God's Blessings Abide and Surprise - Pastor Tom Loghry
Through a season of hardship for Egypt and Canaan, God continues to bless the Israelite people according to His promise.
Transcript:
Thanksgiving is an opportunity for us to take stock of all the ways that God has blessed us. It's an invitation to pick up what we have taken for granted and to see it in its proper light. God's shining goodness toward us. It's also an opportunity to double down on our praise for all the awe inspiring, expectation defying ways that God has blessed us.
Those hardships he turned to occasions for rejoicing. The defeats that give way to victory. We have been following just that kind of storyline here in Genesis. Mankind has sold itself under sin's power for the lies of the devil. But God is trailblazing a path of redemption. God promised to bless the world through Abraham. An aged, childless couple, Abraham and Sarah were promised a child through whom would come forth a nation that would dwell in the promised land of Canaan. Against all odds, years of disappointment, they were given that son through whom that nation would arise. They were given Isaac. Isaac fathered two sons, Esau and Jacob. But God promised blessings for the younger son, Jacob, over the elder brother, Esau. Much drama ensued thereafter, sin and deceitfulness, and Jacob left the land of Canaan for Haran in search of a wife.
But he leaves it with the promise that he would return. And return he did, after many years of trouble, gaining four wives and twelve sons. Though in the land of promise, he experienced great heartache along the way. His beloved Rachel died in the return. His son Joseph was later thought to be killed by wild animals, though he was in fact sold into slavery in Egypt.
But now, Jacob has learned his son is alive. He's learned that he's in fact second in command of Egypt. Jacob could not see God's hand at work before, but he, but it appears clear as day now. Joseph is inviting him and all the family to live in Egypt. But there is a question hanging over all of this. What does it mean for them to leave the promised land of Canaan?
What is the future of Jacob's, of Israel's family? We'll begin to learn what is in store today by considering chapters 46 through 48. And the first several verses of chapter 46 have been read. I'll pick up in verse 5, chapter 46. God has made promises to Jacob. And it says, Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel's sons took their father Jacob and their children, sorry, lost my place, and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters, all his offspring.
So, as was told in the first four verses, that were previously read, as Israel, as Jacob, you will remember that Israel is just a different name for Jacob that was given to Jacob after his encounter with God, meaning one who wrestles with, with God. As he's leaving Canaan, going towards Egypt, he offers sacrifices to God in Beersheba. And God meets him in a vision that night, and he has some things to communicate to him. One, the first thing that he assures him is that he should not be afraid to go to Egypt. And the reason why Jacob should not be afraid to go to Egypt is because some good things are going to happen there.
He's going to be made into a great nation while in the land of Egypt. And moreover, God promises his abiding presence. He's going to go with Jacob and he's going to bring him back to the land. Now that's significant because in ancient times it was very often thought that the gods were kind of geospatially located.
So, and each god almost had, like, their own territory. Territory is no problem for Israel's God, though. He's going with him and his family into Egypt, and he's promising to bring them back to the land. So what God is telling Jacob is, My promise is sure to you. You are to inherit this land. And this is the land of promise, but you're going to spend some time over here in Egypt and become a great nation.
And lastly, on a kind of a more personal touch, he's assured that his son Joseph, his beloved son, will in fact be the one who will close his eyes at his time of death. And so, in response to what God promises him, Jacob picks up all he has and brings it to Egypt. Now, remember Pharaoh had said you didn't have to bring everything, we'll take care of you, but they didn't do that. They brought everything that they had and they didn't leave anyone behind. Which is a telling step of faith because you might imagine that he might be tempted to leave kind of a rear guard behind, so that, okay, the rest of us are going to go to Egypt.
We'll make sure you guys get fed, but I need you to stay here, so that when we come back, our, our claims on the land are secure. Jacob doesn't do that. He leaves it all behind, trusting in God's promise. Moving on into verses eight through, going through, thirty, or twenty seven. We have a record of those that went down to Egypt with Jacob.
And I'm not going to read all the verses, but I'll just kind of summarize for you. In verses sixteen through eighteen we have, or rather, verses eight through 15 rather, sorry. We have the descendants of Leah, that were born by his wife Leah. In verses 16 through 18, through her handmaiden, Zilpah.
Verses 19 through 22, the children born through Jacob's wife, Rachel. And then, in verses 23 through 27, those born through Bilhah. Now, the thing that's interesting about this genealogical record is that it's not intended to be exhaustive. It doesn't include the names of the wives. And it's also interesting because when we look at another genealogy in Numbers 26, for instance, we notice some differences between the two.
