Well, let us turn to God's Word
in the portion we were reading. I want to direct you to two passages,
one in chapter 48 of Genesis, the other in chapter 49. In chapter
48 and verses 15 and 16, we're told concerning Jacob, Israel,
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 then in chapter
49, where as I said we have the blessings of the twelve sons
of Jacob and there then at verse 22 following Joseph, the blessing
of Joseph. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even
a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall. The
archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him
but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were
made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, from thence
is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, even by the God of thy
Father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall
bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the
deep, that lieth under blessings of the breasts and of the womb,
the blessings of thy Father hath prevailed above the blessings
of my progenators, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills
they shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the
head of him that was separate from his brethren. How Joseph then is blessed and
what a double blessing we have here. He's blessed there in those
words that his father speaks in chapter 48 verse 15 and verse
16 blessed in his sons Ephraim and Manasseh and then what blessings
here much longer than all that he said concerning his various
brethren this man was very much separate from his and there in
verses 25 and 26 of chapter 49 it's blessings upon blessings
upon blessings to say something then or try to say something
with regards to the blessings that were upon this man Joseph
now the last time two weeks ago we were considering those verses
at the beginning of chapter 45 and I sought to say something
then of the manifestation of him who is the true Joseph. Remember what we read in those
verses at the beginning of the 45th chapter, how he could not
refrain himself, he causes every man to go out from him, and there's
no man there with him when he shows himself, when he makes
himself known, when he manifests himself to his brethren. They had not recognized him,
but he recognized them. We've been considering something
then of this remarkable character, Joseph, that we read so much
of here at the end of Genesis. And we've said, haven't we, that
the book of Genesis, whilst it is principally the book of beginnings,
in the beginning God creates the heavens and the earth, it's
a book of the beginnings of all things. But I said it is also
a book of generations. The generations of the heavens
and the earth in chapter 2 and verse 4. The book of the generations
of Adam we are told in chapter 5 and verse 1. Then in chapter
6 and verse 9 we have the generations of Noah. who again in many ways
after Adam is the next head of the race all are destroyed except
Noah and his sons, their wives how remarkable the various generations
that are spoken of and then we come to chapter 37 and we have
the generations of Jacob and we see there that immediately
those generations center in this son Joseph he is spoken of immediately
there in that second verse of chapter 37 these are the generations
of Jacob Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with
his brethren and so on and I have said that as Jacob's generation's
center in Joseph Jacob who became Israel so those who are the spiritual
Israel that is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ all the
generations of the spiritual Israel center in him of whom
Joseph was such a remarkable type all our generations center
in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and so
to look tonight at these two passages one in chapter 48 the
other in chapter 49 and try to say something with regards to
this remarkable blessing this double blessing that is upon
this man and we see it of course in two areas he is blessed in
providence and he's also blessed in grace first of all He was
greatly blessed in the providences of God, and he was very conscious
of that himself. When we come to the end of his
days in chapter 50, after the death of his father, his brethren
are fearful. They are fearful that he will
now seek his revenge upon them for all their terrible cruelties
to him. But what does he say there at
verse 19 in the last chapter, chapter 15? Joseph said unto
them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God. But as for you,
ye thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good to
bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not. I
will nourish you and your little ones, and be comforted them. and spake kindly unto them. And so he dwells there in the
land of Egypt with all his father's house. And he recognizes, you
see, that all that has come to pass is the fulfillment of God's
gracious purpose. It's the unfolding of God's providence.
