Let's turn to Genesis chapter
46. Genesis 46. Now, today we'll
be looking at Jacob's journey toward Egypt. We're gonna see
Jacob in Bathsheba. Bathsheba, yeah. In Beersheba. Beersheba. He's going down to
see Joseph, his well-beloved son, who is the ruler of all
of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. Now, the language that's used
here, as we go through this, you'll notice that the language
that's provided here, just as all the scripture, it provides
a foreshadow of the truth of the gospel, and here in particular,
It's opening up to us that promise of eternal life in the Lord Jesus
Christ through the resurrection of the dead. And what I mean
by that, the example we see here is that Jacob has been told that
Joseph, his son, who was dead, is now alive. He was dead. As far as Jacob
knew, Joseph was dead. he lives. He's hearing that he
lives. In Genesis 45, verse 26, they
told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over
all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for
he believed them not. So the son who was dead, his
well-beloved son, lives. He lives. And these words are
preparing our hearts in the heart of God's people for the coming
Messiah. These are laying tracks down
for us that bring us to Christ, to see this is, this Jesus of
Nazareth is the Christ of God. So, for example, in Luke 24,
let's look there. Luke 24, on the road to Emmaus,
in verse 22, Picking up there, it says, this is the men on the
road to Emmaus speaking to Christ. They didn't know who he was.
And certain women also of our company made us astonished, which
were early at the supper. And when they found not his body,
they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that he was alive. And Jacob's sons here now are
as angels, who are ministers. Angels are ministers, and they're
ministering the truth here. They come as messengers declaring,
right? They're messengers. They come
declaring this truth, that Joseph is alive. Then down in verse
25, it says there, that our risen Lord said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. They've spoken of these things.
They've testified of these things. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into his glory?" Don't we see Joseph
suffering before entering into his glory? He suffered. And beginning
at Moses, that's who wrote this book, that's who detailed these
things for us. Moses. Beginning at Moses. And all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. These things testify. What we're
looking at here this morning testifies of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, brethren, this is our
message of hope that our Lord Jesus Christ is raised from the
dead. And we see this picture for us
in the scriptures throughout. Throughout the scriptures. So
that He is raised from the dead never to die again. He lives. He lives eternally so that you,
which believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, have this promise, this
assurance, that you who believe Him, you too shall not die, but
you shall be raised from the dead evermore to live with your
Lord, to live with your God. And so, though this body dies
and returns to the dust, yet you that believe Christ, you
shall live again eternally with Him, with your Lord, Job said
it this way in Job 19, verse 25 through 27. He declared, I
know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,
though my reins consumed within me. And so, this whole detail
here for us is, it informs our understanding of Christ, that
these things are so, these are prophesied, spoken of here in
the Old Testament, so that with understanding, with this understanding
now, I want to go through these verses here and draw out the
comfort of our Lord, which is spoken and revealed to Jacob
here. This is your comfort. As the
Lord comforted Jacob, his child, so he comforts you, his children. So, again, Joseph, as it were,
is raised from the dead. He is raised from the dead. He
was dead. He lives. He lives. Verse 1, Genesis 46,
1. And Israel took his journey with
all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices
unto God, unto the God of his father, Now, his journey begins
with him being called Israel. Israel. Why? Well, because he
began his journey in faith. He set out in faith, believing
this is of God. And they that are spiritual,
that are spiritual Israel, you set out in faith. You begin your
journey to the Lord in faith. You set out in faith. He took
his journey with all that he had, meaning that Jacob left
Canaan with the understanding that he may never return. He
may never return there. At least for the five years remaining
of the famine, he may not return. And he didn't. He didn't return
there in his lifetime. And he comes to Beersheba and
offers sacrifices unto the God of his father, Isaac. And so
Beersheba He was dwelling in Hebron, and Beersheba is about
15 to 20 miles south by southwest from Hebron. And it's a good
beginning for your journey then on to Egypt after that. And so
it's no coincidence, though, that he comes here to offer sacrifices. He's not there by accident. It's
not just a happy coincidence. His forefathers went there. Abraham
had gone there before. Jacob and he planted a grove
in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting
God. Abraham went there first and
then we're told of Isaac going there as well. Isaac built an
altar there in Beersheba and called upon the name of the Lord
and pitched his tent there. He settled down there and he
even digged a well for all his flocks. Jacob here returns to
the place of his fathers to offer sacrifices to the everlasting
God. And so the first thing we see,
the comfort we draw from this, as we're reading this here today,
the comfort we draw from this is the understanding that all
of God's children go this path. All of God's children begin in
faith and they all pass through the blood. This is a picture
of the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ who offered himself for
the sacrifice of our sins to propitiate God's wrath and put
away our sins forever from the face of God. There's not a believer
that does not pass through the blood, the blood of Christ. If you will draw near to God,
it's going to be through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here's a picture for us
of all of God's children. coming under the blood of Christ.
