives, highlights of their lives, from which we can learn some truths and appreciation for the history of the church and the Christian faith.

So I encourage you to join us in that Wednesday evening time and to gain some benefit from this for yourself, for your family. This Wednesday, we'll be looking at a woman in church history named Perpetua.

And I think her testimony is especially helpful for us in the age in which we live now, where we are beginning to experience in our country, in our nation, we're beginning to experience a level of attitudes toward the Christian faith that are unlike anything we've experienced in the past.

We've had some things going on. We've had ideas in the past that have been under the surface. But now, all those things are bubbling and they're creating action and behaviors toward Christians and the Christian faith that is, in our nation, a bit unprecedented.

And so, getting this story of Perpetua, learning from her example and her experience, can help us in facing what we face in our day. So I encourage you in that regard. And as it says in the bulletin, there's a little activity book on the table there in the foyer that's geared to kids, maybe not preschoolers, but geared to children, maybe elementary school age, to kind of go along with those different weekly episodes.

So you might wanna pick one of those up for your kids. Next Sunday is Father's Day, and the message of the day will be especially helpful, I think, to fathers. So encourage dads to be here and encourage your dad to come.

And then we'll also have a special gift for fathers in the morning service as well. And then the other thing I wanted to emphasize is the YMSA meeting at the church. We'll have another one of those light supper and then Wednesday evening programs on the 23rd, so a week from Wednesday.

And you'll want to sign up on the bulletin board sign-up sheet if you can make it for that evening meal. All right, well, we've gathered together today to worship the Lord and to prepare our hearts and turn our hearts to Him.

We are reminded of what Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations chapter three. It says, through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.

So Jim's going to come and lead us with an opening hymn that focuses on the mercies of God.

Jim.

Pastor, it's page number 97 in your hymnals, 97, the mercies of God. And let's all stand together, please, and sing together number 97. Mercies of God, what a theme for my song I never could number them all They're more than the stars in the heavenly dome Or the sands of a way-beaten shore Mercies so great, what return can I make.

For mercies are constant and sure I'll love Him, I'll serve Him with all that I have As long as my life shall endure Yet more when I waken from sleep And they gland in my heart the new day Follow me on into shades of the night When the day with its labor is done Mercies so great, what return can I make.

For mercies so constant and sure I'll serve Him with all that I have As long as my life shall endure Goodness and mercy will follow me still Moving on to the end of the way I have His sure promise and that cannot fail That His mercy is mine every day Mercies so great, what return can I make.

For mercies so constant and sure I'll love Him, I'll serve Him with all that I have As long as my life shall endure Remain standing for prayer.

Your grace and your mercy this past week from the Sunday school hour of the holiness that we should have in our lives, Father. And it doesn't come easy. But Father, as we come together worshiping you this day, may the word of God go forth.

May your spirit work in our hearts and our lives. Father, we need your spirit to work in our hearts to help change in areas that we need to change, Father. Father, guide pastor, help him as he preaches your word this day.

Father, we need more of your word so the things of this world help us as we sing these praises. May we lift our voices to you, thanking and praising your holy name. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

May we see you.

Psalm reading this morning is Psalm 119, verses 153 to 160. It's on the back of your bulletin. And I'd like to read this responsibly today. So I'll read the odd number verses. And if you read the even number, and then we get down to the bottom, the last verse, I'll join with you as we'll read out in unison.

So Psalm 119, I'll begin. You respond with the next verse and we'll go back and forth, shall we? Psalmist writes, consider my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget thy law. Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.

Many are my persecutors and my enemies, yet I do not turn from your testimonies. Consider how I love your precepts. Revive me, O Lord, according to your loving kindness. The entirety of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever.

We've read that together and now we're going to sing of it. So in our psalter, Jim's going to come and lead us with the song version of this psalm, Jim.

