Let's pray the Lord's blessing on our time together in his word, please. Heavenly Father, we thank you for speaking to us, revealing yourself to us. For without the scriptures, we are left in error and darkness, groping around and not knowing what is right, what is wrong, what is true, what is false. And so we pray, Lord, you would help us to recognize that these are not just idle words. They are our life. Help us see and receive them in that way this morning, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Please turn in your Bible to Genesis chapter 48. Genesis chapter 48, verses 1 through 22, the whole chapter. Genesis chapter 48, beginning at verse 1. Genesis chapter 48. This is God's worm. Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, Indeed, your father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And Jacob was told, Look, your son Joseph is coming to you. And Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed. And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me and said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people. and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession. And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. As Reuben and Sibion, they shall be mine. Your offspring, whom you beget after them, shall be yours. They will be called by the name of their brothers and their inheritance. But as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way. when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath. And I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem. Then Israel saw Joseph's sons and said, who are these? And Joseph said to his father, these are my sons whom God has given me in this place. And he said, please bring them to me and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see your face, but in fact God has shown me also your offspring.' So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head. guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. Let my name be named upon them in the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Now, when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. But truly, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. So he blessed them that day, saying, by you Israel will bless, saying, may God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow. May God bless the reading of his infallible word. When we gather here each Sunday morning for worship, we ought to be encouraged to see such a wide spectrum of ages in this room. And each age group is very well represented here among us. At the end of Genesis here, we have come to the end of Jacob's life. I want to ask you, do you remember this passage from Genesis 25? Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord granted his plea. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. But the children struggled together within her. And she said, if all is well, why am I like this? So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb. Two people shall be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red and he was like a hairy garment all over. So they called his name Esau. Afterward, his brother came out and he took hold of Esau's heel. So his name was called Jacob. We've been through a lot with this baby boy, Jacob, haven't we? He and his family have been the main characters of the narrative since Genesis chapter 25. And the book of Genesis is 50 chapters long. And here we are in Genesis 48, 147 years later. As much as all of us in this room get used to seeing each other at our present ages, let us never forget that each of us sitting here has their own story. Every one of us sitting here was once a newborn baby, a toddler, And if we're older than that, we were also teenagers in our 20s, in our 30s, and so on. It is remarkable to consider, isn't it, the passage of time we ourselves have lived through. We see old pictures of our fathers holding us up in the air against the blue sky. And we can see ourselves holding our own children up against the sky. And then we imagine that one day they will do the same thing. They will hold our grandchildren up against the sky. We see pictures like that and our hearts are stirred. And then we look at the young people all around us and we wonder how different they will be in 10 years or 20 years. When I stand here and read the Bible to you and preach to you every Sunday, I look and I wonder which of the young men here will one day read and preach God's word in the same place to my grandkids. Jacob's life has been a difficult road, very difficult, filled with tests and trials. but also with an ever increasing faith in the one true and living God. Jacob loved God, even though he had been limping for a good portion of his life because of God. Can you identify with that? Have you been limping ever since you met him? Jacob was still limping. That hip still didn't work even now. Jacob was a dear man of God. Someone in our congregation shared something with me I wanted to share with you because it was an insight that I missed in my exposition of that passage. where Joseph and Jacob were reunited after being apart for 22 years. I told you that in my assessment, my analysis of the text, that the reason that he wept on his father's neck a good while was because his father, Jacob, was the only person in Joseph's life who really ever loved him. His brothers hated him. His mother died when he was very young. Jacob was all that Joseph ever had. He was the only one that really loved him in his life. But Jacob loved Joseph. But this individual in our church pointed out to me that there was