word, let's turn to the book
of Genesis chapter 48, and we'll read verses 15 and 16. Genesis chapter 48, reading verses
15 and 16. 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 we have in this 48th chapter
the account of Jacob when he was near to dying, giving the
blessing to Joseph and to the sons Ephraim and Manasseh. And as we read this chapter,
we find how the Lord inclined Joseph and directed him really
in those right things to do as he came to his father, because
we are told that Jacob was sick, and they came and told Joseph,
and what did Joseph do? Well, as you would expect, he
went to see his father, but there was something else. He took with
him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Now quite clearly, Jacob
was a godly man, Quite clearly, Jacob was an old man and also
Jacob was coming down to his last days upon earth. And we
need to observe this fact that Joseph took his sons to see his
father in his dying day or his dying days. We, I suppose, might
be reluctant perhaps to take our children, it may be, it may
not be, to perhaps see someone who is dying or on the verge
of eternity. But how good and how necessary
it is, because we're told that we must all die, the old must
die and the young may. All of us must die, it's the
common lot of every one of us. And it is not something to really
turn away from, is something which does occur, will occur
in all our lives. So we see how Joseph then took
his sons to see his father at this time. And when Jacob was told that
Joseph came, he strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. And it's important again to realize
the conversation that occurred. And immediately the first words
that we read from Jacob to his son Joseph is this, God Almighty
appeared unto me at last in the land of Canaan and blessed me
and said unto me behold I will make thee fruitful and multiply
thee and I will make thee of the multitude of people and will
give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. An immediate testimony of what
God had done for him and how God had directed him. We do not
read of anything else being said And yet, here is the important
thing, surely, an old man testifying to his son what God had done
for him, and God had directed him. And may we realise that
in our lives as we are old or become old, to remember the example
that we have of Jacob addressing Joseph. And how that which God
had spoken to Jacob came to pass. And so the time had come now
when he was able to say, and your two sons have also come.
And indeed he didn't expect to see his sons. But God blessed him for coming
down into Egypt, he didn't expect to see Joseph. And he saw Joseph,
Joseph had been spared and now he'd also seen his two sons. And so, although the eyes of
Israel were dim and he couldn't really see, he brought these
sons near unto him and he kissed them and embraced them. It's
a very beautiful picture, isn't it, to see a grandfather with
his grandsons embracing them and kissing them. And Israel
said to Joseph, I have not thought to see thy face, and no, God
has shown me also thy seed. And then we see what Joseph did. Joseph knew precisely what was
needed in his view. And therefore he took Ephraim
in his right hand towards Israel's left hand. He was the younger.
and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand and
brought them near unto him. So he positioned them in the
right order as he thought. He brought them in that way to
Jacob, to Israel. And we see what Jacob did. Israel
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. We see clearly here the work
of the Holy Spirit directing Jacob in this way. The opposite
way to what would have been normal, the opposite way to what Joseph
expected, and yet that was the way that God instructed Jacob
to act. And just for a moment, passing
over the next few verses, 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 to his father,
Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn, put thy right
hand upon his head. and we can realize the position
which existed and we can think of that in relation to our own
lives perhaps not in these particular details but in other things perhaps
where we may have a plan or we may have an idea or we may have
a belief that a certain procedure should be followed or a certain
way taken up And we feel we were right and we are right in doing
just that. And then we find that the opposite
is occurring. God has changed the situation. He's changed it completely. As
it were, it's gone back to front and the opposite is being put
forward. Well, Joseph, as we read, was He was upset about it. But the
reaction of Jacob was important. His father refused and said,
I know it my son, I know it. He knew what was occurring. He
was very aware of that which he was doing. But he also knew
that what he was doing was right. That which he was doing was in
accordance with God's purpose. Although it wasn't the way that
was to be naturally expected. I'm sure the lesson for us here
today is that we should always be concerned to observe the Lord's
purpose and the Lord's will in such things. And not just follow
a way which may seem perhaps obvious, and perhaps seem right,
but yet it may not be God's purpose, and it may not be God's way.