For instance, if you were to look at in verses 19 through 22 where it talks about the children born of Rachel, and you look at Benjamin, and it look, and you look at the list of his sons, two of those sons listed there, Naaman and Ard, are listed in Numbers 26 as his grandsons. Now you might think, oh, like this is an error in the Bible.
That's, there's no error in the Bible. There's an error in our understanding of what the priorities are here, and the genealogy that's being given. This is not a census record. What it is, is really more of, it's almost like a charter document, saying this is the heads, these are kind of the leaders of this emerging nation.
so it's picking out some important personages that are being represented as they go down into Egypt. And some of them aren't even alive as they go down to Egypt, but they're included on this list because of their significance, and they're counted as part of that migration. Continuing on in verse 28, it says, Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen.
When they arrived in the region of Goshen, Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time. Israel said to Joseph, now I'm ready to die, since I've seen for myself that you are still alive.
So once again, we see in these verses how Judah is taking a progressively more significant role as kind of a leader within the family. At this point, Joseph's still going to outrank him because he is Jacob's favorite. He's also second in command of Egypt. But it's kind of foreshadowing, once again, the role that Judah is going to play in the nation of Israel.
And it's interesting to see how, you know, Jacob's mention of death. He's like, I'm ready to die now. And now it takes a positive turn. Up to this point, we've seen him just be really brought low because of all the misfortune he's experienced between thinking Joseph is dead, Simeon being imprisoned in Egypt, and he's like, I'm basically ready to die, but in a very negative sense.
But now we see things turn around positively, where he's like, now I can, I can go to my rest, because I know all is well. Continuing on in verse 31, it says then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, my brothers and my father's household who are living in the land of Canaan have come to me.
The men are shepherds, they tend livestock and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own. When Pharaoh calls you in and asks what is your occupation, you should answer your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on just as our fathers did. Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians. Joseph gives his family some tactical advice here in order to secure their settlement within the land of Goshen apart from the Egyptians. Now you ask, well, why would that be important? It would be important in order to retain their distinctiveness as a people. As the, as, in terms of kind of the big picture, as the people of God, this chosen people.
Otherwise, you could imagine that they might just kind of be absorbed into Egyptian society. Now it's interesting that it says that the, that shepherds are detestable to Egyptians. Biblical scholars are not exactly sure why they were detestable to Egyptians. It's been suggested that it may have been just kind of some prejudice against outside immigrants coming into the land, and some suspicion as well, perhaps.
And, whatever the case may be, it, it works towards their favor that they can have a set apart existence within the land while still reaping the benefits of being in Egypt with Joseph. So turning to chapter 47, we see Joseph proceeding with this planned proposal to Pharaoh. Joseph went and told Pharaoh, My father and brothers with their flocks and herds and everything they own have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.
He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked the brothers, What is your occupation? Your servants are shepherds, they replied to Pharaoh, just as our fathers were. They also said to him, We have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan, and your servants flocks have no pastures.
So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen. Continuing in verse five, Pharaoh said to Joseph, Your father and your brothers have come to you, and the land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen, and if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.
Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, Pharaoh asked him, How old are you? And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my father's.
Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence. So, we see here, in these verses, just God's continued hand of blessing, continuing to be upon the family, and that they find favor with, with Pharaoh, in terms of this plan. It's interesting how Joseph selects only five of his brothers. He's like, I'm going to pick the best five of you, the rest of you, you're staying behind, I'm not bringing you to Pharaoh.
And he brings his father before Pharaoh, and, Pharaoh asks this classic question that everyone seems to ask really old people, How old are you? And, Yeah, And Jacob, Jacob's response is interesting. Because he says, The years of my pilgrimage are 130. And he says, my years have been few. Now for us, we think 130, that's a pretty long life, bud.
But it's true, compared to his father and to his grandfather. His father, Isaac, lived to the age of 180. Abraham lived to the age of 175. So relative to them, his years have been few. And he says, they've been few and difficult. And, it's, it's interesting how he describes his life in terms of the pilgrimage.
Just as he describes his, his father and grandfather's lives in terms of the pilgrimage. They have not really been rooted down. Yes, they've been in the land of Canaan, but they've been, they've been on a pilgrimage through life. Now, when you think about someone describing their life in that way, my years have been few and difficult.
