Deuteronomy chapter 33. We begin here in verse 1 again,
and let me just remind you, this is the blessing. We're with Moses,
the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death. And then he goes down here in
verses 6, and he begins to pronounce a blessing upon each tribe. And
he said, let Reuben live and not die. and let not his men
be few." And then he goes to Judah. We looked last week at
Judah. This is the blessing of Judah. And then of course he
goes on in verse 8 to Levi. And then in verse 12 to Benjamin. And then verse 13 to Joseph. And we are going to look tonight
at the blessing of Joseph before we go back next week to look
at the blessing that he pronounced upon Levi. But he begins here
with Reuben and then he goes to Levi. But here is something
you are very telling. I think we can learn from it.
And I want you to hold Deuteronomy right quick. And I want you to
look back to Genesis chapter 49 right quickly. Because this wasn't the first
time that blessings had been pronounced upon the children
of Israel. Jacob, their dad, just before
he died, he pronounced blessings upon most of them. But here is
the difference between Moses' last words and prophecies and
Jacob's last words and prophecies to them. Just before Jacob died,
you are in Genesis chapter 49 and look here in verse 3. Genesis chapter 49 and verse
3. Reuben, now that is his firstborn.
Thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength,
the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. That's
what he should have been anyway because he was the firstborn.
But look what Jacob, his dad, says about him. Unstable as water,
thou shalt not excel, because thou wentest up to thy father's
bed, when then defilest thou it, He went up to my couch. Now he's speaking about Jacob's
concubine that Reuben went up to her in a sexual way. And Jacob
now is pronouncing the curse upon him. And not only him, but
look in verse 5. Simon, Simeon and Levi are brethren. Instruments of cruelty, violence
are in their habitation. O my soul, come not thou unto
their secret, unto their assembly, mine honor. Be not thou united,
for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will
they digged down a wall. Curse be their anger, for it
was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide
them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel, these two brothers,
to avenge their sister. They kill some people, tore down
the town, you remember that, because of their sister and done
some cruel things. But it's sort of telling and
amazing when Moses comes over here now, he says nothing about
these curses. He doesn't say, you remember
Simon and Levi and Reuben how your father was angry with you
way back yonder four hundred and something years ago and pronounced
the curse upon the tribes? It doesn't say a thing about
that. He says here, let Reuben live and not die. Let not his
men be few. And then he goes ahead in verse
8 and blesses Levi, pronounces a great blessing upon him. Now,
how can we learn anything from that? Well, these things point
us to spiritual things. They point us to the Gospel age
and to the blessings that's in Jesus Christ the Lord. And we're
to learn from this that there was a time when you and I were
cursed. When our first father fell, he
cursed us all, didn't he? And we were cursed by the law. And we were cursed because of
our sins. That's the way we were born into
this world. But that cursing has been reversed,
hasn't it? The cursing has been taken away
and replaced by a blessing. In Adam all are cursed. In Adam
all die. But in Christ shall all be made
alive. In Christ are all blessed. And that's what we learn from
this. It seems like Jacob represents to us the justice of God. and
pronouncing judgment upon them because of their sins. But here
Moses was pronouncing what is given a man in Jesus Christ. He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. You were far off. You were far
from God, far from righteousness. But in Christ Jesus, you are
made now. So the blessing comes and eliminates
the curse and reverses the curse and takes the place of the curse. But something else here, I was
reading Matthew and Henry concerning this. I noticed that one of the
tribes here in our blessing in our text in chapter 33 of Deuteronomy,
one of the tribes is completely left out. You never see Simon
in there. And some commentator says that
it fulfilled the prophecy of Jacob I'll scatter you and Jacob."
And so on. And they were basically eliminated. But I think Matthew Henry had
a good take on this too. And he said, these are all blessings. But they're sovereign blessings.
They're gracious blessings. And if God is pleased to leave
anybody out, they can't complain. And if he's not pleased to reverse
the curse with Simon and leave Simon out, then Simon can't complain. He's getting just what he deserves.
That may sound harsh, but there's some truth unto that, isn't there?
Shall I not do what I will with my own? If these blessings could
be earned, if they could be merited, and then the Lord left anybody
out, then they might have to complain about it. But they're
free. and they are gracious blessings.