And so it was here, in this situation, Jacob 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. And he blessed them that day,
saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee
as Ephraim and Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh. It wasn't just to say that one
was to be blessed and the other wasn't. They were both to be
blessed. But the younger was to be blessed more than the elder,
which was contrary to expectation and contrary to nature. And let
us not then forget that God's ways are higher than our ways
and sometimes the way that we may have thought was correct
and was working out and indeed Joseph had done all that he could
he brought the sons in the right position to the right place with
his father so that his father couldn't make a mistake as it
were and yet that was overridden the Lord overrode that which
Joseph purposed And how important it is to realise sometimes that
occurs in our lives, the things that we think are going to happen. You know it was right there wasn't
it? It was right at the situation and it changed at the last moment. Changed at the last moment. Situations
you see can change in our lives as it were at the very last moment. And they can go as it were in
the opposite direction. Completely contrary to what we
think and what we expect. And yet God's purposes were being
worked out and God's purposes were being performed. And so
may we realise the importance of observing God's way and not
assuming the way that we think is right will come to pass. Because
God's ways are higher than our ways and much better than our
ways. And God had a divine purpose to bless Ephraim above Manasseh. Well then, having given that
good introduction, can we go back then to these two verses.
Jacob 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. He brings to remembrance before
Joseph the fact that God had been with him at all times and
fed him all his life and had not left him. Again how good
it is to observe the example given by Jacob to his son. A great example for those of
us who are fathers, to be able to come and to remember such
words as this, to always direct our children to the work of God,
to what He's done, and how necessary it is to acknowledge it is God's
work, and it's not our work, and it's not our way. And he
blessed Joseph and said, God, for whom my father Abraham and
Isaac did walk. You see, he was able to trace
it back. It's a wonderful blessing, you
know, if perhaps we are able to trace back through generations
the wonderful hand of God upon our forefathers, perhaps our
grandfather and our great-grandfather, and perhaps going back further.
What a wonderful blessing and favour it is to be able to testify
of a truth like this and to acknowledge it. So often there is perhaps
a backwardness in acknowledging the Lord's goodness and the Lord's
mercy and the Lord's faithfulness. But here was Jacob in his last
few days upon earth giving this clear testimony to his son Joseph
about what had occurred God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
right up to the present moment of time. God is faithful. What
a wonderful testimony to be able to come in our lives to verify
the faithfulness of our God. We've never been failed. We've
never been let down. We've been unfaithful. We, as
it were, have let God down, but God has never failed. And therefore,
a wonderful privilege and duty on our behalf to praise our God
and to acknowledge his goodness and his faithfulness toward us. And then he goes on to say, the
angel which redeemed me from all evil. Clearly he's referring
to the Lord here. The angel which redeemed me from
all evil. There was his hope. His hope
was in the Lord God. That God who had redeemed him. We must think of a similar statement
made by Job in his life. He said, I know that my Redeemer
liveth. It was a very clear testimony
to what he knew of God as his Redeemer. And it's important
to recognize that There wasn't any other word that would really
satisfy. The word Redeemer is a very special
and a very glorious and a very wonderful word. And to realize
that that word relates to our God, to ourselves. That God is our Redeemer. Jacob was able to say that, which
redeemed him. Now, Jacob's life wasn't spotless,
was it? We know that Jacob was a deceiver.
We know that Jacob had done those things which were not honourable.
And yet we know that the Lord had been faithful. The Lord had
been with Jacob. The Lord had blessed him. The
Lord had favoured him very wonderfully. You could look back in his life,
couldn't you? There were too many occasions when the Lord
had appeared for him. especially perhaps when he left
his father and mother and there he was, he was in the middle
as it were of the wilderness and lay down at night and put
stones for his pillow and went to sleep there and he had that
vision of that nadir reaching up to heaven and the angels ascending
and descending And he recognised that the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him on that
occasion. And as the Lord was with him on that occasion, so
he was able to remember also when he was with Laban, serving
for his wives, serving for the cattle, how God was with him
and prospered him wonderfully in that land. And Laban had to acknowledge
that the Lord had been with him and blessed him. And then when
he was instructed to return to his home, the fear he had of
Esau coming to perhaps, he feared, fight him, perhaps take his life. He was told that Esau came with
400 men. Yes, we see he did all naturally
possible to defused the situation by sending gifts. You see, he
feared. Perhaps he need not have feared.