I'm sure some of us here might be able to relate to that. You might feel the same way about your life.
Jacob has a clear eyed view of the trouble that he suffered in life. And yet, as we're gonna see as we go through these verses, He still counts himself blessed by God. He's still able to see God's faithfulness through the hardship that he's suffered. Picking up in verse 11. It says, So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Ramses, as Pharaoh directed.
Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their children. There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe. Both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh's palace.
Picking up in verse 15, When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone. Then bring your livestock, said Joseph. I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.
So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock. So this famine is really bad. Remember that God had disclosed to Pharaoh through a dream as interpreted by Joseph that there's going to be seven good years of abundance and there's going to be seven years of famine.
Now they're in the middle of those seven years of famine here. It's so bad that they've used all their money. It's so bad that now that they don't have money, the Egyptians are in this place of having to sell their animals to Pharaoh in order to have enough food, and it just gets even worse. In verse 18, it says, when that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, we cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there's nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land.
Why should we perish before your eyes, we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die and that the land may not become desolate. So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields because the famine was too severe for them.
The land became Pharaoh's, and Joseph reduced the people to servitude from one end of Egypt to the other. Now when you read about that arrangement, you probably read that and you say, that doesn't sound very nice. You'd kind of think, why don't they just give them food? Well, I think we have to be realistic here that Pharaoh was not going to do that.
Pharaoh was a political actor. He was interested in being able to retain power and make himself wealthy. Joseph, while he's second in command, he is not top command. He's not top dog. And so as Joseph is overseeing this plan, he comes up with a solution that does work to the benefit of Pharaoh, but it also benefits the people. It takes care of them. We see continuing on in verse 22, the benefits that they received from this arrangement. So it says, however, he did not buy the land of the priests because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
Joseph said to the people, now that I have bought you, and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. But when the crops come in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.
You have saved our lives, they said. May we find favor in the eyes of our Lord. We will be in bondage to Pharaoh. So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt, still in force today, that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh's.
So what we see in these verses here is that the people are, are grateful to have this option available to them. Pharaoh didn't force them into slavery, he's not, he's not like, I'm going to enslave you. The situation was, is that they needed food. And the arrangement that, that Joseph set up was basically in exchange for their labor, their servitude to Pharaoh in exchange for their land.
They would be able to live on the land, and they would have enough food for themselves, so that they would keep four fifths, whatever they produced, and a fifth would go to Pharaoh. And so, their lives were saved. And so we see how God is continuing to bless both Pharaoh, the Egyptians, through Joseph. Now we wonder, you know, how is Israel doing through all of this?
Verse 27, it says, now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen, they acquired property there, and were fruitful and increased greatly in number. Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years, and the years of his life were 147,. When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph, and said to him, if I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried. I will do as you say, he said. Swear to me, he said. Then Joseph swore to him and Israel worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
So while the Egyptians are enduring quite a bit of hardship because of the famine, and the land of Canaan is experiencing hardship as well, God blesses Israel's family with abundance. They acquired property, they're fruitful, and they increased greatly in number. We can almost think of Egypt kind of being a greenhouse for them.
And yes, they're not always going to stay in Egypt. But it was a place for them to grow, become larger, become strong. And so they were blessed throughout this period. Now, it's interesting, we kind of take a pretty hard shift here to the end of Jacob's life. It says that, Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years, and the years of his life are 147.
Now, it's not like, okay, we're done here. There's going to be a couple more chapters where Jacob is speaking. But we're knowing up front, like, we're going to be dealing with the end of Jacob's life now. And, as I said before, the ages of Abraham and Isaac. He, he died 20 years earlier than Abraham. He died 33 years earlier than Isaac.
So relatively young. and he goes to, he calls Joseph to himself, in order to make a promise to take care of his affairs. And the reason why he's going to Joseph is because in Egypt, Joseph is effectively the new family patriarch. And so, he asks Joseph to put his hand under his thigh, which is a practice that is weird, seems weird to us.
But that was the mode in which they made promises. Promising that when Jacob died, that they would carry him out of Egypt and bury him in Canaan with his fathers. And, Joseph says, I'll do that. I'll do that. Now, we can imagine just the kind of the family connection there, as to why Jacob would want to rest with his fathers.
But, I think, I think it also is just pointing to his hope being in this, the realization of this promise that they would dwell in the land of Canaan. He's not setting down roots in Egypt. And it says that he leans on the top of his staff, which is, I think, translators have had very great difficulty in deciding how to translate what's going on here.