And so Jacob comes there and he offers a sacrifice. And the
sacrifice which is made for us is Christ. Now the second thing
that we learn here from Jacob's coming to Beersheba is that he
was seeking the will of God. He was seeking the Lord's will
in this matter of him going down to Egypt. So verse 2, Genesis
46-2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night and
said, Jacob, Jacob. He said, here am I. So the writer
tells us that God spake unto Israel. It says that right at
the beginning. God spake unto Israel. Now that signifies a great honor,
which is put upon Jacob here, that God knows him. that he has
been called and God has revealed himself to Jacob. So that Jacob
now comes to the true and living God with understanding. And he
can come and lay before his God his cares, his concerns, his
burdens. And I believe Jacob is feeling
a burden right now. He's feeling a burden as he's
heading down toward Egypt. And so he has a great honor being
called Israel. You that trust Christ are the
spiritual Israel of God. That's the Israel of God, Paul
tells us. Now, the Lord knows how to open
the ear of His child. He knows how to open your ear.
You that are His. We can get cold, and hard, indifferent,
shut off, go into darkness, but the Lord knows how to open the
ear of His child. The way this is shown to us in
the text is the Lord calls Israel Jacob. Jacob, Jacob. And that no doubt puts Jacob
in memory of who he is. The Lord calling him by his name,
Jacob. Weak, Jacob. Conniving, Jacob. Squirrely,
Jacob. the sinner, and it puts him in
remembrance of the infirmity of his flesh, that he is a sinner. He's a sinner. He's not righteous
in his own words. God is speaking to him because
God is merciful. God is gracious to him. God has
called him, of all the men on the earth, he called Jacob, to
himself. And so, this is a picture of
our Lord bringing his children to himself. in a way that he
knows exactly where to touch us, how to get our attention,
how to bring us out of darkness, how to bring us out of coldness
and out of fear, and he brings us to himself. And he does this
so that we may know him and exalt him in due time, that we may
come to him with understanding. Having Jacob's attention now,
he says, hear my voice, speak, speak to me. He's made ready
to hear God's will in this matter of him going down to Egypt. And the scriptures are full of
believers who are brought low in themselves. As we read the
scriptures, we see how all are made to know that they're sinners.
The scriptures have concluded all under sin, that all may come
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the scriptures are full
of this. I'll just take one example of the prophet Jeremiah in the
book of Lamentations, that little book after Jeremiah before Ezekiel. In Lamentations 3, verse 19,
he says, remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and
the gall. When he heard Jacob, Jacob remembered
the wormwood. He remembered the gall. He remembered
his afflictions. He remembered how he was tried
and brought low and how God revealed himself to him and how God provided
for him. My soul hath them still in remembrance
and is humbled in me. That's what the Lord does. When
he gets our attention, we're humbled. We're ashamed when we
think back on our fleshly deeds, when we think back on our rebellion
and on our sin. The Lord does that. This I recall
to my mind. therefore have I hope." Jacob,
mean supplanter, he's a conniver, he did many, many hurtful things
there. He was a crafty man by nature,
but he also recalls the mercy that God has shown him in calling
him and revealing him, in revealing the true and living God to him
at Bethel, the house of God, when he was going to Paddan Aran.