probably a much more profound reason that Joseph wept so hard on his father's neck for so long. And that reason was this. Jacob was the one who taught Joseph about God. How was Joseph able to deal with the trials that he faced in life? Here's the man. who taught me to believe in God, to trust Him no matter what, to worship Him no matter what. Here He is. Not only the only man that ever loved me, but the man who took his time to teach me to cling to his God and the God of my grandfather, Abraham. That makes the scene before us here in the passage all the more special. It's really amazing to consider, my friends, brothers and sisters, no matter how old you are, I want you to think about how much of an impact your life can have on other people. We watched this newborn baby Jacob grow up and become a man. We watched him get married, have children, face economic trials, family trials, marriage trials, security trials. But what has emerged is a man who is ending his days in peace and with great satisfaction and confidence in his family's future. And what we see here is a very touching end to Jacob's life, looking into the face of the son he thought he'd never see again. And having the grand privilege of seeing and blessing, not just him, but his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And not just the privilege of blessing his two sons, but adopting them as his own sons. Let us always remember that this old dying man, Jacob, he once dreamed big dreams of marrying and living happily ever after with Rachel. Some of his dreams came to pass. Others turned into nightmares. But the one constant of Jacob's life was his God, the God of his father, the God of his grandfather, Isaac and Abraham. And if God should favor us, if God should favor you and me, perhaps one day we too will be able to say on our deathbeds to our children, I am dying, but God will be with you. And so let's look at our passage here. I've divided it into three parts for you this morning. Point number one, Jacob's adoption. and teaching of his grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim. Look at verse 1 there in your Bible. Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, Indeed, your father is sick. And he took with him his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim. Okay, stop right there. We're not told exactly what the sickness was. But when you're 147 years old, almost anything would probably be serious. And Joseph immediately drops everything. to go to his father. And he brings his sons with him. He brings Manasseh and Ephraim right along there with him. And as a point of application, I want to warn all of us and let us all know what we actually already know. I just want to remind you. Death is something all of us will experience one time. And I think that we need to recognize that it's always going to be ugly. There's absolutely nothing pretty about dying. And it's coming face to face with the final effects of the fall upon our physical constitution. Death is the unnatural rending asunder of what God created to always be together, our bodies and our souls. We would all likely prefer to die painlessly and quietly in our sleep. At least that's how I always think about it. But such is not always the case. And in the providence of God, Jacob, even though he was dearly loved by God, Jacob is sick. And look at verse two. And Jacob was told, look, your son Joseph is coming to you. And Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed." Okay, stop there. Jacob knows his life is nearly over, but because he is so old and weak, he has to gather up all of his available strength just to sit up on the bed. Now look at verses 3 and 4. Then Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession. Okay, stop there. It is fitting that the first words out of Jacob's mouth in these final moments would be the Hebrew words, El Shaddai, God Almighty, he says. And then Jacob relays to Joseph the words that El Shaddai, God Most High, spoke to him at Luz. Remember what Luz is? Luz is the place that Jacob renamed Bethel, the house of God. That's where he had the dream about the ladder and the vision of God at the top of the ladder and the angels ascending and descending upon it. And what a fitting moment this is to be reminded of such a vision and to remind Jacob, to remind Joseph that his very existence is a fulfillment of the promises God made him at Bethel when he saw that. You remember what God said to him? I will multiply you. Here he's looking at one of his descendants. Joseph, you exist because of what God said to me at Luz. He appeared to me and said, I will make you fruitful and multiply you. And I will make of you a multitude of people. God promised Jacob that his descendants would be as the dust of the earth. And I want to point out something as a point of application. Jacob at age 147, here lying at death's door, fully conscious and able to talk to people. He is a man with a message. He's a man with something to say in these final moments. This scene had likely been on his mind for some time and he had been preparing what to say. Think about it, friends. If you knew your time was near and you had the ear of your loved ones for just a few more minutes, what would you say? Have you thought about that? you have five minutes left ten minutes left what are you gonna say would you have something to say would your words have something to do with God with Christ what would you say you might think well I never wrestled with an angel I never had a vision of of a ladder with God at the top of it making me direct promises I want to point out