And how the Lord has set him in that position. of course he
had said as much to those brethren as we saw last time in chapter
43 when they come the second time to him to obtain corn in
the time of great famine they recognize that he or he
recognizes that he is in that position in order to make a wonderful
provision for all the famine in chapter 45 and there verse 5 he says therefore be
not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither for God
did send me before you to preserve life he is mindful of God's providences
even in all the terrible things the awful experiences that he
had passed through Verse 7 of that chapter, God sent me before
you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your
lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent
me hither, but God. And he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt. He is mindful of God, and the
good hand of God, the providential hand of God. and is in this remarkable
position now he is next to the pharaoh he is the one who was
able to interpret the dreams of pharaoh and not only that
but also to give such counsel to the pharaoh and so remember
where we began we were looking initially at words back in chapter
41 Here is that man in whom the
Spirit of God is. Verse 38 of that chapter, Pharaoh
says unto his servants, Can we find such a man or such a one
as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh says unto Joseph,
See I have set thee over all the land of Egypt, And Pharaoh
takes off his ring from his hand, puts it upon Joseph's hand, arrays
him in vestures of fine linen, a gold chain about his neck,
makes him to ride in the second chariot, and that a cry before
him, bow the knee, and he's made ruler over all the land of Egypt. Oh, that man in whom the Spirit
of God is. And we said there that really
there we see him principally as one who is a type of that
one to whom the Father giveth not the Spirit by measure. He's
a remarkable character then, is this man. But how he is mindful
of God's good hand, God's providential hand. And so he's in that position
where he's able to be the sustainer of the children of Israel. He's that one who can make every
provision for them. The shepherds as we have it here
at the end of verse 24 in chapter 49 from thence is the shepherd
the stone of Israel he's raised up to this position for a purpose
that he might minister to all his own family, to his father,
to his brethren In the verse 12 of chapter 47
we're told how Joseph nourished his father and his brethren and
all his father's household with bread according to their families. Oh how he is blessed then in
providence. And it's not only that he recognizes
the blessings in what God has done even in all the reverses
of his life in bringing him into such a situation in such a position
but in the blessing that is being pronounced by his father here
in chapter 49 there is a prophecy of what would be as we saw at
the beginning of that chapter when Jacob called unto him his
sons he says gather yourselves together that I may tell you
that which shall befall you in the last days it's not just what God had done
It's also what God would yet do. And we see that really in
what is said concerning the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. We have those words in verses
15 and 16 of chapter 48. These are the sons that were
born to him, born to Joseph when he was a stranger there in the
land of Egypt in the 41st chapter. Verse 50 we are told, unto Joseph
were born two sons before the years of Hamminkai which Asenath,
the daughter of Potiphar, a priest of Anberim, Joseph called the
name of the firstborn Manasseh, which means forgetting. for God
said he hath made me forget all my toil and all my father's house
and the name of the second called he Ephraim which means fruitful
for God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction
so he's able in God's good providence to forget all the bitterness
of his experience and is able to understand that the Lord will
yet make him and his descendants more fruitful than ever. The
Ephraim of course becomes the most numerous tribe of all the
tribes. The Ephraim is one of the principal
tribes when we think of the twelve tribes. Of course there's that
sense in which Jacob is taking these two sons as his own sons.
We know that the tribe of Levi has no inheritance in the promised
land. They are to be those who would attend to the matter of
the worship of God at the tabernacle and at the temple. And yet there
are 12 portions to be divided amongst the sons. Levi has no
portion. But how is the number 12 made
up? Well, Joseph has that double
portion. We read of the tribes and amongst
the tribes there's the tribe of Manasseh and there's the tribe
of Ephraim. And in the blessing we read of
them growing into a multitude in the midst of the earth there
in verse 16 in chapter 48. Remember when sadly there's that
awful division after the death of King Solomon His son Rehoboam
is a foolish man, and the consequence of his folly is that ten of the
tribes rebel. And it's just the two tribes
of Judah and Benjamin that remain faithful to the household of
David. But often the ten tribes to the
north go under the name of Ephraim. We read of Judah and Ephraim.
sometimes the northern tribes are referred to as Israel but
often they are simply referred to as Ephraim. Ephraim was one
of the most conspicuous of all the tribes and so Joseph is blessed providentially
not only in what had been and our God had in a remarkable way
overruled in all the terrible reverses and all the cruelties
that had come upon that man but he is to be blessed in his descendants
and we see it in the words that are spoken in chapter 49 the
blessings of the breast and of the womb spoken of here in verse
25 but not only with a multitude of descendants but also the land
we read in verse 26 of the the utmost bounds of the everlasting
hills the most prosperous land a double portion was promised
in the land and besides these blessings that we have Jacob
