Turn with me to Genesis 49 and we'll start in verse 13 and we'll go to verse 18. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be an haven for ships, and his border shall be unto Zidon. Issachar is a strong ass, couching between two burdens. And he saw the rest was good, and the land it was pleasant, and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute, or slavery. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel, Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an error in the path, and he that biteth the horse's heels, so that the rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. Let us pray before we commence. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your word. Thank you that you have preserved it perfectly for us, that even now, all those years later, we can learn from the account of what Jacob told his sons. In your name, we pray. Amen. So as I said, we continue to look at Jacob. We're surrounded at his deathbed. He is dying. Actually, if you would read the story in one setting, he's seconds away from death, really. And he gives to each of his sons a word of prophecy, what would come to pass in their future. And some are intermixed, as we saw the last time. They were reminders of what they had done, some of the sins they had committed as persons. And we saw that long into the future that would have effect on the following generations. So prophecy in Scripture is a foretelling, a prediction, a clarification of something that is to come. Of course, only God can do that. He knows future events with certainty, or someone that is informed by God as we see Jacob in this situation. The prophecies are recorded in Scripture, and when they are fulfilled in the time to come and the ages to come sometimes, many decades or centuries later, thousands of years later, it's a great evidence for the divine inspiration of the Bible. 2 Peter 1.21 says, for the prophecy did not in all time came by the will of man, but by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And like I said, all of these would not be fulfilled until long after these sons, these 12 sons, had died. So it establishes an early proof that God is who he said he is. In Isaiah 46, verse 9, it says, remember their former things of old. For I am God and there is none else. I am God. There is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning. and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." So God is unrivaled in all his plans and his counsels. He does not merely foresee certain events as he looks in time, but he plans them, he orchestrates them. and there are no surprises with God. These prophecies also tell us many things of the attributes of God, meaning who he is, who he is in his essence, and what his characters are. Of course, if he can prophesy future things and make them to pass, then it means he's omnipresent. He is powerful, omnipotent. He's all-knowing. The providence of God, meaning how he interacts with life in this world, working with people for his glory and their good. But we also see in these prophecies his goodness and his love and his kindness to sinners. We see his immutability, meaning that God does not change. He does not change his decree. He is always the same. And we don't serve a God that changes with time or with popular trends that comes into the world. The pagans do, and false religions do, of course. And especially in the last 150 years, liberalism within the church has done this. They make the God of Scripture into a wax figure. You can change it with the current trend. If you don't like this or that or creation, Christ being the only way, the wrath of God, His law and so on, you can change these at your own whim. And about immutability, Stephen Charnock, he was a great puritan, he writes, what comfort would it be to pray to a god, small g, that is like a chameleon, changing colors every day and at every moment. And as we look at these words to Jacob, remember they're also to his sons, remember that they're also words for us and for the church as examples and lessons in it for us today as we saw with the previous sons. Sometimes another man's sins or their strengths are a great example for us not to follow or to follow. In most of these psalms we see a character trait being highlighted and also a future prophecy being given. And the last time we looked at that glorious message to Judah, the foretelling of Christ, the prophecy that he got that a scepter, a ruler, would come out of his people and that people would be gathered unto him, the great gospel of Christ, you know, from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation would be gathered unto him. And it was a bit of a surprise because Judah was not a saint in his earlier years. He was like the prodigal son in the Old Testament. But God had been kind and merciful to him. So now we go to verse 13, and notice, by the way, that they're not always given in the order that they were born. Zebulun is actually the 10th son, and he's moved up to the fifth place, as Jacob deals with him here. Verse 13, Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and shall be a haven for ships, and his border shall be unto Zidon. So as I said, it was the 10th son of Jacob. It was the sixth of Leah. And she wanted that her husband would desperately love her. You remember the two sister married Jacob and Leah was not that well loved and Rachel was. In Genesis 30 verse 20 it says, And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry. Now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons. And she called his name Zebulun. So Zebulun means dwelling. So interesting play on words here in this in this 13th verse. So Zebulun would get a place right by the sea, by the ocean. They were located between the land, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee. And as you notice in the maps in the Bible, it's not infallible. It's not always quite right. But 200 years later, it was fulfilled. what Jacob had told them. And you can read that of their giving of the land in Joshua 19. I'll just