Turn with me to chapter 47 of the
book of Genesis in your Bibles and you
follow along with me as I read this
important chapter.
Now the children of Israel with Jacob have
now come into the land of Egypt.
Joseph is the prime minister.
The Pharaoh who is ruling at the present
time is a good one.
Friendly not only to Joseph but also to
the members of the family of Joseph.
And we read now of the presentation of
Joseph's brothers and of Jacob to the Pharaoh
and also of in the last part of
the chapter of the approaching death of the
patriarch Jacob.
Verse 1 begins, then Joseph went in and
told Pharaoh and said my father and my
brothers and their flocks and their herds and
all that they have, have come out of
the land of Canaan and behold they are
in the land of Goshen.
And he took five men from among his
brothers and presented them to Pharaoh.
Then Pharaoh said to his brothers what is
your occupation?
That is exactly what Joseph had warned them
that the Pharaoh would say to them.
And he had warned them to be honest
in their reply.
Shepherds are abominations to the Egyptians Moses has
told us but they were told to say
the truth.
So they said to Pharaoh your servants are
shepherds both we and our fathers.
And they said to Pharaoh we have come
to sojourn in the land for there is
no pasture for your servants' flocks for the
famine is severe in the land of Canaan.
Now therefore please let your servants live in
the land of Goshen.
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph your father and
your brothers have come to you.
The land of Egypt is at your disposal.
Settle your father and your brothers in the
best of the land.
Let them live in the land of Goshen.
And if you know any capable men among
them then put them in charge of my
livestock.
Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented
him to Pharaoh.
And Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
Notice the order it is not Pharaoh blessed
Jacob.
Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
And Pharaoh said to Jacob how many years
have you lived.
Evidently it was obvious that Jacob was a
very elderly man.
It's even possible as some have suggested that
perhaps among the heathen or pagans men didn't
live to the age of Jacob at this
time.
And it was somewhat unusual for Pharaoh to
look upon a man of the years of
Jacob.
So Jacob said to Pharaoh the years of
my sojourning are one hundred and thirty.
Few and unpleasant have been the years of
my life nor have they attained the years
that my fathers lived during the days of
their sojourning.
In the original text here there is a
great deal of garrulousness expressed in the sense
that Jacob's words are much lengthier than the
translation that I have just read.
For example he says not the years of
my sojourning but the days of the years
of my sojourning.
It's characteristic of people who are older to
be garrulous.
Not always true but nevertheless it's characteristic of
them.
One old person's prayer that I remember that
I have on my desk but since my
desk is in storage I cannot remember it
exactly.
It's something like oh Lord give me wings
to get to the point.
Which is suitable for almost all old people
such as I am and for some young
people too who find it difficult to get
to the point.
Well Jacob is garrulous but yet a very
winning character in spite of it.
The tenth verse says again and Jacob blessed
Pharaoh and went out from his presence.
Now the next verse is described the economic
policy of Joseph.
And it may appear at first that Joseph
is a very severe prime minister because when
he gets through everything belongs to Pharaoh.
But that's just about what's happening in this
country too.
And as a matter of fact when he
says that Pharaoh is to have the fifth
the R.S. frequently gets more than that.
So we should look at this in the
light of other places as well.
So Joseph settled his father and brothers and
gave them a possession of the land of
Egypt and the best of the land.
And the land of Ramesses as Pharaoh had
ordered.
Joseph provided his father and brothers and all
his father's household with food according to their
little ones.
Now there was no food in the land
because the famine was very severe.
So that the land of Egypt and the
land of Canaan languished because of the famine.
And Joseph gathered all the money that was
found in the land of Canaan in Egypt
and in the land of Canaan for the
grain which they bought.
And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.
And when the money was all spent in
the land of Egypt and in the land
of Canaan all the Egyptians came to Joseph
and said give us food for why should
we die in your presence for our money
is gone.
Then Joseph said give up your livestock and
I will give you food for your livestock
since your money is gone.
So they brought their livestock to Joseph and
Joseph gave them food in exchange for the
horses and the flocks and the herds and
the donkeys.
And he fed them with food in exchange
for all their livestock that year.
And when that year was ended they came
to him the next year and said to
him we will not hide from my lord
that our money is all spent and the
cattle are my lord's.
There is nothing left for my lord except
our bodies and our lands.