And that is in your red psalters, red books, and on page number 274, 274, we'll sing all five verses together. Consider my affliction, Lord. Consider my affliction, Lord, my God, deliver me For I do not forget your law, your lawful decree Contend for me and rescue me, speak my life to me O Lord, salvation please, wicked ones who do not seek your word Great are your tender mercies, Lord, revive me by your ways And though my foes are many yet, I shall not go astray I saw the wicked and I grieve, they do not keep your word Consider how I love your ways, revive me.

None, O Lord The fullness of your word is true and God commands Your righteous judgments, everyone eternal shall stand

As we pray together today, we want to remember our missionary of the week, Doug and Ruth Bacharach. Bacharach's were here on a Wednesday, what is a week and a half ago? And we're enjoyed a little reacquaintance with them as their home on furlough here in the states on furlough.

And they're gonna be here just a few more weeks. Got an email from Doug yesterday, said they are currently in North Carolina at kind of like a cabin retreat. And they're on a little 10 day work retreat at this cabin and asked that we pray for them.

Both Doug and Ruth are working on some projects that just really need some concentrated time and focus. So we pray for that to be an effective time for them. He also mentioned, and I didn't realize this, he didn't say anything about it when they were here recently, that Ruth has been experiencing some really bad back problems and has had MRI and some treatments for some bulging discs.

So we want to pray for Ruth that the Lord would graciously give healing there. And then we have several folks in the congregation to pray for, for their physical needs. Just pray that the Lord will address those.

And then of course, we want to continue to pray for our nation, for those in authority over us, that God would work in their hearts, drawing them to himself and changing the way they think. And by the way, some answers to prayer, some praises.

Praise to see Kyle here this morning. Thank the Lord for working in his life and giving him strength to be here. And for Renee as well here today after I prayed for her this week with the chemo treatment.

So let's look to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Our Father and our God, we are grateful today that you do consider the afflictions of your people. You watch over us, you express and demonstrate to us your loving kindness, your steadfast love, your faithfulness to your covenant.

And we're thankful that we can count on that because we can count on you as the faithful God. We're thankful for your mercies that are new each day. And those mercies of God, what a theme this is for our soul to reflect upon these and to meditate on the ways in which you show your loyalty to us day after day.

I pray that as we have gathered together today, even in this hour, it would be an opportunity for us to reflect on how you have shown your faithfulness even in this past week. You have, by your grace, given us physical strength and health.

You've provided for our needs. You've given us food to eat. You've given us shelter and clothing. You've given us comfort from the heat. And we thank you for these wonderful gifts. We thank you for answers to prayer, for raising Kyle back up to the strength that he has today, that he could be with us.

We do pray for him and the ongoing recovery and upcoming tests that he has to go through. Just pray that you would meet those needs. We thank you for Renee and the strength you've given her after treatment this past week.

We do continue to pray for her and for healing and strength to her body. We thank you, Father, for answers to prayer regarding Jodi and for the progress that she has made. Yet, Father, we understand she's at somewhat of a plateau, and so we plead for her continually that you would continue to give healing to her body, restoring her to health.

I pray this upcoming move to a nursing facility would be a smooth transition for her and would bring continued progress and development in her recovery. We pray for Denny, ask for continued strength for him and recovery, full recovery.

For Kent and his family, meet the needs of that family. And Kent, particularly in his physical well-being, just meet that need, we pray. And for Beth, raise her up to full strength as well. She might even be able to get back to work tomorrow.

But, Father, we do pray also today for Doug and Ruth Bacharach and pray that you would give them a profitable week ahead as they focus on these projects that need to be done while they're here in the States.

I pray that they would have productive time and the thoughts would be clear and the process of writing and music production would be effective and efficient. I pray that you would also strengthen Ruth and heal her back from this problem that she's been dealing with.

Father, we thank you for the country in which we live. Thank you for the freedoms that we enjoy. But, Father, we also realize that our country is not without its great problems. And the problems start at the top and our leaders, from the President to those in Congress to those in the Illinois State House and the Governor's Mansion, these individuals, these governmental leaders and authorities, they need your work in their lives.