pronouncing upon Joseph and the other tribes in in Israel we
also of course have the song of Moses and not only that but
the blessings that Moses pronounces upon the tribes and there's a
blessing there in Deuteronomy 33 upon Joseph and it's spoken
very much in terms of the land verse 13 of that chapter Joseph
of Joseph he said blessed of the Lord be his land for the
precious things of heaven for the Jew and for the deep that
coucheth beneath and for the precious fruit brought forth
by the sun and for the precious things put forth by the moon
and for the cheap things of the ancient mountains and for the
precious things of the lasting hills and for the precious things
of the earth and the fullness thereof. Moses pronouncing great blessings
upon Joseph and Joseph's portion those two tribes of Ephraim and
Manasseh. Joseph was very much a man blessed
blessed in the good providences of God. He understood something
of the Lord's providential dealings. He was one of those wise who came to an appreciation of
God's dealings, watching God's hand in all His providential
ways. But principally, principally
isn't Joseph blessed with grace? And there are Three evidences,
I would say, of the blessing of the grace of God in the life
of this man. He's blessed with the fear of
the Lord. What a blessing is the fear of
the Lord. He's blessed, of course, with faith. He's a man of faith. And he's also blessed with the
love of God. to think of these blessings of
grace. First of all, there is the fear
of the Lord, and we see it. Even when he's sold into slavery
there in Egypt in chapter 39, that wicked woman, the wife of
Bathitha, who lays her lustful eyes upon the young man and seeks
to seduce him, But what does he say as he resists her wicked
advances? How then can I do this great
wickedness, he says, and sin against God? How can I do this great wickedness
and sin against God? It was the fear of the Lord in
his heart that preserved him from that wicked woman. The wise
man tells us quite clearly it's by the fear of the Lord that
men depart from evil. Do we not have to live to prove
that? It's God's fear. If we have God's fear in our
heart, how can we sin? If we recognize who God is, the
Holy One, and ultimately our solemn accountability to that
God, who is of eyes too pure to behold iniquity and cannot
look upon sin, or the fear of the Lord. That was in the heart
of this man from his tenderest of years and he kept him from
sinning against God. The writer says of the fear of
that Lord, it's an unctuous light to all that's right. It's a bar
to all that's wrong. God's fear, the fear of the Lord,
it's the beginning of wisdom. Oh, if we would be wise, how
we need that we might know that that grace of the fear of God
and then it might govern us in all our worship even as we come
together of course we were considering this morning something
of the mercy of God as enduring mercy spoken of in the 136th
Psalm but we sang this our closing hymn that hymn that speaks of
God's mercy and God's judgment. Is it 833? I'm not sure that
I can remember the actual number of the hymn but how we see the
balancing there of mercy and of fear. Fear in terms of God's
judgments. Thy mercy Lord we praise of judgment
too we sing, for all the riches of thy grace our grateful tribute
bring. Mercy may justly claim a sinner's
thankful voice, and judgment, joining in the theme, we tremble
and rejoice. Thy mercies bid us trust, thy
judgments strike with awe, We fear the last, we bless the first
and love thy righteous law. There's some good theology in
the hymns that we sing, thank God for that. We should be those who would
desire in all our worship then to have in our hearts that fear
of the Lord, to realize who it is that we're coming before,
that God who is thrice holy and even those sinless seraphim,
those burning ones, those bright sinless angels how they have
to veil their holy faces and cover their holy feet they are
so conscious of the holiness of God how they tremble before
Him and cry holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts all the fear
of the Lord this young man was blessed with fear in his heart
But he is a man, of course, very much of faith. He believed in
God, he believed in the Word of God. It was such a day, of
course, before the Scriptures were complete. and God would
speak by His servants, the prophets, or God would speak in visions
and in dreams. We see that throughout the Old
Testament Scriptures and we have those remarkable words. We've
referred to them many a time in the book of Job and the language of Elihu
there in the 33rd chapter. He says, God speaketh once, yea,
twice, yet man perceiveth it not, in a dream, in a vision
of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings
upon the bed. Then he opened the ears of men
and sealeth their instruction. God would come and deal with
men, you see, in an immediate fashion. Well, we now, of course,
have God's Word in its entirety. The Lord Jesus Christ has come,
He has finished the transgression, He's made an end of sin, made
reconciliation for iniquity, He's accomplished all righteousness,
and He's sealed the vision and the prophecy. He has sealed the
vision and the prophecy. And so we recognize that we have
that more sure word of prophecy and that sure word is what we
have in the word of God in the Bible our appeal is to the Lord
and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word
it's because there's no light in them we have God's words complete,
entire in all the holy scriptures In these last days God has spoken
unto us by His side, the one whom He hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also He made the world, the brightness of
His glory, the express image of His person, the fullness in
the revelation, and it's sealed here in Holy Scripture. But in
the days of this man, God would speak by dreams, and God spoke
to him by means of dreams. he was able to interpret what
God had said to the Pharaoh none of the wise men in Egypt could
interpret the dream but this man could and he tells the Pharaoh