But the point is really the worship. Some have suggested that it's not actually translated. He leaned on the top of the staff. Some said he bowed before his bed because it's been suggested that in ancient, in the ancient times they believed that the gods were looking over their, the tops of their beds.
And so, maybe Jacob had that sort of conception of God looking over him as well. But whatever the case, the point is he is worshipping God. He's worshipping God in light of the promises that have been given to him and this surety that he has in Joseph who has been restored to him. Turning to chapter 48, we're going to begin something that we're not going to complete today.
In which we see Joseph, I mean Jacob rather, begin to offer some blessings in anticipation of his passing to his sons. So in chapter 48, we learn that Joseph, that Jacob has fallen ill. It's really come to the end now. It says sometime later, Joseph was told your father is ill. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim along with him.
When Jacob was told your son Joseph has come to you, Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed. Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz, which is just another name for Bethel, in the land of Canaan. And there he blessed me and said to me, I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers.
I will make you a community of peoples. I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you. Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after them will be yours, and the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers.
As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem. So, Joseph and, I mean Jacob, in calling Joseph to himself, with Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, recalls this promise that he was given by God in Bethel of many descendants, of this inheritance of the promised land.
And he tells Joseph, I'm going to count your sons as my own sons. And this helps explain why you don't hear about the tribe of Joseph. Maybe you've always wondered, maybe I've heard of the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Benjamin, I've never heard of the tribe of Joseph. The reason why you don't hear about the tribe of Joseph is because Ephraim and Manasseh become the figureheads for the tribe of Joseph. You hear the tribe of Ephraim, the tribe of Manasseh.
So, Jacob says, that's what we're going to do here, I'm going to count them as my own sons. And then he goes into this thing talking about how Rachel died on the way into the land. And we wonder, you know, is he just getting emotional here? Why is he talking about Rachel? Kind of reading between the lines, it seems like he might be implying that because Rachel died, and maybe he felt she died too soon, I'm counting, and I, he wasn't able to have any more sons with her, it's for that reason that he's counting Ephraim and Manasseh as his own. So, Joseph brings his sons before Jacob. In verse 8 it says, When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, Who are these? They are the sons God has given me here, Joseph said to his father. Then Israel said, Bring them to me so I may bless them.
Now Israel's eyes were failing because of old age and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children, too. Now, it's kind of funny that, you know, Israel, that Jacob asks, you know, who are these?
We kind of suppose that he would have already seen the boys, he'd know who they are. His eyesight is bad, so that might be what's partly factoring in here. But there also, this also could be kind of part of a formality in moving forward in this blessing that he's going to offer to them.
You think about how in a wedding they say, you know, who gives this woman to be this man's wife? That, that sort of thing. We all know, but it's just part of the, kind of the ceremony. And as Joseph brings his sons before his father, he's just absolutely exultant. He gives praise and thanksgiving to God because he's restored Joseph to him and he has been able to see Joseph's sons.
And so he proceeds to offer this blessing upon them, which I think is a wonderful blessing. A blessing I think any grandparent could probably offer for their, for their children, children and grandchildren. It says, Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.
And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's right hand, and brought them close to him. But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head, though he was the younger and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.
Then he blessed Joseph and said, May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has delivered me from all harm, may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name in the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.
And may they increase greatly on the earth. When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head, he was displeased. So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it, to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph said to him, No, my father. This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.
But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he and his descendants will become a group of nations. He blessed them that day and said, In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing.
May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers. And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow. So once again, in terms of a father giving blessings to his sons or grandsons, we see this reversal of this greater blessing being given to the younger Ephraim over the older Manasseh. We saw this in Jacob's own story, how he, the younger brother, was to receive greater blessing than his older brother, Esau.
Now, it didn't involve all the drama that was entailed with Jacob and Esau's story, where Jacob had deceived his father, making him think he was Esau. Basically swindling Esau of his birthright by having him sell it for a pot of stew. We don't see any of that. God has simply disclosed to Jacob that this is how the blessing should be ordered.
And he does so accordingly. And it's interesting, because we, I mean, we don't know. We know that it was revealed that Jacob was to be favored over Esau. We don't know what Isaac did with that. It didn't seem like he listened, really. He was insistent on sticking with Esau. And so, all that deceit was the fallout from it.
Not so here.
