Genesis 48:1-49:12 - 2009 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] Genesis chapter 48 let's pray together Lord I personally want to thank you for such a hungry group of people I'm reminded of Nehemiah 8 when Ezra gave a message that was along several hours one morning in Jerusalem and the people were attentive to every word that was spoken as Ezra read from the law and gave the sense I thank you Lord for a hungry and attentive body of Christ we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God as we're hearing the word tonight as we do week by week and as it changes and transforms the way we look at life itself I pray that in turn it would change the way we live life and the way others are viewing us as we live our lives around them that we would be a light to those living in darkness that we would create a thirst for those who are parched we thank you Lord for the word and for this body but we thank you also for the community in which we live so vibrant so beautiful and we pray that the name of Jesus Christ would be glorified in this city in which we live and around the country in Jesus name Amen my mind today went back to an episode when I was in college I hadn't seen my parents for several months and I don't know if you remember this or not when you were that age and you hadn't seen your parents for months or a year when you see them again and I remember when I saw them during this little hiatus this break that I had in college I thought as I looked at them came across my mind I thought boy are they looking old and they were they were old I mean they were like in their mid 50s maybe early 60s but from my perspective at that time in my life they were old imagine what it was like for a Joseph not having seen his father Jacob for 17 years as he glanced upon his father he must have thought boy he's old and he was the Bible tells us he was old he was a hundred and forty-seven years old it's an old guy and in chapter 48 we find that he's sick he's going to die he'll go on his deathbed in chapter 48 and 49 forms the deathbed scene of Jacob at age 147 someone once said that there are seven ages or decades of man they all have one word to sum them up and they all rhyme the first is spills that's when you're a baby and you grab something and you spill it juice water cereal soup spills the second age or decade of man are drills that's when you go to school and you're tested one test one drill after another as you get prepared in knowledge to live your life the third stage is thrills you are growing up you're becoming a teenager you're going off to college they're becoming independent life is thrilling and you just want to have fun then you reach stage 4 that's the stage of bills you have to pay for it and so life takes on a whole different meaning as you now are responsible for the choices you make economically the fifth stage is ills you reach a point where the body doesn't respond like it used to doesn't come back like it used to isn't as resilient as it once was it slows down the aches and the pains and the diseases become more prevalent more noticeable the sixth age is the age of pills to manage and to maintain and to just move forward takes help medication finally the seventh decade is the age of wills you make your last will and last testament jacob is in his final stage his last will and testament will be given in chapter 49 as his family is gathered around there in egypt a hundred and forty seven years old now last week we saw that when he met pharaoh he said you know i'm really not that old few and hard have been the days of my pilgrimage i'm only 147 well his dad isaac lived to be a hundred and eighty his grandpa abraham lived to be ADEs 175 his great-grandpa Terah lived to be 205 so I guess in comparison to great-grandpa he was only 147 young now we're faced with something that you have noticed since the beginning of Genesis and that is there's a shift in longevity if you think of the relative age of this era one forty seven and a little bit older 205 etc but if you compare that with the age before the flood what we call antediluvian population before the flood they live to be a lot older than that right Adam 930 years of Methuselah the oldest 969 years of age so reaching back to the antediluvian before the flood they live much longer now we're still at an age that we don't see today 205 147 by the time we get to Moses onward it sort of averages out to be like what it is today what we know is the average lifespan so much so that by the time of David David will say look God has given us about 70 years so right now at this stage of Genesis post flood post diluvian we're at that shoulder where it's still a long time but not as long as those who live before the flood what is happening what happened at and after the flood to cause this shift I just thought it'd be appropriate to maybe think about that it is believed one of the many theories that after the flood there were many factors that were now introduced on earth that were different from the time before the flood the radioactivity on the earth was much greater now than it was at the time of the flood the great deep had been broken up cataclysmic changes took place on the surface of the earth the radioactivity was higher number two the ultraviolet radiation was much more since the canopy that once surrounded the earth giving it a lush kind of an environment was taken away that can wreak havoc on cellular structure the water sources became polluted for a number of reasons so many animals upon the earth pollution from being downstream from mining upstream in the mountain regions also there's been a major shift in climactic conditions with a hydrological cycle all of those factors this theory goes and many believe this had an effect on the genetic structure of man in your chromosomes you have what's called telomeres that's the little end piece of the chromosome it is believed that the flood after the flood all of those factors damaged the telomeres they became shortened than they once were now the telomeres at that part of the chromosomes that