But the benefit was, he was left alone on that memorable night. And the Lord God wrestled with
him in prayer. He wrestled with God, and the
Lord wrestled with him. And Jacob said, I will not let
thee go except thou bless me. There was prevailing prayer. One of the things, one of the
times that Jacob would never have been able to forget. One
of those occasions which was a clear demonstration that God
had redeemed him from all evil. And surely He was given that
light, same faith as Abraham was. We read of Abraham saw the
day of the Lord Jesus. Jesus said, Abraham saw my day
and was glad. And surely you have a position
here that here's Jacob, recognizing that he has a Redeemer. One who redeemed his soul from
all evil, all sin, everything. That was wrong and bad and sinful. God had redeemed him from. And we see again the purpose
here of the Lord blessing Jacob and enabling him to testify in
this way. It's a wonderful statement. And yet it's a true statement.
And it's a necessary statement. Because the greatest thing that
we can confess is that God has redeemed our soul. That means
we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. That means that all
our sins have been taken away. That means the ransom price that
was necessary to deliver us, to save us, has been paid. and has been paid by none less
than our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. The angel which redeemed
me from all evil. All evil. Everything he was able
to declare. What a wonderful favour it is
to be able to think and to know that God has redeemed us from
all sin. everything, the small sins which
we make count as small, the large sins which we make count as large,
and remember, every single sin is sufficient to condemn us to
eternal destruction in hell, and yet God, through his grace,
redeems us. Here is the testimony that Jacob
is able to give to Joseph and Ephraim and Manasseh, a clear
testimony that God was his Redeemer. Well, I wonder tonight if we
would be able to give the same evidence and we would be able
to state the same things that we have been redeemed from all
evil. The Lord has saved our souls.
The Lord has come to us. The Lord has blessed us. Now,
having confessed that, The angel which redeemed me from all evil,
bless the lads." He said he blessed Joseph and
now he desired that God would bless the lads. It's a very simple
expression isn't it? And yet how heartfelt it must
have been. Indeed how heartfelt May it be
from our lips, as we may be concerned, that perhaps our sons and perhaps
our grandsons, or perhaps the boys that we know and the girls
we know, may be blessed by the Lord. A simple desire, wasn't
it? A very great desire. A very important desire. Bless the lads. He'd been blessed. He wanted that blessing to come
upon Ephraim and Manasseh. He didn't want them to be passed
over. He didn't want them to be left
out. He didn't want them to be passed by. He wanted them to
be a partaker of the blessing. He wanted them to know that the
Lord God was their Redeemer, as the Lord had been his Redeemer. as the Lord had been the Redeemer
of Abraham and Isaac. And now he desires the blessing
of the Lord to be upon Ephraim and Manasseh. Oh, bless the lands. Surely, if we are true born again
Christians, our desire will be for the blessing of the Lord
to rest upon perhaps those we know, those we think of, those
we come into contact with, Perhaps those which are very close to
us by the ties of nature, that the Lord would bless them indeed,
or that he would bless the lads. And clearly this is a spiritual
concern. We desire, do we not, that those
we know and love may be provided for in this life in a natural
way. But it is a far more important
consideration that they receive spiritual blessings, that they
receive the evidence that they are redeemed. This is the vital
thing. This is the only important thing.
Sometimes, you know, we do seem to lay too much attention upon
natural blessings and natural achievements, rather than spiritual
blessings. Natural things fade away. Natural blessings will cease.
In actual fact, at the end of our life, in any event, we have
to leave everything behind, but all to have spiritual blessings.