Lord, would you please so work in their minds that you would change them, that they would have an interest in and a desire to promote your morals, your truth, your principles for good governance. I pray, Father, that by your grace, we who live in this country would have the continued freedom to live the gospel life, the Christian life, in a way that is free from interference and restraint and restriction.

May we be able to enjoy that freedom and use it for the glory of Christ. Now, Father, we also come to you today confessing the fact that we are a fallen people. We are a needy people. We have, in this past week, while we've been the recipients of much grace and great mercies from your hand, we have also been a sinful people.

We have not always thought what we should think. We haven't said what we should say. We haven't done as we should do. Perhaps our feet have taken us to places we should not go. And, Father, we pray that you would be merciful to us as we confess our sins to you, and you, in your faithfulness and your loving kindness, would forgive us, a weak and a needy people.

Strengthen us by your Spirit's power to walk with Christ, we pray. Cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness. Purge us from our iniquity. May we live for Christ. Bless now, O Lord, the remainder of this service as we listen to you and as we worship you, we pray in Jesus' name.

Well, the next song we'll be singing is in your blue supplements, or your songbooks, number 53. Going over this preparation, I wasn't really sure about the tune, and so I'm gonna ask Kelly, Kelly, would you mind playing that, the whole verse, or excuse me, the whole song through once, and then we'll, let's all stand together, please, if you would, and we'll join in on the second go-around here.

Okay, for Oh, For a Closer Walk with God, all five verses. Oh, for a closer walk with God. A calm and heavenly frame. Light to shine upon the hill. That leads me to the last blessedness I knew.

When first I saw the Lord. Where is the soul-refreshing view of Jesus' leading? His word returned, oh, holy dove, returned. Sweet measure of the rest. I hate the sins that made me mourn And drove me from my breast The dearest idol I have known What air that I need to take it from thy throne And worship only thee?

Oh, shall my walk be close with God? Calm and serene, my frame, so pure light Shall mark the road that leads me to the last blessedness I knew Please be seated.

And if you would take your Bibles and turn to Judges chapter two, book of Judges, the second chapter. Brief passage today, just verses one through five. Paris four, the message to follow. Judges chapter two.

Follow along in your copy of scripture. So I read these first five verses. Says, then the angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Bochum and said, I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers.

And I said, I will never break my covenant with you and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this?

Therefore, I also said, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall be thorns in your side and their gods shall be a snare to you. So it was when the angel of the Lord spoke those words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.

Then they called the name of that place, Bochum, and they sacrificed there to the Lord. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word. And a brief prayer. Our Father and our God, I pray that from this challenging confrontation today, you would speak to us even as we may need to be so confronted.

We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So I know a man who worked at a local business and worked there for a number of years. And he'd been pretty good at his job, he thought. He thought since he'd worked there for quite a long time, practically from the time the business started here in Sterling, he did his job diligently and he felt pretty secure in his position.

Now, he was well aware that he wasn't perfect in the doing of his job, but he was pretty good at it and felt like he had fulfilled the job description pretty well and was secure, felt secure anyway. And then one day, he got a call into his boss's office and he sat down and his boss recounted several instances in the recent past where he had failed.

And some of those cost the company some money, some of them cost some relationships among coworkers and so forth. And then the boss concluded, you're done. You can pack your things and you need to go on.

You need to move on. Now, a few years earlier, that man had walked into that place of business for the first time and he was confident and he was committed. He was committed to doing the best job that he could to fulfill that job description that was given to him and for which he was hired and he was committed to seeing to it the success of that company.

He was committed, but on that particular day, he cried. In Judges chapter one, the various tribes of Israel have committed themselves to continuing the process of conquering the land of Canaan. God had promised them this land, said you to go in and you can have the whole land, it's yours.

And it's yours because the inhabitants of this land have become so corrupt, so degraded, that you are my punishment to this land. But you're to completely eliminate the nations that are there, you're to tear down all of their idols, you're to eliminate the religions of the land and so forth.