will prevent cellular degeneration allowing the cells when they regenerate the cells to live longer themselves so at the time of the flood you only had eight people that were saved after the flood so you sort of had a genetic bottleneck and then as people began to populate the earth the population that came from those eight were not genetically predisposed to longer telomeres but shorter ones so we're now at that shoulder between the super longevity of almost a thousand years nine hundred some on years to a shorter lifespan more like what we know but he's a hundred and forty-seven he's still talking so that's pretty good now so far in Genesis and we're at the end so I'm sort of doing a few summations before we end it in a couple weeks we have seen that Genesis deals with two things primarily for great people and for great events the four great events come first the formation of the universe that's the creation of heaven and earth the fall of man the flood the great judgement that took place upon the earth that was universal by the way as we discussed and then the fallout from the sin of man over the earth those are the four great or notable events but then we have beginning in Chapter 11 the bulk of Genesis the greater part of it are the four great people Abraham Isaac Jacob and now Joseph who is given a full 1cor of the entire book of Genesis one quarter of this literary real-estate is devoted to Joseph we're dealing with the patriarchs those are the patriarchs Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph and the 12 tribes after that there will be no more patriarchs this is the patriarchal age now if you go down to verse 28 of the previous chapter it says Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years and so the length of Jacob's life was a hundred and forty seven as we noted last week Joseph was 17 years of age a teenager almost an adult by contemporary terms an adult in that day and age 17 years old when he was kidnapped by his brothers and sold as a slave to the Midianites and then he went down to Egypt so Joseph grew up nurtured by his father for 17 years now Joseph gets to reciprocate that and take care of his dad for 17 years it is a blessing though it's difficult to take care of parents in their latter years I do thank God for the time I was able to spend especially with my mom before she passed away and to be able to reciprocate just a little bit the kind of care that she lavished upon us as kids well now chapter 48 after a lengthy introduction now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told indeed your father is sick and he took with him his two sons Manasseh he's mentioned first because he's firstborn and Ephraim and Jacob was told look your son Joseph is coming to you and Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed no notice in that one verse he's given both of his name's Jacob that's his birth name Yaakov one who grabs the heel he'll catch her the deceiver the manipulator but then the second name the one God gave him Israel the one who fights victoriously and valiantly with God Joseph is told dad is sick he thinks I got to go see him when he's coming to see him Jacob is told your son is here that gives him enough strength to prop himself up lean on his staff the Bible will tell us in another place and address his son Joseph it really is encouraging when you visit someone who's hospitalized or you visit someone who's in an old folks home just a short visit it can encourage them and strengthen them how thankful I am for the hundreds or over a thousand of you that decide to go out on our turn us loose weekend projects will you go out into the community and you bless people what an enormous encouragement and testimony that is as it was here when Jacob was able to see Joseph on his deathbed then Jacob said to Joseph verse three God Almighty appeared to me at TLAs now what his laws do you remember Beth L remember he changed it to Beth L it was called LA's but because he saw that vision or that vision of God in his dream of the angels on the ladder descending and ascending woke up the next day one man God is in this place and I didn't know it but now I do I'm calling it the house of God Beth L that's the place that's what he's referring to God Almighty appeared to me it was in the land of Canaan and blessed me finally jacob is focusing on the blessings of God not the bummers of life for so long we've listened to his moaning and complaining to Laban and to his sons etc right we saw them now finally God's in his life God's in the picture and the blessing in his life is attributed to God so he finally learns the lesson after a hundred and forty-seven years there's hope for us there's hope only God can teach an old dog new tricks and God can teach an old dog new tricks after all that has been cemented into the character of Jacob with his negativism and manipulation here he is attributing the blessings to God so he strengthened himself and sat upon his bed now the Betties on will prove to be his deathbed verse four and he said to me said Allah God appeared to me this is what God told me he's saying this to Joseph behold I will make you fruitful and multiply you and I will make of you a multitude of people and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession he's saying Joe God appeared to me Joe knew the story but he's recounting it again he's trying to get that into his system and he gave me a promise now you'll notice there's three parts of this promise number one the promise of a people that is his own family and boy did he have a large family he went from just himself to getting married having a few wives and then having twelve sons some daughters and eventually seventy people will migrate from the land of Beersheba down to Egypt seventy his family has grown that's part of the promise I'm gonna bless you buddy your family now seventy are in his family the second part of the promise isn't just two people but it's a population it's an entire nation I'll bless your descendants and make you a great nation like he told Abraham and that promise came to pass 70 