his dying words to his son. And last week we talked about
these, you know, his life was fixing to end. He told them,
carry me back to my, where my father's buried, my grandfather's
buried. I've got a place where my wife's
buried. I want to be going, take me back
to Canaan. Take me back to Canaan. And he's
got his sons gathered around here and he's going to talk to
them. He's going to prophesy to them. And this is what's called
the closing of the patriarchal period. Do you know there's three
patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And our Lord says, you
know, that we would sit down in the kingdom of God. We would
sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so we remember
that Peter and John and James, they knew Moses and they knew
Elijah when they saw him. Never had laid eyes on them before,
but they knew who they were. We'll know as we're known. And
so when we get to glory, we'll know it's Abraham, we'll know
it's Isaac, and we'll know it's Jacob. And our Lord said, we
are sent down in the kingdom of heaven with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. You keep pretty good company.
But that ain't nothing compared to being and sitting in the presence
of our Lord Jesus. That's absolutely nothing. That's
who they worship and that's who we worship. And Israel is becoming
a nation. Becoming a nation, slowly but
surely. The promise made to Abraham is
slowly but surely being fulfilled. And Jacob's words here, and I'm
going to do like I did last week, I'm going to deal with them as
I go. They're not so much blessings, but predictions of what his sons
will become because of what they are. They're prophecies based
upon the results of their character. Jacob knew his son's characters,
and he knew what would happen to them and how they would be
because of their characters. And when we look back at the
past and all the predictions of the future is in light of
that past. You can take a lost man or a
believer in the war and you can almost predict how they're going
to be. How their life is going to be
and what the end of it's going to be. And that's the way it
is and that's what he's doing here about. Now look up here
in verse 1 and 2 and look what he says. Jacob called unto his
sons remember he just had Joseph and blessed Joseph's sons Jacob
called unto his sons and said gather yourselves together That
I may tell you that we shall before you in the last day very
very solemn time gather yourselves together Come on, get yourself
together gather all around me here. I got something I need
to tell you and then he said it repeats it gather yourselves
together and And here, listen to me. Listen to me, my sons. You sons of Jacob. I've got to
tell you, I'm going to tell you that which shall befall you in
the last days. I'm going to tell you what you're
going to be like in your life and how your tribe's going to
be. And to Israel, listen to Israel, that's what he said.
Listen, you sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel, your father,
that prince with God, that one that God changed his name. He
calls himself, you sons of Jacob. your sons are my flesh but listen
to Israel your father the one that pleads with God and that's
what he's talking about and then he starts talking about and making
prophecies about his sons and these first couple of them I
want you to pay attention to them because these are things
we don't want to be like we don't want to be like this and then
he look what he says to Reuben unstable Reuben Reuben You're
my firstborn, my might, the beginning of my strength,
the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable
as water, thou shalt not excel, because
thou wentest up unto thy father's bed and defiled it. He went up
to my couch. And I tell you the first thing
he says about Reuben, that Reuben's unstable. Reuben is an unstable
man. And a double-minded man is unstable
in all of his ways. But he had lots of excellency.
Look what he said to him. You're my firstborn, my might.
the beginning of my strength, and he had dignity, and he had
power. Oh, he had lots of first child,
first born, the children, child of great, great hope. But look
what he says, but listen, you know what you're like? You're
as unstable as water. Unstable as water. And he says,
there's no way in the world you'll ever excel at anything. You'll
never amount to anything, Jacob, I mean, Reuben, because you're
too unstable. You're unstable. And Reuben's
sin cost him his birthright. And water, you know how unstable
water is? If it ever breaks through a dam,
it's going to destroy a lot of people. If it ever floods, it's
going to destroy a lot of people. You can't hold back water. And
I tell you what, and then water, here's the thing about water,
one reason it makes it unstable, water takes on every whatever
shape you put it in. Whatever you put it in, it takes
on that shape. And whatever, it can be hot,
you can boil it, you can freeze it, you can turn it into ice,
it can be lukewarm, it can be freezing, and then it can have
an awful taste to it, or it can be the best tasting thing you
ever drunk. And that's what he said here.
Jacob, I mean, Reuben, wherever you're at, you fit in. You're
unstable. And I tell you, that's something
we don't want to be. We don't want to be unstable.