And incidentally to take the cattle is not
nearly so bad as it might seem since
if you didn't have money to buy food
for the cattle then cattle are a burden
as well.
But they continue why should we die before
your eyes both we and our land.
Buy us and our land for food and
we and our land will be slaves to
Pharaoh.
So give us seed that we may live
and not die and that the land may
not be desolate.
So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt
for Pharaoh.
For every Egyptian sold his field because the
famine was severe upon them.
Thus the land became Pharaoh's.
And as for the people he removed them
to the cities from one end of Egypt's
border to the other.
That evidently was for purposes of distributing the
food more easily and perhaps more economically.
Only the land of the priests he did
not buy.
Now that is very interesting because in the
later history of the children of Israel there
will be the confrontation at the time of
the exodus between the gods of Egypt and
the god of Jacob's descendants.
And so evidently in the providence of God
it was arranged by the law of God
that the land of the priests was not
to be bought.
But rather they were to have their land
in order that there might be a great
confrontation later in and in that confrontation God
would demonstrate his own superiority at the expense
of the gods of the priests or the
gods of Egypt.
Only the land of the priests he did
not buy for the priests had an allotment
from Pharaoh and they lived off the allotment
which Pharaoh gave them.
Therefore they did not sell their land.
Then Joseph said to the people behold I
have today bought you and your land for
Pharaoh.
Now here is seed for you and you
may sow the land and at the harvest
you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh and
four fifths shall be your own for seed
of the field and for your food and
for those of your households and as food
for your little ones.
So they said you have saved our lives.
Let us find favor in the sight of
my Lord and we will be Pharaoh's slaves.
So evidently they did not think that Joseph
had been as severe as some modern commentators
would like for him to be seen as
severe and harsh.
Joseph made it a statute concerning the land
of Egypt valid to this day that Pharaoh
should have the fifth.
Only the land of the priests did not
become Pharaoh's.
Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt
and Goshen and they acquired property in it
and were fruitful and became very numerous.
And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt
17 years.
So the length of Jacob's life was 147
years.
When the time for Israel to die drew
near.
The authorized version has something like when the
time that Jacob must die drew near.
A little stronger stress upon the necessity of
his death.
It is something you know that we all
must do.
We must die.
It's interesting to see how a believer dies
as over against the unbelievers.
When the time for Israel to die drew
near he called his son Joseph and said
to him please if I have found favor
in your sight place now your hand under
my thigh and deal with me in kindness
and faithfulness.
Please do not bury me in Egypt but
when I lie down with my fathers you
shall carry me out of Egypt and bury
me in their burial place.
And he said I will do as you
have said.
And he said swear to me.
So he swore to him.
Then Israel bowed in worship at the head
of the bed.
The Greek translation of the Old Testament has
at the end of that verse.
Then Israel worshiped upon the top of his
staff.
So it's a little bit different from the
reading that you have here.
And the difference is just a slight difference
in the original text.
The difference between the word matah and the
word mateh.
One means rod and one means bed.
And the New Testament and the epistle of
the Hebrews has followed the Greek translation.
And we read there and Jacob worshiped upon
the top of his staff.
That may be the correct reading.
The Old Testament Hebrew text that we have
is not always accurate.
And so that may be the original reading.
The point of either reading is the same
and that is that Jacob bows in worship.
And that is characteristic of the death of
the believer.
May the Lord bless this reading of his
word.
In one of the earlier messages Jacob's name
is changed from Jacob or rather in one
of the earlier messages I made mention of
the fact that Jacob's name is changed from
Jacob to Israel.
And commented upon the fact that some have
thought that Jacob's name meant Prince of God.
And others that it meant God's warrior or
God's fighter.
Well the subject for this morning is the
grandeur of God's warrior.
And it is a reference of course to
the name Israel which begins to appear more
frequently now in the latter parts of the
book of Genesis for Jacob.
It is as one reads these chapters clearly
the end of Jacob's life of faith.
Isn't it interesting that he calls it a
sojourn.
Just as we've been singing about the pilgrim
existence of a Christian.
The authorized version uses the term pilgrimage.
That is life for Jacob is a journey.
It has a starting point and it has
a goal.
And as is generally the case of pilgrimage
has a sacred significance.
So that the idea of that Jacob had
is a life of sacred significance.