All to be able to say, like, Job did I know that my Redeemer
liveth. Not to know, I know this fact,
and I know that, and I know this. That won't do us any real good. But to know that we have a Redeemer.
One who's died upon Calvary's cross to take away our sins. That is the vital need. That is the wonderful need. That is the great need. And oh
to be blessed then with this real desire. Oh bless the lads.
That's the important thing. That's what I desire. Well may
that be our desire. As we think of our own perhaps
children. and other children and young
people that there may be the blessing of the Lord to rest
upon them in this day and age in which we live. You know, Ephraim
and Manasseh have clearly been brought up in very favourable
circumstances naturally. Brought up no doubt in very affluent
circumstances. Joseph was effectually Prime
Minister in the land. Everything was under his rule
and quite clearly he would have had a comfortable living and
therefore quite obviously his sons would have enjoyed that
living also. But, here is a vital thing, it
doesn't matter how affluent we may be, how comfortable our natural
lives may be, the vital and important question is to know that we have
a Redeemer, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, blessed the
lads." Well, may that be the concern of our hearts. May we
enter into what Jacob was able to declare here, and may it be
worked out in our lives. And the angel which redeemed
me from all evil, blessed the lads, and let my name be named
on them, and the name of my father Abraham and Isaac. Well, we know
that that name which God had given to Abraham and to Isaac
and to Jacob, that name of Israel. Israel, the chosen of God, the
people of God, to be named amongst those who are the called of God,
the chosen of God. One thing is very clear here,
and that is that The Lord had a purpose of love towards Ephraim
and Manasseh, and God had a divine purpose for them in that order. It was not something they could
bring about by themselves. And we see here, very clearly,
the Lord's electing love towards these two, Ephraim and Manasseh,
and in that order, and not in the reverse order, it was the
Lord's prerogative to grow up the blessing in this way. And
so it is in our lives, so it is in the lives of our families,
the Lord has a perfect right and prerogative to bless us as
he sees fit, as he has ordained indeed in eternity past. And that will not be altered,
it cannot be altered, because we know The Lord has said, I
am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. And in essence, the church of
God are the sons of Jacob. Here was his son Joseph, and
here were his two grandsons. But spiritually, the church of
God is part of the sons of Jacob. Indeed, they are part of spiritual
Israel. And so what a blessing it is
if we today are numbered amongst spiritual Israel. We considered
recently, have we not, in Galatians, in our prayer meeting addresses,
the difference between natural Israel and spiritual Israel. To be a natural son of Abraham
and to be a spiritual son of Abraham. And what a wonderful
blessing it is if you and I have the evidence in our hearts that
we are a spiritual son of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We are a spiritual
son, indeed one of those who are enumerated amongst that family
of spiritual Israel. And so here was the concern and
the desire of Jacob as he came down to the end of his life 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. What he was praying for here
was the fulfilment of the promises. The fulfilment that God had given
to Abraham all those years ago. When he had told him that his
seed would be as the stars for multitude. And how that started
in a very small way. We just once on Isaac. who was
the son through which the issue was to follow. And then of course
we find Jacob and then we find the 12 patriarchs. And then we
see then it going forth and we know of course that there were
those few people that went down into Egypt and what a vast number
came out of Egypt. They came across the Red Sea
into the wilderness and eventually into Canaan. And there were millions
at that time. How the Lord had prospered. How
the Lord had enlarged them. How the Lord had fulfilled His
promise. And how the Lord is continuing
to fulfill His promise with regards to spiritual Israel. And so as
we consider such thoughts this evening, how important it is
to realise that we might have that name. That name as Israel. Part of the true church of God. Part of those for whom the Lord
Jesus laid down his life. For those whom he has redeemed.