God make us stable. Oh, God said, you know, David
said, Lord, give me a single heart. Give me a single heart. And that's what he wanted. And
I'll tell you what, we don't want to be like Reuben. And then
look what he said about Simeon and Levi. In verse 5 and 6 and
7. Simeon and Levi are brethren.
Look what he says about them. Instruments of cruelty. Instruments
of cruelty. Two sons. He said they're cruel
men. And they used their lives in
cruelty to mistreat other people. In anger, they slew a man. In anger they slew a man. And
look what he said about them. He said, O my soul, come not
near, thou thou into their secret. Into the secret that they connived
to kill a bunch of men and destroy a whole bunch of people and destroyed
relationships. And he says here, I don't want
to go under their assembly. In my honor, them in my honor,
don't let them be united. I don't want to be like my son
Simeon and Levi. I don't want my honor to be joined
to how them men are. For in their anger they slew
a man, and in their self-will they dig down a wall. Oh, these
men are tough men. And if you go back and read in
Genesis 34, you'll see what they did. They deceived a whole city
of people. And then when they got them deceived,
they went in there, and them two went in there and slew these
men with a sword. And Jacob said, oh my, look what
you've done to me. Look over here in Genesis 34.
Look what Jacob said that he'd done unto them. Genesis 34, 30. And I, you know, that's another
thing. We don't want to be self-willed.
We don't want to be angry. We certainly don't want to be
instruments of cruelty. Oh, no. And I tell you, they
were treacherous with their dealings with their peaceful neighbors.
And Jacob never forgot it. Look what he said down here in
verse 30. Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have troubled me
to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites
and the Perizzites, and I being few in number, they shall gather
themselves together against me and slay me. I shall be destroyed
in the whole house." He said, that's what they danger, they
put us, the whole family in. And look what else he says about
it. He said in verse 7, curse and be their anger. This is one
of the great mysteries of us as believers. He said, be angry
and sin not. Now, how can you be angry and
sin not? Well, our Lord was angry and
he didn't sin. And there is a righteous indignation. There is a righteous anger over
sin. There is a righteous anger over
us justifying ourselves. There is a righteous anger over
men justifying themselves. But to be angry is sin not. And
these men could not do that. He says, Cursed be their anger. And oh my, their anger, what
was it? He said it was fierce. Fierce
anger. And their wrath. And he said,
this is where it was. It was cruel, cruel, cruel. And I will divide them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel. In other words, he's saying they
will not possess any lot in Israel. He said, I'm going to scatter
them out. I'm not even going to give them a place to live.
But look what he says here about Judah. Oh, that's two men we don't want
to be like. But look what he says about Judah.
Judah is a lion's web. Verse 8. Judah, thou art he whom
thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be on the neck
of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. And you know what Judah means?
Judah means the praise of Jehovah. The praise of Jehovah. And he
says, thy brothers shall praise thee. And oh, we praise our Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, we praise him. You know,
he come from the tribe of Judah. And then he goes on to say, and
then thy children shall bow down before you. Will you gladly,
willingly, blessedly bow down before our Lord Jesus Christ.
And oh, Judah, he said, is a lion's whelp. He's praise. He's sovereign. He's creation. He's the lion's
will. And he's from the pray. He went
out and caught things and he prays on them. My son, thou art
gone up. And he stooped down, and he cast
out a lion, and there's an old lion. Who shall rouse him up?
He's the lion of the tribe of Judah, is what they tell us about
him in Revelation chapter 5. The lamb and the lion. The lamb
as it had been slain, and the lion of the tribe of Judah. And
on he goes on to say here, oh Judah, thy brethren shall praise
you. This is the kingly tribe. And
then he says, thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemy. He said, go put his hand on your
neck. Oh, two sorts of enemies, God's
God. Two sorts of enemies, our Lord
Jesus is God. Those that are enemies his whole
lifetime, and those he conquers by his grace. I'm glad he, you
know when he goes up to get praying, we're his praying. He comes and
he gets us. We're the ones he gets. He's
the ones he takes to himself. And then look what he says in
verse 9. Judah's a lion's web. No, excuse
me, verse 10, excuse me. And as an old lion who shall
rouse him up. Listen to this now. The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering
of the people be." Oh, these are prophecies concerning our
Lord Jesus Christ. Shiloh means the rescuer, the
one who brings peace, the peace-bringer. And then he says that the people,
you know, the law shall not depart from Plum Beach until Shiloh
come. And Christ shall come. That rescuer,
that peace-bringer. And then he says the gathering
of the people shall be to Him. And all we gather around Him.
