Good evening. Would you turn
to Genesis 46? I'm going to read these first seven verses
of Genesis 46. And I want you to keep in mind
as we read this passage of scripture. This is God's word to a man by
the name of Jacob. But this is just as much God's
word to every believer. And thirdly, this is the word
of God, the father to his son. Now, keep that in mind as we
look at this passage of scripture together. Verse 1, Genesis 46,
And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to
Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.
And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and
said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he
said, I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not to go down into
Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation, and I
will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring
thee up again, and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.
And Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried
Jacob their father and their little ones and their wives in
the wagons. which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took
their cattle and their goods, which they had gotten in the
land of Canaan, and came into Egypt. Jacob and all of his seed
with him, his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters
and his daughters' sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with
him into Egypt." Now Jacob is an old man at this time, 130
years old. That is an old man. Man. And he is being called upon
at this time in his life to move. Now, can you imagine how that
must have stressed him out? 130 years old. I mean, people
get their security and here he's getting ready to lose all of
his security and move and go into a place that I would dare
say he didn't want to go. The land of Egypt. That would
have been very frightening for him to go through that. But the
Lord speaks to him and comforts him and makes a promise to him
in that passage of scripture I just read. Now, like I said,
I want to have three readings of this brief passage of scripture.
One, God's word to Jacob. God loved Jacob. That's so sweet
to think about. God loved Jacob. And this is
also God's word to every single one of his people. This is God's
word to you. And thirdly, this is God's word
to his son, and I really believe that's the primary meaning of
this passage scripture. Now, first, this is God's word
to Jacob. In verse two, and God spake unto Israel. in divisions
of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob, and he said, Here am I.
God is always speaking in many ways. You know, the creation
right out, look up in the sky, look at the beautiful world we
live in. That speaks, doesn't it? The heavens declare the glory
of God. God is speaking in creation.
God is speaking in your conscience. There's not anybody in here that
doesn't know. that God is. Your conscience
tells you that. You may try to drown it out,
but your conscience won't let you. It keeps saying, you know
better than that that God is. Everybody in here knows there
is such a thing as right and wrong, heaven and hell, and God's
in control. The conscience speaks. We all
know that, but we can't put it out. That's God speaking. But it is so special and blessed
when he speaks to a man personally. And here he speaks to Jacob. God spake to Jacob. And he speaks first to Israel.
Remember, Jacob and Israel are the same person, if we considered
last week. Israel means a prince with God, somebody who had power
with God. And God looks at this man, Jacob,
and he sees him first as Israel. That's why he speaks to him.
He wouldn't speak to him if he didn't see him as Israel. He
sees him as Israel, but when he calls out his name, he says,
Jacob, Jacob. That's his name as a sinner,
a heel. So what does Jacob say? He doesn't
say, what? No, he says, here am I. Verse
three, and he said, now this is God speaking to this old man
at this time who he loved. He says, the God of thy father,
I am God. The God of thy father, the God
of Isaac, the God of Abraham, the same God I was to them, I
am to you. Now, fear not to go down into
Egypt. Now, of course, this move was
making him very nervous. He was an old man, 130. And I
can imagine how intimidated he was at the thought of moving
at 130 years old. And God says, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. If God says
fear not, we have a reason to not fear, don't we? God says
fear not. Because here's what's going to
take place. I will there make of thee a great
nation. You know, millions of people
came through him, the nation of Israel. Most people think
by the time they left Israel, there were several million, at
least two million that left when they went through the Exodus.
He said there in Egypt, I'll make of thee a great nation,
so don't be afraid." He says in verse 4, I will go down with
thee into Egypt. There's the blessing. If he goes
down with me, I don't have any reason to fear, do I? I will
go down with thee to Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee
up again. You're not going to stay there.