people will eventually become 2,100,000 by conservative estimates by the time of the Exodus in Exodus chapter 1 etc they'll grow immensely in the land of goshen the third part of the promise is for a place so a people a population and a place the land notice it says and I will give this land to your descendants after you as an ever lasting possession there is a huge debate that has been going on for several thousand years and because it is not only historic but prophetic it is being asked right now tonight in even in Washington DC as well as in the Middle East the question goes like this whose land is that Land of Israel or Palestine who really should occupy it who does it belong to well we could go to recent history and say well you know in 1948 there was a United Nations ruling that created the modern State of Israel allowing Jews to reoccupy it and move from all over the world into that land the Land of Israel and thus it was called Israel not Palestine as Golda Meir firmly put down as one of the first Prime Minister's it's the Land of Israel but go back a little further who was in charge of it before Israel got it well the Palestinians will say the Palestinians but keep going back before the modern Palestinians occupied it the Ottoman Empire occupied it the Turks so we'd say belongs to the Turks give it to Turkey no but keep going back before the Ottoman Turks the Mamluks from Egypt controlled it and the seljuqs and before the Mamluks and the Seljuks the Crusaders occupied that territory but keep going back before the Crusaders there were different Arab tribes warring tribes and before those tribes were the Romans and before the Rome were the Greeks and before the Greeks the Jews again and before the Jews the Babylonians and before the Babylonians the Jews again and before the Jews again the Assyrians and you keep going all the way back and we have to say actually it belongs to the Canaanites but now we have a bigger problem because there are no more Canaanites in existence so in trying to solve the dilemma whose land it is do we say well who ever fought for it and wins the fight it's their land or whoever has the most money or most firepower or most need or most population how do we solve the difficulty we solve the difficulty biblically let me give you a few facts fact number one the land belongs to God it's God's land we rightly call it the holy land because in Leviticus 25 the Lord said and I quote Leviticus 25 around verse 23 the land shall not be sold permanently for it is mine saith the Lord you are just so jurors you are just travellers that's the first fact it belongs to God fact number two it was promised to Abraham and to his descendants as we have seen in chapter 12 I will bless you and make you a great nation to you and your descendants will I give this land fact number three the land was a gift an unconditional gift in perpetuity for in chapter 17 the Lord said I am giving this land Abraham to you and your descendants as get this as an ever lasting possession forever it belongs to you Abraham and your descendants but Abraham had more than one descendant he just didn't have Isaac he had Ishmael so that brings up the next fact God promised the land to Isaac in his descendants not Ishmael and his descendants now if you if you just remember back a few chapters chapter 17 I know that was a long time ago when the Lord was suggesting that God was going to bless Abraham with another son besides Ishmael once they smooth was born that's you're gonna have another boy and I'm gonna bless him and I'm gonna give him the land and Abraham didn't like the suggestion he he said oh oh that Ishmael might live before you just fulfill your promise through Ishmael I know it was with Hagar and was this weird mistake thing with this Egyptian and me but just do it with her let it happen with Ishmael God said no but your wife Sarah will have a son and you will call his name Isaac and to him I will give the land as an everlasting possession so god narrows it he says it's mine I'll be giving it to Abraham and his descendants now I'm giving it not to Ishmael but to Isaac in his descendants next fact the land was given not just to Isaac and his descendants but it was given to Jacob and his descendants not Esau esau wasn't given this land God said I'll bless him with other lands but look at verse 4 once again this is what God told me he said and give this land to your descendants after you as an ever lasting possession now not everyone agrees with the biblical mandate it's not the British Mandate it's not the United Nations mandate the biblical mandate for Israel to occupy that land and some of the nations around Israel have been trying to get Israel out ever since she got in she got in in 1948 the very next day a war was declared and Israel was attacked by neighboring nations they didn't even have an army they weren't even a nation they were just a bunch of farmers that get got into land they were attacked and ever since Israel has been in that land the Muslim nations 300 million neighbors have wanted her out because they think a Jewish state in a Muslim part of the world is is a is an anathema it's a curse it shouldn't be we have to expunge the Middle East of any Jewish presence and so the problem persists and nations like Iraq were trying desperately to kick Israel out of the land Saddam Hussein said he said well he's not an issue anymore well he has a neighbor called Iran that has threatened to annihilate Israel because it's God's will to annihilate the little Satan that's Israel and then also the Great Satan that's you and I America and so now there's this whole worldwide wonderment and bewilderment is Iran building up nuclear weapons to destroy Israel oh no this has been going on now for thousands of years and at this point especially for us who believe the Bible and know the track record of God and his power we much rather believe the promise of God than we do the nuclear capabilities of a neighbor of Israel now the Bible does say God even promised in the last book or one of the last books in the Old Testament Zechariah