Let's turn to Genesis chapter 49. Genesis 49. Today we're gonna look at what Jacob said concerning his son Joseph. And these words concern Joseph as well as his seed after him. But as we find with all the word of the Lord, these things have an eye, a view, toward the mystery of God revealed unto us in the face of Jesus Christ.

Paul had written concerning this, he said, whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. And he went on to say, now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus.

All right, what we're hearing is always framed in the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from him, there is no blessings of God. We have nothing. We have no hope and no life apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's the chief end for us here is to know him. That's how we come unto the father is in Jesus Christ, the son. And so in Joseph, we're gonna see pictures of Christ and what that means for us.

So let's begin in verse 22, Genesis 49, verse 22. We're just looking at these scriptures concerning Joseph. He says, Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall.

Now, Joseph was given a double portion in Israel. Jacob had claimed his first two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, as his own. They became just like Reuben and Simeon were to Jacob. Joseph's first two sons became just like that. And the picture here, well, and what did Jacob do? He blessed, he gave the blessing of the eldest to the second born, to Ephraim. A picture, no doubt, of the blessing given to the new man in Christ, born of Christ's seed.

So that in that blessing of our Lord, that new birth, That's where the blessing is. And then this old man of flesh, he partakes of that blessing in the day of the resurrection, when he is raised from the dead and we are given a new body. But it's all in that blessing of the second born, of what Christ has done, his work, what he accomplishes in us.

What we see here is that basically, Joseph, he was enlarged, right? He had a great number of sons, of family members, a fruitful family, if you will, a fruitful, many sons were born unto him, unto Joseph there, but he also had great influence in Israel as well. Oftentimes, when speaking of the northern tribes, they're called Ephraim. Ephraim. All those tribes are referred to in Ephraim. And so we see that blessing there.

And so numerous were his seed that they are likened to being a bough, the bough of a tree, a branch of a tree that is so full of fruit that it is weighed down, weighed down heavy with the fruit leaning over the walls there.

Now, all of this, as we've seen with numerous examples, and looking at Joseph, we see Christ, because Joseph was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in all that he did, in all that he did. And so here is another type in which we see our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, of what he should accomplish for us in his coming.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, is the fruitful bough. He is the fruitful bough. His fruit is so abundant that it even manifests in his saints. We see his fruitfulness. That which you see in your brethren, that is precious to you and godly and virtuous, that is the fruit of Christ. That is the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ being born in you. The final verse of John's gospel tells us that there were so many things, there are so many things that the Lord Jesus Christ did that if they were to be written down, the history of them, the whole world couldn't contain the books. And you think of how that fruitfulness of what he did while here in the flesh continues in his saints, being worked out, manifest in his saints. You consider the fruit of his glorious substitutionary sacrifice as the Lamb of God in the room instead of his sinful people. chosen of God before the foundation of the world, given to him for his inheritance. And you think of what he has wrought and accomplished in and for his people.

So that out of that work, that sacrifice, we continue to see an abundance of fruit. an abundance of fruit going forth there. And we see this, for example, it's spoken of him in Psalm 1, that first Psalm, the Lord Jesus Christ is the blessed man. First and foremost, this is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the blessed man. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Who of us can lay claim to such a perfect and holy, spotless life? Who of us can lay claim to that? He can and He does. He is that blessed man.

If you think that you're the blessed man by your works, by what you're doing, and you're accomplishing this, and you are that blessed man, if you are so confident in yourselves that you're that blessed man, then you are going in the counsel of the ungodly. You're standing in the way of sinners. You're sitting in the seat of the scorner that looks at your brethren and says, why aren't you like me? Why aren't you better like me? I've done it. I've arrived. You're the scorner. You're the one that's charging the righteous with sin for their hope and trust and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ is first and foremost the blessed man. That's where we find our blessing. That's where we find our rest. That's where we find it in us to love our brethren, to be patient and kind and gentle and loving to them is in what Christ has done for me, the blessed man, who could have squashed me like a bug but didn't. He chose instead to be gracious and merciful to me, long-suffering to forgive me of my great, great debt that I might forgive the little pennies of debt that my brethren owe me. He does that. He's that blessed man.