something that's right you haven't but you have far more than that You and I have far more than God ever showed Jacob. John Calvin in the Institutes of the Christian Religion points out to people who say, man, if only I could have lived to see the miracles and to see all these amazing things that God did. If only God spoke to me in dreams. Calvin says, God has favored you more than the patriarchs. He has favored you and I more than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and the people of Israel. Why? Because we have everything God wanted man to know. We have all of it. So if anything, we need 20 minutes, not 10. We have a lot more to say. We know so much more. We see what Jacob only saw from a far distance. We have all of it in his word. Look at verses five and six. And now your two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. As Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. Your offspring, whom you beget after them, shall be yours. They will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance." Remarkable. Jacob just adopted Joseph's two sons. He just adopted them right before he died. What is remarkable about this is that two of the tribes of Israel are named by Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. When you look at a map, one of those maps in the back of your Bible, there are still 12 tribes who have land allotments in the nation of Israel, 12. The reason for that is Jacob had 12 sons. Now, one of them, Levi, and his descendants would be the priestly class. They got no land allotment. And so there is no tribe of Levi on the map in the back of your Bible. Joseph does not have a land allotment named after him either. But instead, his two sons, who were just adopted by Jacob, Manasseh and Ephraim, They get land allotments. And therefore, from Jacob's original 12 sons, two of them did not have land named after them in Israel, Levi and Joseph. But Jacob's adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh as his own is what led to the fact that there are still 12 tribal land allotments in Israel when you look at the map in the back of your Bible. So there are 12 original sons of Jacob minus two, Levi and Joseph, Plus two, Ephraim and Manasseh equals 12. So you have to do math in the Bible to get that right. Ephraim and Manasseh, Ephraim and Manasseh become tribes in Israel. They are treated by Jacob as if they are his own biological sons. In fact, he says to Joseph, the sons that you beget after them will be called by the name of their brothers, of your brothers. But these two are mine now. And so they're gonna get land allotments in Israel, in the nation of Israel. One other thing that's very important, one of the reasons that commentators think he did this, and I think he's probably right about this, please hear me, Ephraim and Manasseh were essentially Egyptians. They were born in Egypt. They lived in the high court of society in Egypt. But Jacob knew that both of these grandsons, who were now his own sons, needed to understand that it was far better to be numbered among the poor and lowly shepherds who knew God than it was to live among the wealthy and powerful Egyptian court. He knew, these boys need to understand this, it's better to be with us, to live with us, the shepherds, the abominations of the Egyptians, who know the one true God, than to have the wealth and power of Egypt at their fingertips. These boys were children of God's promise and must understand that all the treasures of knowing God cannot compare in their greatness to anything the world can give you. And Jacob knows he's, he's doing, he's making a pastoral move here towards his grandsons. And now notice what he says next in verse seven. But as for me, when I came from Paden, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way. when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath." That is Bethlehem. Now, brothers and sisters, friends, there is something communicated to us by God in this verse that is very special and very important. Please notice this, especially the men who are sitting here in this room. There are certain things that will go through your mind if you are able to be conscious and to contemplate your life as you approach death. The people that God called you to love will be what occupies most of your thinking in those moments. Notice that Jacob doesn't think about his vocation. Notice he's not thinking, and if only I had crossbred the spotted with the speckled. If only I had raised more sheep. If only I had raised more goats. If only I had done this or that. What does he suddenly break into here? After the spiritual instructions and the blessing, where does his mind go? To that woman he loved. For married men, Your wife will be on your thoughts when you die. Notice the tenderhearted way in which Jacob puts this. You see it there in the text, verse seven, after the second comma. Rachel died beside me. This was the primary person in Jacob's life. She was all he ever wanted. She was all he ever wanted. Remember this scene when Jacob was a much younger man? Before he was limping, before he was old, before his eyes grew dim, Genesis 29. Now, while he was still speaking to them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. And it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept. Jacob became Superman. when he saw Rachel. Remember, all those guys were waiting there. It was a multi-person job to move the stone out of the way. Rachel sees the woman he loves. He's got it all by himself. He single-handedly rolls a very large stone away from the well and waters the whole