And the sting of death is taken away. Joseph shall put his hand
upon thine eyes. Be your son Joseph whom you love
so much. He's going to put His hand on your eyes in death, and
the sting of death is taken away. So Jacob rose up from Beersheban,
and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, and their
little ones, and their wives, and their wagons, which Pharaoh
sent to carry them. They got in the wagons, and they went
down to Egypt, because God said, I'm with you. Don't fear. And
you know, regarding every providential dealing that the Lord sends our
way, it doesn't matter what it is, He says, fear not. I am with
you. Isn't that wonderful? Now, Jacob
is a real person who really experienced all of this, but he is also a
type of every believer. Now, Jacob has two names. Israel, a prince with God, someone
who has power with God, someone who God responds to. When he speaks, God hears. Now,
that's an amazing thing right there, just to think about being
a prince with God, someone who has power with God. And yet that's
the description of every believer, a prince with God because of
our union with Christ. I'm looking at a bunch of kings
and priests and princes. Isn't that amazing? That's who
we are. But not only are we Israel, we're
Jacob. His name means heal, deceiver,
supplanter. And he was a deceitful man. You
look at the history of this man, and it's almost embarrassing.
I mean, everything he got, he got by swindling and deception.
He was a mess. There's no doubt about it. He
was God's child. God loved him. God treated him
as Israel. But he was a mess. Now, this man with these two
names tells me something about myself. I see that I'm an Israel. I'm a prince with God. I have
power with God, and there's one reason, because of the Lord Jesus
Christ, because of my union with Him. I'm a prince with God. But
I'm also a Jacob. I'm also a Jacob. You know, the
Lord could have, in His amazing grace, made it to where I wouldn't
be a Jacob anymore. He could have. But he didn't. I'll stave Jacob until the day
I die. But I know what that does to me. And I bet I know what
it does to you. It keeps you aware of your need
of Jesus Christ. In that sense, it's a blessing
to be a Jacob, isn't it? It keeps me aware of my desperate
need of him. Now the Lord speaks to Jacob
and he says, and this is what he says to every believer, I
am God, the God of thy father. I'm the covenant God. That's
what the God of thy father means. When I was to him, I still am. Now he made a covenant with Abraham,
I'm going to bless you. Through your seed, the entire
earth is going to be blessed. Talking about the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ, I'm going to bless you through Him. Same
covenant He made with Abraham. He makes with Isaac. He makes
with Jacob. He makes with all of His people.
And you know, this is what I'm counting on, His covenant. I'm
counting on the fact that He's the God who never changes. He's
the God of justice, of holiness, of mercy as He reveals Himself
in His Word. And He's made a covenant, the covenant with His Son. And
all my salvation is in that covenant He made with His Son. Now, he
says to Jacob, fear not to go down into Egypt. When he says fear not to go down
into Egypt, and you think of what an awesome thing that was,
it's the same thing as saying, trust me. Trust. Me. Don't be afraid. You're going
to go down to Egypt. You don't know what's going to
happen down there. But here's what you're called upon to do. You're called
upon to trust me. Now, that. Oh, may God give us
grace to do this, to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear not.
Trust him. Trust where he brings you. And,
you know, this thing of going down, fear not to go down. We're every one of us called
to go down, to leave our place of security, to leave our, I
guess you'd call it our comfort zone, what we're comfortable
with. You're to leave that. And we're
called upon to go down. And when you hit the bottom,
go down a little further to where you don't have anything else
to trust but Christ alone. Now, every one of us are called
upon to go down in that sense. The way up in the kingdom of
heaven is down, down to the bottom. where you have nothing in yourself
to trust. And it's there we find out that
we have no reason to fear, because let's see why he says don't fear. And this is what he says to every
believer. He says, fear not to go down to Egypt, leave your
security and go down to this place of vulnerability where
all you've got to trust is me, for I will there make of thee
a great nation. Now, here's where I find out.
that every aspect of salvation is what God does. And that's
where my fear is taken away. He says, fear not, I'll make
of thee a great nation. You know that this word where
he says, I'll make of thee a great nation. The first time that word
is ever used is in Genesis chapter one, verse 26, where God says,
let us make man in our own image. Now, when God says, let us make
man, how much help did man give in it? How much did man cooperate in
it? Not a bit. It was a creative act of God.
He spanked man into existence. I mean, it was a work of almighty
power. It was a work of almighty grace.