And so the various tribes, they started to do that. When they came into the land of promise in the book of Joshua, they began to conquer the land. Judges chapter one recounts the continuation of that conquering process after the death of Joshua.

But it began, this conquering of the land, began with some serious commitments. We need to go back to Gilgal to see those commitments. And that takes us back to Joshua chapter four. So would you turn back there with me, Joshua chapter four, because in the passage we just read in Judges two, it begins by saying the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bokom.

When you read that, you have to say, what's the point of making that comment, that the angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Bokom and he confronted the people? Why doesn't it just say the angel of the Lord came and confronted the people?

Why bring up Gilgal? Gilgal is the place of commitment. So it's a point that tells us go back to Gilgal. What happened to Gilgal? Gilgal was the place of commitment. And you notice in verses 20 to 24, there is a commitment to remember God's gracious and powerful work in behalf of Israel, behalf of the people.

There were these 12 stones, when the people crossed the Jordan River, remember the Lord miraculously parted the river, and the Lord told Joshua, have each of the tribal leaders take a stone out of the riverbed and take it with them out of the riverbed.

So in verse 20, it says those 12 stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set those stones up in Gilgal. Why did he do that? What was the point of that? Verse 21, he spoke to the children of Israel saying, when your children asked their fathers in time to come, what are these stones?

What are these stones here for? Then you shall let your children know saying, Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over.

Get the focus on the power, the gracious power of God demonstrated in behalf of his people. He dried up this river until we had crossed over. So that, verse 24, all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

And so the people at Gilgal committed themselves to remembering God's powerful, gracious work. They needed to remember that because as they went throughout the land to conquer the various sections of the land, they needed to remember that God's power toward them was gracious and was sufficient.

They also committed themselves to be faithful to the covenant. So in chapter five, verse 22 and following, the Lord has the people circumcise all of the males, all the men, because they hadn't done it in that whole time of wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

So here they are coming into the land of Canaan, the promised land, they come to Gilgal, and it is at Gilgal that they reestablish and reaffirm their commitment to the covenant. So look at verse nine and here's the significance of it.

The Lord said to Joshua, this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore, the name of this place is called Gilgal to this day. And the name Gilgal means rolled away, rolling away.

It is a rolling away of the past. It is a commitment to the covenant in the future. They were committed to be faithful to the covenant. There's also at Gilgal a commitment to obey. And the way they showed this commitment in chapter five, verses 10 through 12, is the keeping of the Passover, the first Passover in the land.

Verse 10, children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. That is at Gilgal. And the reason they did this is because God in the Sinaitic covenant and that giving of the law on Mount Sinai, he said on the 14th day of this particular month, you're to keep the Passover.

And here they are in the land. And it's that time of the month, it's that month. And it's that day of the month, that 14th day of the month. And it is the day to keep the Passover. So what do they do?

They don't say, well, you know, it's not convenient. They kept the Passover. They were committed to obedience. And there is, as chapter five ends, an implied commitment to submission to the commander-in-chief of the Lord's army.

Remember in verse 13 and following, Joshua was by Jericho, this is still in Gilgal, and he lifted up his eyes and looked. A man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said, are you for us?

Are you for our adversaries? Whose side are you on? And he said, no, but as the commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, what do you say to your servant?

In other words, we are committed to submitting ourselves to the commander-in-chief of the Lord's army. And it is very likely that this commander-in-chief of the Lord's army is the same person that shows up in Judges chapter two, the angel of the Lord.

And so here it is in Judges two, we've gone from Gilgal to Bochum. At the end of chapter one, at the end of Judges chapter one, it seems that the people of Israel, the tribe, the different tribes, they've made peace with the level of commitment that they have demonstrated thus far.

Now, remember, the Lord said, you go into the land and you eliminate, you kick out, you drive out all the inhabitants of the land. But if you were here last Lord's day and you heard that message from Judges chapter one, what you read, and if you recall, is that time after time, you read this statement that they did not or could not drive out the inhabitants of such and such a tribal area.

