Turn tonight in your Bibles to
Genesis chapter forty-seven, and I want to thank you for your
hospitality, and the gracious reception that you give me is
certainly undeserved, but much appreciated. I do indeed rejoice
when your pastor calls me. I must confess that while we
talk on the phone time and again, I always secretly hope he's going
to ask me to come speak when he calls. I enjoy so much seeing
you all. I want us to begin our reading
in Genesis 47, and then we're going to go into Genesis 48.
And to set the background for this, this is a story with which
you're all familiar, that Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery. They were jealous of him and
thought to kill him. As they had dug a pit and had
cast him in that pit, and as you know, had taken the blood
of a lamb and put it on his coat, and they were going to leave
him there to die. And then some traders came through,
and they wound up evil on evil. They said, well, we might as
well profit a bit from this and sold him into slavery. And these
traders took him down into Egypt, and they took his coat home to
his father, His father was told that a lion had slain him, and
that his father never expected to see his son Joseph again.
He was taken down into Egypt, and as you know, he went through
various trials and tribulations there, wound up in jail, falsely
accused by a woman. But he foretold a dream, interpreted
a dream of a man from Pharaoh's house. And when the pharaoh began
to have dreams, Joseph, of course, was eventually called upon to
interpret those dreams, and lo and behold, he arose to become
the king of Egypt. He was the pharaoh's right-hand
man. And as you know, the dream dealt with seven fat calves,
seven years of plenty, and then seven thin calves, seven years
of famine. And it was in that famine that
God Almighty used that famine to cause his father to send his
brethren down to Egypt, that they might have corn to live.
And you're familiar with the rest of the story, then. Joseph
revealed himself to his brothers and sent them back to bring his
father, and that's how Israel came to be in Egypt. Now, let's
pick this up in Genesis 47, 27, and we'll read this in Israel.
Now, that is Jacob. Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt,
in the country of Goshen, and they have possession therein,
and grew and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of
Egypt seventeen years, so the whole age of Jacob was a hundred
and forty-seven years. And the time drew nigh that Israel
must die. And he called his son Joseph,
and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put,
I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly
with me. Bury me not, I pray thee, in
Egypt. But I will lie with my fathers,
and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying
place. And he said, I will do as thou
hast said. And he said, Swear unto me, and Joseph swearing
to Jacob, and Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head." The expression
here, put your hand under my thigh, meant that his father
had become so feeble that Jacob actually had to put an arm under
the old man's legs and an arm under his neck and lift him up
and carry him and put him God Almighty appeared unto me
at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me." Notice here
that the situation here now is that Jacob is about to die, and
he's called for his son, the apple of his eye. So Joseph has
come and he's brought his two boys, and notice that the man's
last words here, he's going to tell him one more time, one more
time, what great things God has done for him. 3 says, And Jacob
said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz 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 of thee
a multitude of people, and will give this land to thy seed after
thee for an everlasting possession. And now thy two sons, Ephraim
and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt,
before I came unto thee into Egypt, they are mine. as Ruman
and Simeon, they shall be mine. And thy issue, which thou begettest
after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name
of their brethren in their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from
Padan, and Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the
way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath, I buried
her there in the way of Ephrath, and the same in Bethlehem." And
Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these? Now
you'll see that it's not that the old man didn't know who they
were, if he'd been able to recognize them, but you'll see his eyesight
was failing him to the point where he wasn't able, he could
see the images of the boy, but didn't know who they were. In
verse 9, Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom
God hath given me in this place. And Jacob said, Bring them, I
pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel
were dim of age, so that he could not see. And Joseph brought them
near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them." Now this
is a very, very tender moment. Those of you who have grandchildren,
if you can imagine that you know you're fixing to But you're able
to sit up on the side of the bed, and your son has brought
your two grandchildren to you in this hour, and you said, son,
bring them over here to me. And the old man's got his arms
out like this, and Joseph pushes those two boys up there. You'll
see he kneels down, and he gets up close to him. He's got, he's
squatted down the floor and got his boys between his legs, and
they're all embracing there. The old man's got his arms around
these boys. And he's hugging him. And verse
11, he says, And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought
to see thy face when they brought me that coat of many colors.
