Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God. It is on the second page of your
hymn sheets, Genesis chapter 48, and we'll read from verse
7 to verse 19. Now this is part of the words
of Jacob at the end of his life as he is speaking to Joseph and
his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. as He is blessing them. So Genesis
48 from verse 7. And as for me, when I came from
Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when
yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath, and I buried
her there in the way of Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons,
and said, Who are these? And Joseph said unto his father,
They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray
thee, unto me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel
were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought
them near unto him, and he kissed them, and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph,
I had not thought to see thy face, and lo, God hath showed
me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from
between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the
earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim
in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his
left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto
him. Nisro stretched out his right
hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and
his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly,
for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said,
God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which
fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed
me from all evil, Bless the lads, and let my name be named on them,
and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow
into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph
saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim,
it displeased him, and he held up his father's hand to remove
it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his
father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put thy
right hand upon his head, And his father refused, and said,
I know it, my son, I know it, he also shall become a people,
and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall
be greater than he. and his seed shall become a multitude
of nations. Thus far the reading of God's
holy word. Now the word I want to speak
to you on this morning is not actually in our reading. It is
Psalm 146 and verse 5. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. So we have Jacob here coming
to the end of his life and sick. We are told that his days are
numbered at 147 years. and it comes to the time that
he must die and it is a real reminder in chapter 47 29 and
the time drew nigh that Israel must die and of course that applies
to us all that we must die but here is Israel Jacob looking
back over his life, and reviewing it in a few words here, in speaking
to his grandsons. Now, if the God of Jacob is our
God, then the words of our text, whether we actually feel happy
or not, we are declared happy by the Word of God. If Jacob's
God is our God, and our hope is in this God, which our text
says our hope is in the Lord His God, that we may have that
happiness awaiting us in heaven, though we may have pains and
troubles here below. But let us just have a look at
what Jacob here chose to bring out, and of course we know from
the context in Psalm 146 that the God of Jacob is the God of
creation. He created and He formed the
earth. He is the true, the living God. But here is Jacob and we're told
that his eyes are dim and it may be with some of you as well
that your eyes are dim. Jacob, he didn't recognize his
grandchildren and so we may have those infirmities at the end
of our life but If his literal eyes were dim, certainly his
remembrance, and that of many years ago, was not dim. And so we have in the portion
here, in verse 7, the first thing that he mentions, he remembers
a painful bereavement that he had. had 50 years before when
Rachel died and he says where she was buried at what is Bethlehem
and you may have that also you may go back 50 years maybe 20
years and a bereavement that you had a husband a wife, children
that the Lord has taken and you've lived many years without them
but when you come to the eventide of your life you haven't forgotten
and you still think of that Has the Lord been your helper in
bereavement? You think of all the surrounding
circumstances, the things that happened in such a bereavement. Of course, with Jacob, he had
his beloved Benjamin born at the same time as Rachel died. It's no wonder Benjamin was precious
to him. So do we have Jacob's God as
a help, a strength in bereavement and in the path that followed?
But then he has those things in verse 11 that he had not thought
to see. He says, I had not thought to
see thy face, and lo, God hath shown me also thy seed. Jacob had that time when he said,
all these things are against me. He didn't know Joseph was
alive. And there may be many things
in our lives that we fear the worst, we thought we would not
see, helps, blessings, maybe children converted, blessings
in the Church of God, we did not think that those things would
come to pass, and yet now we may look back and we see that
they have, and may this time be a reflection time, we think. of what the Lord has done to
us better than all of our fears and things that we had not even
expected or even thought and I doubt Jacob even prayed for
his son during that time he thought he was dead and yet suddenly
he is risen from the dead and he sees his Joseph's sons as
well Then we have in verse 15 how he blesses Joseph and said,
God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which
fed me all my life long unto this day. And you think, well,
It is not that quite a menial thing to remember that the Lord
has fed us. Well, it's a great thing. Without
that food, without that provision, we wouldn't live. A man shall
not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out
of the mouth of God but for Jacob especially this goes back to
Genesis 28 and here he's going back 87 years to when he was
60 years of age and he was leaving his home and with Esau vowing
to to slay him and he comes to Bethel and there is the ladder
that's set up on earth extending into heaven And the Lord appears
to him, and he gives him this promise, and, Behold, I am with
thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and
will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee
until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And
Jacob, he spoke of that place as Bethel. He said, how dreadful
is this place. This is none other than the house
of God, the gate of heaven. And then Jacob, he vowed a vow. And this was what he said. And
Jacob vowed a vow saying, if God be with me and will keep
me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and
raiment to put on. It's those two things, so vital,
but so often taken for granted. So that I come again to my father's
house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God. Well, our tax
is happy as he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. Have we been fed all our life
long? Has the Lord fulfilled those
things that He's promised to us and given us food and given
us raiment? Is He a performing God? A faithful
God? The God of Jacob for our helm.