And they are blessings that reverse the curse sins. I think when
we see that all the blessings that God has for a sinner is
in Jesus Christ and they are gracious blessings and they are
sovereign blessings, then I think probably we will look at the
blessings as they are more precious. They are more precious because
they are gracious blessings. then we'll realize the merits
of Christ is more precious because it's through Him that all of
these blessings come to us. I thought Matthew and Henry had
a very good take on this. And I want us to look tonight
at the blessings that was pronounced here upon Joseph just for a few
minutes. They begin here in verse 13. Let's bypass Levi right now
and go back to him just a little bit later, but let's look in
verses 13 and verse 17 right quickly, and I want you to look
at it this way. Joseph is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such a beautiful picture of Christ.
We see Christ all through the Old Testament. Sometimes we see
Him in other people. What happened to other people?
And we see Him in Joseph. Joseph was his father's favorite
son. He had him in his older age,
He made him a coat of many colors and he loved Joseph. He was beloved
of his father just like Christ was beloved of his father. But
he was hated of his brother and he was betrayed of his brother
and sold. And they took him down to Egypt
and there he was falsely accused. and probably whipped. They hurt
His feet in the stock. But out of that dungeon that
He was in, He was exalted to the throne. Now we can see Christ
in that so plainly, can't we? So plainly. And as we look at
these blessings here bestowed upon Joseph, we see these blessings
that's in Christ. We don't look at them as just
temporal blessings. I'm sure that these things came
to pass in the tribe of Joseph. They all came to pass. But we
look at these as being spiritual blessings, eternal blessings,
heavenly blessings, and that's why they're written for our learning
that you and I might profit from them today. And look what he
says in verse 13. Look what he says. And Joseph,
and of Joseph, he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land for the
precious things of heaven. for the dew and for the deep
that crouches beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth
by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the
precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things
of the earth and the fullness thereof, and for the good will
of him that dwelt in the bush. Let the blessings come upon the
head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was
separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling
of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns.
With them he shall push the people unto the ends of the earth. And
they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands
of Manasseh." Now one of the ways that Moses describes these
blessings here is precious. Did you notice the time he called
them precious? There in verse 13, the precious
things of heaven, that's the way he describes these blessings,
the precious things of heaven. And then in verse 14, the precious
fruits brought forth by the sun and for the precious things put
forth by the moon. And then verse 15, for the precious
things of the lasting hills. And then verse 16, for the precious
things of the earth and the fullness thereof. And these blessings
cover every aspect of life and beyond, from the height of heaven
to the depth that was beneath, to the blessings of the day,
that's the sun, the blessings of the night, that's the moon,
from the past, the ancient mountains, to the future, the Leicester
Hills, and to the earth and the fullness thereof. And Moses said
in verse 17, ìThese blessings will abide upon him to the very
ends of the earth.î Now those are spiritual blessings, precious,
precious blessings that come through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know when we read about the blessings of Christ, we read
about His promises. What does the Bible say about
His promises? We have exceeding great and precious
promises. What does it say about His blood?
It is His precious blood, redeemed us from our sin. What does it
say about Him? To you who believe, He is precious. So these precious things are
the blessings that come to the church of God by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He says here, Let these blessings
come upon the head of Joseph. And you and I could say this,
Let these blessings come upon the head of Christ according
to the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush. I love the
way that says that, don't you? The good will of Him that dwelt
in the bush. You remember who dwelt in the
bush when the bush was on fire and He told Moses to pull your
shoes off the place where you stand is holy ground. And He
said, What's your name? And he said, I am the eternal,
all-sufficient God. And He has a good will. And Moses
meant right here by that. He's not stingy with his blessings.
He doesn't hoard his blessings up. He gives them freely. The
blessings of heaven and the blessings of the earth, the past blessings
from ancient ills in the past to future, he's free with his
blessings. It's his good pleasure to give
you the kingdom, the goodwill of him that dwells in the bush.
You remember when the angels announced the birth of Christ. Remember how they announced it.
Peace on earth and goodwill. God's will. It's a goodwill,
ain't it? Thy will, Lord, be done. And here in verse 13, look
how far-reaching this first blessing is. Look how he describes it. He describes it as far-reaching,
as heaven. Now, that's high, isn't it? That's
high. Joseph, he said, blessed of the
Lord be his land for the precious things of heaven. And notice
how low it went. For the dew and for the deep
that crouches beneath. And in verse 15, notice the length
of these blessings. From the ancient hills, ancient
mountains, from the past. I don't know how old the ancient
mountains are, do you? They're at least as old as the
earth, aren't they? God made them in the beginning. Lasting
hills, how long is the hills going to last? We don't know
as long as this world, but that's a big lamp, ain't it? And that's
the blessing. From way back yonder to way out
yonder, that's the blessing. And he said here in verse 16,
notice the width of them, the breadth of them. The fullness
of the earth. The earth and the fullness thereof. Now that's wide, isn't it? The
earth is very wide in our eyes. I have no idea how wide it is.