read verse 11. And their border went up toward the sea, and reached to the river that is before. And Moses also gives a blessing upon the tribes, and he writes about Zebulun, that they shall suck of the abundance of the seas and of the treasures hid in the sand. Now, it's interesting to note that when they were given this piece of land, it wasn't that Joshua said, ah, Jacob said something about they were going to dwell by the sea, so that's what we'll do. But it was picked by a lot, a casting of the lot. That's how they received their piece of land, showing us that the providence and determinant counsel of God go hand in hand. It will stand. And even something as simple as the picking of a lot, he has governance over. And God is the God of all the details. He's the God of all the details of our life. Nothing is an accident. Nothing is ungoverned, because one ungoverned thing could dethrone Him, as it were. He ordains, and it shall come to pass. So the tribe would find its trade and commerce with the sea through their land area. It was connected with Phoenician traders as well. They were in trades, and they made a good living, it seems. And of course, the oceans, all the fish and treasures that it brings. Last time we learned from Judah how he got a piece of land which was extremely fruitful. This historically hasn't seemed to be the case with Zebulon, but nevertheless they found another way to be fruitful. And they dealt wisely with what they were given. And that's a good reminder for us as well, that God has given us things, he's allotted us certain things, and that we be thankful for what he has given us and what he has allotted to us and where he has placed us, because it is by his design. You think of the Apostle Paul in Acts 17, and maybe you could go to Acts 17, 26, Paul preaches to the Athenians there on Mars Hill, Acts 17, 26. And he said to them in verse 26, he hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and have determined the times before appointed, their bounds and their habitation. that they should seek the Lord, if happily they may feel after him and find him, though he be not far from any one of us. So think and thank often, the Lord, often for his providence, how he got you here, maybe even here this morning, at this particular time and place or in this town or in this province, and how the Lord sometimes moves people around to get them saved in a certain place or to get them to hear the gospel. And let us not foolishly think that it was our own doing. but let us acknowledge his great design in our lives. Let us be useful in his church that we would, the abilities and the gifts that we've been given, we would give use to his church and as the whole body functions like that. And think of the blessing that this promise would have been as a tribe, the Zebulonites, as they were getting hardships in Egypt eventually. Right now, of course, they're in a great spot, but eventually they would be slaves, right? And think of one of the grandkids from Zebulon coming home from a hard day of work. They were probably being hit by the whips of the Egyptians. And they would tell us, kids, you know what? There is a better place coming for us. There is a better spot we will one day inherit. I don't know when, because they didn't know that. But they held on to that promise. And think of the much greater promises that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal rest that we find in Christ himself, and how we have found a safe haven in Christ. On the sea, on the sea of our life, we were heavy laden with sin. We're believers and have come to him. We know that to be true and we're miserable, but we have found a great anchor for our soul, the Lord Jesus. So Zebulun would be a haven for ships. It would be to protect them from the dangerous storms and they would find a haven of rest and they would be a blessing to others. They just didn't keep this to themselves. And again, it's a great picture of what the Church is. We're offering sinners a way of rest. We're helping them. We're pointing them in that right direction of rest and forgiveness. We point sinners to the one who tabernacled, dwelled, the Lord Jesus. He dwelled. He was the God-man. He dwelled among us. He tabernacled among us so that we can find rest for our souls. It's also interesting to note that Joseph and Mary, once they came out of Egypt, remember when Herod was going after the little ones, they fled into Egypt, and when they came back, they settled in Nazareth, which is Zebulun. And most of the disciples, except Judas, came from that area. And much of the ministry of the Lord Jesus was in that area as well. Of course, he started out in Judah, Bethlehem, Judah, and ended there, but most of his ministry was there. In Isaiah 9, the great Christmas prophecy we often sing or read, Isaiah 9, 1 and 2, talks about the people of Zebulun and Naphtali. And the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them have the light shined. Further on in the history of Zebulun in the Old Testament, they were small in number, but they were eager to help the nation as a whole. They were patriots that fought for their nation against the Canaanites. They brought supplies to King David when he was crowned king. And you can read some of that in Judges 4 and 5. In Judges 5 verse 18 it says about Zebulun and Naphtali that they were people that jeopardized their lives. So they put their lives in danger for others. And in Chronicles 12 verse 33 it says they were experts in war and they were able to fight with the instruments of war and that they were not of a double heart. That's interesting, right? Not of a double heart. They were resolute with what they were planning to do and they knew what they stood for. Verse 14, Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens. And he saw that rest was good, and the land it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. So Jacob compares a few of his children to animals. Judah was a lion, and Benjamin is going to be a wolf. Dan is an adder. So now today, we don't look