His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And our Lord delighted in the will of His Father to such a degree that He gladly lay down His life in fulfilling the will of His Father for His people. And he, he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water. Abundance of water. He had the spirit of God without measure, without measure. So he is abundantly fruitful that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither. He's that evergreen tree. And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper, shall prosper.

And we see that even in Joseph. Anything that man set his hand to do prospered, prospered. It did well. That's all the blessing of God, who traced out Joseph's steps, exactly as he would have Joseph to do. and to go, the Lord was with him. And it's a picture of our Savior. Now, according to the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ had no generation. He had no sons and daughters physically. There was none born unto him. Rather, it's through his sacrifice on the tree, by his death, by the laying down of his life, and the shedding of his blood, and dying on the tree, being buried, and rising from the dead, that's where we see that fruitfulness.

Any of you that have a garden, you might at some point gotten a packet of seeds. And while that seed remained in that packet, no fruit, no fruit. But once you took that seed out, put it in the ground, and it died, you buried it, that's when it grew forth and became fruitful, abundantly fruitful. That's when it bears fruit.

So it is with our Lord and Savior. He is that kernel of wheat that went into the ground and then brought forth abundance of fruit in the hearts of his people. By his life, we have life. By his spirit and his life, we now worship God in spirit and in truth. Otherwise, we're just idolaters. We're just dead idolaters without his spirit, without his life. His death guarantees the spiritual birth and the everlasting salvation of his people, to know and worship God.

Turn over to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, we're going to pick up in verse 8 and read down through verse 11. And we see here it's speaking of the fruitfulness of Christ. Speaking of the fruitfulness of Christ, Isaiah 53.8, he was taken from prison and from judgment, and who, who shall declare his generation? He had no sons or daughters, that's what it means by generation. For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. He died as the way a criminal, the way a sinner would die. And yet his death was for the benefit of his people, made rich in him. Because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper, there he is, the blessed man, shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, he shall see the fruit of his doings, the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.

And I can't help but thinking that that knowledge that our Lord has is understanding the perfect will of his Father and fulfilling it perfectly, to accomplish, to save, to redeem his people unto himself, to deliver us from death and darkness and then eternity in torments and hell. He's done that for us, brethren. So these justified many, we are the abundance of his fruitfulness. We're the branches rooted in the vine, which is Christ. And that's how we are made fruitful, in him and by him. And so we are his seed and we serve him. We hear his voice and we follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We're blessed in the blessed man. We're blessed of him to know him.

The Lord tells us in Hosea 14.8, from me is thy fruitfulness. From me, from me is thy fruit found. And so because of Christ, even Ephraim, who was an idolater, will say, what have I to do anymore with idols? That's how the heart is turned unto the Lord. That's where the grace is given to reveal in us that life, to give us light and life and understanding that in what I'm doing to save myself and to work a righteousness to please God, that's not doing it. He's the blessed man. He's the Savior. He's Lord of all. And that heart, by the grace of God, is turned from death. That veil of flesh is removed. And we turn to Christ and behold Him and rejoice in Him and speak, not of what I've done, but of what He has done for me, an unworthy, unjust sinner. That's when we start to rejoice in the blessed one. the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the angels worship and adore, and all the saints of God.

And so because of our Lord's great fruitfulness and because of his branches that run over the wall, the picture there is, if Israel is a garden hedged about with a wall, while those branches extend over that wall to us Gentiles, that we might be partakers of his fruitfulness and rejoice in him the Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Next, Jacob notes the persecution Joseph endured from those who opposed him. This is in Genesis 49 verse 23. The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him.

And well, the first archers to take their shot at Joseph we know were his brethren, his own brothers, his own flesh and blood. They were the first ones where the scriptures say they hated him. They hated him. They didn't love him. They were kind to one another. They fellowshiped with one another. But when he came along, oh, him. They hated him. They didn't want to be around him. And so they mistreated him.

Even the height of it is what we see is when his father cared for his sons who were gone, didn't know where they were. They were off, lost, as it were, in the world there. And his father sent Joseph out, the well-beloved son. And Joseph left the Vale of Hebron. and a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ coming out on the errand of his father in love and care for his lost brethren. He comes out of that vale of Hebron seeking his brethren, seeking their welfare, seeking their good, to check on them, to know, to do good for them.

