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Children, have you ever moved? Some of you maybe are still living
in the house that you've always known, but others of you have
moved. Some of you may have moved not
too long ago to another house, another part of town. And children,
you'll know that when you move, you don't just say, OK, we're
going to move. You don't just go walk into the car and sit
down and go. You have a lot of things to do,
a lot of things to bring along when you move. Your books, your
toys, all your clothes, your kitchen plates, your cups, your
tables and chairs, lamps, so many things. Many things go into
boxes. Boxes get labeled. Maybe some
helpers come, family, friends, or movers, and you load all those
things into trucks and trailers. And it takes a long time. Moving
is a big upheaval in your life, and you don't just decide to
move in the morning and be gone by lunch. Well, Jacob, in our
passage, he had to move. He was ready to move. He wanted
to move because of all that has happened and all that he has
heard as his sons have come back with the wagons of Egypt. And
he realizes, Joseph, my son, is yet alive. He's calling me
to come to Egypt. He's going to move. Maybe someone says, well, what
about what Pharaoh had said? Regard not your stuff. That means
leave all your things behind in Canaan. Just come to me without
anything. Jacob could have been gone by
lunch. Just the clothes on his back. It's hard to do. It's understandable that we read
that in verse one, Israel took his journey with all that he
had. You can't just leave everything.
What a waste. couldn't just leave it behind.
He gathers it all, we read it in verse 6. They took their cattle,
their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan. All their
goods, all the things, everything came along. In these verses, however, we
see that Jacob doesn't just make his way straight to Egypt. We read, not, and he came to
Egypt, but he came to Beersheba. Two times, the brothers had gone
to Egypt, and what did we read? The brothers left, they went
down to Egypt, and appeared before Joseph. This time, we have seven
verses of an interlude, a pit stop, if you will, along the
way that Jacob makes. Very important verses telling
us in great detail what happened there in Beersheba on the 130-year-old
man's journey southwest to Egypt. Let's focus on those words this
morning as well as what happens at the end when he gets to Egypt.
We'll take for our theme, to Egypt with God. to Egypt with
God. First, seeking God's face, second,
hearing God's word, third, receiving God's blessings. It would have taken some time,
as I say. Jacob had to pack up all his things with his sons,
but also the journey would have gone, I think, a little slower
than the brothers, because how fast can all those flocks of
sheep travel? And the other livestock they
took along, They need regular rest, they need grass and water,
they're moving through desert. This was a huge undertaking.
And then, if that wasn't enough, they get to Beersheba, and no
doubt they're all anxious to get to Egypt, to Jacob, also
to see Joseph, but they get to Beersheba and Jacob tells them
all to stop. Get off the wagons, set up camp,
build the fires, set up a shelter for the night, we're gonna spend
the rest of the day here, and at least one night they spend
there. Why? We read that Jacob came to Beersheba
and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father, Isaac. That means he had to also build
an altar, gather stones, bring wood, select an animal, kill
the animal. It's plural, sacrifices. earns the animal, spends time
in prayer. Why? Why does Jacob do this? Couldn't he worship God when
he got to Egypt, after he'd seen Joseph? Could've had a big Thanksgiving
meal. Well, Jacob could do that, and
no doubt would. But what happened here at Beersheba, along the
journey to Egypt, was very important. First, because it shows that
the old patriarch needs his God. He seeks God's face because he
has learned dependence on God, just in general. That's something
that every child of God learns, and God will teach you that.
That you are dependent on him for everything in your life,
great and small. That you are weak that you are
empty and that without him you can do nothing except fall and
fail. And you know what? Jacob had learned it. Jacob had learned it. And that's
why he now stops and he seeks God. Some of us may have the
practice of reading Psalm 121 before a longer trip. That's
good. It speaks of God's protection by night and day and going out
and coming in. But do you also live in that
realization every day? That without him, today too,
you can do nothing. We need him so much more than
we realize. But it wasn't only a general desire to have God
with him. Jacob here has another reason
to seek God. This wasn't a normal trip. Normal
trips have a return ticket. Jacob's trip was one way. This was the most significant
journey Jacob would ever make in this world. Not because his trip to Laban
so many years ago wasn't significant, it was, but this was different.