chapter 14 that all the nations of the world will come against Jerusalem come against Israel but that God would protect Israel even when all the nations gather around her given just that information do you think it's possible to see the nations of the earth in our lifetime go against Israel oh you betcha I bring this up just so you know the kind of days we're living in are not that far removed from back then that same promise and that lineage and continuation of fulfillment we're seeing it dynamically happen around us right now and then somebody else a man over so is living in time's get a clue you are living in Bible times as exciting as it gets man I only made it through four verses so and now verse five your two sons Ephraim and Manasseh notice how he changes the order hmm keep that in mind Manasseh was born first Ephraim was born second he it says he brought in Manasseh and Ephraim we're coming to one of the most important truths in the Bible or at least one of the most important verses but he says and now your two sons Ephraim and Manasseh who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are mine what as Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine I'm sure Joseph didn't expect to hear that grandpa was adopting his two kids he brings him to get blessed he brings him in his presence before Jacob dies and he goes oh by the way I am promoting your two sons my two grandsons I'm elevating them to the status of patriarch just like I have Levi and Judah and Simeon and all the other the 12 tribes I'm giving them that kind of status so they become mine this is one of the most important verses in the Bible it answers the whole tribe question how many tribes are there people say there's 12 tribes well actually there's 13 tribes I'm gonna thoroughly confuse you no I won't I'm gonna I'm gonna take away the confusion we talked about the 12 tribes a dozen it's really a baker's dozen there's 13 but because Levi will become the tribe that hosts the priesthood they will not get any land allotment whatsoever just certain cities and all the other tribes for God said I will be your inheritance I will be your portion you don't have to worry about land you'll just be taken care of you a fish she ate in the priesthood that puts the land allotment back to 12 tribes but because there are 13 tribes now Jacob takes the two sons of Joseph and elevates them to the same allotment status as his own children now there's 13 because of that you have in the Bible 20 listings of the tribes of Israel and they're all slightly different and they can be so if you were to say Ephraim Manasseh may be included with that because it's a reference to Joseph he's one of the sons of Joseph they might be hidden or couched in there when the nations go to war Levi will be exempt so you won't see him listed in fact the tribe of Joseph is never listed at all as the tribe of Joseph it's the tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh as separate tribes so Joseph gets two shares Joseph has never mentioned as a tribe except one place revelation chapter 7 the only time it's mentioned is the tribe of Joseph now we'll find out why when we get to the book of Revelation you're thinking I'll be dead by then this is Genesis man I'll be dead by then if you were to look at the tribes in Genesis compared to the tribes in Revelation the tribe in Revelation mentions Joseph - are not mentioned in the tribal allotments in Revelation 7 you know I wonder what am i referring to Revelation chapter 7 there's a hundred and forty-four thousand members sealed from the twelve tribes of Israel twelve thousand of this tribe that tribe etc twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph - were left out the tribe of Dan left out why Dan I believe because Dan was the tribe that hosted the first false worship or idol worship in the nation there were two caps that were set up and one was set at Samaria at Bethel the other was set at Dan and Dan was the the tribe that served to first divide the nation with idolatry Ephraim is also not mentioned but the tribe of Joseph is mentioned Ephraim also led them into idolatry that's that central tribe where the other calf was but I don't want to go into too much detail because it could serve to just add layers of confusion so that's why that's just a snippet and when we get to Revelation chapter 7 we can tie the knot on this verse 6 your offspring whom you beget I'll move quicker after them shall be yours they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance but as for me when I came from Paden Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way when there was but a little distance to go to F Roth and I buried her there on the way to a froth that is Bethlehem now if you go to Israel today they will point to Rachel's Tomb just to the north of modern-day Bethlehem it's an old shrine it has a little coupe on top of it so it is an old place it has been noted by the Jews for centuries it is considered in Judaism today to be the third holiest site in all of Judaism I buried her there now that was Joseph's and Benjamin's mother the wife that he loved then Israel saw Joseph's sons and he said who are these no no you thinking wait a minute what do you mean who are these you just talked about ephraim and manasseh and your sons and there's the son just kind of waiting around he goes who are these okay he's 147 years old give him a little bit of a break his eyesight's dim I'm sure cataracts are formed he's just not the guy he used to be short memory span and Joseph said to his father these are my sons whom God has given me in this place and he said bring them to me and I will bless them now the eyes of Israel were dim with AIDS there's our answer so that he could not see then Joseph brought them near him and he kissed them and embraced them and Israel said to Joseph I had not thought to see your face but in fact God has also shown me your offspring so Joseph brought them from besides his knees that were probably just kind of playing around standing around by next to him and he bowed down with his face to the earth