flock. Jacob wept for joy the first time he met her, the first time he saw her. He wept when he saw her. How hard he must have wept when she died giving birth to Benjamin. But now, He is dying. And what's he thinking about? That woman. That woman that he loved. When you ask most men who they are, they'll tell you what they do for a living. Most men don't define themselves by the people they love, but they should. Most men have talents they want to use to accomplish something in this world, and rightly so, we should. But in our final moments, The real question that will be on our minds is this, how well did we do loving people? Did my wife's glow that she had when I was pursuing her, did that fade away over time or did she still glow towards the end? Remember that please. Now, while you still have your strength, while you still have your strength so you don't spend your final moments begging everyone for forgiveness, do well loving them. When a man is interested in that woman that he is pursuing, that he wants to marry, he'll figure her out. And he'll make her glow. He'll make her beam. But so often, once the man's married, he stops doing that. He stops pursuing her. And she fades away. Don't do that. Love people well. Learn from Jacob. After he blesses, talks to Manasseh and Ephraim, where does his mind immediately go? That woman that gave her life to me. Love the people around you well. That's why you're here. Point number two, Jacob as prophet of God's absolute freedom and blessing. Look at verses eight through 10. Then Israel saw Joseph's sons and said, who are these? And Joseph said to his father, they are my sons whom God has given me in this place. And he said, please bring them to me and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him and he kissed them and embraced them. As it turns out, Jacob just said some things about Manasseh and Ephraim. He actually didn't realize they were there when he said that, because he couldn't see. His eyes were failing. He didn't know. And so it's an even more touching scene. He realizes, oh, you brought them. Here they are. We'll bring them over here. And then he grabs them and embraces them and kisses them. Isn't this heartwarming? Isn't God being so good to him right at the very end of his life? Look at verses 11 and 12. And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see your face. But in fact, God has also shown me your offspring. So Joseph brought them from beside his knees and he bowed down with his face to the earth. Okay, stop there. Jacob was devastated at the sight of Joseph's tunic of many colors being covered with what he thought was Joseph's blood years ago. He was crushed by that. Remember, he mourned and mourned and refused to be comforted by anybody. And I want to tell you, What we gather from this passage right here, Jacob went through, he went through the entire grieving process and had even come to a point of closure on the matter. He said, I had not thought to see your face. I had given up. He never saw a dead body. And so there was always probably this nagging sense of what, what really happened to him. And yet he had gotten to the point where he had given up completely. I thought I'd never see you again. Jacob had mentally detached from his son, Joseph. And yet, not only did God have this wonderful surprise for Jacob to see his face again, to see Joseph's face again, but also to see Joseph's two sons and to adopt them as his own. Sometimes even that which we have given up on, God will do for us. Sometimes it seems God waits for us to give up and then does it. Out of his mere kindness, compassion, and goodness. I want you to think of sometime think this afternoon about all of the good that God has done for you in your life. Think about how many events were ordained and ordered to bring good things to you and your family. It really is amazing if we think about it and meditate upon it. Look at verses 13 and 14 there. And Joseph took them both Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand. and brought them near him. Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, which was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn." And so Jacob is sitting there on the bed, and Manasseh is brought to this hand, Ephraim to this one, to this hand. And when Jacob is going to pronounce the blessing, he reaches his hand over, his right hand, and puts it on Ephraim's hand, and reaches his left hand over and puts it on Manasseh's head. Assumption is that his firstborn, Manasseh, will receive the main blessing from Jacob's right hand. But Jacob's right hand crosses over and is placed on his secondborn, Ephraim. Henry Morris wrote this, quote, it is worth noting again how often God bypassed the oldest son in favor of a younger. Isaac instead of Ishmael, Jacob instead of Esau, Joseph instead of Reuben, and now Ephraim instead of Manasseh. Jacob well knew what he was doing. His decision was not arbitrary, but was based on prophetic knowledge of the futures of the tribes that would begin with these two young men. Manasseh would indeed become a great people, but Ephraim would become greater." End quote. God has shown us again and again throughout scripture his sovereignty in the way that he interacts with, saves, and reveals himself to and blesses undeserving sinners. Perhaps the greatest demonstration of this was when he called Abram to himself and made Abram his own. Do you remember? God simply speaks into the world and picks one guy out and says in Genesis 12, 1, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land I will show you. And I will bless