Man didn't cooperate in this thing. And here's where my comfort
is. Here's why I'm not afraid. Because salvation from the beginning
to the end is God's work alone. Now, can you rest in that? Can
you find some joy and some peace? Can you go down into Egypt if
salvation is God's work alone? Now, I reckon this is on every
page of Scripture. I don't have any doubt about
it. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, this is why I can go down
into Egypt with confidence. Salvation is of the Lord. Now,
every aspect of my salvation, God chose me. I didn't choose
Him, He chose me. And you know what, I like it
that way. I love it that way. Christ Jesus redeemed me. He
paid for all my sins. They're paid for. They're gone. What do I have to fear if they're
paid for? Christ Jesus paid for my sins. God the Holy Spirit
gave me A new nature, a new heart, a heart to believe, a heart to
repent. The reason I continue in the faith right now, the reason
I love the Lord Jesus Christ right now is He causes me to
by His Spirit. Now, what is there to fear? He
says, fear not to go down into Egypt because it's there that
I'll make of thee a great nation. Now, I'm going to quote a passage
of Scripture that's near and dear to my heart. And this demonstrates
how salvation is His work, how He makes us what we are. Now listen to this. You know
the Scripture. And we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom
He called, them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. Now what shall we say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God to like? It's God that justifies. Who
is He that can condemn? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also makes intercession for us. Now, it's there He will make
a great nation of us. Now, if any aspect of salvation
was dependent upon us, we have plenty of reason to fear. But
none of it is dependent upon us. It's all dependent upon Him.
Therefore, we can truly say there is nothing to fear. God says,
I'll make of thee a great nation. Now, let me show you the scripture
that came to my mind. Turn to Numbers, chapter 22. Numbers 22, I'm going to read
several verses out of numbers 22 and 23. Let's begin reading
in verse 10. Now, you remember that Balaam
could ask Balaam to curse Israel. And we read in verse 10, Balaam
said unto God. And Balaam said unto God, Balaam,
the son of Zipporah, king of Moab, is to me saying, behold,
there's a people come out of Egypt. Remember, this is where
he made this great nation. There's a people come out of Egypt which
covered the face of the earth. Come now, curse me then, for
I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out. And God said
unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them. Thou shalt not curse
the people, for they are blessed. And Balaam rose up in the morning
and said unto the princes of Balaam, Get you into your land,
for the Lord refuses to give me leave to go with you. Now look in chapter 23, verse
7. And he took up his parable and
said, Bailet, the king of Moab, that hath brought me from Aram
out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me, Jacob,
and come defy Israel. How shall I curse whom God hath
not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the
Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks
I see him, from the hills I behold him low. The people shall dwell
alone, this great mighty nation that he made, and they shall
not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob
and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the
death of the righteous, and let my end be like his." Look in
verse 18. And he took up his parable and said, Rise up, Balak,
and hear, hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor. God is not a man
that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent.
Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good? Behold, I received commandment
to bless, and he hath blessed it. I can't reverse it. Listen
to this. And this he says of you. He hath not beheld iniquity
in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord
his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
God brought them out of Egypt, and he hath, as it were, the
strength of the unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment
against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.
According to this time, it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel,
What hath God brought?" Now that's what the message is to God's
people. What security there is. Now fear
not to go down to Egypt. For I will make of thee a great
nation. Now let's go back to our text in Genesis 46. Verse 4. I will go down with
thee into Egypt. And you know there's nowhere
you can go where the Lord doesn't go with you. And I will also
surely Bring thee up again. That's talking about spiritual
resurrection from going down into Egypt. That's talking about
the physical resurrection. I'll surely bring thee up again.
And Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. Now, what he's
talking about there is the sting of death is taken away. Is everybody here afraid to die? Are you scared to die? Well,
I understand that. I certainly understand it. But
you know, if you're a believer, The sting of death is taken away. Your Joseph is going to put his
hand on your eyes and he's going to be with you even in death. And you don't know it now and
you wonder how you're going to handle it. But at that time,
the Lord is going to be with you in such a near and special
way. He's going to put his hand over
your eyes. He's going to cross with you over the River of Jordan. You'll never be alone. You know, the Lord's already
died. He's already gone before you. And you have no reason to
fear death. He's going to put His hand over
your eyes, and He's going to carry you into glory. Everywhere
you go, He's with you. And don't fear. You have no reason
to fear. Isn't it awful, the fears we
have? We ought not to have them. Should you have any fear with
the Lord God on your side? Really, you know, you should.