and Joseph took them both Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand and he brought them near him and Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head who was the younger and his left hand on the NASA's head guiding his hands knowingly for Manasseh was the firstborn you can see what Joseph is doing his dad can't see he's going to position his son so all that Jacob has to do is reach out his hands and grab the hand in the right hand of Jacob would be the firstborn Manasseh in the left hand of Jacob would be Ephraim all you have to do is stretch out but what Jacob does knowingly is do this crosses his hands over like that and puts his hands on the head so that his right hand is on the second-born Ephraim and his left hand is on the firstborn Manasseh he guides his hand knowingly the right hand is significant the right hand is the hand of strength the hand of authority I'm sorry if you're left-handed but most people are right-handed only 10% of the population is left-handed I know they're very brilliant people that are left-handed and my wife's left-handed very very brilliant compassionate wonderful people but 90% of the population is right-handed that's why the Bible talks about the right hand of fellowship that's why the Bible talks about God will guide me with his righteous right hand remember when Benjamin was being born and Rachel was having trouble and labor and she died because of it before she died she said name this boy Ben on the son of my sorrow jacob dad said no way I'm calling him Ben Yamin Benjamin means son of my right hand he's going to be my strength Authority I lost Joseph he's he's the guy so he puts the right hand on supposedly should have been the firstborn but now it's the second-born Ephraim why what is he doing and why does this upset Joseph and why does Joseph's position these boys so that the the eldest gets the right hand and the second-born gets the left hand we mentioned it before I want you to understand it it's called the law of Prem magenta Chur forget that word law of the firstborn house that law of the firstborn so what it means is the firstborn has certain benefits that no other kid gets the firstborn son gets the authority passed down as head of the family the patriarchal nature of the family the authority of the family and twice the land allotment a double portion the firstborn gets a double portion later on when the prophet Elijah finds Elijah and says give me a double portion what he's saying is let me succeed you in your ministry as prophet the law of primogeniture is that the firstborn gets the blessing the second born gets a blessing but not like the firstborn but he's knowingly doing this he's crossing his hands why is he crossing his hands because this is all an act of faith as you're about to see as we come to a close tonight in this chapter there's a second law that supersedes the law of the firstborn or primogeniture the law of preeminence God has the sovereign right to choose whatever order or person for whatever reason whenever he wants and uses them that's his sovereign right is God and you notice something he does it a lot in the Bible it wasn't Cain it was Abel who's the one that's blessed it was an Ishmael it was Isaac the one that was chosen and blessed it wasn't Issa it was Jacob it wasn't Reuben the firstborn it's Joseph that gets the blessing of that robe signifying him as prominent even then it won't be Moses I mean it will be Moses and not Aaron his older brother who gets that blessing being the deliverer of Israel God does this a lot the law of preeminence supersedes the law of primogeniture firstborn I'm bringing this up because there is a group that will knock on your door and pass out literature and seek to confuse you because you may not know this actually they should know this and if they do they're hiding it but it's to call the Jehovah Witnesses and if you engage in a conversation with them before long you might start with John or whatever you want to start with but they'll quickly pace you and move you along to where they want you and they'll take you to Colossians because there you are in the middle of your day not expecting somebody to come with literature and you say well you know the Bible says Jesus is God which it does over and over and over again they'll say no it doesn't and they'll quote Colossians chapter 1 he's the image of the invisible God the firstborn over all creation but then it says right after that he created all things where the visible invisible on heaven earth he created all things and so because it says that they have to translate it a little differently and in the new world translation of the Jehovah Witnesses it's the only translation the does this by the way says concerning Jesus he's the firstborn over all creation he created all other things and by him all other things consist a deliberate insertion of a word that isn't there in any Greek manuscript at all of any authority so what they try to say is well see this is what it says and if Jesus is born and he's firstborn he can't be God and then they'll say God made Jesus he was born it's just a man and then God used Jesus to create everything else you're going what do I say easy you take them to Genesis where it says Manasseh is the firstborn because he was he was born first you can only have one first one but then do this turn them to Jeremiah chapter 31 let's turn there just for a moment whoa we'll finish the chapter come on what do you say Jeremiah 31 quickly Jeremiah chapter 31 just keep turning right until you see Jeremiah he's got a lot of chapters so you'll you'll hit it Jeremiah 31 30 and 31 speaking about the future blessings of Israel as a nation verse 8 chapter 31 of Jeremiah the remnant of Israel behold I will bring them from the north country gather them from the ends of the earth among them the blind in the lame the woman with child the one who Labor's with child together a great throng shall return there they shall come with weeping and with supplications I will lead them I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way in which