They might know. They probably got it measured
by now. But I tell you what, it's wide in our eyes. So here
you have the height, you have the depth, you have the length,
and you have the width of these blessings, of these wonderful
blessings of God that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Holy
Spirit puts these measurements in Scripture to show us how far
reaching the blessings of God are. upon His people. How high
is the mercy of God? The Scripture often uses this,
Thy mercy, O God, is in the heavens. Now that's high, that's high
mercy. And thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds. In Ephesians
chapter 3, you'll remember this, Paul is speaking of the love
of Christ. And he was praying for the Ephesian
elders in the Ephesian church. And he said, this is what I'm
praying for. that you may be able to comprehend,
to grasp fully with all the saints what is the breadth, and the
length, and the depth, and the height, and to know the love
of Christ which passeth knowledge." What do you want them to know
about the love of Christ? The depths of it, and the height
of it, and the breadth of it, and the length of it. But what
did he want them to know about it? He wanted them to know this,
that it passes their knowledge. That it was so deep and high
and broad and wide, they couldn't even comprehend it. That's our
problem sometimes, isn't it? We think we can grasp these blessings,
but we put such a shallowness to them. And it's because of
our little shallow minds that we don't understand. These things
are so deep and wide and long. And the love of Christ is incomprehensible. And the greatest knowledge that
you and I can come to of Christ's love is this, Lord, it passeth
my knowledge. It passeth my knowledge. When
Jacob wanted to encourage Joseph just before he died in blessing
him, this is the way he blessed Joseph. The God of thy fathers
shall help thee. God shall help thee. and the
Almighty shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above."
Now that's high, isn't it? "...and the blessings of the
deep that lieth under." So there's the way the Holy Spirit tells
us to measure the blessings of God to His church, to His people
by these great lengths, these great measurements. Why does
He emphasize the height of these blessings. Why does He emphasize
that they reach unto heaven? Well, it is for this reason,
to encourage them against their enemies. The children of Israel
were going into the land of Canaan. And you remember the kind of
people that they saw there when they sent the spies? They said,
those people are taller than we are. They are giants. And the cities are walled up
to heaven. Those are huge people. And we're going to have to do
battle with these giants. And these giants are standing
between us and our inheritance. And to gain our inheritance,
we're going to have to defeat them. And you know how discouraged
they got by facing those giants? I have seen some men well over
7'2", and I tell you what, That's tall, ain't it? And can you imagine when a man
like that gets healthy and built up to facing somebody like that? There was giants, we're told,
in Noah's day. There was giants in the earth
in Noah's day. And there's no telling how big
those fellas was. And you know that while poor Noah was hammering
on that ark, that some giants come around and stirred him down
and tried to make him afraid. And remember little David when
he was going to visit his brethren? And he found the whole army just
shaking, huddled together? What's the matter with you fellows?
Well, he found out when he looked across the valley, there's this
huge giant standing over there with a shield and a sword in
his hand saying, send me somebody out here to fight with me. And
it scared them to death. They're giants. And the reason
Moses was telling them here about these blessings of God that was
to be upon them that would reach highest to heaven because they
needed to know that His mercy and His grace and His power and
His faithfulness was over these giants. These giants were tall,
but were they taller than His blessings? Were they taller than
His power and His grace and His goodness? No, they weren't, were
they? How could David so confidently
go out to face that giant when that giant was saying, come
to me and I'm going to feed you to the birds of the air? And
my dog, he said that you'd come to me with that old stave. And
David said, I am going to feed you to the fowls of the air.
How could He be so confident with nothing in His hand but
a sling and five smooth stones? You remember what He said? I
come to you in the name of the Lord God of Israel. Our chapter right here, we'll
get to it sometime, down here in verse 26, There is none like
unto the God of Israel, who rideth upon the heavens for thy help. Now that's pretty high if you're
riding on the heavens. And if you're riding there for our help,
then they know heights any higher than Him, is there? He's the
height of heights. And you and I fight against giants
today, do we not? We have giants to oppose us,
don't we? We sure do. The Apostle Paul
said it like this. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness.
