In Genesis 46 the LORD spoke to Jacob in the visions of the night, and he commanded him to go down to Egypt. Generations later, no doubt, there were those who wondered at this. Enslaved by Pharaoh and oppressed for hundreds of years it would have been easy to wonder, “why is God letting this happen?” “Why did God send us here?”
As we have over and over again throughout Genesis God's timing is not like ours! We think that a few weeks of suffering is too much. A minor setback is more than we can handle.
We need to remember the deeds of the LORD. His ways are not our ways. And his thoughts are not our thoughts. We would fix everything and make it right right now. But that is not God's way.
Genesis 46-47 go together, but unlike the previous four chapters, it is not essential to cover both in the same sermon!
At the beginning of chapter 46 God promises Jacob, “I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again…” At the end of chapter 47, Jacob makes Joseph swear to bury his bones in the Promised Land.
The second point in chapter 46 is about the offspring of Jacob that came down to Egypt. The next to the last point in chapter 47 is about how Egypt bowed to the offspring of Jacob.
And the third point of chapter 46 (and the third from the last point at the beginning of chapter 47) we hear of how Jacob's family is settled in the land of Goshen.
Which means that the appearances of Joseph and his brothers and Jacob before Pharaoh is at the heart of this passage.
But we're only going to tackle the first half of this today!
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