We want to be around Him. We love to be around Him. We
love to hear of Him. We want to call on Him. We want
to look to Him. We want to trust Him. And then
look what he says about verse 11 and 12. Binding his foal under the vine.
This is how gentle our Lord Jesus Christ is and what he does for
us. We're like a wild ass that's cold. And then he binds his foal
under the vine. And he ain't gonna break that
vine. He ain't gonna pull loose from that vine. His ass is cold
under the choice fire. And oh, our Lord said, I'm the
vine. the living vine. And listen,
he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood
of grapes. He's like Hugh's sister cometh
up from Bathra with his garments dyed red, treading out the fierceness
of the wrath of God. And so, beloved, he's going to
tread that winepress of the wrath of God. And look what he says,
his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
Oh, he's going to be, he's going to be beautiful. He's going to
come in glory. He's going to come, and he's
going to come, beloved, as one baric blood, one like the great,
one that comes out of the, covered up with all this blood and all
this things where he treads the winepress of God's love. And
then look what he says about Zebulun. He has 12 sons and he
is going to say something about every single one of them. Zebulon shall dwell at the haven
of the sea and he shall be a haven of ships and his short borders
shall be undesigned. Zebulon, you know what he is
going to be? He is going to be a comfort. He is going to be
comforting and consoling. He said he is going to be a haven. He is going to be a haven. A
dwelling place, a place of refuge for those that are distressed
from the sea to its borders. From the sea, all those that
come want a haven, a place to hide, a safe place, a place of
comfort, a place of consolation, a place to get in out of the
storm. Zebulun is that place, like our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
what a haven, what a harbor, what a place to dwell in. When we're distressed, we need
a place of refuge. He said he shall be a haven,
a comfort and consoling. Then look what he said about
Issachar. This is strange language. Issachar
is a strong ass. Strong like a big mule. Couching
down between two burdens. He's couched down. Got a burden
over here and a burden over there. And he's bowed down between them.
And look what it says here. And he saw that rest was good. Don't pick up them burdens. Rest is good. And the land that
it was pleasant. But he bowed his shoulder to
bear. And became a servant unto tribute. Now what this tells
us about his car, he was timid, self-oppressing. He saw that
rest was good. It's a good thing to rest. The
land is pleasant before me. And he's afraid to offend, so
he bowed his shoulder and got under the burden. And he bowed
his shoulder to bear. And look what it says here. And
he became a servant unto tribute. Oh my! He would rather go with
the flow then go against the tide. And his dying father describes
his character as a strong ass. Strong, but stupid. Strong, but
don't know how to deal with what he has to deal with. All he knows
how to do is do for tribute. He possessed the power, but because
of the fear of man, he gets ensnared, he gets enslaved. He becomes
a servant. He has to pay tribute. He has
to pay the taxes. He got to do all the work. Because
he has a fear of man. Has a fear of man. And then look
what else he saw. In all my eye he saw rest was
good but that didn't do anything for him. He's a big old man. Tough man. Strong man. But even
that ain't going to help him. Ain't going to help him. He's
still going to become a servant. And Dan shall be a serpent. Dan shall judge his people as
one of the tribe's official. Dan shall be a serpent by the
way and adder in the path that biteth the horse hills so that
his riders shall fall back. Dan, subtle and cunning. Subtle
and cunning. He gonna be, he gonna judge and
he gonna be a serpent at the same time. You know, when someone
needs to be judged, he said here he'll bite the horse's heels.
and the righter of all. He's going to judge so well that
He's what, you know our Lord said, be wise as a serpent and
harmless as dust. Here's a man that's going to
judge the Lord's people and yet he's going to be like a serpent.
He's going to have the ability to discern and do what needs
to be done to make someone fall. And yet he's going to be a judge. He can discern and he can judge.
And what this tells us, He knows how to apply truth. And look
what it says later there in verse 8, 18, excuse me. I have waited
for thy salvation, O Lord. He can discern and he can judge.