And where are they? in high places. They are in heavenly
places right where you and I sit. They are called the God of this
world and the rulers of the darkness of this world. And boy, Satan
brags about it too, doesn't he? He is a bragger. He is a roaring
lion. I will set my throne, he said,
above the stars of heaven. I am a high one, he said. I am
a mighty one. And he brags about that. And
sometimes he frightens us, doesn't he not? He sure does. He shouldn't brag too quickly
because the Lord Jesus said, I beheld him as lightening fall.
The higher you get sometimes, the deeper you fall, isn't it? The Bible says that our Lord
and our Savior is exalted above the kings of the earth and that
He is far above all principalities and powers and might in every
name that is named, not only in this world but in the world
that is to come. And God has given Him a name
that is above every name. And everything is under His feet. Everything? Everything? Then if He is that high and if
He is for us, then greater is He that is for us than He that
is against us. So John the Baptist says this
about the Lord Jesus, He that cometh from above is above all. He that cometh from above is
above all. So these principalities and powers
that we do battle with, they may be high, but they are not
higher than our Master. They are not higher than our
dear and blessed Lord. There is nobody higher than Him. All of our enemies, one dear
man says, can be measured as to their power and their height. All of them can be measured.
But you cannot measure our Lord. He is too high. Job said this,
Can thou by searching find out God? Can you find out the Almighty
to perfection? Have we fully comprehended Him
and His goodness and His grace and His love? Well, we haven't
Have we grasped the greatness of His saving virtues? No. Have
we fully realized His covenant and mercies? We haven't, have
we? Oh, we've got a hold of them.
Thank God we've got a hold of them, but just a little bit.
Job said, can you by searching find Him out to perfection? The
next verse he said this, it's as high as heaven. What can you do? Deeper than
hell, what can you know? That's our God and His blessings
and His mercies and goodness in Christ to His people. And
that's meant to encourage you and I as we face these giants,
this opposition, these principalities and powers that we wrestle with. Paul talks of something else
that opposes us. He says it in 2 Corinthians.
Let's turn over there and read that right quick. This is just
me quoting that. Turn over in 2 Corinthians chapter
10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Look here what he says. Here's
another height that opposes you and me. Look in verse 3. 2 Corinthians
10 and verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds." What are those strongholds? Verse 5, "...casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ." What is this imagination, casting
down imagination? Well, that is carnal reasoning
of men when they reason against God. They reason against His
sovereignty. They reason against His providence.
They reasoned against Christ and His grace and His gospel. They opposed Him and opposed
His people. And Paul said, we cast them down. We pull them down. And these
thoughts, did your thoughts ever run so wild that you can't stop
them? You ever have that problem? You
get these thoughts in your mind And sometimes it may be thoughts
of greed. Sometimes it may be thoughts
of lust. Sometimes it may be thoughts of anger. And they get
in there, these thoughts, and you can't, with any carnal weapon,
pull those thoughts down. You can't bring them into check.
Sometimes I've been so overwhelmed with some ungodly thoughts or
some anger or some other thing that I knew was contrary to the
will of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I had difficulty pulling
those things down. And it only comes through the
mighty power of God and His grace in us. These imaginations, these
reasonings of men that oppose the Lord, they're enemies of
the cross of Christ. I was on the computer. It's been
quite some time ago. But I know we'll forget this.