there in chapter 41 Pharaoh speaks in verse 15 says
to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream and there is none that can interpret
it, but I have heard say of thee that thou canst understand a
dream and interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh saying,
it is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer
of peace. He doesn't claim anything for
himself but he believes that God is speaking and God will
give an answer. And so what does he go on to
say? He interprets the dream, verse
25, of that chapter. Joseph says to Pharaoh, the dream
of Pharaoh is won. God has showed Pharaoh what he
is about to do. Oh, there are going to be seven
years of great plenty, but those followed by seven years of terrible
famine. And he believes. He believes
God. He believes that this is the
word of God. God speaking to Pharaoh and the
consequence of that as we've seen is that Joseph is recognized
by the Pharaoh and put into that place of great authority throughout
the land of Egypt previously of course he had had dreams himself in that 37th chapter He dreamed
a dream and tells his brethren and they hate him for it because
he speaks about their sheaves bowing down before his sheaf
indicating that he's going to come to a place of preeminence
amongst all his brethren and then he dreams another dream
and the sun and the moon and the eleven stars all bow down
before him and again his brethren are so envious of him so much
despised him, but we're told how his father observed the saying,
Jacob observed the saying, the Lord God is in these things and
the amazing thing is that Joseph believed that. It was God's word
to him, by and through the dreams. And in the psalm, psalm 105,
it's spoken of as the word, verse 19 of the psalm, until the time
that his word came, the word of the Lord tried you, it says. The things that God had indicated
to him there in chapter 37 concern his place of preeminence, that
would come to pass, but until the time that it arrived, How
that word of the Lord tried him. And what was the trial? It was
the trying of his faith. He has faith in God. He has faith
in the word of God. And how sorely it is tried. Remember
later in that 37th chapter when his brother are away from home
and his father sends him to them. and they are watching over the
flocks and the herds of Jacob and they see Joseph coming and
what do they say? behold this dreamer cometh or
they just dismiss the man as a dreamer they don't believe
in the word of God in the same manner in which Joseph believed
the word of God No, they utter their sneering words concerning
him. He is but a dreamer. That's part of his trial surely.
And then the things that the brethren do to him. They sell
him to the passing Ishmaelites who take him off into Egypt to
sell him into slavery. And then even there he has to
endure the false words of men. when he's cast into prison by
Petipharah at the behest of his wicked wife and he's languishing
there in the prison but he interprets the dreams again he interprets
the dream of the baker and of the butler and the news is good
news for the butler he's going to be restored to the service
of Pharaoh and Joseph asks that the butler doesn't forget him
but remembers him there in chapter 14 he asks that the man remember
him but he doesn't remember him at all verse 14 of that chapter think
on me when it shall be well with thee And show kindness, I pray,
unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me
out of this house, this prison house. And the butler is duly
restored to his position. We're told right at the end of
the chapter, Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph,
but forgot him. He's forgotten. All the false words of one who
should have been mindful of him. The sneering words of his brethren,
all that he has to endure at their hands, all that he has
to endure at the hands of the forgetful butler. But then, all
the time there are those faithful words of the Lord. Until the time that his word
came, the word would come. What God had spoken would certainly
come to pass that until the time that his word came the word of
the Lord tried him and he was tried and yet in all the trial he is
resting in that word in the word of God and the truth of that
word to him It's interesting how all this imagery is used
in the blessing that is pronounced upon Joseph. He's spoken of as
a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches
run over the wall or the well. Isn't that, in a sense, the source
of his strength? With joy we are to draw waters
out of the wells of salvation. There is something feeding this
man's soul all the time. It's like a fruitful bough by
a well of water, and then there's the wall, and surely if the well
is the source of his encouragement, the wall is out that he can lean
on for his strength. Now the psalmist speaks of rolling
his soul upon the Lord. Remember the language of Psalm
37, commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him and he shall
bring it to pass. There in that verse, Psalm 37,
5, the margin tells us that the word commit thy way literally
means roll thy soul. Now this man is, as faith, he's
resting. he's leaning hard upon the Lord
his God, he's a fruitful bough by a well and the branches are
running over the wall he has real faith does this man and
yet how that faith is continually being tried through all those
experiences, those bitter experiences that the hands of one and another,
the hands of his brethren, the hands of Petiphar, the hands
of the butler. And yet, the trial is for the
good of his faith. As Peter says, the trial of your
faith being much more precious than of gold, though it be tried
with fire. is found under praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Oh beloved, think
it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you. He knows God's blessings. He
certainly is the most blessed man, but at times is it not a
truth that God's blessings are cross-handed blessings? cross-handed
blessings. That's what we see really in
the manner in which Jacob is dealing with the two sons. It