This time, not only Jacob, but every last descendant of the
seed of Abraham was about to leave the land promised to Abraham. This was huge. This was, humanly
speaking, very risky. Because if this is somehow, after
all, man's idea, if going to Egypt is not actually God's will,
then this would be a great sin. and would come with colossal
risks. God had said, this is the land
I will give you. And now we're all just going
to leave? And Jacob also remembered that his father Isaac, during
a previous famine, had wanted to go to Egypt, but God had forbidden
him. God at that time commanded Isaac
to sojourn in this land and I will be with thee. And Jacob knew
that's far more important, what God wants. And so as the heir
of God's covenant promises also promises about land, Jacob could
not simply leave that land except with God's benediction. What
Pharaoh said didn't matter. Even what Joseph said didn't
really matter. Jacob needs to know what God will say. And now
we have to recognize here that God had not spoken directly to
Jacob since he left Shechem and went to Bethel around 30 years
before. We read it all in a matter of
minutes. 30 years, three decades. No words from God. During those
years, Rachel had died, Isaac had died, Esau had spread out
towards Edom, Joseph had grown to a strong 17-year-old man until
that terrible day when he turned up missing, and then 22 more
years of Joseph in Egypt. All those years we read nothing
of God speaking to Jacob. But more significantly, what
was the last thing that God had said to Jacob? Turn with me for
that to Genesis 35. Genesis chapter 35, we're going back 11 chapters. Verse 11, this was that last
time before, 30 years earlier, God speaks to Jacob and this
is what he says, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply, a nation
and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come
out of thy loins. And then he says this, and the
land which I gave Abraham and Isaac to thee will I give it,
and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. You see Jacob's struggle? The last thing God says to him
is about this land that he's standing on. And now he's just
gonna leave? Not so fast, not without God's
blessing. And as Jacob worships, his prayer
must have been as his offspring Moses would later say, if thy
presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Without God,
this would be the greatest disaster of his life. Jacob had learned
by painful experience that he was fully capable of creating
such disasters. He needs God, and so he seeks
God's face. And what a model this is for
us, congregation. Do you do the same? And the decisions
you make in your life are practically, very importantly, who to marry, where to work, where to live,
how to spend your life in His service, where He leads, sensing
His calling, what's He saying to me at this point in life?
Do you seek His face for those things? Do you read His providence? He
will lead you infallibly. It might not be the way that
you had expected, but don't go your own way without Him, without
seeking His face, without His blessing. He calls you to. We sang it from Psalm 27. Proverbs teaches us, trust in
the Lord with all thine heart, not part of it, all of it, and
lean not unto thine own understanding, because we are of yesterday and
know nothing, as it says in Job. In all thy ways acknowledge him
who sees the end from the beginning, and he shall direct thy paths.
That's what Jacob teaches us here, congregation. And it's
not only about land, it's about life, about spiritual life. Egypt
is a place of darkness, spiritually. Egypt in the Bible represents
the world, the kingdom of darkness, all that which is set against
God. And this man of faith, Israel, would rather die in Canaan, never
to see Joseph again, than go to Joseph but miss having God
in Egypt. Well, what a picture for us.
But notice here one more thing. The place where he is, Beersheba. What's significant about Beersheba?
Well, first it was the place where God had also appeared to
his father Isaac. It was also where Abraham had
planted a grove and called upon the name of the Lord, the everlasting
God. But more than this even, it was from Beersheba, remember? where Isaac and Rebekah were
living at the time, that Jacob had fled from Esau and had left
the land the first time. Same place. And Jacob remembers
his spiritual condition at that time. And he also remembers how
God had graciously appeared to him at Bethel in that dream with
the ladder. And it's like he recognizes the
deep significance that now, again, here he is about to leave the
land of Canaan from Beersheba. He's gonna go the other way.
Instead of northeast, he's going southwest. But he's leaving the land of
promise. But notice now the difference. Notice the new nature on display.
He seeks God's face. That's a marker of the new nature.
The natural man doesn't need God. God is not in all his thoughts. He thinks he's fine on his own.