And they see him, and while he's yet a long way off, conspired in their hearts of what evil they would do to him, how they would put him to death. Let's kill this one. And it's a picture of what his people did to the Lord, what the Jews and the Gentiles, Pilate and Herod and everyone conspired against the Lord, who came out on the loving errand of our father for the good of his people and put him to death there.

So they took shots at him. After he was pulled up out of the pit and sold into slavery, many more shots were taken at him, including he was in the household of slavery there in Potiphar's house. And then Potiphar's wife wanted to seduce Joseph, and he refused her and ran from it. And what did she do? She accused him unjustly of crimes. And then what happened? Potiphar probably knew that it was his wife, but to save face for her, he threw Joseph in jail and put him in jail unjustly.

And then you have the baker and the butler, and Joseph ministers the truth to them, and the butler is blessed and raised up, but he forgets him, too. So all these arrows are just being shot at Joseph constantly. It's a picture of what our Lord Jesus Christ did when he came for his people. He came unto his own, and his own refused him. And they took him by wicked hands, crucified, and slain him. Put him to death on the tree.

But our Lord Jesus Christ, he's the chief cornerstone. He is the prized stone. I don't know why many religion want to minimize Christ when he is that chief cornerstone. He's the one upon whom the whole house of God is built. He's the one building the house. He does everything perfect. He is the master builder. And we are but stones, living stones in His house, His house, assembled and put together by Him as He will for the good and blessing of His people. And so though our Lord went about doing good, And healing all that were oppressed of the devil, men took their vile shots at him. And yet in doing that, he accomplished the will of his father in perfectly, fully, freely, sovereignly redeeming his people and securing us and delivering us from death. once and for all, by Him assuring the certain salvation of His people.

For God hath made Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin, that by Him we might be made the righteousness of God. By His redeeming sacrifice, by His righteousness, And then brethren, we too who hear his voice, who are the sheep of his pasture, who follow Christ and go wherever so ever he leads us, we too will suffer persecution, we too will suffer the hits of arrows and flaming darts that are launched against us if we believe him and follow him, but know this, that we're in the blessed hope of the saints of God, because there is no other salvation, no other righteousness, no other hope of life eternal, but in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he said, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And if you've never read a creed or a catechism in your life, if you know the truth of that verse, you know everything. If you believe Christ, you have everything. because he is the way in which the saints of God are led and go happily and are blessed in him. He's our life, he is our truth.

All right, now verse 24. 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. And so here we see that the source of Joseph's strength, that which upheld Joseph in all this persecution and all this hatred and all these attempts to take his life, right, and to bring him to nothing, to seal him up in prison and to be gone forever, all those attempts, the strength of Joseph is the mighty God of Jacob. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the mighty God, the savior of his people. That's his strength. It doesn't talk about Joseph's natural strength. It doesn't talk about Joseph's natural wisdom and the ability to navigate this and make it through and do good. It wasn't Joseph, it was the mighty God who did this. It is the mighty God that predestinates his people. and set your walk unto him to bring you out of death and to bring you into light and life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our steps are laid in him.

And so what's fascinating when you look at Joseph first is you see this man who, it never records the things that he said, if anything, back to those that accused him. And he was charged with many grievous things. And we don't hear of him speaking back to defend himself, not to Potiphar's wife, not not in any of the situations, he endured them. He endured them, and ultimately what happened is he saw the hand of God in this. I don't know when he saw it, but he saw the hand of God in all these steps, in all these things that he went through. It was for good. It was for good. When he finally revealed himself to his brethren, what did he say? He said, Be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life. And that's one of the comforts of the saints of God. When the Lord takes us, when he delivers us, what does he show us? He shows us how we have grieved him. It's because of our sins that he is wounded and suffers the stripes and the beatings. Why he died. because of us. And we see the grievousness of our sin, of our thoughts, of our words, of our actions, and our wickedness. But he says, understand, the Lord sent me to save you. Turn your eyes on me. Don't just sit there flatulating, whipping your back there and hitting yourselves. Trust me. Trust me. Look to him.