And so the reason why we have hope is that God knows what I
am. I'm not getting anything over
on God. My hypocrisy can deceive you,
but it doesn't deceive God. God knows. He knows the heart. He knows our thoughts. He knows
our mind. And so he knows. And yet he still
is pleased to call me to himself. He's still pleased to call his
child. to repeat again and again his word of promise to us made
in the gospel declaring Christ. It's his grace. And Jeremiah
goes on to say it's of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed
because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. And so if you are the Lord's
child, he will open your ear, he will get your attention, and
He will draw you to Himself. He knows how to do it. He is
able to make us hear His voice effectually in the heart. 3 And He said, I am God, the
God of thy father. Fear not to go down into Egypt,
for I will there make of thee a great nation. So here the Lord
gives a beautiful reminder of His promise. he made to Abraham,
and to Isaac, and to Jacob. He's reminding him of the promise,
that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. I'm with you, Jacob. That's what he's saying. In Isaac
shall thy seed be called. And it wasn't Esau. It was Jacob
that God revealed himself to. And so, this is putting him in
memory of, not him as the seed, but of the promised seed of woman
that should come and crush the head of the serpent. and overcome
our enemy, deliver us out of the hand of our enemy, out from
under the dominion of sin, and make us living souls, newborn
creatures, alive in the spirit to worship God in spirit and
in truth. And so this is Almighty God who does as he pleases and
is able to do what he says he will do. He declared himself
to Abraham as Almighty God. Almighty God, he's able to do
whatsoever he pleases. Now, Jacob had set out very confidently
at first to go see Joseph in Egypt. He was very confident
in doing this. And we see this back in chapter
45, verse 28, Genesis 45, 28. And Israel said, it is enough. When you hear the news that Joseph
is alive, it's enough. Joseph, my son, is yet alive.
I will go and see him before I die. I can imagine, I'm sure you can
imagine, as he's now heading down there, all these thoughts
are entering his mind and heart. All these things are coming back
to him of things that he's learned, the truth that he's been shown
and heard from Abraham and his father, Isaac. And maybe he's
wondering, have I been too hasty in doing this? I'm leaving the
land of promise. I'm leaving Canaan and going
down to Egypt here. And so he's probably really thinking
of this. And let me just give you a few
examples of why I say that. For one thing, his grandfather,
Abraham, had gone down to Egypt in a great famine. It says when
the famine was grievous in the land, that he went down to Egypt. And what did Abraham find there?
He had great trouble, great trouble. He didn't come out of there without
difficulties. He was afflicted. He had a lot of trouble with
the Pharaoh at the time and other men over Sarah. And so it was
a bad time for him. And then when there was another
famine in Isaac's day, the Lord explicitly told Isaac, he said
it this way, go not down into Egypt in chapter 26, verse 2. Don't go down to Egypt, sojourn
in this land, and I will be with thee and will bless thee, saying,
I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father. So Abraham went down and had
trouble. Isaac was told, don't do it. Don't go. Stay right where
you are. Don't do it. And then he's also
recalling this prophetic word of God to Abraham, the word of
the Lord, in chapter 15, verses 13 and 14 of Genesis. And God
said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger
in a land that is not theirs. and shall serve them, and they
shall afflict them four hundred years." In other words, there's
coming a day where your seed, your children, are going to be
afflicted. They're going to bear this affliction.