Now, we are amongst spiritual Israel if the Lord has delivered
our soul. If the Lord has come and blessed
us. If the Lord has come and touched
our heart. The Lord has come and said to
us, I am thy salvation. Because our religion is between
our soul and God. How needful it is then that we
have the clear evidence of the work of God in our heart. Here was the prayer that he bless
Joseph and also that the Lord might bless the lads. And also
that God may bless us. Now, blessing is a very broad
term. And God blesses in different
ways. And God gives different revelations, spiritual revelations
to us in our spiritual life. But there are some things which
are so common to all. And one is to first of all realise
our need of salvation. First of all to come, pleading
for mercy, pleading to the Lord. In those simple words perhaps,
like that publican came, when he said, when he cried out, God
be merciful to me a sinner. It wasn't an elaborate prayer,
but it was a true prayer. He smote upon his breast and
that's all he could utter. He wasn't like the Pharisee.
which was so pleased with himself, with his own religion. And God
said to that publican, Behold, I stand to you, this man went
down to his house justified rather than the other. He had come pleading
for mercy. Here was who had received the
blessing. This is a wonderful blessing. to be brought to that place where
we come to cry for mercy because of our sins. You see, he prayed
that prayer, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And all of us
must come there to know that before God we are a sinner. Perhaps before God we are the
sinner, the worst sinner. You won't think you are a little
sinner when you stand before God, because when God shines
into our heart, we will see all the evil there. The wickedness.
We won't be able to say, I'm a little sinner. We have to say,
I'm a big sinner, I'm a great sinner. Perhaps like the Apostle
Paul, I'm the chief sinner. Well, that is the blessing of
the Lord. But then we need to know that
the Lord Jesus Christ has come to pour out a blessing upon our
souls and given us to know that we are amongst those who are
the redeemed of the Lord. Those for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself has given His life to die in our place. All that we might know of blessing
the Lord, surely this is the great need. Bless the lands. Bless them with this wonderful
knowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ left His throne in glory
in that wonderful environment there to come into this sinful
land. into the sinful world to deliver
and to save his people from their sins. It is because of his great
love. Now, if we are to be blessed,
first of all, we shall need to know that mercy. Then we shall
need to know something of Christ's love toward us, that love which
was so great that he was willing to come and to save our souls. He was willing to give his life
as that ransom price. What a price it was. How undeserving
we were to think of that. We weren't deserving of any mercy.
We weren't deserving of any favour. Yet to think of God graciously
looking upon us and realising that way back in
eternity He loves us. He sent his love upon us. He's
watched over us since the moment we were born. As Jacob was able
to declare, so may we be able to declare. Can we declare tonight? God has watched over me. God has provided for me. God has blessed me. God has shown me my need. God has directed me to the Lord
Jesus Christ as my only Saviour. Now, this is the blessing of
the Lord. What a favour it would be if
you and I are possessors of this blessing. It is indeed an eternal
blessing. And if we have been blessed with
this, then we are numbered amongst those who are under this name
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We are part of that great and
glorious spiritual church, that family of Israel, who one day
will all be gathered together, with all the patriarchs, with
all those who have gone before, who have been blessed with these
blessings, to come and be found around the throne of God in glory,
praising the Lord forever and forever. And so we are able to
observe these truths, And as we come down to the last verses
in this chapter, we read in Israel, said unto Joseph, Behold, I die,
but God shall be with you, God shall be with you, and bring
you again into the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given
to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of
the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. Effectively
there were 13 portions. because the tribe of Joseph was
split into two, Ephraim and Manasseh. But what a favour it is. Here
was Jacob, is he blessed with that faith to believe that God
had heard his prayers and God was appearing for him and God
would indeed bless his children. Behold I die but God shall be
with you and bring you again into the land of your fathers. Well, tonight may we Be blessed
with that believing faith as we may come and pray in faith
in this way. The Lord will bless the lads.
The Lord will work wonderfully and give the evidence that we
are amongst those who are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. To have that faith to believe
that God is with us and he shall be with us. And he will indeed
bring us at last to that heavenly home of glory forever and ever. Indeed that will be glory, then
to look on His face, the face of our Redeemer, the one who
has suffered for us, the one who has bled for us, the one
who has died for us. That will be glory, to look on His face
eternally. Amen.