I thought I'd never see you again, son. And lo, God has showed me
not only you, but also your seed. How good God is. He's not only
showed me you again, son. He's shown me your boys, my grandchildren. How would you feel You'd been
years and years and years and thought the apple of your eye
was dead, and then come to find out not only is he alive, but
he's got two boys. You've got two grandchildren
you didn't even know you had. Verse 12, And Joseph brought
them out from between his knees, and bowed himself with his face
to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim
in his right hand toward Israel's left, and Manasseh in his left
hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.
Now, what he's doing is he's presenting the boys now to receive
the blessing. This was the tradition, the Jewish
tradition, is that the patriarch of the family, when he was about
to die, would put his blessing upon the children. And as the
living patriarch of the family, it was his blessing to bestow. In verse 14, And Israel stretched
out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was
the younger. and his left hand on Manassas's
head, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manassas was the firstborn."
Now, what happened here was Joseph brought the boys up, and he was
going to make this easy for the old man, since his eyes were
failing and whatever, and the boy who got the first blessing
received it from the right hand. And the younger then would get
a blessing also, but with the left hand, and the power is in
the right hand. The blessing comes with the right
hand. The inheritance comes with the right hand. So Joseph was
making this easy. He put Manasseh, the oldest,
right in front of Jacob's right hand. So all he had to do was
reach out like this. What it said here that Jacob
did was he took his right hand and reached out like this and
put it on Ephraim's head. And then he reached out with
his left hand and put it on Manasseh's head. Now watch. And 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, the angel
which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." Now the blessing
is bestowed here, you see it? Bless the lads, he said it. 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." You see that? It displeased him. And my center
reference says it was evil in his eyes. And Joseph held up
his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head and to put
it on Manasseh's head. He reached out and tried to take
hold of his father's hands and get them straightened out in
his mind. And then look here at verse 19,
And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it.
And the it is in italics there, and we ought to read it. Listen,
Jacob said back to him, I know, son, I know. He said, I know
what I'm doing. and he also shall become a people,"
you see, he's saying the younger shall become a people, and he
shall also be great. I mean, Manasseh shall. 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, And thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee
as Ephraim and Manasseh, and set," and he set Ephraim before
Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph,
Before I that God shall be with you. For behold, I die, but 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." Now, let's
go back here a minute. You see, Joseph was really upset. He was upset that Jacob blessed
the younger And this was a great trial for him. It was not according
to tradition. It was not according to custom.
Joseph felt that Manasseh should get the blessing. That seemed
best to him. That seemed what was right to
him, and that was according to tradition. And you think about
it. How would you explain this? How
was Joseph going to explain to the elders and his other brothers
and the neighbors what had happened? How would you like to go home
to your wife and try to explain to her that the oldest boy didn't
get the blessing that the young one did? How would you like to
try to explain to those two boys? How would you like to try to
explain to Manasseh what happened? How was he going to explain to
himself? You see, this was a great trial for Joseph. And so you
know what he did? He did the same thing we'll often
do in time of trial. You know what he did? He tried
to take matters into his own hands, didn't he? He reached
up and tried to fix it himself, to stop Jacob. And that brought
a severe rebuke from Jacob. Jacob said to him, I know, my
son, I know. And in this scripture, I want
you to see three things. This scripture pictures how God
deals with his children in time of trial. And whenever you and
I find ourselves in a trial, which is pretty often, because
we don't often understand God's providence, do we? If we did,
we wouldn't complain so much. But if we'll see these three
things, these three lessons, I think it'll be a comfort to
us in a time of trial. Now, here's the first lesson.