It's just unbelief. It's Jacob acting up. May God
deliver us from that fear. So the believer gets in the wagon,
that's faith that brings him down to Egypt to wait for the
Lord to bring him up again. The Lord is so merciful toward
us. But here's what I believe the primary teaching of this
text is. I believe that this is Jacob
here is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. When God speaks to Jacob, he's
speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how in the world can Jacob
be a type of Christ when he was such a simple man, when he was
such a weak man, when he's such a deceptive man? How in the world
can he be a type of Christ? Well, I think his name Israel
tells you how he's a type of Christ. Israel, as a prince,
thou hast power with God and you prevail. Jacob is a type
of Christ, as a matter of fact, turn to Psalm 24 for just a moment. Psalm 24. Verse 3. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath
clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul
into vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and the righteousness from the God of his salvation."
Now, it's obviously speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ and
those who are in him. Now, look at verse six. This
is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face. Who? Oh, Jacob. Now, there's the Lord Jesus Christ
himself is called. Jacob. We're not speaking, Jacob
is Jacob, this is talking about seeking the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he so closely identifies with his people that there he
himself is called. Jacob. Now, God, the father is the father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he says to his son, fear not. to go down into Egypt. Now, if you read the Gospels,
you'll know that our Lord actually lived in Egypt. Remember, out
of Egypt have I called my Son? He actually lived in Egypt. But
what this is a reference to more than anything else is the incarnation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He became flesh and He came
into this world, and the Father says to the Son, don't fear.
To go down into Egypt, don't fear to go down into the world.
Now, why would he fear? What was the issue of him fearing
in the first place? Well, knowing what he was going
to experience as the sinner substitute, he had reason to fear. Now. Was the Lord afraid in the Garden
of Gethsemane? Was he scared? You better believe he was. The
Scripture says he was sore amazed and being in agony, he sweat
as it were great drops of blood. Yes, he was afraid because he
knew what he was going to experience. You know, the whole time the
Scripture says he was a man of sorrow. and acquainted with Greece. And he looked evidently older
than he was because they said, you're not yet 50 years old.
Well, he's only 33 when they said that. I think that the stress
of knowing what he was going to go through when he walked
on this planet, he knew he was going to be made to sin. He knew he was going to suffer
the wrath of God. He knew he was going to bear
all the horror of hell. And you can bet he was afraid
in that sense. And when he was in the Garden
of Gethsemane, he was praying, Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Don't let me go through this.
If there's any way this can be avoided, let it be avoided. Was there any way it could be
avoided? Was there any other way God could have saved sinners?
Absolutely not. And that's why He said, nevertheless,
not My will, but Thine be done. Now, the Father says to the Son
as He goes down to Egypt, Fear not, for there I will make
of thee a great nation. And you know, when our Lord went
down into Egypt, when He came into this earth, when He walked
on this earth, when He died on Calvary Street, you know what
God the Father did there? He made of Him a great and a
mighty nation. All of His people were saved
at that time. Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 10? Hold your finger there in John
46, we're going, or Genesis 46, we'll be going right back there,
but I want you to look at this passage in Hebrews 10. Beginning in verse 10. We'll start in verse 9, Then
said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the
first, that he may establish the second, by the which will,
remember he said, I come to do thy will, O God, by the which
will we are sanctified. We are declared to be holy through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. That means it's not something
that has to be repeated or it's a completed action. And every
priest stands at daily ministering, offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, After
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever."