What a blessed thing to have Him in that way, the same way
as dear Jacob, and to look back over your life. We are told in
Deuteronomy we are to remember all the way And certainly Jacob
is remembering and remembering it to God's honor and to God's
glory. But then we have a cross-handed
blessing and the children Manasseh, Ephraim, they are brought to
him with the intention that the right-handed blessing should
go unto the eldest, which was Manasseh. But Jacob, and he would
have known exactly what Joseph was doing, he crossed his hands.
And so it was Ephraim that was given the firstborn blessing. Joseph wasn't happy with that.
But Jacob, in prophecy, he was telling him that Ephraim would
be the firstborn to have the firstborn blessing and if you
look at the tribes in the promised land those many years later you
find Ephraim looks a small certainly has small amount of land but
they're all in Canaan whereas Manasseh is divided, part one
side Jordan and part the other. It's a part, a type of the Church
of God at this present time. Part is in heaven, part is still
on earth or yet to be born, but Ephraim is all in heaven and
one day the whole church shall be one in heaven and not divided
altogether with the Lord. But these cross-handed blessings,
those things that seem to be a curse, that which Joseph said
to his brothers, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for
good. And many of the Lord's dear people
find in their lives that things that first appear to be a curse,
first appear to be something that they'll say, no, no, we
don't want it that way and try and forbid it and try and change
it. And then later on, we're able
to see that God's choice was the right choice, the right way,
the best way. And we see then with Jacob and
this cross-handed blessing, something that we should view over our
lives as well. Certainly many times Jacob had
known that in the things that had a bitter cup, and yet the
sweetness later on followed when Jacob's able to look back and
see it. What I do, the Lord said, What
I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." And
have we learned to trust the Lord, to lean hard upon Him? Dear friends, you'll need it
now, need it right to our journey's end, to lean harder and harder
upon the Lord, trusting Him, remembering His goodness and
His mercy and what He's done for us. And when we can see those
things, that we walk alongside Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,
and we can say that their God is our God. Jesus Christ, the
same yesterday and today and forever, they walk by faith,
viewing Him as coming, Jacob, They wrestled a man with him
till the breaking of the day. I will not let thee go, except
thou bless me. Abraham saw Christ's day and
rejoiced at it. And we have the clear, beautiful,
gospel day that we walk in now. when we have the revelation of
our Lord and trust that we have seen Him by faith and we love
Him and desire to be with Him and when time should be no more
and the Lord fulfills that word, Father I will that they whom
Thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold
my glory. But until that time we are walking
through this wilderness But if we are like Jacob and we are
coming to the close of our life, may we have those things that
are glorifying to God, to tell to one another, to tell to our
children, our grandchildren, And to speak well of the Lord,
well of the Lord. And maybe they have heard us
years ago say, like Jacob, all these things are against us.
But at the end of our lives, may we put that right and say
the Lord did right. His ways were right. He knew
what he was doing. and you can trust him as I have
been brought to see his goodness and mercy that has followed me
all the days of my life and say as David and I shall dwell in
the house of the Lord forever.