As a matter of fact everything in a
believer's life is sacred except sin.
And so consequently the whole of life for
Jacob is one great pilgrimage from the starting
point to its ultimate goal.
The New Testament as you know makes a
great deal of this.
In the epistle to the Hebrews in the
11th chapter.
The chapter of those faithful men.
The writer there comments upon the Christian life
as a life in which we are strangers
and exiles on the earth.
All these died in faith he says without
receiving the promises but having seen them and
having welcomed them from a distance.
And having confessed that they were strangers and
exiles in the earth.
And in the 13th chapter in a very
vivid statement at least it's vivid to me.
He says for here we do not have
a lasting city but we are seeking the
city which is to come.
So the idea of the Christian life that
is suggested by Jacob in the use of
the term pilgrimage or sojourning is this idea
of life with sacred significance which has a
certain definite starting point and a certain definite
goal.
That's not a very prominent idea today.
We don't like to think unfortunately of the
Christian life as being a pilgrimage.
Perhaps it's because there have been so many
who sneered like George Eliot at the Christian
idea of life as a pilgrimage by saying
of it that it was other worldliness.
In the 20th century we like to say
that we are speaking about things that are
facts.
We want to tell the truth as it
is so called.
And the idea of a person living an
otherworldly kind of existence is not a very
attractive thing for us.
But nevertheless that's the way the Bible presents
the Christian life.
It is a pilgrimage and we are strangers
on the earth and we are pilgrims.
And if we are to live it to
the full and enjoy it to the full
then we ought to assume the relationship to
the Lord that is suggested by the term
pilgrim.
Luther said that a theologian was made by
oratio, metatatio, and tentatio.
That is a theologian was made by prayer,
by meditation, and by afflictions and sufferings.
And that characterizes the life of Jacob this
pilgrim.
Because there were occasions in which he wrestled
with the Lord God in prayer.
There were occasions no doubt as the shepherd
that he meditated upon the promises that were
given.
Because he knew those promises and relied upon
them.
And you can see it expressed in his
desire to be buried not in the land
of Egypt but back with his fathers in
the land of Canaan.
And certainly he had his afflictions.
He spoke of his days as being few
and evil or short and sad.
So what we have here is a picture
of the life of faith as a pilgrimage.
But we also have I think a very
beautiful picture of the death of faith.
Or the death in faith.
Because we're not speaking of faith dying.
There comes a time when Jacob must die
the scriptures say.
In fact one of the commentators has suggested
that Jacob is a model of old age
in its sunset time.
Because he has faith.
He looks upward.
He has gratitude.
He looks backward.
He looks forward in hope and he looks
outward in love.
And there are other lessons that appear are
lessons such as the splendor of honest toil.
It's all right to be a shepherd even
if the Egyptians consider that occupation an abomination.
There is the sacredness of family life.
And you see it in the relationship of
Joseph and his brothers.
And their relationship to their father Jacob.
Blood is thicker than water we say.
You can even see some intimations of that
here.
But I think that in some sense the
supreme thought of this passage is the worth
of the saint of God as over against
the greatest that this earth can offer.
When Jacob comes into the presence of Pharaoh
and mind you he was the greatest monarch
of Jacob's day.
It was as if one of us should
enter into the presence of the leading ruler
on the face of this earth.
And it is God's saint who blesses the
ruler and not vice versa.
It's not the ruler who blesses the saint.
It's the saint who blesses the ruler.
And just to make the point Moses mentions
it twice.
He says Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
So far as saints are concerned they are
higher than any king upon the face of
the earth who is not a saint.
Now kings are called ministers of God.
But the simplest believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ stands before the Lord God on higher
ground than presidents and kings and czars and
Caesars and others.
Now the opening verses of this particular chapter
give us a picture of Jacob and his
sons before Pharaoh.
First his sons and then Jacob.
And so in the western sunlight of his
earthly pilgrimage Jacob appears before the leading monarch
of his day as a very beautiful character.
He is old a hundred and thirty years.
And that at this time was old.
Now the Bible says that to be old
has some things in its favor.
For example the text of Scripture says a
hoary head or a gray head is a
crown of glory.
It is found in the way of righteousness.
Now the authorized version says if it is
found in the way of righteousness.
And I think that's really the sense of
it.
