Now let’s look at some examples,
first of all, from the Old Testament. We’ll turn to Genesis 48 and read from verse 8 through verse 19
which is a very, very interesting passage. In this passage Joseph brings
his two sons to his father Jacob, who is also called Israel, for Jacob to bless his grandsons. And let me say second
to the blessing of God Himself I think the most desired blessing is the
blessing of a father or a grandfather. I would say to all of you,
especially you younger people if by any means possible,
obtain your father’s blessing on whatever you do.
It is very, very important. It’s second only to
the blessing of God Himself. You will see in the Bible great
importance was attached to a father’s blessing. So here we are in verse 8: Then Israel, that is Jacob, saw Joseph’s
sons and said, Who are these? And Joseph said, These
are my sons whom God has given me in this place, that’s Egypt.
And he said, that’s Jacob Please bring them to me
and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim
with age so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him
and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel, that’s Jacob, said to Joseph,
I had not thought to see your face but in fact God has also
shown me your offspring. If there's one thing that moves me
to tears, it's the faithfullness of God. It’s not grief, it’s not sorrow, but every time I contemplate
the faithfulness of God I’m overcome with tears. So Joseph brought them from
beside his knees and he bowed down with his face to the earth. Notice the respect that the people
in the Bible showed for parents and for the elderly. And Joseph took them both,
Ephraim with his right hand towards Israel’s left hand,
and Manasseh with his left hand towards Israel’s right hand,
and brought them near him. Then Israel stretched out his right
hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head who was the younger, and
his left hand on Manasseh’s head guiding his hands knowingly
for Manasseh was the firstborn. Normally, the firstborn would
receive the greater blessing and that would be transmitted
by the right hand. And Joseph specially arranged that
Manasseh, who was the elder was to come opposite
Jacob’s right hand. But Jacob, prompted by the
Holy Spirit, crossed his hands and laid his right hand on Ephraim
and his left hand on Manasseh. He blessed Joseph and said, God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me
all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed
me from all evil. You know where that happened?
When Jacob met the angel at Peniel that was what he was referring to.
The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads;
let my name be named upon them and the name of my fathers
Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude
in the midst of the earth. Can you see also how important
it is to transmit a name? So many of these things are
just going out of fashion today but they’ve never gone
out of fashion with God. Now when Joseph saw that his father laid
his right hand on the head of Ephraim it displeased him. So he took hold of his father’s hand
to remove it to Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father,
Not so, my father! For 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 also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. But truly his younger brother
shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become
a multitude of nations. So he blessed them that day, saying: By you Israel will bless, saying,
May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And thus he
set Ephraim before Manasseh. That’s a very vivid scene,
isn’t it? You see, it’s very precise. It was understood
that the greater blessing would come from the father’s right hand. But it was so real that there was a real transmission of something,
it was just not a formality. It wasn’t just for ceremony, it was
a vital transaction in the lives of two young men,
Ephraim and Manasseh. It really determined their
destiny from then onwards. So let us never underestimate the
significance and the importance of laying on of hands
when it’s done by the Holy Spirit. And then we’ll look in Numbers 27, where we find that Moses
was telling the Lord it’s time to appoint
the leader who’s to follow me. Moses knew that he would not
go into the Promised Land but he was very, very concerned
about the people of God, Israel. And so Moses said to
the Lord in Numbers 27:15: We will look at verse 15. Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying,
Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man
over the congregation. I think that’s significant,
He’s the God of the spirits of all flesh. He’s the God who knows
the spirit of every person. He sees into the innermost
depth of human character. Let the God of the spirits of all flesh
set a man over the congregation who may go out before them
and go in before them who may lead them out and bring them
in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep
which have no shepherd. And the whole Bible tells us
from beginning to end that sheep without a shepherd will be scattered
and will become a prey. It's a message that runs
consistently throughout the Bible. Let me suggest to you that unless circumstances are very
unusual, each of you should have a human shepherd who
will watch over your soul and care for you - very, very important. We’ll come back to that a little later
as we study some other things. So, how did the Lord respond? The Lord said to Moses,
Take Joshua the son of Nun with you a man in whom is the Spirit,
and lay your hand on him. Set him before Eleazar the priest
and before all the congregation and commission him in their sight and you shall give some
of your authority to him. I like that. Not all of your authority
because Moses had unique authority. But a good portion of your
authority because he’s going to need it. You shall give some of your authority
to him that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. He shall stand before Eleazar, the Priest, who shall inquire before the Lord
for him by the judgment of the Urim. At his word, that’s Joshua’s
word, they shall go out and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the
children of Israel with him. All the congregation. So Moses did as the Lord
commanded. He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest
and before all the congregation. And he laid his hands on him and
commissioned him just as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses. The congregation had to see this
transmission of authority from Moses, the one whom
they followed for forty years to his successor. It was a vital
transaction for the well being of all of God’s people. Furthermore,
it was not just a ceremony something really happened to Joshua. In Deuteronomy 34 we
have this interesting comment. Deuteronomy 34:9. It says: Now Joshua the son of Nun
was full of the Spirit of wisdom for Moses laid his hands on him. So you see what he received
from the laying on of hands? He received the Spirit of wisdom.