too kindly on it. If I were to call any of the guys out here and say, you're a strong donkey, you probably wouldn't be too, and I'll use the current vernacular, you probably wouldn't be too pleased. But in that day, donkeys were very helpful for the for farm living, it was a good thing to have. They were a hard-working animal. So these would be workers in the fields. They would be carrying burdens. They would be industrious in the hard-working tribe. They would work the land. He was not like a lion of Judah, like we saw last time. They would have the enemy's neck. But he would be more like a humble donkey and listening to others. Now, interesting, the different commentators kind of view this, it's a little cryptic written, but the different commentators see it differently. But verse 15, it seems to indicate that they may have been a little too pleased with dwelling in the land. And that peace was, they really liked it. So much so that they would be prey to becoming slaves of others. And the word tribute there in the King James here means to force labor. So the idea that, you know, I'm happy enough where I'm at, just give me my food and work and be at peace and I'm okay, and there's nothing wrong with that, but that can also be done to a fault. I'll summarize here what John Calvin wrote. He said, wherefore the meaning is that the sons of Issachar, though possessed of strength, were yet quiet rather than courageous, and were as ready to bear the burdens of servitude, slaves, becoming slaves, as most are submit their backs to the pack saddles and the load. The reason given is that being content with their fertile and pleasant country, they do not refuse to pay taxes to their neighbors, meaning forced taxes, provided they may enjoy rest. So kind of peace at all costs. And although this submissiveness is not specifically mentioned to their praise or condemnation, so it's a bit ambiguous, It is yet probable that their laziness in this way is condemned because of their lack of courage hindered them from remaining the possession of that liberty of the land which they had been given. So Deborah in Judges 4 and 5 speaks highly of those that came and saved the nations. And she cursed those that were not willing to fight for the nation. Yes, we have to be lovers of peace and of justice, of course, and we ought to be slow to wrath and use wisdom in dealing with opposition and persecution. But sometimes we can be silent and inactive, and use it as an excuse that we're just peaceful and harmful folks, when it may be disguised as laziness and cowardice. And how important, especially in spiritual matters, is this, that we stand up for the word of God, for his gospel. Especially in this time of history, and many examples could be given, that for the sake of peace and safety, churches that once stood up and they were strong bulwarks of truth and holiness, and now departed from God, are in fact become his enemies, denying vital scriptural doctrines. George Lawson writes in his book on this section a very fitting piece for our day. It's a little difficult. I'll keep it as brief as I can, but I thought it was interesting. Civil and especially religious liberty is a very precious blessing which ought to be maintained at the risk of life, though not with the loss of a good conscience. which is infinitely more valuable than life itself. That aversion to war, which is founded in the sincere love of peace and justice, is highly to be praised. But that dislike of troubles and toil and danger, which is purely the effect of cowardice disqualifies men from bearing that part in the defense of liberty, just government, or religion is unworthy of men or Christians. So he's saying, you know, if we kind of hide behind peace and quiet and don't say too much, but don't stand up, whether it's in our churches or in our government when we see danger coming, we ought to stand up. When we love our neighbor, We will also be willing to stand up for their freedom and their liberties and the freedom for our future generation. Let all of us remember, of course, the liberty where Christ has set us free with and redeeming himself with his own blood. Let us not place ourselves into bondage again through sin or false doctrine. Next is Dan. And he was the first of Jacob's son that was born to one of his wife's handsmaid. So if you're unfamiliar with all of that, I encourage you to read that whole story, so you'll be the fifth son of Jacob. Again, the two wives caused much rivalry and much bitterness in between them. You can read that in chapter 30. It's kind of a messy and assorted story, kind of a childish, gives you a bit of a view of a childish behavior of both of them. and also kind of Jacob's inaction. He didn't do a whole lot about it, as we have seen earlier in the life of David. So Rachel saw, who wasn't very fruitful, and Rachel saw that Leah was very fruitful and had greatly upset Jacob. And she had said to him, give me children or else I die. And naturally, Jacob was upset by that type of attitude and says, well, I'm not God that I can just give you children. I don't have control of the womb. So she gave him Bilhah, her personal handmaid, and she bore her Dan, much like Sarah had done earlier with Abraham. And that name means judgment, or saying God has judged me. Matthew Henry puts it, giving me a sentence in my favor. So that's how Rachel saw it. So in verse 16, Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that bited the horse's heels so that his rider shall fall backward. So even though he would be the first son born out of a kind of a spurious circumstances, he would yet have a role in the nation of Israel. And he would judge his people. And one of the great examples of that is, of course, is Samson. And again, here, it's interesting to see that the names that were given so much earlier would reflect on what they would be in the future, right? It just talks about, again, the providence and the handiwork of God in all of this, even in the giving of a name. Sudan would be a smaller tribe. Their strength was