So Joseph there, he saw the purpose of God in it. Well, so it is with our Lord. When he was on trial, he said nothing that would deliver himself from going to that cross. Never, never once tried to get out of it. In fact, he said the things he said because he knew it was bringing out that hatred that they were trying to conceal in their hearts that they would lash out against him, because he came for that very purpose, to die on the cross, to go to that cross. So he concealed his glory, and he revealed the truth of God, spoke the truth of God, and they hated him for it, and they took him and crucified him.

When Pilate questioned our Lord, it says Jesus gave him no answer. And Pilate said, don't you know that I have the power to crucify you or to let you go, to set you free? And our Lord said, you have no power against me except it were given to you from above. And he said nothing to deliver himself. nothing to take himself out of going to the cross, because that's why he came, to lay down his life for his sheep, to satisfy the Father, to satisfy the wrath of God, which is against us, and to deliver us justly from the hand of justice, that God may be just to forgive us and to be gracious to us. And so he's done this. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

The point there, what I was trying to say is that his hand was strong. He held that bow on its mark and never tired of it. He knew why he was there, and he never tired of keeping his aim on the mark. It says that he set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem, and he would not be turned. He was strengthened by his father, and he stayed that course steady. in order to accomplish the will of God for him. You see it there in Joseph, but it's glorious in the Lord, who was hated and shot at, and everybody took shots at him, and he endured, trusting his father, until that mark was hit perfectly. Until he said, on the cross, it is finished. He made it. He did the mark. He accomplished redemption. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. He did it, brethren. He did it.

We too are made strong by the example of Christ. This extends to us. His fruitfulness is wrought in us who behold our loving, faithful Savior unto the end. Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 2, verse 20 through 24.

For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow in his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Who his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that We, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. And so we see the faithfulness of the Lord. He's set before us and he's given us his spirit and his grace to look to him and keep looking to him whose strength is firm and sure and he too shall be your strength and your guide and bring you home to himself by him, by his mighty hand.

Then, in closing, Jacob pronounces seven blessings, and we'll just step through these in verses 25 and 26 here, seven blessings upon Joseph that extend to us, that are our blessings in Christ. He says there in Genesis 49, verse 25, Just the first part, even by the God of thy father who shall help thee. Here is the promise of your God in Christ Jesus who shall help you in every need. Trust him. He gives his word of promise. Believe him.

Secondly, and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above. There is a testimony that all our blessings are spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 1, 3.

Blessings of the deep that lieth under, meaning every trial, every hardship, every difficulty that your Lord is pleased to give you, they are for your good. They are a blessing unto you. Don't be bitter, don't complain and murmur. Trust him, pray to him about it, and believe him that it is for our good and learning and instruction through patience and comfort of the scriptures according to his word.

Fourth, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. We shall be well fed and taken care of by the church. He shall minister to us. in his grace, and bless the church, and bring his sheep, as it were, to the inn, where we are ministered to, and kept, and helped, and nourished, and strengthened by his grace and power. Because we're in the family, born into the family of God. And when he delivers you and takes you out of death and shows you how he's provided for you, we can look back and see from the very beginning, even when we were yet in darkness and foolishness and folly, how that the Lord was very gracious to us in keeping us and delivering us from that death and darkness to establish us as it is today in Christ.

Fifth, the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors. And so that it doesn't matter what family you're born into, whether this world says, oh, you have many, many opportunities because of the family, or, oh, you have many disqualifications because of the family you've been born into. That means nothing. God's not limited by earthly circumstances. Trust Him. Believe Him. He is able to accomplish in you His will and purpose.

Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. In other words, the everlasting hills there, worship Christ. Worship Him. Rejoice in Him, brethren, because for His sake we have an everlasting and eternal inheritance And by it being everlasting, it means it will never be taken away. It will never fail. It will never run dry. Walls won't eat and destroy it. The riches won't canker and rust and fall apart. It's eternal. It's eternal in Christ.

They shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. All these blessings that we're speaking of this morning here rest upon the faithful righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they cannot, they shall not and cannot fail to bring forth that fruitfulness which he has wrought in the will and purpose of God for his people. Rejoice in him, brethren. Amen.