But here is an old man and he
comes into the presence of the greatest monarch
of his day.
Incidentally in the instructions that Joseph gives to
his brothers.
He says when Pharaoh asks you what your
occupation is don't beat around the bush.
Even though shepherds are an abomination tell him
exactly what you're doing.
And that I think is a model of
the way in which we as Christians ought
to deal with the secular power.
And we have to deal with the secular
power every day.
We should deal with the secular power in
honesty.
A pilgrim people should deal with honesty before
the secular power.
And we will discover that honesty pays.
Isn't it interesting that the citizens of Egypt
lost their money.
They lost their cattle.
They lost their land.
And all the time the children of Israel
are over in the land of Goshen.
And they don't lose their money.
They don't lose their land.
They don't lose their livestock and cattle.
As a matter of fact they become more
and more fruitful while the citizens of Egypt
become servants of the Pharaoh.
That's God's way of taking care of his
people.
Worship God.
Honor the king.
Honesty does pay off.
Well Joseph first brings five of the brothers
in before Pharaoh.
And why he does that I don't know.
Why just five?
Perhaps he considered that a kind of round
number.
But anyway at any rate they appear before
Pharaoh.
And he asks the inevitable question.
What is your occupation?
Joseph said he's gonna ask you that.
And so he asks it.
What is your occupation?
And they say your servants are shepherds.
Not only that our fathers were shepherds too.
And we have come to sojourn in the
land.
Perhaps little realizing that they were unconsciously fulfilling
the prophecy that had been given to Abraham
back in the 15th chapter of the book
of Genesis.
When the Abrahamic Covenant was confirmed.
And so as a result of their honesty.
And as a result of appearing before Pharaoh.
They are given that choice fertile place in
the land of Egypt.
The land of Goshen where they prospered through
the years.
Then Jacob comes before Pharaoh.
And this is a striking picture.
Because the feeble patriarch.
The elderly man stands before the mighty monarch.
And in the seventh verse as the account
continues.
We read and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
Now we are not to think of that
as being simply a desire that the Pharaoh
would have good health.
It's not like saying may the king live
forever.
Or old king live forever.
But being conscious of the dignity of being
Yahweh's prophet.
Yahweh's servant.
He bestows heavenly blessing upon the Pharaoh.
So the Prince of God.
Israel appears before the Prince of Egypt.
And it is the Prince of God who
blesses the Prince of Egypt.
Now in the New Testament there is an
interesting verse in the seventh chapter of the
epistle of the Hebrews.
Which confirms all that I'm speaking about here.
Because it says there without contradiction the less
is blessed of the greater.
Now I put actually a phrase there that
has to do with another section there.
But the text says the less is blessed
of the greater.
The references to the meeting of Melchizedek and
Abraham.
And Melchizedek blessing Abraham.
A testimony to the greatness of Melchizedek.
Who's the priest forever.
And or rather the type of the priest
forever.
And Abraham.
And so if the less is blessed of
the greater.
Then when Jacob blesses Pharaoh.
It's clear that in the sight of God.
As well as in the sight of Moses.
It's Jacob who is the superior character.
And he stands superior to the king.
The greatest king of his day.
In the New Testament we read the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
And in the expression of this blessing.
That was prayer.
And no doubt Pharaoh had never heard anyone
pray like Jacob prayed in his presence.
One commentator even suggests it's possible in the
hall in which Jacob appeared before Pharaoh.
There had never been uttered a prayer in
the name of the Lord Jehovah there.
Whether that's true of not a cause we
don't know.
But we do know that when Jacob blesses
Pharaoh.
It is the true God through his prophet
laying a blessing upon the greatest monarch of
the day.
Well Pharaoh asks what must have been in
the inevitable question again.
Because when he looked at Jacob and saw
his age.
He said how many years have you lived.
It's possible that old age was a rarity
among the pagan Egyptians.
We do know that it is healthier to
be a Christian.
It is.
It's healthier.
God does give the blessing generally speaking of
longer life.
I know I used to in the earlier
days when I was speaking in beginning new
churches.
It was amazing how few funerals we had
in those churches.
And I used to comment on it occasionally.
That it was healthy to be a member
of this particular congregation.
It's rather interesting but nevertheless that was my
experience.
I'm sure that that has no scientific value.
There were no statistics taken.
