Genesis chapter 48, and we're
going to read from verse one. And we're reading about Jacob
and Joseph. And it came to pass after these
things that one told Joseph, behold, thy father is sick. And he took with him his two
sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one told Jacob and said,
behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee. And Israel strengthened
himself, and sat upon the bed. 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 are born unto thee in the land of Egypt,
before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine. as Reuben 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
Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way. when yet there was but a little
way to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath. The same is Bethlehem.' And Israel
beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these? And Joseph said
unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me
in this place, And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and
I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim
for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near
unto him, and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel
said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and, lo, God
hath shewed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from
between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the
earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand towards
Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's
right hand, and brought them near unto him. And Israel stretched
out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was
the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding
his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed
Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
did walk, and 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 when Joseph saw that his
father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased
him. And he held up his father's hand
to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph
said unto his father, 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 shall become a people,
and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall
be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day,
saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee
as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph,
Before I die, but God shall be with you and bring you again
unto 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. Amen, may the
Lord bless to us this reading from his word. As Jacob's life neared its end,
the old man called for his son Joseph to visit him, which Joseph
was happy to do, and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh
and Ephraim. And as they talked together,
Jacob recounted some of the blessings which God Almighty had blessed
him with. And he reminisced with Joseph
about his mother Rachel, Jacob's wife, whom Jacob loved. Rachel was his only true wife. Jacob was now anticipating his
death for we're told that he was sick and he wished to set
his affairs in order and to find a way of honouring Joseph. As they talked together, Jacob
made it clear that it was his will to adopt Joseph's two sons
as his own and this was a way of granting them greater status
amongst the tribes of Israel. So that while we talk about the
12 sons of Jacob as being the 12 tribes of Israel, in actual
fact we don't read very much or speak very much about the
tribe of Joseph among all the tribes of Israel. But we read
of Ephraim and Manasseh as two distinct tribes in their own
right. More, it's shown here that the
blessing of the firstborn is taken away from Reuben, who was
technically the firstborn child of Jacob, and it is given to
Joseph, who was really the firstborn of the true wife, Rachel. Reuben had acted wickedly and
now Jacob purposefully bestows upon Joseph and, as we shall
see in a moment, Ephraim, the younger of Joseph's sons, the
blessing that he himself had inherited from Isaac and from
Jacob. And it's interesting to note
that this displeased Joseph that Ephraim should have the blessing
before Manasseh. And here again we can see how
God's purpose in the lines of this blessing overrode that which
men would naturally want to do or to bequeath or to have recognised. God's purpose in all of these
matters was being fulfilled and his will was done. There are three interesting points
that I wish to mention just as we move through this chapter.
And the first one is this, that Jacob remembered God's covenant
promise and his faith in that covenant promise when he called
the Lord God Almighty. We see that Jacob talked much
with Joseph about the things that had happened to him in years
gone by and how God had met him and how God had promised blessing
to him. And he recounted these things
both in the hearing of Joseph and in the hearing of Ephraim
and Manasseh. And he calls God, God Almighty. God Almighty is a wonderful name
for the Lord. Sometimes we speak about God
as being omnipotent. or all-powerful, and that's just
the same as saying that he is God Almighty. He is mighty to
do whatever he wishes to do. There's nothing that God cannot
do except those things that are contrary to his very nature and
himself. He was Jacob's Almighty God. and he is our Almighty God if
we have faith as Jacob had faith in this Holy One. The second
thing I want to draw to your attention is that Jacob here
speaks of the angel that redeemed me from all evil and this again
is a truly remarkable phrase and statement for Jacob to make. It's an amazing name that he
refers to here. Jacob's not talking about a created
angel, one of the many angels that God created, but he is talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And sometimes in scripture, the
Lord Jesus Christ is called an angel because an angel is really
just a messenger. And if the Lord Jesus Christ
was fulfilling the role of a messenger in any particular office, then
it was quite appropriate to take the name of angel or to take
the name of messenger. And that's what Jacob is referring
to here. He is speaking about the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the angel of the covenant, the
angel that redeemed me from all evil. Jacob knew that his sins,
though they were many, were forgiven and he knew that his sins were
dealt with and taken away by this messenger or this minister
or this angel that redeemed me. and really it's a remarkable
phrase because that redemptive work was the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ and even in this passage we can see that Jacob
talks about Bethlehem as being the place where Rachel died and
was buried and that is the very place where the Lord Jesus Christ
many years in the future would be born. that would come to redeem
Jacob and all God's people, all God's covenant people from their
evil. It is by dying that the Lord
Jesus Christ cleanses his people from all their sin and from all
unrighteousness so that the Lord Jesus Christ truly is the angel
that redeems from all our evil. And by talking of the angel and
by introducing Joseph's sons, remember he's speaking here to
Joseph and those two boys that were with Joseph. By speaking
to Joseph's sons, in this way he is telling them his history
and the history of the patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac, and about
the promises and about the covenant and about their role and their
inheritance in this great covenant work. Jacob is passing on the
true gospel of the coming of the Messiah that they had faith
to look forward to. and that would be passed down
through the generations of the children of Israel. And how do
we know that Jacob understood all this? Because the book of
Hebrews tells us in chapter 11 and verse 21 that it was by faith
that Jacob, when he was a dying, and that is referring to this
incident here, by faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed
both the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. And it's that point that I want
to just finish our thoughts with today. It tells us here that
it was by faith. The book of Hebrews tells us
it was by faith that Jacob blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped. By faith. Jacob was a believer. He worshipped, leaning upon his
staff, his stick, because he hadn't the strength any longer
to hold himself up. Let us never forget this deep
spiritual current that flowed through the lives of these men
and women. They worshipped God in faith
They sacrificed in faith according to God's pattern and thereby
they foreshadowed the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lamb of God, who would redeem them from their sins. They understood
these things. Some of you who are younger,
Perhaps you wonder about your own faith. And maybe you feel
a little bit like Ephraim and Manasseh. Let me just say something. These weren't babies. These boys
were probably around about 20 years of age. We know that 17
years had passed and Jacob was in Egypt. And these boys were
born before Jacob came down to Egypt and he was in Egypt for
17 years before he died. So these boys were at least 17
and probably a few years older than that. Some of you are that
age as well. Some of you perhaps not quite
that age. But maybe you feel a little bit
like Ephraim and Manasseh. With all of this talk about history
and covenants and your parents and your grandparents and all
of this gets laid on you. And you think, perhaps I just
believe these things because my parents have taught me about
these things. And you wonder, do I really believe
it for myself? Let me tell you, it is good for
you to be taught these truths. it is good for you to know these
truths. Abraham taught them to Isaac,
and Isaac taught them to Jacob, and Jacob taught them to Ephraim
and Manasseh. Not every child of Israel believed
the truths that they were taught, and not every child of Christian
parents believes the gospel that they are taught. Everyone must
come to faith personally. We don't get faith from our parents. We get information. We get guidance. But we have to believe ourselves. And faith is a gift from God. However, God uses means and methods
to bring us to faith. And you are blessed, as I was
blessed, to have godly parents who, like Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob, have taught these truths to you, or as the Bible calls
it, to the generation following. You are the generation following
and you have been taught these truths and it's a blessing to
you. And I trust that you will come
to that point where you realise that you believe these things
for yourself. It is my hope that you all will
come to believe the truth of the gospel for yourselves and
that the Lord will bestow faith upon you. If that has not happened
yet, and until that happens, you cannot do better than waiting
upon the Lord, listening to the gospel by the preacher as it
is preached or from your parents, and ask the Lord for grace to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to believe in the angel.
that redeems from all evil. May it be so. Amen.