you and make your name great. Now he could have picked any one person he wanted to. And yet he picked Abram and said, I'm going to bless this one. Why did he do that? I don't know. Because he did it. People have asked me, why did God choose Israel? Why did God choose Abram? The answer is, because God chose Abram. He's allowed to do whatever he wants. The fact is, everyone's equally undeserving to be left in darkness. To just be left there to sin and sin and sin and die in their sins. God shows grace to whom he wants. He has compassion on whom he wants. He has mercy on whom he wills. Now thirdly and finally this morning, very important, the triune God's blessing. Look at verses 15 and 16 there. And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. Let my name be named upon them and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Okay, stop there. One of the most majestically glorious truths about God is his triune nature. The one true and eternal God exists as three co-equal, co-powerful, co-eternal, co-glorious persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is a revealed doctrine of the Word of God primarily in the New Testament. The incarnation of God the Son in the person of Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and the sending of the Holy Spirit is where this precious doctrine receives its fullest revelation. The tri-personality of God is hinted at in the Old Testament, but not fully revealed to mankind until the incarnation and the sending of the Spirit. But here in Jacob's prophetic blessing, we see a very clear threefold invocation of the blessings of the one true God. Henry Morris wrote, quote, He prayed, perhaps not fully realizing the significance of what he was doing, but nevertheless guided by inspiration to the triune God. God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, answers to the Father. The God which fed me all my life long into this day, that is, the one who daily led me and provided for my needs, speaks of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The angel which redeemed me from all evil must surely correspond to the saving work of God the Son. that these three are distinct persons is shown repeatedly in the New Testament. Jesus prays to the Father, and the Father speaks from heaven to and about the Son. In the book of Acts, we see the Holy Spirit speaking directly. The Holy Spirit spoke directly to Paul and Barnabas. When Jesus was baptized in Matthew 3.16-17, it says, when He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water water and behold the heavens were open to him and he saw the Spirit of God Descending like a dove and alighting upon him and suddenly a voice came from heaven saying this was my beloved son in whom I am well pleased Triune God in full view God the Father speaks to God the Son in in John chapter 17 God the Son prays to God the Father in the Great Commission We're told to go and make disciples of the nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The very last verse of second Corinthians, Paul says, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. And yet we are monotheists. We believe in only one God, one and only one God. But when God is addressed throughout Scripture, we see so very clearly that this one God is tri-personal. There are three distinct persons. The Father is not the Holy Spirit. The Son is not the Father. The Holy Spirit is not the Son. The last Jehovah's Witness that came to my door, when I told him that Jesus Christ is God, Here's what he said to me. He said, but the scriptures say that have the father saying this to Jesus, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Jesus is the son of God. He's he's the only begotten son of God. He's not God. He's the son of God. And I said to him, all you just proved is that Jesus is not the father. We don't believe that Jesus is the father. Is that what you think we mean when we say that Jesus is God? Yeah. Isn't that what you mean? You're saying that Jesus is the father. No. Jesus is a separate and distinct person. God the Father, a separate and distinct person. The Holy Spirit, a separate and distinct person. They speak to one another because they are separate and distinct persons. We do not believe Jesus is the Father. And yet, when those Jehovah's Witnesses hear us say, Jesus is God, Jesus is Jehovah, what they think we're saying is, Jesus is the Father. Because in their mind, only the Father is God. So if we say, Jesus is God, we're saying Jesus is the Father. You see how poisoned that mind is? There are three separate and distinct persons. Jacob invokes three distinct persons here. Isn't it remarkable? In this prophetic and inspired moment of pronouncing a prophetic blessing, the only reason he knows to bless Ephraim ahead of Manasseh is because of the leading of God the Spirit. And yet the way that he speaks about God is in a tripersonal fashion. Remarkable. The full doctrine of the Trinity was not fully revealed until the incarnation of the Son of God and the person of Christ, but it's hinted at. It's hinted at in the Old Testament. And over and over again, you will hear the argument from oneness groups, oneness Pentecostals, from non-believing Jews, from Unitarians and other non-Trinitarian groups. They'll say, if the Trinity is true, why didn't the Jews believe in it? If the Trinity is true, where is it in the Old Testament? And the simple answer is, as Christians, we believe in the progress of God's revelation over time. The very first verse of the Bible does not tell us everything about who God is. It does not say, in the beginning, God, who