But I used to reflect upon the fact
that I had very few funerals to conduct.
And I thought that it was probably because
of the fact that at least an attempt
was made to preach the Word of God.
I think it's healthy to be here in
the congregation of Believers Chapel as a general
rule.
But finally of course the king of terrors
catches up with all of us.
And when Pharaoh asked Jacob how many years
have you lived.
He's looking at an old man.
An old man who's facing death.
That's an interesting question incidentally because a person
may be very old and actually may have
lived very little.
It's possible to be ninety years of age
and to have lived only a few days.
It's possible to be twenty and die and
to have lived a long life spiritually.
You see it's not so much how long
you live it's the kind of life that
you live.
And it's very important at the important stages
of life that you make the proper decisions.
How old are you?
17.
What a critical age 17 is.
Because it's the time when decisions are made
that often affect your life from that time
on.
21.
21 is when we reach our majority.
So we used to think and then we
could be independent.
But a man who is independent and not
dependent upon the Lord God is not going
to live much of a life.
30.
Life is beginning to flee.
Some men by the age of 30 have
already given tremendous testimony to the grace of
God.
Like Robert Murray McShane who died before he
reached the age of 30.
But whose life has been a life resolute
with the sweet savor of Jesus Christ down
through the years since his death.
40.
It's amazing that when you reach the age
of 40 and you're on the other side.
35's a middle age remember.
When you reach the age of 40, 40
then statistically so far as Christians can tell
there are much many fewer people who become
Christians after the age of 40.
If you reach the age of 40 and
you have never been brought to the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The chances of your becoming a Christian after
that time become slimmer and slimmer statistically.
Now we know that ultimately it is the
work of the Holy Spirit and he may
sovereignly break up that hard-hearted 40 year
old individual as easily as he does the
tender-hearted 6 or 8 year old child.
But nevertheless statistically it does seem that if
we pass on and resist the appeals of
the Holy Spirit we become hardened more and
more hardened until ultimately fewer come to know
the Lord Jesus Christ.
So how many years have you lived or
have you really lived?
You may be 50 years of age and
not know Jesus Christ he's your Savior.
You haven't really lived.
You may be 10 or 15 and you
already know him you have begun to live.
May God help you to live a full
and good life.
Now Jacob's answer to the question is interesting.
Like a garrulous old man I sat down
at breakfast after 830 message with an old
man about as old as I am and
he couldn't get it off of his mind
that old people were garrulous.
Several times he said are you sure about
that?
He garrulously questioned the garrulousness of old men.
But Jacob speaks like that.
Notice how his words are actually lengthened expressions.
He doesn't know that prayer oh God give
me wings to get to the truth.
He doesn't say the years of my sojourning
as the New American Standard Bible translated translates
it but the days of the years of
my sojourning are a hundred and thirty.
Few and unpleasant have been the days of
the years of my life nor have I
attained unto the days of the years that
my fathers have lived in the days of
their sojourning.
So just like old people he drags it
out a little bit.
One of the commentators has said that Jacob
is sovereign old age personified unimpressed by the
rank of Pharaoh he speaks the truth.
He is diffuse.
He's deliberate.
He takes an independent view of events.
He doesn't listen to what other people say.
He's had enough experience now to know that
his views are more important than what others
think experiences ought to be.
And furthermore he makes these somber comparisons with
the past.
Few and evil have my days been and
they're not nearly as great as the days
of Abraham and the days of Isaac.
Those were the good old days.
So it's a kind of masterly little portrait
of an aged man.
Now then when he says that they are
few and evil in a sense he is
speaking the absolute truth because that is what
they were for him.
They were few and evil.
Just think of the days of Jacob.
He began his life with difficulty.
He had the difficulty with Laban and was
forced to, after having been forced to flee
because of his troubles with Esau he had
to deal with Laban.
Then of course he had the encounter with
the angel Wrestler.
That might have seemed to be a great
encounter from one standpoint because he had an
encounter with the Lord God and he came
to see God.
But at the same time his, his hip
joint was touched and he limped for the
rest of his life as a result of
that.
And then in addition there was the death
of Deborah at Luz.
And finally Ephrath when Rachel, his beloved Rachel,
tender-eyed Rachel was lost to him.
A little further on he came to Mamre
and there his father Isaac had died.