they shall not stumble for I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn go now wait a minute and ask them this wait a minute how can you have two firstborns it's only one kid who was born first they they weren't twins Manasseh was clearly born first chronologically why does God call him my firstborn - Ephraim simple law of preeminence what he's saying is I'm elevating him to be the heir the idea of a firstborn means the heir he's gonna be the heir he's going to inherit I'm gonna give him the double portion I'm gonna give him the blessing Ephraim is my firstborn I'm gonna bless Ephraim more so than Manasseh even Ephraim is my firstborn in terms of position so Jesus Christ back in Colossians chapter 1 he is the firstborn over all creation prototokos in greek he is the highest in order he is of the highest rank he is the heir of all creation because he created everything he is therefore the firstborn the highest and rank highest and order and deserves the preeminence if you just keep reading down that's how you solve it and then just just have fun they won't know what to do with it okay back to chapter 48 let's finish the chapter call it a night and he blessed Joseph and he said now he's got his hands crossed right hand on the youngest left hand on the oldest he did us cross over God before whom my father's Abraham Isaac walked the God who has fed me all my life long to this day the angel Capital a reference the angel of the Lord who has redeemed me from all evil bless the lads let my name be named among them and the name of my father's Abraham and Isaac let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth now when Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim it displeased him so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from aprons head to Manasseh said and Joseph said to his father not so my father for this one is the firstborn put your right hand on his head dad you're all mixed up man your backward you're an old guy let me help you out a little bit but his father refused and he 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 as a multitude of Nations do you suppose that Jacob this old 147 year old codger was thinking back in his mind to when he was a child and the promise that God gave to his mother and father for when he was in the womb with Esau the other twin and his mom was having a tough time in pregnancy and they took it before the Lord the Lord said to her two nations are in your womb but the older will serve the younger it was God's promise to Jacob that Jacob would have not Issa the law of preeminence and he's probably thinking back to that I don't know why God does this he is sovereign to do it he not only did it with all the people I mentioned but think of David he was going to be the king of israel remember samuel was gonna go find a king in Jesse's house and so here Samuel the Prophet goes to Jesse's house in Bethlehem and all the boys are lined up in the first born named Ely AB the Bible says was good-looking tall handsome he looked like a king he was a movie star and Samuel said in his heart surely this is the Lord's anointed immediately God spoke to him and said don't look at the height of his stature or his outward appearance for I have rejected him for God does not see as man sees for man looks at the outward appearance but God looks upon the heart and all of the boys went through the list until finally he said is this all the kids you got well we got one more a little shepherd boy hanging out outside but he's not really don't worry about him go go fetch him go bring him in here we won't be done till he comes he was the one that God had chosen happens all the way through scripture okay he says I know and then he says he will become a multitude of Nations history bears this out real briefly history will bear this out Ephraim will become more notable and have more land and more people than Manasseh to become a bigger tribe a more populous tribe right in the center of the nation verse 20 so he blessed them that day saying by you Israel will bless saying may God bless you as ephraim and manasseh and thus he said ephraim before Manasseh now he seems to say that that's gonna be a thing a lot of people are gonna say in the future a blessing that many people in Israel will say to other people and that is by may God make you as ephraim and as Manasseh interesting to this very day Jewish fathers will say this to their kids on Friday evenings the eve of Shabbat the eve of the Sabbath it's a beautiful celebration in Jewish homes it has begun as the two candles are lit by the EEMA the mother as she welcomes in the Sabbath with her prayers the hard-working day is over the week is over it's a time to rest as a family she brings in the Sabbath then the father reads proverbs 31 to his wife blessing her in the name of the lord as the virtuous woman and then he says to his children may God make you like ephraim and manasseh beautiful celebration family celebration then Israel said to Joseph behold I am dying but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your father's moreover I have given you one portion above your brothers which I took from the land of the amorite with my sword and my bow there seems to be a plan words you see the word 1 2 the words 1 portion in Hebrew portion is ahem ahem ahem Akkad one portion Shechem or Shechem becomes a city in Israel you remember the Shechem i'ts from our previous studies in Genesis now in the New Testament Jesus goes and visits a woman who's a Samaritan woman at the well of Samaria and it says he went to this area of Shechem to the city of Sychar the plot of ground that Joseph that Jacob gave to his son Joseph that's the portion that's the Shechem that's the portion that he gave to Joseph moreover I have given you Shechem above your brother's which I took from the hand of the amorite with my sword and my bow looking at the time and I'm debating we have a few moments so we can go ahead and move on and we won't get through it all but we can read just a few and I think leave it a strategic place tonight this is the deathbed