What Jacob was saying when he said, I know, my son, I know,
quite simply, he was saying, I know what I'm doing, son. And
the lesson for us is when we're in time of trial and something
happens we don't understand, God knows what he's doing. God knows what he's doing. Bless our hearts. We act like
God doesn't know what he's doing. Joseph acted like his father
didn't know what he was doing. Is that the case? Was this an
accident? The poor old man's blind. He
just did like this. Is that right? No, in verse 15,
my Bible says, Jacob guiding his hands wittingly. That means knowingly. You wouldn't,
you wouldn't on purpose come up and hug two boys like this,
would you? No, you wouldn't, any more than
he would. He knew what he was doing. He
wouldn't do this on purpose. Now, dear God Almighty, does
what he does on purpose, always on purpose. He doesn't do things
without a purpose. No matter what comes our way,
to challenge God's providence, to find fault, is to think and
accuse God that he doesn't know what he's doing. And to entertain,
even entertain such a thought is ridiculous. It's the height
of ignorance on our part to do that. Turn over to Isaiah 45
a minute. I'm going to say this again.
God Almighty always knows what he's doing, and he's doing everything
on purpose. Any preacher or person who thinks
God isn't in complete and total control hasn't read this book. I want to read you a couple of
verses here and ask you if this book sounds like a God who doesn't
know what he's doing, who's unsure of future events, who's not planned
out everything that happens. He says, I am the Lord, and there
is none else. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know
from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is
none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create
evil. I, the Lord, do all these things."
Does that sound like a guy who's confused to you? Doesn't know
what he's doing? Doesn't sound like it to me.
Would you and I raise our hand to try to change the sovereign
will of God Almighty? Would we dare to question whether
God knows what He's doing? Read a little further in Isaiah
45 there, drop down to verse 9. Woe unto him that strives
with his Maker. You know what Joseph was doing
here? He was striving with his Father, wasn't he? Yeah, woe
unto him that striveth with his Maker. Let the potsherds strive
with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say unto him that
fashioned it, What makest thou, or thy work he hath no hands?"
Boy, there's a good phrase, isn't it? These preachers are standing
and saying, God's got no hands but your hands. That's a lie,
isn't it? That's saying God not only doesn't
know what he's doing, he can't do what he wants to. That's not
what God ought to read here. Verse 10, "...Woe unto him that
saith unto his father, What begadest thou?" or to the woman, what
hast thou brought forth? Thus saith the Lord, the Holy
One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of strange things to come.
Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work
of my hands. Command ye me." If you don't
understand what God Almighty is doing, ask Him! Ask Him! That's part of what prayer is
about. Say, God, show me what you're doing here. Help me. Lord,
I believe, help mine unbelief. Show me what you're doing. He's
saying here, I know what I'm doing. Ask me, I'll tell you.
He says, I have made the earth and created man upon it. I, even
my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts
have I commanded. You know what the problem is?
The problem is we don't know what we're doing. We don't know
what God's doing. Look up here at verse 5. He said,
I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. That's the problem. We don't know God by nature,
and therefore when he does something, instead of bowing to it, we buck
up and start trying to do something about it ourselves. I'm telling
you, God knows what he's doing. The problem is we don't know
what he's doing by nature. Look at Luke 23, and while you're
looking, I'm going to say, I don't often say anything profound,
but this is profound. It's simple, or I wouldn't be
saying it, but it's also real profound. Turn to Luke 23. Now listen to this. And the reason we don't trust
God by nature is that we don't know God. But we ought to trust
God. You know why? This is so simple. We ought to trust God because
he is God. We ought to trust God just because
he is God. Now, I don't trust this God most
preachers are talking about, the one who wants to and can't,
the one who's knocking at your door. And you won't let him in,
please?" I wouldn't trust him either. If he's counting on me
or depending on me, he ain't much of a God anyway. But the
God I read in these scriptures, I ought to trust him because
he is God. I'll tell you, if Pharaoh rode
back from trying to stop these people from leaving Egypt, he
knew who God was. He found out who God was. This
God was God, and we ought to trust that God simply because
he is God. But the problem is we don't,
by nature, know God. And let me show you here in Luke
23, verse 33. It says, And when they were come
to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified
him. They crucified Christ and the
malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them. Why? For they know not
what they do. and they parted his raiment and
cast lots." How little by nature do we know about God Almighty?