And then of course he had family difficulties
with Simeon and Levi who in the destruction
of a city brought disgrace and reproach upon
the children of Israel.
And then there was Judah who in his
sensuousness dragged the name of Israel into the
mud in the incident with Tamar.
And then all of this time he thought
that he had lost his favorite son, the
first son of Rachel Joseph.
And now he must linger for 17 years
on the land of Egypt and there die
outside of the promised land.
One might have thought that Jacob's life, if
you do not look at these things, was
a life of the blessing of the Lord
God.
And in one sense it was because he
will later say that he has fed me
all the days of my life.
But looked at it from another standpoint it's
true to say that few have trodden the
path more paved with jagged flints or bound
around their brows a crown more full of
thorns than Jacob.
One of the commentators has put it that
way.
You might have called his life a failure.
You might have said Esau was the one
who had the blessing from the Lord God.
Because Esau was a very prominent and successful
man.
He was a man who was succeeded also
by the Dukes of Edom.
If you had asked for wealth and royalty
as the sign of success in life.
Well then it would have been Esau and
not Jacob.
I've just returned from England and visiting a
number of the castles again or palaces.
And one gains the impression from entering these.
I think I've now been in 423 castles
or palaces in my life.
One gains the impression that the only persons
who lived were the Earls and the Dukes
and the others.
But actually it was just the opposite.
It was Jacob who was blessed and it
was Esau who was not.
And one knows immediately that if Esau had
come into the presence of Pharaoh we would
never have read Esau blessed Pharaoh.
It's Jacob who blesses Pharaoh.
His life was short.
He was absolutely accurate.
If one compares it with his forefathers.
Abraham lived to be 175 years of age
and Ike.
I mean Isaac lived to be 180 years.
So his was short and sad.
He's not afraid to witness in front of
the powers that be too.
So one must admire Jacob in spite of
the many failures of the man.
The Holy Spirit has worked and now we
see Israel truly developing into a character in
harmony with his name.
Now the next section of the book of
this particular chapter I just want to make
a comment or two on.
It's kind of a summary of Joseph's life
in one sense.
That Joseph is a man who was as
it is put in Romans chapter 12 and
verse 11.
He was a man who was not lagging
in diligence.
He was fervent in spirit.
He was serving the Lord or as the
Americans say so one commentator has put it.
He was a man who had grace, who
had grit, and who had gumption.
He was active and he served.
And toward the Israelites his policy was to
give them corn, to give them home, to
give them property rights.
That was in the providence of God.
Toward the Egyptians, well as a result of
his policies the citizens in Egypt became crown
tenants of Pharaoh.
They entered into feudal service and we must
not think that this was necessarily bad.
Some of the commentators have thought this was
very severe to reduce them to feudal service.
But the people did not think that.
They say according to the 25th verse you
have saved our lives.
Let's found, let us find favor in the
sight of my Lord and we will be
Pharaoh's slaves.
So it was not cruel so far as
they were concerned.
They regarded this as a blessing that he
had been so careful of their resources that
they were, their lives were saved.
Now isn't it also interesting we have commented
on the fact that Joseph is a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is he was a person who suffered
and then he was exalted and then he
was the means of the salvation of his
people.
And so the Lord Jesus Christ was in
the suffering of the cross at Calvary.
He has been exalted to the right hand
of the throne of God and he is
the Savior of his people.
And he will yet be the Savior of
the nation Israel in the future.
But what a difference between Joseph and our
Lord in the ultimate sense for the Egyptians
and others.
And incidentally Joseph's name in Egyptian means according
to some Savior of the world.
In the case of Joseph he saved his
people by virtue of his wisdom and sagacity.
But the Lord Jesus Christ saves his people
by virtue of the shedding of the precious
blood.
But I love that expression on the 25th
verse you have saved our lives.
Let us find favor in the sight of
my Lord and we will be Pharaoh's slaves.
And you can turn that around and say
as a prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ
you have saved my life.
Let me find favor in your sight and
let me be your slave forever.
Do you know the experience of salvation?
Do you know the experience of being lost
and saved by the Lord Jesus?
If you do you probably want to serve
him in that sense.
Now coming to the last part of this
particular chapter let me make a few comments
concerning Jacob's residence and death in Egypt.
Joseph is called three times to Jacob's deathbed.
Great detail is given.