this is the final words your first words were pretty much the same as everybody else's first words right well that's about it you might be a variation of that but it was just insensible noises those were your first words but a person's final words are very significant I've been at several death beds of people and when I get that opportunity and to me it as an opportunity it's a holy moment I listen for the final words I remember the final communications of my mother and I hold them as sacred and hallow this are the final words of Jacob to his boys it's interesting it says Jacob called his sons and said gather together that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days gather together and hear you sons of Jacob and listened to Israel your father hears what is rather interesting to me he's 147 years of age he couldn't see or recognize the two sons of Joseph but he can remember the birth order of his sons perfectly so he still lucid of course you know he has known that for a long time that's not new knowledge it's cemented in his brain it's a permanent fixture and he probably rehearsed for a long time what he might say to them on his deathbed but he goes through them in perfect birth order now it's interesting that some people sociologists believe that birth order is a huge and important issue sociologically that determines the outcome of a person's life that the order of their birth will shape their personality and so shape it for the rest of their lives for instance the first born sociologists typically tell us are a little more aggressive they become natural leaders they're more precise more organized typically more exact can drive people crazy as they give attention to details of course Reuben who was the first born didn't know of any of those theories and he didn't really fit any of those theories so it says in verse three Reuben you are my firstborn my might in the beginning of my strength the excellence of dignity and the excellency of power I'm sure by this time he was sighing thinking yeah maybe blushing a little bit pretty this is pretty cool maybe at first when all the kids were getting together he thought oh no what is dad gonna say but so far it's going pretty good you're my firstborn man you're the the excellence of my strength yeah I am hear that boys ha ha it's me it all goes downhill immediately unstable as water you shall not Excel bummer to hear that as the last words of your dad because you went up to your father's bed then you defiled it then he turns to the other boys as he went up to my couch what is he talking about he's talking about an incident 40 years before this forty years and his sin finds him out again forty years have gone by forty years ago when his Rachel the wife of Jacob died it was Reuben the firstborn instead of comforting his dad took Bilhah his wife's concubine and had sexual relations with her you're unstable as water you're untrustworthy you will not excel and he didn't excel as his tribe goes on it this tribe the tribe of Reuben that joins Cora in a rebellion against Moses will get to in several books few years from now verse 5 Simeon and Levi our brothers instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place let not my soul enter their counsel let not my honor be United to their Assembly for in their anger they slew a man and their self will they hamstrung an ox cursed be their anger for it is fierce and their wrath for it is cruel I will divide them in Jacob and I will scatter them in Israel these guys were two peas in a pod they had a bad temper they were the two boys who when the family was up in Shechem when they first crossed over the river Jordan and came from paddan-aram and they were up and Shechem and one of the Shechem i'ts violated their sister they reacted violently hewed they kill everybody they killed all the guys in town and data to say what's up with you guys you killed like the town and so they're mentioned and their anger is cursed they become small tribes pretty insignificant tribes in terms of influence except Levi bounces back Levi bounces back and it's important that you know Levi bounced back after the Golden Calf incident remember when Moses went up to the mountain and they worship the golden calf and Moses came back there's that rebellion going on Moses said to the people of Israel whoever is on the Lord's side come over to me the first to respond was Levi the Levites came Levi is the tribe again that hosts and houses the priesthood throughout their generations will go to Judah and then we'll finish up and we'll close for the night Judah you are he whom your brothers shall praise now Judah means praise this is a play on words if I were to really translated praise you are he whom your brothers shall praise Judah was a creep Judah was the guy when Joseph came to spy on his brothers and they wanted to kill him Judah said don't kill him we can make money off of him sell him to the Midianites they did for 20 pieces of silver later on he redeems himself in that when the brothers go to Joseph you remember to get bread and the second time when they bring Benjamin and they stopped the brothers on their way back home and they discover the silver goblet is in Benjamin's sack and Joseph's orders are whoever sack that is in grab that guy and put him in prison Judah steps up and says you know what it's gonna break my dad's heart you will not take Benjamin you will take me and I will take the punishment in his place now there's the prophecy you are he whom your brother shall praise your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies your father's children shall bow down before you Jesus Christ will come from the tribe of Judah all of the world all of Israel will one day bow down before their Messiah Jesus Christ that's a prophecy I see it concerning Christ look at the next verse Judah is a lion's whelp from the prey my son you have gone up he boughs down he lies down as a lion and as a lion who shall rouse him the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes and to him shall be the obedience of the people's Judah is a lion's