They didn't drive out. So for example, chapter one verse, at the end of verse 27, or verse 27, it says Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Bashian and so forth. And verse 29, Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, and on and on through the end of chapter one.

Now, they had conquered sections of those tribal areas and took over sections, but they didn't drive out everybody. But they're okay with it. Because those Canaanites that were left in the land weren't powerful enough to do anything to them.

They weren't strong enough to drive them out of the area. And after all, we can make slaves of them, which is what they did. They put them under tribute. And so it seems that at the end of chapter one, the different tribes of Israel are content with the level of commitment that they have fulfilled.

They've kind of made peace with that. I mean, after all, they have been mostly successful at driving out the Canaanites, and surely that's enough, isn't it? Surely it is, right? Well, you might think so, until the angel of the Lord shows up.

And the angel of the Lord shows up here in chapter two, verse one. And the Lord surprises you when he comes to Bokom. He surprises you. All of a sudden, here's the angel of the Lord. He has come from Gilgal, but here he is at Bokom.

And by the way, the angel of the Lord is probably a theophany. That's a technical term for an appearance of God. Theo, God, thanos, appearance, an appearance of God. And it is most likely, the angel of the Lord most likely is the pre-incarnate son of God who has appeared now to his people.

And he appears at Bokom. Bokom is, it's not a city in the land. You know, if you have an atlas of the Bible, you can't look up Bokom in the Gazetteer and find a reference to a, you can't find the location of Bokom, a city.

It is most likely a pseudonym for the city of Bethel or Bethel. And if you know your history up to this point in Judges, you know that Bethel, Bethel is a place, an area named by Jacob centuries ago, long ago.

Jacob had fled from his brother Esau, he came to this place, God met him, and Jacob said, this is the house of God. And that's what the name Bethel means, Bethel, house of God. So that name, that place got its name years ago, centuries ago.

Few years after Jacob named that place Bethel, he returned there. And it was there at Bethel that Jacob's wife's handmaiden died. Her name was Deborah. And Jacob buried her under a tree, a nearby tree.

And he called that tree, the tree of weeping. And there is our connection, one of our connections to Bokom. Bokom means weeping or crying. So here we are back at Bethel. The people of God are at this place, Bethel.

The significance for the people now, here in Judges chapter two of Bethel, is that the tabernacle got moved. The people came into the land and they crossed the Jordan River and they set up the tabernacle at Gilgal.

But over time, as they conquered more of the territory, that tabernacle got moved from Gilgal to Bethel, the house of God. This is where the tabernacle needs to be, at the house of God. And so here it is, the house of God, the tabernacle is at Bethel.

It's at Bokom, it's at Bokom. And this appearance, this surprise appearance of the angel of the Lord, apparently or likely occurred at one of those national feast days. You know, there were a few of those that God prescribed for the children of Israel.

One of them was the Day of Atonement. They were to come every year to the place of where the mercy seat was, and they were to offer the atoning sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. Everybody was to come for that.

Another day, another time that everyone was to come was for the Passover, the celebration of the Passover. You remember what the celebration of the Passover is all about? And this is what I think is happening here.

The Passover was to celebrate God's delivering of Israel from the Israelites, the Hebrew people, from Egypt, when the death angel passed over the houses of those that had the blood on the doorposts of the house.

The Passover. God instituted that feast as a feast of remembrance of how God had delivered his people from captivity, from bondage. I believe that that's probably the occasion here. And the reason I think it's one of those national feast days and probably Passover is, number one, because of that connection between Gilgal and Bochum.

You know, what happened at Gilgal? The first celebration of the Passover in the land of promise. And here we are again, celebrating the Passover, but this time, this time, the angel of the Lord shows up with a message, with a confrontational message.

But I believe it's a time like that because of what we read in verse four. It says, when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.

There was a reason for representatives, at least, from all of the tribes to be gathered together at this particular place. It was this day, this time, I believe, of celebration. So it is at Bochum, this national feast day, where the angel comes from the place of commitment, from Gilgal, to this spot, where the people have gathered to worship God, to reflect upon God's blessing of deliverance, to praise God for His power and His grace.