Have you noticed this in the Bible?
That in the lives of Abraham or Isaac
or David or any of the other great
characters what usually happens in Scripture is a
rather lengthy section is devoted to the details
of their lives.
And then when they die just a sentence.
Sometimes only a clause or a phrase.
But in the case of Jacob we have
three accounts in which his death is stressed
or the nearness of his death.
And the fullness of detail that is given
is a testimony to the importance of these
words concerning Jacob's death.
It's almost as if he wants us to
realize that here is an illustration of how
a believer ought to die.
What a difference it is when a believer
dies too.
If you've been at the bedside of a
believer as over against the bedside of an
unbeliever you'll notice immediately the difference between the
death of a believer and the death of
an unbeliever.
Now Jacob we are told lived in the
land of Egypt as an old-age pensioner
as the British would say for 17 years.
So that his whole life was 147 years.
77 years in Canaan, 20 years in Patenarem,
33 years back in Canaan, now 17 years
in Egypt.
147 years.
But at the end of his life there
is light in the even tide.
Now in his death itself when the time
came for Israel to die he called his
son Joseph and he said to him now
don't bury me in the land of Egypt.
After all you're not surprised that Jacob dies
this way.
The man who has fought with God and
prevailed at Tanau is surely a man who
is not going to be dismayed by engaging
the king of terrors death itself.
So he says don't bury me in Egypt.
That might have been the, you might have
said looking at this why it was just
a natural desire.
A man does want to be buried very
often at the place where he began his
life.
And so it might just be the natural
desire one might think.
I was at Blenheim Palace just a few
days ago where Mr. Churchill was born.
If anybody deserved to be buried in Westminster
Abbey it seems to me it was Winston
Churchill.
But he's buried in a little chapel funeral
grounds near there.
He wanted to be evidently buried back near
where he began his existence.
So one might say do not bury me
in Egypt means simply that he wants to
be buried back at home.
But his wish has a higher origin than
that.
He's thinking about the promises of God.
He's thinking about the symbolism of the fact
that Canaan belongs to him and to his
seed.
And he knows that Egypt is not his
ultimate place of enjoyment.
It's not the place promised to him.
And so when he says please do not
bury me in Egypt.
He exacts this promise from Joseph because he
dies in faith in the promises of God
that one of these days Canaan shall be
Abraham's and Isaac's and Jacob's and their seed.
And of course that is exactly what the
scriptures go on to say.
In the 30th verse he says when I
lie down with my fathers.
Now he's not talking about the burial when
he says that.
He's talking about the fellowship that he has
with them.
He says when I lie down with my
fathers you shall carry me out of Egypt
and bury me in their burial place.
He knows though he doesn't understand as much
about this as we do now because the
Lord Jesus has brought death and immortality to
light by means of his death and resurrection.
We now know more about the life that
is beyond us than they knew.
But he senses that for him to die
is to enter into the presence of the
faithful who have themselves served the Lord God.
And so he says when I lie down
with my fathers there's going to be an
ancestral reunion.
And that's symbolized by the burial not created
by the burial.
The chapter concludes with his extracting from Joseph
an oath that he would do it.
And then Israel bowed in worship on the
top of his staff or at the head
of his bed.
Now that's striking to me too because what
was it that Jacob has been talking about
in the preceding chapters.
Well when Joseph leaves him nothing is said
particularly other than the fact that he was
very much upset over it.
But when the time came for his brothers
to come and say if we're going back
down to Egypt we must bring Benjamin.
Jacob says oh if you take Benjamin I'm
not sure I'll ever see him again you'll
bring down my gray hairs to the grave
in sorrow.
He says it more than once.
And then when Judah makes that eloquent appeal
to Joseph he says that that's what our
father said.
We'll bring down his gray hairs in sorrow
to the grave all the time.
The Lord was smiling in heaven because he
knew that Jacob was not going to have
his gray hairs brought down in sorrow to
the grave.
As a matter of fact this lost son
about whom he's so upset Joseph will be
the comforter of Jacob at his end.
A lovely sunset for Jacob's life after a
day of storms and tempests and clouds.
That's the way the Lord God deals with
his saints.
Such a great thing to be a saint
of God.
Such a great thing to be a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well the life of faith then is a
pilgrimage.
It has a goal.
What's our striving?