He knows how to apply the truth. And he knows this, when he does
judge, that salvation is of the Lord. And he said he waits for
the Lord's salvation. He waits for it. He knows it's
salvation's of the Lord. And I thank God that we know
the salvations of the Lord. And that Christ, you're talking
about a wise judge. A wise judge. Oh, what a wise judge our Lord
Jesus Christ is. He is so wise in his judgment
that to power and witties, they say that Christ is called the
wisdom of God. How is he the wisdom of God? God shows in Christ how He can
take sinners like ourselves, riders on these horses, thinking
that we got some strength, thinking we got some ability. And our
Lord Jesus Christ, being the wisdom of God, God shows how
that God in Christ can take sinners like ourselves, punish us for
our sins, by us as like an adder and cause us to die unto sin
cause us to die unto ourselves and pronounce sentence of death
upon ourselves and then he turns around and he judges and because
of our punishment he can judge and say now they're justified
and they have no sin against them whatsoever oh what a judge
what a wise judge our savior is And then look what here in
Gad. Here's the seventh son. In verse
19. Gad, a troop shall overcome him,
but he shall overcome at last. Gad means the overcomer. He shall
be overcome. Oh, we overcome by sin, overcome
by self, overcome by our flesh. But look what it says about him,
that he shall overcome at last. He perseveres. And how do we
overcome? How do we overcome? By our testimony
and blood of the Lamb. That's how we're made to be overcomers.
And we overcome by the blood of Christ. And I'll tell you
what, we were overcome and then our Lord Jesus Christ comes and
overcomes us by his blessed blood, and makes us to be submissive
to him. We was overcome by sin, now we're
overcome by the blood of the Lamb. And then look at Asher. Asher. Verse 20. Out of Asher his bread
shall be fat, and he shall yield to royal dandies. Asher means
blessed. And His bread shall be fat. I
mean, folks will be able to live off of that. He's got great blessings. He's got great blessings. His
bread is going to go out. And Christ is the bread of life.
And He shall yield. He shall bring out of His wealth. He shall bring out of His power.
Out of His blessings. This royal deities. And our Lord
Jesus Christ said, Blessed is the man. And you see, He's satisfied. Because he's able. He said he
shall yield his royal dainties. He's able to give to others.
He has the unsearchable riches of Christ. And he's filled with
these royal dainties. And he's filled with the fullness
of God. And Christ, he's the King of
Kings. And oh, what blessed dainties
he gives us. I thought he gave us some this
morning. Gave me some. I don't know what he gave you,
but he gave me some. Royal and he's a prince. He's a king. Everything from
him has to be royal. Oh my. And he gives out of his
fullness to others. To others. And now look what
he says here about Naphtali. Here's the leaven, son. 9th Psalm, excuse me. Now Tali
is a hind let loose. He give us goodly words. Boy,
these fellas here just said one lines about it. And that Tali
means joyful, active, zealous. And it said he's a hind. You
know a hind is a deer. A hind is the same thing as a
deer. And then it says that he's let
loose. He's free. And He knows He's
free. Who sets free is free indeed. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has set you free. And look what it says, He gives
goodly words. Oh my. He gives goodly words. Cheerful man, kind man. And He
gives good words. Good words, cheerful words, encouraging
words. Words about Christ, words about
His person, words about His work. All these things are good words,
goodly words. And I'll tell you, all my goodly,
goodly words, cheerful man, kind, gives good words, words of Christ. Words about His blessed person.