That's what our Lord did on the cross. God the Father says, don't
fear to go down into Egypt. Because it's there that I will
make of thee a great and mighty nation. And that's exactly what
our Lord accomplished on the cross. He made a great and a
mighty nation. Even the salvation of everybody
He died for. I was saved then. I was made
just like Christ then. God pointed at every one of His
people at that very time and said they are holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in my sight. What a great and what a mighty
nation this is. He says in verse four of Genesis
46. Now, remember, this is the father speaking to the son. He says, I'll go down with thee
into Egypt. Oh, how near he was to his son. At all times, while he walked
upon this earth, with the exception of the time he had to forsake
him, how near he was with his son. Can you think when our Lord
was walking on this earth? You reckon every angel, I don't
know how much angels can see, but you reckon every angel in
heaven was watching every movie made? I mean, they were just,
I don't think they had figured out what he was doing there in
the first place, but they were just amazed. Their God is walking down there
as a human being. But you know who else looked
at every movie made? His father. He said, this is
my son. Every move he made, he said,
this is my well-beloved son, the one in whom I'm well pleased. Now, he says, I'll go down with
thee into Egypt. Look what it says next. And I
will also surely bring thee up again. And you know as well as
I do, that speaks of the resurrection of Christ. I will surely. Surely, I love the word surely,
I will surely bring me up again. Why is it so sure? Well, first
of all, because He promised it. And second, because God's justice
demands it. You see, Christ paid the debt.
The debt was paid. If the debt wasn't paid, if sin
wasn't put away, He'd still be dead. But sin was put away by
what He did. I mean, it's gone. My sin's gone. Well, that's a wonderful thing
to think about. So the resurrection of Christ is a must. It sure
because his work is finished. He raised him up and he raised
all of his people up. So even in the face of such.
Horror, look what he says regarding that even the death of his son
and I will go down with him to Egypt and I will also surely
bring the up again and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine
eyes. You know our Lord. You know. that he had a great fear of this
thing of death. I mean, knowing he was going
to be forsaken by his father. Of course, he had a great fear
of that. But I believe I've understood
the Scripture, maybe for the first time, clearly. It's found
in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2, where the writer tells us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. What was the joy? Well, yes,
it was the joy of doing his father's will, but it was also the joy
of saving this sinner talking to you right now. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. And you know, if
you have faith, you know who the author of it is, don't you? And
if you have faith, you know the only way it's going to be perfected,
don't you? I don't have to convince any believer of that. I mean,
you just know it for sure. He's the author and He's the
finisher of our faith. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before Him, endured the cross. despising the shame. Now you
think of the shame he experienced. How ashamed we would be. And
this bothers me about myself so much. I would be so ashamed
if you could see all the thoughts that ran through my heart in
the last 24 hours. I'd be so ashamed I couldn't
I wouldn't be up here. I mean, I said, no way they'd
listen to me. And you're the same way. But isn't it amazing
how we can be so ashamed at the thought of somebody else seeing
our thoughts? God sees them. And it doesn't bother me as much,
does it? That amazes me that we're so
hard hearted in that sense. But you think of the shame. That
the son experienced when he was made sin before the father. Oh,
oh, the shame. See, that sin actually became
his. And oh, the shame that he experienced before his father.
But because of the joy that was set before him, he endured the
cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of
the majesty on high. Jacob, fear not. to go down in God's
providential dealings with you, whatever they may be, He's with
you. Believer, fear not to go down. Fear not to go down to the place
of nothing. Complete vulnerability. Just
nothing. You don't have anyone to trust
but the Lord Himself. Fear not to go down, because
that's where you're going to learn that salvation is what
He does. He makes this great nation. And believer, fear not
to go down to death. You know what the best day of
your life is? The day you die. That's the best day of your life. But I got so many things I want
to experience. Ah, it ain't that much. Fear not. Your Joseph will put
his hand on your eyes, and he'll go with you. And then you will
spend eternity beholding his glory. Now, every believer in
here ought to be looking forward. to death. And if Jesus Christ
really is enough to save you, who he is and what he did, without
anything else, you have nothing to fear, do you? May God give
us grace to fear not. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you for our
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Lord, His name is so precious. His
grace is so precious. His blood is so precious. His person is so precious. Lord,
truly, unto us which believe, He is precious. And Lord, we
delight in Him. Lord, we're so thankful that
You have revealed Thy dear Son to us. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you would give us grace and boldness to preach him in
this generation in which we live. Enable us by your grace to be
witnesses of thy dear son and his glorious resurrection. Bless
this message for the Lord's sake. In his name we pray.