When you have a goal you usually strive
for it do you not?
To what or for what are you striving?
What is your goal in life?
Is it to be a success in business
you men?
Is that the preeminent goal of your life?
If you're in real estate is it to
be the best real estate man?
Is that the preeminent goal?
We know it's important to be a good
real estate man if you're in the real
estate business.
Or a good banker if you're a banker.
Or a good lawyer if you're a lawyer.
But is that your preeminent goal in life?
If life is a pilgrimage for a believer
with a starting point and a goal that
goal ought to be a spiritual goal.
Three things someone has said made Jacob a
royal character.
It was prayer, it was suffering, and it
was contact with the Lord Yahweh.
And the result is that in the final
years of Jacob's life this man who suffered
so much who's had such great experiences whose
days are few and evil.
It's this man who appears before the leading
authority of the day.
I was reminded as I studied this chapter
again.
Do you see a man skilled in his
work?
He will stand before kings.
He will not stand before obscure men.
And it surely is a striking fact that
this weather-beaten traveler, this shepherd, this man
who spent great months and years out in
the fields with his sheep, now stands before
the greatest monarch of his day.
Honored by God and honored by the world
as well.
And the death of the faithful, his entrance
into fellowship with the fathers, its entrance into
the fellowship of the elect, and above all,
its entrance into the fellowship of the Lord
God himself.
If there ever was an individual who had
no pause in his life as he passed
from this existence into the next, it's Jacob.
And it's the experience of all who are
saints.
Because for death for the believer is the
passage into the presence of the Lord God.
Hundreds of years later, the Lord Jesus speaks
about the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Now I'll say just one final word to
you.
It's possible that you're in this auditorium and
you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
You cannot speak about the life of faith.
You cannot do anything more than fear the
coming of death, because you cannot die in
faith.
In order to live the life of faith,
and in order to die in faith, one
must have faith.
And that faith is communicated by the Holy
Spirit.
And through his efficacious work we come to
see ourselves as lost men, and the atoning
work of Christ as that which meets our
need.
And it is by the work of the
Holy Spirit that we are led to flee
for the refuge that is found in Jesus
Christ.
If you are here and you do not
know him, you do not have any hope
for the other than to appear in the
presence of the Lord God for judgment.
And so we call upon you to hear
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.
Salvation is a free gift.
It's not anything that you earn by your
good works, by your prayers, by your religious
activities, by even the observance of the ordinances
of baptism in the Lord's Supper, by your
good resolutions, by your education, by any of
your strivings and fightings and schemings.
It's a gift of God.
It's not even obtained when we give our
hearts to Christ.
Giving of our hearts to Christ is something
that is the fruit of salvation.
One is saved by believing in him, by
trusting in him, by clinging to the merits
of the Savior who offered that atoning sacrifice
sufficient for our sins.
If you're here and you've never believed in
the Lord Jesus, you're lost then.
May God the Holy Spirit bring you to
trust in him.
Casting away all trust in anything else and
clinging only to Christ, you receive as a
free gift the forgiveness of sins.
Sometimes it seems that even in the preaching
of the gospel, we are not so clear
on the fact that our salvation is of
grace.
And so we talk about our giving in
order to be saved.
Salvation is the receiving of something from the
Lord God as a gift.
Even in our teaching of our Sunday school
children, we often err.
We tell our Sunday school children, love Jesus
Christ.
But that's not the way of salvation.
That is the fruit of salvation.
To be saved one must trust in Christ.
To love him is the product of the
trust or faith given by God the Holy
Spirit as the gospel is preached.
And so I appeal to you, if you're
in this audience and you have never been
saved, we remind you of the atoning work
of Christ.
He shed blood for the forgiveness of sins,
and that salvation is available for you.
May God so work that you come to
faith in him.
Let's stand for the benediction.
We are grateful to the Lord for these
wonderful portraits of the life of faith and
death in faith.
And we pray, O God, that if there
are some in this audience who do not
know faith in Christ as their own personal
experience, that through the Holy Spirit they may
be brought to repentance and faith and given
the life that is life indeed.
For those of us who do know him,
O God, enable us to live in faith,
and enable us as we approach our death.
For no one knows the day of his
death, that we die in faith.
And now we ask that grace, mercy, and
peace may go with us for Jesus' sake.
Amen.