The most momentous time in the history of the world, the Lord
Jesus Christ is being crucified, and you know what men know about
it? They're standing around the cross throwing dice, gambling
for his garments. Now, that tells you how much
we know, and let's be careful. If we'd been there, we'd have
been doing one of three things. We'd have either been fighting
with another fellow to get a hold of that hammer, we'd have been
one with the spear, or we'd have been down there shooting dice
with the rest of them. That's how little we know, too. And
any of these fellows that stand up and say, If I'd been there,
I would have stopped it. He's a liar, and the truth's not in
him. He doesn't know God, and he doesn't know himself. If we
knew God, we'd bow to his will, saying, The judge of all the
earth, he'll do right. He knows what he's doing, but
instead we'd trust ourselves more than God. We reach out our
hands to do our will, and that will get you in trouble every
time. I'm warning you, I can tell you from experience, and
it's true from the Scripture. The Lord told Peter and his disciples,
he said, I'm going to Calvary, I'm going to the cross, I must
die. And what did they say? Not so,
Lord, not so. And when they came for him, what
did Peter do? Peter goes, I know this is what's got to happen,
Lord, and it's for my sake. No, Peter took matters into his
own hands. He whipped out that sword and
went to cut the head off that soldier, didn't he? And the fellow
ducked and he only got his ear. You ever think about what if
Peter had actually taken the head off that soldier and started
an armed conflict right there? Those soldiers would have killed
every one of those guys, all those disciples right there.
What if Peter had been able to prevent them from taking the
Lord? I'm glad he didn't, aren't you?
I mean, Calvary was an awful thing in that sense, but I'm
telling you, I'm glad God Almighty knew what he was doing. He didn't
let Peter stop it. Yes, sirree. Every time I take
matters into my own hands with something I don't know about,
I get in a real mess. One time we had some electrical problems
in a store. I can fix this. I took me a screwdriver
into that electrical box, and by the time I burnt the end of
it off and picked myself up off the far wall, I found out I didn't
know so much as I thought I did. And I don't remember what it
cost to have somebody who did know what they were doing come
in and make it right. You make twice the mess of it if you take
matters into your own hands. Pray about a matter and bow to
his will. God Almighty knows what he's
doing, and that's what Jacob was saying here. You see, men
don't trust God to save his people by his means and his time. And
therefore, they've undertaken to save them by their own hands.
They don't like or know God and how he saves sinners, so they've
made up a way. Walk down here and shake my hand.
Get in the pool, got to be baptized. And, you know, it's not according
to the Scriptures. You understand that? God knows
what he's doing, exactly what he's doing. And when Jacob said,
I know, my son, I know. Question is, did Jacob know?
Did he know what he was doing right there? You know, Joseph
thought this was a terrible mistake. But let me tell you, Ephraim
had to get the blessing, and do you know why? Do you know
who the descendants of Ephraim are? There's one you know real
well. You know what his name is? Joshua. You know what Joshua means? Jesus, Savior. Joshua was the
one who was going to lead the people out of Egypt, out of this
slavery and bondage. Joshua was the one who was going
to be the picture of redemption and salvation for generations
of Jews and believers until Christ came. That's the reason Ephraim
had to get the blessing, so we'd get a blessing. You see that? Jacob knew what he was doing.