And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge. And
afterward shall they come out with great substance. And so
Jacob probably fears, wait, I'm going down to Egypt here. And
he's taken a major step, therefore, in bringing this affliction that
was spoken to Abraham upon his children. I'm sure that he's
thinking about it. He's thinking, I'm opening my
family up to great, great trial here, great, great affliction
here. And the Lord here, unlike what he did for Abraham and Isaac,
was he assures him, fear not to go down to Egypt. Don't be
afraid to go to Egypt. And so God is sending Jacob down
there because he's not being rebellious. He's actually going.
And the Lord is saying, I'm with you. You do this. It's according
to my purpose. Because, he says, God will bring
to pass that promise. I'm going to provide for you
in this word here. And that's what the Lord chose
us. that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are be called according to purpose, the purpose of God. We're all subject to the purpose
of God, and we're made thankful for that. I've heard it said
many times that if I was all powerful, I don't know, I'm forgetting
how it goes there, but if I could do anything, If I was all powerful,
I'd change everything. If I had the wisdom of God, though,
I would change nothing. That's basically what it says.
I would change a thing. Because the Lord knows exactly
what he's doing. It's all good and according to
purpose. Purpose. So notice, however,
that it's through this affliction that they're going to suffer
here, that they're made a great nation. Through affliction. Since Abraham had arrived in
Canaan over 200 years earlier, We're told here later on in Genesis
46 verse 27 that all the people, all the souls in Jacob's house
that went down to Egypt were 70 souls. Seven people. After 200 years, 70 people. And however, we're going to see
that when they're down there in Egypt being persecuted, suffering
affliction, going through severe trials, that when, in Exodus
it tells us that when they came out from that bondage, there
was 600,000 men and children. 600,000 besides the children. And so the Lord quiets Jacob's
fears with the repetition of this promise that he will provide,
this promise that he made to Abram, that God would make great
nation out of them, blessed of God. And so the third thing that
we draw from this is God's repetition to keep declaring to his people
the gospel, the gospel. We need the gospel because we
are hard hearted, we grow old, we grow indifferent, we get all
mixed up in our mind outside of the gospel. And the Lord is
pleased to remind His children the promise of the Gospel made
unto us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is the pattern for
all God's children. We hear the promises of God declared
in the Gospel and they are repeated unto you. Repeated of who Christ
is, why He came, and what He accomplished in His coming. We understand that we're not
saving ourselves. When we start thinking of ourselves,
we have a tendency to puff up and think of ourselves more highly
than we ought to think of ourselves. But the Lord, through the gospel,
strips this flesh, weakens this flesh, brings us low in ourselves,
and opens our ear to hear his word and to be reconciled to
his will. with Abner the other day, how
Abner was reconciled to the will of God regarding David's house
and supported David. So, that all being said, we're
familiar with what Jacob's going through because we know the promises
of God and how often are we shaped How often do we doubt? How often
do we have fears and get troubled about many things while knowing
the promises of God that I'll provide for you? And so the Lord
brings us through a way that we wouldn't normally go. But
it's in that way often that we find that spirit of adoption
which is given to us whereby we cry, Abba, Father, Savior,
Lord, help me. I've gotten myself into a mess.
I don't know how to get out of it safely. And the Lord is able
to do that, and He does that. He does that to His praise and
honor. And so, it's through various afflictions, through various
trials that we go through, that the Lord brings us, that we would
come to know the true and living God. Otherwise, we wouldn't know. We wouldn't go this way. We would
provide for ourselves. We'd be strong. We'd be confident
in everything, everything would work out the way we think it
should work out, and we think that would be happiness. But
the Lord shows us, no, that's not at all what I do with my
children. As he said to Paul, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians
12, 9 and 10, that the Lord said unto me, my grace is sufficient
for thee. Paul knows that the Lord is able
to heal his body, that the Lord can heal him completely. And
he prayed for that. He sought the Lord for that.