I was talking about it yesterday. How in the world can Christ be
God on a cross? And how can God turn His back
on His Son, who is God? And our Lord said in John chapter
1, excuse me, John chapter 3, He said, I'm in heaven and I'm
here at the same time. He said, I'm there and here at
the same time. Now you explain that. Those are
good words, but how do you explain? You know it's a good word that
God made Christ to be sinned. Who knew no sin. How that Christ
could bear sin on the cross and He Himself, not sin, taint His
holy soul in no way. How can one man bear all the
sins of a multitude of people that no man can number and at
the same time never ever have sin taint his holy soul in any
way? That's good words. What does
that make us do? Stand up to absolute wonder and
awe. at the Lord Jesus Christ. How
can it be? How can it be that thou, my God,
should die for me? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? Depths of mercy, can there be
mercy still reserved for me? Oh, He gives goodly words. Goodly
words. We may not get a good word from
a lot of people. But we'll get good words from
our master. He gives us good words, good words. And look what
it says about Joseph here now. Oh, Joseph, look what it says
about Joseph. Joseph is a fruitful bow or bow,
limb, branch, even a fruitful bow by a whale whose branches
run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved
him and shouted him and hated him, but his bow bowed in strength
and the arms of his hand were made strong by the hands of the
mighty God of Jacob. And then in parentheses, and
this tells us from Jacob comes, from this 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 lie
thunder, blessings of the breast, blessings of the womb, the blessings
of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors
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 brother. Oh my, here's a man, look at
all the things that Jacob said about Joseph. He said he's a
fruitful branch by well. He's planted by well and they
bring forth his fruit in his season. And oh, he's fruitful. He is fruitful. Oh, so fruitful. Our Joseph is so fruitful. He
said, our Lord Jesus Christ said that he's the vine, we're just
the branches and we bring forth fruit only by him. And he's by
a whale, I mean he himself is the whale. And he says there
that the archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and
hated him. Oh my, they drawed back their bows. They hated Joseph. They persecuted Joseph. Why did
they persecute Joseph? Because he was righteous and
they were. He said, you're going to bow down to me. And they said,
we're not going to do it. But look what it says. Oh, they
grieved him, shot at him. They hated him. They hated our
master without a cause. But his bow, a bow in strength. He got down into Egypt. And oh,
listen, he was made The one over there that's going to save his
brethren. And the arms of his hands were made strong. How were
they made strong? By the mighty God of Jacob. That's how his hands were made
strong. How does anybody have any strong hands? Hands to do
anything. But by the mighty God of Jacob.
And from him, from Jacob, comes the shepherd, the stone of Israel. And look at the blessings that's
going to be on him. The Almighty, even the God of
thy father, shall help thee. He's going to be your help. From whence cometh my help? My
help cometh from the hills, from the Almighty. And by the Almighty,
he shall bless thee with blessings above. God's going to open heavens
and bless you, Joseph. And I tell you what, all of our
blessings come from above. In Christ is all spiritual blessings
from heavenly places. And all, listen, he said they're
going to come from above, going to come down from the Father.
And they're going to come, he said, I'm going to make the,
I'm going to bring blessings up from the deep. I'm going to
bring blessings up out of the deep for you. He brings blessings
out of these deep trials for us and these deep, dark waters
that we have to go through sometimes. And then blessings of the breast.
God, He nourishes us and takes care of us and of the womb. He
said, I'll bless you to bring forth children and blessings.
And all listen to what He says. All blessings is going to rest
on Him to the utmost bounds. And He says in the blessings
of thy Father, the blessings of our Father have prevailed
above all the blessings of any blessings that I've ever had
and these will go unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. All the blessings that God has
is in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. All the blessings
Bound, there's no bounds to the blessings to the everlasting
hills. And listen to this, they're going
to be on the head of Joseph, going to be on the head of our
Lord Jesus Christ, on the crown of him. And listen to this, that
was shepherded from his brethren. He was made like unto his brethren. Made like unto his brethren.
And I tell you, our Lord Jesus Christ called us brethren. And
then look at the last one, Benjamin. The last one, Benjamin, verse
27. And Benjamin shall ravine as
a wolf, prowl like a wolf, a warrior,
a soldier. In the morning, he'll go all
night and he'll have some prey and he'll devour that prey. He's
a warrior. And at night, he'll take what
he's got. And he'll divide the spoil. He'll
catch the prey. He'll go around as a wolf and
he'll catch the prey morning and night. Morning and night,
he'll have prey. Morning and night, he'll divide
it. Morning and night, whatever he does, he's going to be successful
at it. Morning and night, he's ready
to go and do whatever and fight and be successful at it. So Joseph,
Jacob makes all these, he said, I come gather your sons, gather
around me. I'm going to tell you what's
going to befall you in the last days. This is the way you're
going to be because of your character. Because of your character, what
you've done and how you've acted, this is what's going to happen
to you. This is the way you're going to be. Our Father, in the blessed name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, I thank you for your abundant
mercy and grace given us in Christ. I thank you for your great patience,
your great love, your great compassion. I thank you for your great long-suffering. I thank you for bearing with
me. All these many, many years, I thank you for bearing with
me. I thank you for being patient and long-suffering with me. Patient
and long-suffering with you people. And Lord, I thank you for the
righteousness and the blessings that you've given us in your
blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. Good night and
God bless you.