through stealth, kind of like a snake that suddenly comes out when you're walking through the grass and bites you. You don't see him coming. Yet he can bite a mighty horse and causes him to stumble and causes the rider to fall. So the Danites, by sudden and unexpected attacks, were to destroy their enemy. And yes, we see that in Samson. At times, he was always like a wild beast, but he would tear up a lion like a little cat. At other times, he would attack his enemies like a serpent. When the men of Judah brought Samson to the Philistines, they brought him bound up. And all of a sudden, he broke the courts with lightning speed and killed 1,000 men with a jawbone. And when they thought they had him at last there in that great house of stone where he was bound up, more people died there when he collapsed the whole house on top of them. Samson was an example of a great warrior against their enemies. And if you're familiar with the entire story, he was also extremely flawed. Generally, the whole house of Israel was stubborn and disobedient, yet it seems to have been the particular infamy of the tribe of Dan. They were ringleaders in idolatry. They made a molten image, the first ones to do that. You can read all that in Judges 18, verse 30. Dan was unhappy with a piece of lot that he had been given graciously by God. It was small, but it was very fertile. And instead of being grateful, they took matters in their own hands, and they moved to another area. And all the trouble that resulted from that, he was quite self-willed, a bit like Samson, as we see in Samson. Maybe this is why all of a sudden we find in that 18th verse that Jacob cries out, he says, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. It seems to be kind of an unusual spot there. All of a sudden it comes up and he shouts out this sentence. You would think that would have been a nice thing to say when he was talking to Judah and the prophecy concerning the Messiah. Remember that Jacob is now in the last moments of his life. He is a dying man and perhaps in the light of Dan's prophecies and some of the other ones, he foresees all the danger that his offsprings would be in. He sees their temptations. He sees their proneness to walk away from the Lord like the rest of the tribes. And because he's sitting there, he probably knows even more than he says, but he's sitting there on a watchtower and peeks into the future. And he is concerned. He sees battles coming up. He sees slaughters that all his seed would encounter. And as I said, he knows their fickleness and their proneness to sin and to wonder from God. Remember, Joshua writes about the Israelites that every man did what was right in his own eyes. It's often a general picture of Israel. And as we have seen with Jacob decades before, his faith would waver at times, but not this time. Now he encourages himself with what he knows about the God of his salvation, that God has delivered him out of many other troubles. He remembered and he commits himself unto God once again. And he doesn't want to fall into doubt and despair. And he says, I have waited for thy salvation. And he does it in front of his sons. Remember what an emotional time it would be for the sons and his grandkids as they're there, that they hear their father say that in his last moments. He is like saying here with David many years later in Psalm 56.3, he says, what time I'm afraid, I will trust in thee. In God will I praise his word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do to me. He's praying to God and saying, only you can help. Only you can save my offspring from self-destruction. Of course, Jacob had that great promise that he would be a blessing. Through him, the promise would come through all nations. And he would be a blessing to all nations and would draw people out for himself. And he hung on to those promises that were given to him earlier. The Old Testament is filled with many saviors, as it were. They were broken. Some were great. Some were not so great. And we find it hard to believe that they even got the job, as it were. And they all point us to the supreme and ultimate savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. is like Father Jacob said, I'm not waiting for Moses or for a Gideon or for Samson or David or Solomon or Saul or every other king or ruler or hero that would come on their path, but I'm waiting for you, O Lord. They were just temporal savers. They would save the nation out of temporal troubles. wars, famines, tyranny, but they never rescued them from the tyranny of sin, which all of the Israelites were plagued with. They were smaller lights that pointed to that great light that would light the whole world. Jacob thought of the salvation of the Messiah, the son of David, an everlasting one, and that he would bring the children of Israel to himself. And this salvation Jacob sought, even though it was only in shadows, right? He did not have that clear picture as you and I now have, but he knew there would be a promised one that would crush the serpent's head. Thousands of years later, old Simon saw the Lord Jesus in the temple as he took up the child in his arms and he said, then took he him, sorry, then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now let thy servants depart in peace. According to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. which thou hast prepared before the face of all the people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel." The Savior that Jacob and his fathers look forward to is no longer obscure, is he? Unless you're still in darkness and outside the Savior. Darkness is living without God in this world. Bonded to sin. Perhaps you're like them. You have made an image of God. You have made God into your own image. Or an image you like best. Something that suits you best. Yes, you may think you're a believer in God, even the God of the Bible, but in reality, and that is with an enormous amount of people in this day and age, you have hollowed them out, you throw away anything you did not like, and you're