And the Lord said, no, I'm not going to do that because my grace
is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Paul is saying there that with
all the miracles I saw, with the demonstration of God's power,
I find something much more beautiful, much more wonderful. much more
glorious in seeing the Lord's grace in my weakness. That was greater for him than
what he had seen otherwise. Therefore, he says, I take pleasure
in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I
strong. That's where the Lord's power
is seen. And so our Lord says then in verse 4, Genesis 46,
verse 4, He says, I will go down with thee, Jacob, into Egypt,
and I will also surely bring thee up again, and Joseph shall
put his hand upon thine eyes. And this is the promise of God
to his child. I will never leave thee nor forsake
you. He won't leave you nor forsake
you. And He adds, I will surely bring thee up again, Jacob, In
other words, my promises made to you when you go down to Egypt,
they shall not be forgotten. They shall not be forgotten.
And you can, I can't help when I read these words here, think
of the promises made unto Christ and his bride in him, that when
we were put here on the earth, that the promises made unto Christ
by the Father, made unto us in Christ, shall not be forgotten. God is not forgotten. His promise
made to you, He's not forgotten. Though the world seem crazy and
things seem difficult and hard and impossible for us, God is
not forgotten. And He shall perform His word
unto His people. And we'll know it and see it
and understand it by faith. By faith in Christ. I will sustain your seed, saying,
while you're in Egypt, I'll sustain them. I'll provide, and I'll
bring you out again. I'll raise you up again. I'll
bring you guys up out of that land into the promised land.
And it's a picture of our assured resurrection, that we shall not
be forgotten. We shall not be left. That this
is not all for nothing and for naught. Our God shall return
and raise us up again and bring us to forever be with him. And
we see that our faith in Christ, it overcomes. It's not going
to fail or come short. The Apostle John wrote, for whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. And so what the Lord
begins, He performs it. What He's begun, you that have
begun in faith, He shall perform it. He shall continue it and
prove his word unto you, and he shall surely perform his word
to you. So faithful is he that calleth
you, who also will do it." 1 Thessalonians 5.24 And he adds his dear promise
to Jacob, saying, Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. And that's a sweet consolation
for Jacob to know that God is going to sustain me on my journey
down. I'm going to see my well-beloved son. And he shall put his hands
on me when I close my eyes, and I shall live by him, or rather
I shall be at peace with him. He'll be near to me in my death."
And so it's a sweet picture of what the believer has in our
spiritual Joseph. How that he in sweet blessed
rest shall give us peace on our deathbed and close our eyes in
peace. Trusting Him, believing His word,
being confident of this very thing that He which hath begun
good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And so if He has begun this in
you, you may be certain that He shall perform it until the
promised comes to pass. Now, hearing the Lord's voice,
this is the last verse we'll look at, hearing the Lord's voice
and such promises Jacob rose up, being strengthened
of the Lord. He rose up from Beersheba. And
the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, and their little
ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent
to carry him. And so it's a picture of the
rising up of faith in God's people, that which moves us forward in
God's faithful promises made unto us, Jacob rose up. Jacob lived. And so he was carried
in obedience to follow the will of God, being carried on the
strength of God's promises, here pictured in these wagons here.
And this picture of regeneration, as it were, in Jacob, arising
up in faith, shows us it speaks to that first resurrection in
which all of God's people are raised. We all are made alive
first spiritually. So that second death has no more
power over us. You have nothing to fear. When
you die, we already come into this And so we'll be carried again,
as we're carried now, we'll be carried again to our eternal
abode by the strength, by the provision, by the grace of God
provided for us in Christ. And so this is just a little
break here from Joseph. We've been seeing Joseph for
many weeks now, and it turns back to Jacob briefly, and it
just shows us the faithful dealings of our God with his feeble Jacobs. You that are weak, you that have
no strength, you that are entirely dependent upon the Lord, so that
he brings us through the blood of Christ we saw as Jacob went
to Beersheba and offered a sacrifice, he brings us through that blood,
he opens our ear as humble servants, so that we hear effectually the
promises of God and receive them by faith, and these are followed
by that rising obedience of faith in his child that hears and believes
the word of God I hear them to us in Christ, preaching of the
gospel. I pray.