whelp the symbol for Judah will become even in the wilderness wanderings the symbol of the lion the lion is the beast of majesty the king of the forest king of the jungle Jesus will be called the Lion of the tribe of Judah he indeed came from this tribe now here's the scene it's in Revelation chapter 4 John who writes says and behold I saw in the right hand of him who sat upon the throne a scroll sealed with seven seals and then it was asked who is worthy to take the scroll and unloose the seals and no one in heaven earth or under the earth was worthy to take the scroll and unloose the seals and so john said and so i wept much where i wept convulsively because no one was found worthy to take the scroll the title deed to the earth to buy it back and then I heard a voice saying do not weep for behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to take the scroll and and loose the seals john said and i looked he was looking for the lion because he said look behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah John looks says and I looked and I saw a lamb as though it had been slain it's a picture of Jesus Christ the most exciting part is the next part the scepter verse 10 shall not depart from Judah scepter you know what a scepter is it's the symbol of authority for a king or somebody in royalty or for a tribe it's the tribal scepter the tribal identity and the right to rule independently as a tribe the scepter or the right to rule will not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes Shiloh is a word that means the one to whom it belongs so listen to the prophecy the right of tribal identity and the ability to execute Authority will not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until the one to whom it belongs comes for hundreds of years up until a certain point in history the rabbi saw this as a prophecy concerning the Messiah Shiloh was their Messiah they wrote about that if you look historically at the tribe of Judah they always maintained the right of tribal identity and authority and law even when they were in Babylonian captivity Judah had their own judges and the right to adjudicate in their own cases they had sovereignty they were allowed that by the Babylonians however Josephus tells us the Jewish historian in the first quarter of the first century when Rome took over the world they took from Jerusalem from the temple from the tribe of Judah the right to execute capital punishment so in cases of blasphemy they couldn't execute it was the first time historically that the right to rule and have identity and authority as a tribe was taken away from them by a foreign superpower on the day that happened according to the Babylonian Talmud the Sanhedrin the 70 ruling elders of the Jews the Sanhedrin put on sackcloth and ashes and marched through the streets of Jerusalem and listened to what they said the scepter has departed from Judah but Shiloh has not come the scepter has departed from Judah but Shiloh has not come they were be wailing the fact they thought that God has broken his promise we're not given our authority we're not given our identity we can't adjudicate in these cases we don't have the autonomy and Messiah isn't here because the prophecy said that the scepter won't depart until Shiloh comes hadn't come what they didn't know is that there was a young boy who was a son of a carpenter at that very time up in Nazareth who was about to lay down his tools and go toward the Jordan River where John the Baptist would say behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world Shiloh had come he was getting ready to announce himself to the nation in a three-year public ministry and then eventually to the entire nation of Jerusalem at exactly the date predicted by Daniel and we'll get to that when we get to Daniel chapter 9 but let's finish up this thing and then we're done verse 11 binding his donkey to his vine his donkey's colt to the choice vine he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes his eyes are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk in other words he's going to have such abundance that he could wash his clothes in wine he'll have so many grapes the abundance of grapes in the land of Judah it'll almost be too much that's the idea super abundance Judah is replete always has been known as a wine growing grape growing area of southern Israel but we'll close with that tonight and finish chapter 49 and maybe 50 next time when we gather together but next week communion under the stars let's pray Heavenly Father as year turns upon a year and generation after generation we find ourselves tonight reading Scripture and it's eerily contemporary the very same settings and groups of people that we read about and that we're in conflict with each other then we find her in conflict now but you've made promises you've made promises to a group of people the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob not because they were wonderful people but because you're a wonderful God and we're seeing the fulfillment of so many of these promises even in our own lifetime then Lord as time unfolds we see like the prophecy we just considered with Judah the precision of sending Jesus the Christ at exactly the right time Lord we get so excited as we expose ourselves to the scripture and the truth once again I pray Lord that we would leave tonight with this understanding if you can keep these kinds of promises to these individuals surely you can keep the promises you've made to us and you can take care of our lives and anything that we're dealing with we can safely place in your hands and we do that tonight and I pray for anyone Lord who has not received Christ as Savior and is lord I pray that tonight they would do so as they see once again through prophecy the incredible accuracy of these words we ask it in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 9,076

Rating: 4.8000002 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Jesus, Genesis, Sermon

Id: h9DGqR5c13s

Length: 66min 37sec (3997 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018