exists eternally as three persons, created the heavens and the earth. But God, line upon line, over time, He reveals more and more about His essence, His nature. And so when people say to us, if the Trinity's true, where is it in the Old Testament? Why didn't the Jews believe in it? It hadn't been fully revealed yet. It's not fully revealed until the incarnation and the sending of the Holy Spirit. Now look at verses 17 through 20 there. Now, when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. But truly, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. So he blessed them that day saying, by you, Israel will bless saying, may God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Okay. Stop right there. Joseph's distressed by that. He doesn't understand. What are you doing? Why are you doing that? You would think Joseph knowing his family's history would not have such a problem with younger, younger ones being blessed over the older ones. Cause it happened constantly in his family. And yet it even happened to him. And yet he's, no, no, no, no, that's the firstborn. You're not, I know you can't see and everything, but then he realizes, no, my father's being guided by God in this very moment. Now look at verses 21 and 22 in closing. Then Israel said to Joseph, behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow. What could bring more peace to the dying than to know for certain that God lives on in the hearts of those you love? In this case, your children. Consider those stirring words from Jacob there again. He said, behold, I am dying, but God will be with you. I'm dying, but God will be with you. We long for the conversion of our families, of our children. We pray for them and may God grant that every one of them would know Christ. Let us wear ourselves out in prayer that every child of our congregation would know Christ, would know the fruits of true repentance. May God draw them, every one of them to the cross and save their souls. That all of us would close our eyes in death one day, knowing that the faith has been successfully passed on to our posterity. What a marvelous peace. to know that your church family still has God with them, that your children have God with them, and that like Joseph, they will be brought back to the land of their fathers, which is a type of heavenly glory. And notice also there in verse 22, a small tract of land is being deeded to Joseph, which Jacob took from the Amorites with the sword and the bow. In conclusion this morning, that smooth skin, Baby boy who was born holding on to Esau's heel. And that's why he was given that Hebrew name, Ya'akov, which means one who supplants or one who deceives. Remember, one who deceives was turned into wrestles with God and prevails, even though he limped after that for the rest of his life. But that smooth skin baby boy who preferred to dwell in tents and was the preferred favorites of his dear mother, Rebecca, is about to die. and to join his forefathers in the faith and glory. We have seen his joys, we've seen his many tears, his many tests and hardships, and now his peaceful death is about to take place. He is going to die with his heart full of joy and hope, looking into the face not only of Joseph, but also Joseph's sons and his newly adopted sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. One of the great messages communicated to us in the lives and deaths of Abraham and Sarah the lives and deaths of Isaac and Rebecca, and the lives and deaths of Jacob and the members of his family is this. For the people of God, those whose lives are built upon the rock and not upon sand, the best is yet to come. This death is not his end. Jacob knows this is the beginning of what I've longed for and looked so forward to for 147 years. While we yet live, Let us look at the day of our own death as it is fast approaching. Love the people that God has entrusted to you. Live for them. Live for others. Think about their eternal destinies. Put their good before your own and keep your eyes fixed upon Christ and his grace. And I want to end by reading the same blessing, that triune blessing that Jacob gave to Joseph. And remember that this very same God is our God. God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil. May he bless you and bless me. His promises are just as sure to us as they were to Jacob. Let's pray. Our wonderful Heavenly Father, we thank you that you saved Jacob's soul. that you tried and tested him, that you brought him to this place, this place of wondrous peace, even though he was sick, even though his life was about to be over in this world. What a way to end with your beloved son and his sons right before you. And we know in the very next chapter, he's about to make prophetic announcements about each one of them. And we pray you'd help us understand those when we get to them next week. But Lord, may we remember the very same God who ordained all of Jacob's life and walked with him, who redeemed him from all evil, who provided for him all of his life, that you are our God too. And that through Jesus Christ, we are saved, we are justified, we are reconciled to you. May we grow in our assurance of that. And may we remember, remember that it will be the people that You called us and asked us to love. They'll be on our minds when we're approaching death. Help us remember that while we have our strength, that we might love them well as you have called us to. And may our hearts stay fixed upon the grace that is to be given to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, our Savior, in whose name we pray. Amen.