It was not just a formality, not just a ceremony,
it was a real transaction. Let’s go to one other example in the
Old Testament which is in 2 Kings 13. It’s the closing scene, really,
in the ministry of Elisha. And yet, it wasn’t really a closing scene
because Elisha died and was buried and then a band of raiders
came in to invade Israel and the men who were going to bury
another just had to dump the man in Elisha’s sepulcher and run off. When de dead man touched the
bones of Elisha he came to life. That’s something, isn’t it? How wonderful it is that God’s power can be transferred
in so many strange ways. Let’s read here in 2 Kings 13:14: And Elisha had become sick
of the illness of which he would die. This is so, what would I say it’s not what you would expect.
He died of a sickness and yet his bones were so charged
with God's power that when a dead man contacted his bones
he came alive. You can’t explain that. There are some thing you can't explain
Let me just tell you something that happend because I’m tired of people trying to
account for everything that God does. In South Africa some years ago, Ruth and I were ministering
in an Assembly of God Church and the associate pastor,
a young man, had been playing squash had fallen and broken
his arm in four places. He came for prayer and I said,
This sounds strange but I’m going to check your legs.
Because this is what God has shown me to do. And if your legs are unequal,
the short leg will grow out and you’ll know that God
has touched you. Then I said, be very careful
to thank God for it. So, you see, when people
have a real need they’ll do strange things
they wouldn’t do at other times. And so he went through this ceremony,
I held his leg, it grew out. I knew God had touched him. He went
back to the doctor and was X-rayed. This is the thing I cannot explain.
There had been four breaks in his arm. Three of them were perfectly healed,
the fourth was still a break. The senior pastor said to me,
Explain that. I said: I can’t explain it. I could say he had seventy-five
percent faith but that would be a very unconvincing
explanation. So, I’m so tired of people knowing
everything that God has done and being able to explain it all. There are
lots of things that God does I can’t explain. I’m quite content to leave them with God. Anyhow, we go on with this story. Joash, the king of Israel, came down to
Elisha and wept over his face and said: O my father, my father, the chariots
of Israel and their horsemen. That was the same thing that
Elisha himself had said to Elijah when he was taken up in the chariot.
And that contains a message, really for all of us. A man who really
knows God can be the defense of a nation. He can be stronger than an army. And Joash, who was not a particularly
godly king, recognized what Elisha meant to his people. Elisha said, Take a bow and some
arrows.’ So he took himself a bow and some arrows.
Then he said to the king of Israel: Put your hand on the bow. So he,
the king, put his hand on the bow and Elisha put his
hands on the king’s hands. And he said: Open the east window,
which was the direction of Syria, the enemy of Israel, and he opened it. And Elisha
said, shoot, and he shot. And he said: The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria, for you must strike the Syrians at
Aphek till you have destroyed them. And we find out that he struck
with the arrows three times and three times
Joash defeated the Syrians. Elisha was angry with him because he
should have struck more times. But what I want to bring out is it was the putting of Elisha’s hands
on the hands of the king when he held the bow
that made it effective. Again it’s in the supernatural realm
but it shows that something real can take place when one
person lays hands on another.
