It is no coincidence that
we come to the end of the book of Genesis on Father’s Day. This great book that teaches us how men (and
women) were created in the image and likeness of God ends by showing us how to
die like men. Genesis 49:28-50:26 records the death of Jacob and Joseph to
encourage faith in God’s certain providence that will never fail.
One thing we learn from
the Bible is that faithful men (and women) are faithful because they are
persuaded that they have a great God.
Their God is not small, but BIG.
One question I’d like all of us to consider today is simply, “How big is
your God?” Is He so big to you that He
changes the way that you live and the way that you would die? Scripture tells us that faith is the only way
that we can please God and is the only way any of us can be faithful men and
women. The question we will be moved to
ask today is what kind of God is so great and so big that He would be deserving
of such radical devotion as we see in these two men.
I.
TOUR OF THE TEXT:
a.
The Death and Burial of Jacob (49:28-50:13)
[28] All these are the twelve tribes of
Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing
each with the blessing suitable to him. [29] Then he commanded them and
said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the
cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, [30] in the cave that is
in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which
Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying
place. [31] There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they
buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah—[32] the field
and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” [33] When Jacob
finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his
last and was gathered to his people.
I want to point out a
couple of items here. First, notice that
Jacob and the author of Genesis describe his death as being “gathered to his people.” This implies the reality of an afterlife,
because it will be months before Jacob’s body will be buried in Canaan. He is gathered to his people at death, not
when his body is returned to Canaan.
Second, I want us to
notice again the radical covenant
faithfulness displayed by Jacob here.
He is more concerned about being buried in the place God has for His
people than being buried with the woman who was the love of his life,
Rachel. God has now become the love of
his life and has also redeemed the testimony of this man whose life was such a
mess. Isaac’s old age shamed his youth,
but Jacob’s old age redeems his.
[50:1] Then Joseph fell on his father's face
and wept over him and kissed him. [2] And Joseph commanded his servants
the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
[3] Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for
embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
[4] And when the days of weeping for him were
past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found
favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, [5] ‘My
father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out
for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let
me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.’” [6] And Pharaoh
answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” [7] So
Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of
Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
[8] as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's
household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the
land of Goshen. [9] And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen.
It was a very great company. [10] When they came to the threshing floor of
Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and
grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
[11] When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on
the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the
Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the
Jordan. [12] Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, [13] for
his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the
field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field
from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. (Genesis
49:28-50:13 ESV)
Ecclesiastes 3:4 tells us that there is a time to mourn and I think that it is good
to mourn for a time. Death is not a
natural part of God’s creation, but a part of the curse creation is under
currently. It is an intruder and an
enemy. But it is an enemy that we become
more than conquerors of in Christ.
b.
The Death and Blessing of Joseph (50:14-26)
[14] After he had buried his father, Joseph
returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury
his father.
[15] When Joseph's brothers saw that their father
was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for
all the evil that we did to him.” [16] So they sent a message to Joseph,
saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: [17] ‘Say to
Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin,
because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of
the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
[18] His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we
are your servants.” [19] But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I
in the place of God? [20] As for you, you meant evil against me, but God
meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as
they are today. [21] So do not fear; I will provide for you and your
little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
What we have here is one
of the most profound insights into the ways of God in the entire Bible. This is a massive affirmation of God’s providence.
Joseph here points his brothers away from himself and to the sovereign
God who rules all of history. This is
also a magnificent explanation of
providence. In providence, there can be
dual intentions on the part of two parties.
One intends evil, but God intends good with the same set of events. Two intentions that appear contradictory are
affirmed to be simultaneously true. In
the end, however, only God’s intentions matter.
Joseph has a big God!
Notice what character
having such a big God produces. Joseph
is capable of a radical forgiveness that baffles many of us because he had such
a confidence in God’s providence. And
notice also how a gracious, forgiving attitude can unite a family. The Hebrew
at the end of verse 21 literally says that Joseph, “spoke to their heart.” In a world where so many families have fallen
out, may we remember that the gospel enables believers to extend such grace and
forgiveness to others who have wronged us.
Such grace and forgiveness speaks to the heart.
[22] So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his
father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. [23] And Joseph saw Ephraim's
children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of
Manasseh were counted as Joseph's own. [24] And Joseph said to his
brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of
this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
[25] Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely
visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” [26] So Joseph
died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in
Egypt. (Genesis 50:14-26 ESV)
II.
THOUGHTS FROM THE TEXT:
a.
We See a God Whose Promises NEVER FAIL
Jacob and Joseph are both
seen on their deathbed to be fully persuaded of God’s faithfulness to keep His
promises. They believe that the future
for their descendants will not be in Egypt but in Canaan. For them, Israel’s future will not be decided
by a mighty Pharaoh but by an Almighty God.
They are persuaded that they have a big, faithful God. They are so persuaded that they make burial
preparations accordingly. As a matter of
fact, it is interesting that all the land the patriarchs of Genesis ever owned
was a cemetery.
As God’s people, we too
must trust in His faithfulness to keep the promises we have in His Word, the
Bible. And we must be willing to live and
die out of and according to those promises.
People who are persuaded do so.
b.
We See a God Whose Plans NEVER FAIL
While Joseph’s brothers
intended evil against Joseph, God, whose plans are never thwarted, ultimately
thwarted their evil plans for good.
Joseph understands both God’s place and God’s providence and this
understanding empowered Joseph to be capable of radical forgiveness and a
perspective that entrusted vengeance to God.
This is what Romans 12:19
admonishes us to do: “Beloved, never
avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written,
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
We must so wrap our minds
and hearts around God’s sovereignty that we too can respond to death and
injustice in God honoring ways. People
who are persuaded of God’s sovereignty do so.
c.
We See a God Whose People are NEVER FORSAKEN
Joseph was never forsaken
in all the injustices committed against him.
Neither Jacob nor Joseph was forsaken in their death. Even in their dying, God, not the
grave, had the last word. This chapter
that is so saturated with death is also saturated with hope. Imagine what a beacon of light Joseph’s
coffin was to the Israelites while enslaved in Egypt and during the
Exodus. The original readers remember as
they are carrying Joseph’s bones back to the Promised Land that God too has not
forsaken them all their time as slaves in Egypt.
Scripture tells us that
we too will face suffering, injustice and death in this life. Hebrews
9:27 says that all of us have an appointment with death. But there is good news! Jesus Christ has conquered death and eternal
life is available to us now through Him.
That’s how big our God is. This
is how our big God fixes the problem that is unresolved in Genesis. And we do not look to a coffin full of bones
as a reminder that God will deliver His people; we look to a grave that is
EMPTY and are reminded that there is a greater Exodus still to come. In the meantime, as His people, we too must
remember that we are never forsaken in our injustices or in our death.
Reading about the deaths
of these men of faith reminds me of the death of missionary David
Livingstone. He went to Africa as a
medical missionary desiring to “preach the gospel beyond every other man’s line
of things.” He would suffer greatly
during his years as a missionary, being attacked by a lion, spending most of
his missionary years away from his wife.
He would eventually lose his wife and newborn baby girl on a later
expedition. When he died on May 1, 1873,
they found his dead body at 4:00am in the morning, kneeling by his bed with his
face in his hands as if he had been in prayer.
Before sending his body back home to be buried, they cut out his heart
and buried it in Africa. He died like a
man who had a big God. Fathers, what
about you? Church, what about you? How big is your God?
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