Never have I been affected by somebody's preaching like I was
affected by this man's preaching. He was a Jewish rabbi and he
was presenting an argument of how false the Apostle Paul was. The apostles in Jerusalem had
the Gospel. They had the Gospel of Christ
and it was a Gospel made up of grace and ceremonies, grace and
the law. And he said that's what God's
will for God's will was to save men by. He was pleading that
old pharisaical thing about you've got to believe in Christ. We
can't be saved without believing in Christ, but we have to be
circumcised and keep the law of Moses. These feast days and
Sabbath days and so on. That was the Pharisees what they
pleaded. But he went ahead to say that the Apostle Paul was
a heretic. that he did not even agree with
those apostles there at Jerusalem. And he got in his head that we
were saved by the grace of Christ. And buddy, I am telling you for
just a few minutes to me sitting there, you talk about twisting
my brain and turning me upside down. He did. He really did. And it scared me. I thought to
myself, after the Lord got me through this, He comes. Well,
how was it the church of old says He comes leaping up on the
mountains? I hear the voice of the Lord
leaping up on the mountains and skipping up on the hills. That's
the way He came to my rescue. Christ comes leaping up on this
mountain, this high place, and delivered me by His Word. But
I thought about those poor Galatians. Man, no wonder those fellows
deceived them. No wonder they convinced them
that Paul is a heretic. They didn't even have the New
Testament. And I did. And that's what Paul said. These
imaginations, these carnal reasoning of men that oppose God and oppose
the Gospel of Christ. And they present another way
of salvation. He said here to cast them down,
pull them down. But you know the only way to
do it is by this power and these blessings and this grace that
is higher than these high things. Aren't you glad? Boy, I tell
you, I was glad that day. I was glad that day that there
was something higher. Something higher. And that was
the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ coming, speaking to me through
His Word. And I tell you what He said,
My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me. When I come leaping
upon the hills, They'll hear me. I think Satan is so bold. I really think he's so bold.
If he was allowed to, he'd go up to heaven and try to convince
those holy angels of a lie. Don't you? If the Lord let him. That's how bold he is. But Paul
said, cast him down. When you see him working in somebody's
mind and all this carnal reasoning, he said, cast him down. But how
do we do that? Well, these blessings. this grace,
this power that is in heaven. That is how high it is. And lastly
and quickly this, we learn to appreciate these blessings in
Christ and how far reaching they are, even as high as heaven,
when we consider how low we are in ourselves and how even lower
we are going to be before we leave this world because they
are going to finally put our bodies in the grave, aren't they?
We're low. And I tell you what, the older
I get and the more I know of grace and the Lord, don't it
make you feel lower in yourself? It just brings you lower and
brings you lower. He must increase and I must decrease. And we feel in ourselves, oh
my soul, how is such a fellow as I to be brought up to heaven
someday? Do you ever think about that?
How high is heaven? That's pretty high, ain't it?
How are you going to get up there? They tried to make a ladder back
in the Tower of Babel, but they'd have never got through outer
space with it if they got up that high. I know how Enoch got
up there. The Lord took him. I know how
Elijah got up there. A big church swept down and took
him up there. I know how Lazarus, poor Lazarus,
he's in heaven. But the angels wrapped Him up,
bore Him up to heaven, and the Lord Jesus, He got up there.
But the Bible says they carried Him. He was carried up to heaven.
But how in the world are you going to get there? And how in
the world am I going to get there? Well, that's what these blessings
are about. These precious, precious promises that reach into things
that's in heaven. God never promised a blessing.
I don't care how high it is. that He couldn't fulfill. And
you may seem low, and you may be low, but if He has promised
you heaven, then He'll bring you up there. He'll bring you
to heaven. Paul said to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord. I've got a desire to depart
this life and to be with Christ, which is forbidden. But Paul,
how are you going to get up there? That's his business who promised,
isn't it? If He has to, He'll come and get me Himself. Or He'll
send His angels to wrap me up and take me to heaven. But if
He promised it, I don't care how high it is, He'll fulfill
His promise. The Lord Jesus said, If I go
and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive you
to Myself, that where I am, and where is He? He's in heaven,
isn't He? Well, there you'll be also. That's
a high promise. and this to some lowly people.
But I believe it, don't you? And that's why He gives us these
things to measure. We measure our enemies, and sometimes
they're high like giants, but He's higher than our enemies.
And His blessings and His grace is greater than our enemies.
Let me finish this by quoting a passage over in Isaiah 40,
verse 27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob? Why
do you speak this, O Israel? My way is hid from the Lord,
and my judgment is passed over from my God. Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth,
fainteth not? Neither is weary. There is no
searching of his understanding. He gives power to the faint,
and to them that have no might He increases strength. Even the
youth shall faint and be weary, the young men shall utterly fail,
but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They
shall mount up with wings as eagles." What does he mean by
that? It means they get hold of these
promises by faith and they are taken up with them above their
enemies and above the warfare. They shall run and not be weary
and they shall walk. and not faint. The blessings.
Next week the Lord's willing, we'll look at the depths. He not only blessed him with
the blessings of heaven, but blessed him with those blessings
that crouch underneath, hidden underneath. We'll look at that
next week. David, would you dismiss