worshiping an idol. It is not the God of our Savior, Jesus Christ, revealed in his word. If you can go with me to Isaiah 44, This was something constantly that the prophets warned the Israelites about. They would be making graven images, and they would bow down to them. They would worship them. We saw that earlier on with the golden calf. So it's A44-9 and it's to 17. I'm just picking up a few highlights. Basically, he's talking about the foolishness of making your own idol. He says in verse 12 there, you're a smith, and you make it with hammers. You've got a ruler there. In verse 13, you make your own idols. How are you worshiping them as God? Verse 14 talks about hewing a piece of wood out of the forest. And verse 15 says, with one piece, you burn a fire, and you make food. And the other, you actually make a god that you worship. How foolish is that? He's sort of making fun of them. Now, you may, you can read that further at home, but you may laugh and say, well, that's so primitive. I'm not an idol worshiper. I'm not going to make a statue out of a piece of wood. That is just ridiculous. But really, it is not much different from the modern God of many professing Christians. They have made not a literal God of stone or wood, but they made a God in their own sinful imaginations. God of their own mind. They worship it, they trust it, and they believe that all is well. They have no authority or standard of truth whereby they can compare this God, but it's their own feeble and flawed reasoning. So what is the gospel then, the good news that was proclaimed by the disciples? The great Charles Hardy was a Princeton theologian. He said, the gospel is so simple that small children can understand it. And it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches. The gospel is good news. It's good news concerning Christ and what he has done. But before we can see that, the first has to be bad news for us sinners. Bad news is that we are unholy. We've broken the law of God. And what makes matters worse is that God is supremely holy and that he must and he will punish sin. He would not be holy if he didn't. He cannot wipe sin under the carpet of the universe. It's not all as well. And all of us will be judged by this holy God. Scripture says all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. We've missed the mark of holiness, just like the sons of Jacob. Of course, we are not much different from them. So if you're going to present yourself to God on your own righteousness, you're in big trouble, and many people are, right? You talk to people and say, how are you preparing for that great day when you die? Well, they're gonna talk how good they are, how well they've behaved. If that's your cause, that's your state, you're in exceeding big trouble, eternal trouble. because you will not make it. Even the best lawyer here on earth will not even come close to make a case for his innocence. The Bible says even our good deeds are filthy rags. The good news is that the God-man, Christ Jesus, lived that perfect life and has perfect righteousness, a perfect code of righteousness, perfect obedience. He has done for his people that no one could do for themselves. And then he was obedient unto death, the death of the cross. And there he satisfied the justice of God. Christ died instead of me, took the wrath that was for me. God the Father accepted that and proof for that is the resurrection from the grave of the Lord Jesus. We are not saved by any of our works or good deeds. Nothing can be added to this good news. In fact, if we do, we reject it altogether. Yes, we're commanded to follow Christ, to keep his commandments, to deny ourselves, to repent, but that is not the gospel. And we have to be careful that we don't make it the gospel. The gospel is what Christ has done for sinners. So how then do we get it applied to us, to you if we sit here this morning? How can they, how can you be justified and made right with God? How can you escape from the eternal wrath of God in hell? How is your bank account that is now full of sin emptied and made full with righteous deeds? It is by placing your faith in what God has done through Christ's work on the cross. Say your yes and your amen to it. Place your faith in him who knew no sin, it says, that you might be the righteousness of God in him. That's a great verse, right? He knew no sin. but now I am righteous in God in him. Your sins will be forgiven and not only that, God will look at you as though he sees his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He imputes or he deposits his full holiness on your account. Second, Corinthians 8, verse 9, says, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. So here, and that's another great gospel verse, talks about the Lord Jesus became poor. He came to earth. For a season he veiled all that he was in glory. And all that he possessed, the attributes we spoke about earlier, were also exactly the same in the Lord Jesus. But he came down, he tabernacled amongst us. And through that, we might become rich. And that speaks of all that we have in the Savior. And have you tasted yourself that the Lord is good? Have you tasted of that forgiveness, of that sonship? Do you know Christ or just do you know about him? Maybe you've gone to church for years, but you don't really know him. Would you not go to him and plead your case in front of him this morning? Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we Once again, thank you that in all of scripture, everything points to your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray this morning for each and everyone here, whether we are visitors or have been coming here for years, Lord, that we would see him in all his glory, Lord, and that we would come before him Repent and ask him to save us, to look through that finished work on the cross, maybe for the first time, and if we're believers to rejoice in that again and again. Father, we thank you for that work that makes us acceptable before you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.