Genesis chapter 50 and verse
22. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he
and his father's house. And Joseph lived an hundred and
ten years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children
to the third generation. The children also of Machir the
son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I die, and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this
land unto the land which he swear to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the
children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye
shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being
110 years old and they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin
in Egypt. Amen. May the Lord bless this
reading to us also. Well, we have come in our story
and in the history of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to the death
of Joseph. Jacob's beloved and blessed son. Joseph, we're told here, lived
to 110 years of age, long enough to see his great, great grandchildren
born and to be able to play with them on his knees. I think that's a lovely picture
that is set before us here. Grandfathers like to play with
their grandchildren on their knees, and Joseph was allowed
the privilege of seeing these various generations come to the
fore. I wonder if they knew Geordie
Geddes. That's a little bit of a private
joke but all of these years bar 17 were spent in Egypt and here
we see Joseph now coming to the end of his life. Out of envy,
this man as a youth had been sold by his brothers into slavery. He had served for 13 years in
Potiphar's house and in prison. Then at 30 years of age, he came
into Pharaoh's palace in order to reveal Pharaoh's dreams to
him. In so doing, he had proved to
be a deliverer in Egypt, and he spent a further 80 years serving
Pharaoh and caring for his brothers and his brother's families in
the land of Goshen in Egypt. When he died, he was embalmed
by his servants, the physicians, and placed in a coffin. And I
like to think that it was one of those big painted coffins
or a sarcophagus like a pharaoh's mummy would be placed in. Joseph had a very particular
and careful reason for having his body treated in this way
and dealt with like this, because he had plans for his body after
death that involved a long journey. There are lots that we can learn
from Joseph's life, especially because in many ways he is a
picture, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph left his father's
house and he went to a strange land as a lowly servant. He was tempted but he didn't
sin. He endured prison unjustly and
he was tortured without cause, as was the Lord Jesus Christ. but he rose to great prominence,
and he sat upon a throne, and he delivered his brethren and
his family from punishment and from death. And all these things
Jesus did too, so that in Joseph we may trace the life of our
dear Saviour, who also came from his father's house and suffered. but saved his brethren and gathered
his family under his care and protection and salvation. Let me mention just a few points
about these final verses of the book of Genesis. And the first
thing I want to show you is that Joseph's death brings to an end
the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings, because that's
what Genesis means. So Joseph's death ends the book
of beginnings. Genesis itself began with God
placing Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden with every blessing provided. But sin entered and spoiled the
good things that God had created. so that by the end of Genesis
men and women have spread over the face of the earth but everywhere
they go they bring sin and sadness and pain and death upon themselves
and upon others. During this period of Genesis,
God had already destroyed the world once because of wickedness
by a great flood, preserving Noah and his family. And then
as evil increased again after the flood, God scattered the
nations and confused the languages at Babel. But in the book of Genesis, he
also revealed a plan of salvation, a way of recovery and redemption
for sinners, sinners that had been separated from God. It was
a plan that involved the birth of a child, the coming of a Messiah,
the fulfilment of God's divine purpose, and a promise of grace
and mercy. Actually, this covenant began
to be revealed at the fall in Eden. But it was given more clearly
and it was given personally to this man called Abraham and it
passed down through a line of promise. Abraham to Isaac, Isaac
to Jacob, Jacob to Joseph and on to Ephraim. Generation by
generation the expectation grew about these covenant promises
It would take a long time, but the Messiah would come. And we
know that Messiah as our Saviour, Jesus Christ. The second thing
I want to show you about this little passage here is that as
well as the promise of the child who would be born to save his
people from their sins, this Messiah of whom Joseph's life
was so typical, there were also promises about the land of Canaan. And today, some people still
call the country of Israel, and remember, Israel was the name
that God gave to Jacob at Peniel when Jacob and God wrestled together. They still call that country
of Israel the Promised Land for the reason that it was promised
by God. And Joseph knew that the children
of Israel must return to the land of Israel to claim it for
their own. The land that God had promised
to Abraham. Joseph believed God's promise. He had faith in what God had
said. He believed God both for the
land and for the Messiah. And by making the children of
Israel promise to carry his bones back with them into Israel, into
the land of Canaan, he testified of his faith and he showed that
he believed God's word. Joseph was a man of faith. he
is a good example to us all of what it is to trust in the Lord
and to believe the Word of God. The last thing I want us to notice
is that Joseph's bones were kept in a coffin and they became there
for the children of Israel, an emblem to remember the promise
that they had both made to Joseph to carry his bones back, but
also of the covenant that God had made with their forefathers.
And that was used to tell each successive generation about that
covenant and the promises of God. And in this way, each generation
passed on to the next an expectation that someday they would return
home, someday a deliverer would come. Now today, we don't have
a set of old bones to remember God's promises by, because our
Saviour rose from the dead and he didn't leave behind any bones
for us to go and see. He went back to heaven after
the resurrection. He took that body in which he
suffered on the cross and he rose from the dead and he returned
into heaven and he sat down at his father's right hand. But
that doesn't mean that he hasn't left us a memorial to remember
him by and to pass on his message to our children and to our children's
children. That memorial is the gospel. It is told by word of mouth from
fathers to children, from mothers to children and to grandchildren,
down through the generations. The Lord Jesus Christ and his
gospel is the testimony that we give to our children and our
children's children. And when we see the Lord in communion. We are also reminded that the
bread and the wine speak to us of the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ and his victory over death. And by eating and drinking the
bread and the wine in communion, it speaks about the body and
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by which we have salvation. In
this way we keep the covenant promises of God before our eyes
and a witness to our children concerning what we believe and
what we expect to happen soon. Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming
back and when he does we shall go with him to our promised land,
not Israel, not Canaan, but to heaven. and there we shall live
eternally with God our Saviour in everlasting peace and joy,
just as he promised. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us all. Amen.