What we see here is kind of thematic in terms of God's way of going about redemption. He doesn't choose the obvious people to bring about his blessings, to bring about salvation. you think about Jesus. Of the tribe of Judah, but born in a small place like Bethlehem, growing up in backwater place like Nazareth, wasn't born in a palace. And we think about ourselves, in terms of those who are counted among the members of Christ's body, Paul in first Corinthians 1 verses 26 through 29 says brothers and sisters think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were influential, not many were of noble birth, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. You see, the point is that all the glory belongs to God. And God is content to glorify himself through the weak and foolish things of this world.
Weak and foolish things like ourselves. See, what Jacob understands clearly is that everything that has transpired can only be accredited to God.
In verses 15 and 16 it said, He said, May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has delivered me from all harm, may he bless these boys. Jacob's saying, it's God who's watched over me. It's God who has been my shepherd every day of my life.
And if these boys are going to have a future, if they're going to be blessed, it's going to come from his hands. Now this is, I mean, this, this blessing is much larger in terms of God's work of redemption and, you know, bringing forth this people of Israel. But kind of like I said when I read those verses, this is the sort of blessing that we should pray for our children as well.
That when we think about success, so often we think, oh, success is really determined by your career. Really making it.
Jacob understands that success and blessing comes from God alone. And so we should pray that sort of blessing over our children. That God would shepherd those we love and deliver them from harm. In verse 20, he said, he blessed them that day and said, In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing. May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.
It's this idea of a, it's God who is bringing all this, God, it's God who's making them.
Now out of this blessing, they're also given an extra inheritance. It seems from the details that what's being referred to here is Shechem. Recall, kind of a nasty episode in which Simeon and Levi, in avenging their sister Dinah, went and killed a bunch of men when they were kind of incapacitated. Just overthrew the city, slaughtered.
They're given this extra inheritance of this city. The standing promise that they have, even as Jacob is about to die, and as they might fear, you know, what does the future look like? It's really captured in verse 21. Where he says, I'm about to die, but God will be with you, and take you back to the land of your fathers. As we've been in Genesis, we just hear this again, and again, and again, that the critical piece is God's presence.
If God is with Israel, they will succeed. If God is not with Israel, nothing is certain. It will fail. God is with them, and so they will go back to the land of your fathers, their fathers. That's what's critical for us as well. Is God's abiding presence in our life. We can count God's blessings now, just as Jacob's family had much to be thankful for at that time.
There's a whole famine going on, but they were being fruitful. They were getting bigger. It was great. But we can also say, like Jacob, as we might observe certain blessings in our life now, that we are looking for something more. Our years are few and difficult. Mercifully, some of us know a bit of the happiness that Jacob knew before he entered his rest.
God pours out his goodness even today. Even so, we are looking to some greater promise. Then, Israel anticipated their inheritance of the promised land of Canaan. Now, we anticipate inheriting all the earth in God's coming kingdom. Remember, remember this, that Jesus tells his disciples, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
There's a true fulfillment that's going to be realized. A true fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham. A true fulfillment that's going to be realized at Christ's return. When Christ returns and he introduces new heavens and a new earth and God will make his home with us.
We are reassured in the same manner that Jacob reassures Joseph. God will be with Joseph. He will bring him back to Canaan. Christ assures us that he will always be with us saying, surely I'm with you always, to the very end of the age. Jesus tells us in John 14, Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do you believe in God?
Believe also in me. My Father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I'm going to there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. We give thanks, not just for what God has done.
We give thanks, not just for what God is doing right now. We give thanks for what God has promised to do. Jesus is coming back. Our shepherd is going to gather us together, so that we may forever know the peace of dwelling with our King and Maker. In this promise, He tells our troubled hearts, peace, be still.
Those who have ears to hear, know there is no greater gift than this peace he freely gives. Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Dear Father, the scriptures that we have read this morning offer testimony to your abiding faithfulness.
How you restored Joseph to Jacob, and how you brought the family back together and how you blessed the family of Israel and Egypt in the midst of hardship. You preserved them, Father, and you gave them a future. And I know they knew your presence was with them. Father, we thank you that that promise of your presence is not just something in the past.
We thank you that you continue to be present with us today, and that your blessings abide today. And that even while we might admit that we do face difficulty and hardship now, Father. We rest assured that something far greater is coming and will be introduced when Christ returns again. Father, we thank you for your present abiding goodness, and for the overwhelming goodness that's going to be revealed the day of his return.
In his name we give you praise and thanksgiving. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we continue our series entitled Israel Arises. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)