is striking as we were reading how Joseph quite deliberately
takes Manasseh in his left hand to direct him to the right hand
of his father and he takes Ephraim in his right hand to direct him
to his father's left hand but we're told aren't we how Jacob
there at verse 14 in chapter 49 guides his hands wittingly
and he crosses his hands over Instead of putting his hands
straight out and putting his right hand upon the head of Manasseh,
he deliberately guides his hands, wittingly it says in the text,
and places his right hand upon Ephraim. So he receives the chief blessings. And Joseph is offended. 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, Manasseh, also shall
become a people and he also shall be great but truly his younger
brother Ephraim shall be greater than he and his seed shall be
a multitude. What are these blessings? They
are cross-handed blessings. And is there not some truth in
that? I remember an old minister first drawing my attention to
that passage and saying, oh he preached on that. It sought to
speak to people in the course of his ministry of what he termed
the cross and blessings of God. But their blessings nonetheless,
and all that befell this man, all the reverses in his life,
are all ultimately for the good, for the good of Israel. And he
recognizes that. He's a man of faith. He has the fear of the Lord in
his heart, He's certainly a man of faith in spite of any false
or sneering words that may be spoken to him and he's a man
in whom we see the love of God. He has faith and it's that faith
which worketh by love. Faith is a work in grace. Faith
is a work in grace. We're not saved by works, we're
saved by grace through faith. But if we have faith, we'll find
it's a working grace. And how does it work? It works
by love. It works by the love of God in
our hearts. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy
mind. This is the first and great commandment,
says the Lord. And the second is like unto it.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And how Joseph loved. How Joseph loved. He loved his
father. He must have wondered would he
ever see the face of his father again. And in the good providence
of God he does see his father's face. And we're told, we read of it,
don't we, there in Verse 29 of chapter 46, when his father's coming now
into the land of Egypt, Joseph made ready his chariot and went
up to meet Israel, his father, to Goshen, and presented himself
unto him. And he fell on his neck and wept
on his neck a good while. Oh what tears, tears of great
joy, of course he's meeting his father again. But he's just the
same with his brethren as he was with his father. He loved
his brethren in spite of all, all the wicked things that they
had done to him. He yearns over them. He loves
them so intensely and we see it time after time in the history,
in chapter 42. In verse 24, he turned himself
about from them and wept. This is the first meeting, you
see. He knows who they are, they don't know him. He doesn't let
them see him. But he's overwhelmed. He turned
himself about from them and wept and returned to them again and
communed with them and took from them Simeon and bound him before
their eyes. He was going to keep Simeon back,
wasn't he? If they were to come back, they'd got to bring their
younger brother Benjamin and then he'd release Simeon. but he can't he can't help himself
he loves the brethren you see again in chapter 43 this is where he first meets his younger
brother this is his true brother his full brother this is Benjamin
verse 30 Joseph made haste for his bowels did yearn upon his
brother and he sought where to weep and he entered into his
chamber and wept there he's a weeping man he's a weeping man he's not
ashamed of weeping he's a man of deep emotions chapter 45 we're
told Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that
stood by him and he cried cause every man to go out from And
there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto
his brethren. And he wept aloud. And the Egyptians
and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And
his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at
his presence. And then again, In that same
chapter, verse 14, he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and
wept. Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all
his brethren, wept upon them, and after that his brethren talked
with him. He is a man of deep affection,
is Joseph. And in all of this, of course,
he's a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't Christ
that one who sticks closer than a brother? Isn't the Lord Jesus
Christ that one who will weep over his people? He wept over
Jerusalem. And all that Jerusalem sets before us, the very place
where he was crucified, how he weeps. How he weeps over sinners,
that fair face bejeweled with tears. the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ himself John says if a man say I love God and hateth his
brother he is a liar how can he love God whom he has not seen
except he love his brother this commandment have we from him
that he who loveth God love his brother also or this man, this
man does he how he is blessed he is blessed with the grace
of God he is blessed in all the providences of God but primarily
he is blessed with that grace of God in his soul the fear of
the Lord the beginning of knowledge to know that he is the only true
God and Jesus Christ to whom they were sent he has faith faith
in the Lord he has love to God he has love to the brethren well
the Lord will I trust we'll be able to come back and to consider
something more of the blessing that is being pronounced certainly
here in chapter 49 this long passage the longest of all the
blessings upon the children of Jacob verses 22 through 26 but
the Lord be pleased to to bless what we sought to say
tonight concerning this great blessing, this double blessing.
May God bless Joseph and blesses him in his sons and then blesses
him also in his own person. May the Lord bless his word to
us also. Amen.