It is here. And what does this have to do with you and me? What does this have to do with us? Well, I think it's this. They're there, the children of Israel are there at Bochum on this occasion, doing their duty before God.

They're at the house of God, doing their duty. How many times have you been doing your duty at the house of God, and willingly, gladly, you come to God's house, you come to gather together with God's people, doing what you know you need to do, and doing it gladly, and you think, as you reflect upon your life, and you think back over the last recent past of your life, you think, you know, everything's okay, you know, everything's pretty good, no big problems going on in my life, or my family, or whatever, nothing major going on that I have to be feeling guilty about, or feeling bad about, but then, the Lord shows up.

The Lord meets you, and He meets you unexpectedly. He meets you with a surprise message. He meets you with a message of confrontation, confrontational surprise message. And so, the Lord surprises you at Bochum, and when He comes to surprise you at Bochum, He confronts you, He confronts you.

Now, by the way, here's an interesting fact about our God to relish in. Our God speaks, our God speaks. You think about this in context of the Israelites, and their context of Canaan, with the idolatry of the Canaanites, they have their idols set up, they have all these different things, you know, that they bow down and worship, and not a one of them, not a one of their idols says a thing, nothing, nothing.

They have eyes, but they don't see, they have ears, but they don't hear. But our God speaks, He speaks. He doesn't leave us to wonder, what are you like, God? What are you like? And God, what do you like?

What do you want of us? What do you expect of us? We're not left to wonder. Our God speaks, He tells us. He tells us what He likes, and what He's like. So here, the angel of the Lord comes, God speaks.

And as He comes, He reminds us of some things. And in this case, in this confrontation, notice how He can remind you of the grace that you forgot. So, He says in verse one, as He speaks, He says, I led you from Egypt, and I led you up from Egypt, and brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers.

This is grace. Have you forgotten the grace of God? The grace that brought you up? It's interesting, there's two different words that the Hebrew words that are translated here, bringing, I brought you up, I brought you to.

I brought you up. The same word is used in Psalm 40, verse two, where the psalmist says, He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.

What did God do for Israel? What did He do for Israel? He brought them up out of the horrible pit of Egyptian despair, and bondage, and slavery. He brought them up. What did God do for you, you who are Christ's?

What did He do? He brought you up out of a horrible pit, a pit of despair. Colossians 1 .13 puts it this way, that He has delivered us from the power of darkness. He brought you up out of that horrible pit.

So He reminds you of the grace that you forgot how He brought you up, and then He also reminds you of the grace that you may have forgotten that He brought you in. He brought you in. In other words, God, the angel of the Lord, rehearses for the people of God how He faithfully did what He promised He would do.

And this promise goes back centuries from this time right here in Judges 2. Back to the time of Abraham in Genesis 13, in Genesis 13, Abraham is in this same land. And the Lord says to him in verses 14 to 17, He says to Abram, lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are.

Look northward, look northward, look southward, look westward, look eastward, look everywhere where you're standing. Look, for all the land which you see, I give to you and your descendants forever, and I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be numbered.

Arise, He says, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you. This is the promise that God made to Abram that this land, where Israel now is, would be theirs. He reiterated that promise to Abraham's grandson, Jacob, in Genesis 35, and this is where Jacob returns to Bethel.

And in verses 11 and 12, the Lord says to him, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, I give to you and to your descendants after you.

I give this land. And you remember, Joseph, Jacob's son, ended up going down to Egypt, and eventually, through the process of time, Jacob was called to go down where Joseph was. He would be understandably hesitant to do so, right?

I mean, after all, this was the land. Here, where I am, I'm supposed to be. This is the land of God's promise. Should I leave it? And in chapter 46, Genesis 46, verses three and four, the Lord said to Jacob, I am God, the God of your father.

Do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you up again. I'll bring you back to this land, in other words. And this is the promise that God gave years and years later, in Exodus chapter three, to Moses and the people of Israel.