God Almighty knows what he's doing. in salvation and in every
other thing. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 14. The problem is we don't know what
we're doing, but here's what sets the believer apart. Men
by nature do not know. We don't know God, we don't know
what he's doing, we don't understand, but God's children do know. They
do know, and they come in time when it's revealed, and due time
it's revealed to us what God is doing. In Ezekiel chapter
14, look at verse 22. Yet behold, therein shall be
left a remnant. That's God's chosen people. They
shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters. Behold, they
shall come forth unto you, and you shall see their way and their
doings, and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have
brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought
upon them. I'm sure the captivity of Jerusalem
was terribly It's difficult for these folks to understand. Look
at verse 23. And they shall comfort you when
you see their ways and their doings, and you shall know, you
shall know, you see that God's people do know. They come to
know in due time. You shall know that I have not
done without a cause. All that I have done in it, saith
the Lord God. In due time, we'll know the cause
of why God's done what he's done. But in the meantime, we're simply
not to raise our hands, but simply believe. God knows what He's
doing, and trust God because He is God. I tell you what, you
get no comfort out of Romans 8, that all things work together
for our good and His glory, for those who are called according
to His purpose. You can't get any comfort out of Romans 8 unless
you believe what it says right here. He's done everything for
a cause. It doesn't sound to me like in
Romans 8, what I read this morning to you, doesn't sound to me like
God's confused. It doesn't sound to me like God's in doubt, that
God's undecided, that he didn't know what he was doing to end
from the beginning. No, he's done it all on purpose. Look at Isaiah 52 with me. Turn
over there for a minute. Isaiah chapter 52. Here's Who they know. Here's who the
children of God come to know, and how they know. Look at Isaiah
52, verse 6. Therefore my people shall know
my name. Therefore they shall know in
that day that I am he that does speak. Behold, it is I. And how
do they know? Oh, how beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publishes
peace that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." I tell you what, if
you know anything about the providence, grace, and salvation of God Almighty,
you know how you know? It's by the grace of God, but
you know how you know? It's because somebody came and told you. God
Almighty sent a man. Sent a man to preach the truth
to you, to preach the gospel to you. Listen, your pastor speaks. They're not any prettier than
the next fellas. You sure like seeing him coming,
don't you? Because when you see him coming, you know he's bringing
the gospel with him. That's what that means. And that's how we
know. That's how we know who we know. All right, the second thing,
real briefly. When Jacob said, I know, my son, I know, he meant,
Jacob meant, that he himself was the surety of what he was
doing. Turn over to 2 Timothy 1. The
sense of this, the reason that those who translated the scriptures
put those little words, it, in there, I know it, I know it,
my son, is because in the Hebrew, apparently, I don't understand
all these things, but I'll tell you what they tell me it means. When you say it that way, it
implies assurity-ship. It implies that that Jacob was
telling Joseph, and God tells his children, we can trust whatever
he does on the authority of his person and upon the authority
of his word. Have you got 2 Timothy 1 there?
2 Timothy 1, verse 12. For the witch cause I also suffer
these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom
I have and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day. Hold fast the form
of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love
which is in Christ Jesus." In other words, what we believe
is bound up in the guarantee of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only surety we have, is in Christ. And did you notice, turn
to Genesis 43, I must show you this. Did you notice, did you
notice that when Jacob said to Joseph, I know it, my son, I
know it, boy, Joseph backed up. He took his hands away and bowed
his face back down. He hushed his mouth. And I'll
tell you why. He knew something about suretyship. He'd been taught, even though
he was thrown in that pit and sold into slavery at a young
His daddy had already taught him something about suretyship,
and here's the proof of it in Genesis 43. Look at verse 8. Genesis 43, 8. You remember when
Joseph sent his brothers back to get Benjamin, and Jacob didn't
want to let him go. He said, Oh, they'll keep him
down there, and I'll never see him again. I've lost Joseph,
and now I'll lose Benjamin. Judah stepped up. Look, verse
8, And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with
me, and we'll arise and go, that we may live, and not die, both
we and thou, and also our little ones. I will be sure of thee
for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him, if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee. Then let me bear the blame for
ever." All these boys knew about what a surety was.