His own wisdom will carry him through. But how foolish, how
much better to seek Him who sees the end from the beginning and
who's the most faithful guide in all your decisions. Child of God, you have to look
back over your life. I'm sure there are times when
you can see when you were about to make this or that decision,
or do this or that thing, but then God intervened. And then later you look back
and you see it all By reading Providence backwards, in the
perspective that you gain with the passing of time, and you
say, I couldn't have planned it better. And if it had gone
my way, it would have been a big disaster. God knows. Seek God's face. Our second point, hearing God's
word. What an amazing comfort it must have been for Jacob to
hear God speak in the visions of the night. Notice the personal
nature of this. It's the visions of the night.
And notice also how God addresses him, he says, he doesn't say
Israel, he says Jacob, Jacob. It's a reminder that in himself
he remains Jacob, it's true for us too. We remain sinners, we
retain that old nature after grace, that stubborn, that self-willed,
that nature that is inclined to all manner of evil. God's people, you're valiantly
and prayerfully called to do battle against all kinds of sin.
from within and without. We never arrive in this life.
Oh, God gives much grace. He gives many promises. Yes,
he will never forsake true, but we remain what we are. We cannot
grow complacent. We must wrestle against principalities,
against powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places, because
we remain Jacob. We don't float through this life.
We can walk in the park as a Christian. Devil walketh about as a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour. And Jacob responds and he says
to the Lord, here am I. I am God, God says, the God of
thy father. Fear not, fear not. Fear not to go down into Egypt.
And we get a sense here in these words that the Lord speaks to
Jacob of the apprehensions that Jacob himself felt. Because when
God says, fear not, that's not for no reason. He knows our hearts. He knows our hearts. Jacob was afraid. Why? Well, could it be that Jacob
also knew that not only was the land promised to him, but grandfather
Abraham had also received a vision from the Lord that his seed would
be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve
them. That doesn't mean serve like
a happy servant. It means they will be slaves. And he thinks of Gad and Issachar
and Reuben and the grandchildren there on the journey with him
and he thinks slaves. Scary thought. And the Lord had told Abraham
that those masters would afflict his seed 400 years, four centuries. And then God also promised Abraham
that he would also lead them out with great substance. And
could it be then that Jacob senses that maybe this is the beginning
of that fulfillment of that prophecy? That means not only going to
see Joseph, but it means going into uncertainty. As God has
said there would be this slavery ahead, somewhere in the future,
through the mist of time, Jacob senses slavery, great affliction
for all his family. He needs to fear. But here comes
the Almighty God of his father saying in that gospel tone, fear
not. And then notice what the Lord
says. Twice, he says, sorry, three
times, he says, I will. God's fear not makes all the
sense in the world because of God's I will. I will there make
of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee into
Egypt. I will surely also bring thee up again. For I, It's very significant. Notice the eyes. Not only here, but through the scriptures. The message to you and to me
too is look not around at others. And to Jacob, don't look out
into the mists of time or into your own sinful, undeserving
heart. Look to me, the eye. The same great I that has said
to Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. To
Isaac in chapter 26, I am with thee. What a word. It's such
a comfort, congregation, as God reassures Jacob's fears. He centers
Jacob's faith on himself, I. It's the great work the Lord
still does for sinners on the journey of this life, living
in this veil of tears, striving against sin and self and Satan.
His gospel word is, fear not for I. And you know why the book of
Isaiah, especially in those last 26 chapters, is so full of comfort? It's because of God's I. You ever notice the primacy of God
in those chapters? Over and over. Let's just look
at Isaiah 41. You don't have to look at it
in your passage, or you can. I'm just going to move very quickly
through all the I's in just Isaiah 41. I am the Lord, the first
and the last. I am He. I have taken from the
ends of the earth. I have chosen thee and not cast
thee away. I am with thee. I am thy God. I will strengthen
thee. I will help thee. I will uphold thee. I, the Lord
thy God, will hold thy right hand. I will help thee. One chapter. Isaiah 43. 30 more times. God says, I. Loaded with all that he will
do. And we must rest our souls and our trust on none else but
the Lord. Jacob then, us now. This is the
center of the gospel. It's not about us. It's about
who God is and what God does and has done through his son,
Jesus Christ. And notice here, God speaks these
words of comfort to Jacob in response to what? Sacrifices. The sacrifices are like a sweet-smelling
savor of an offering to the Lord. Animals had to die because God
is holy. Jacob is sinful. That's why God
addresses him here as Jacob, remember, fearful, a sinful man
still at best. But that sacrifice is well-pleasing
to the Lord, not because of the animals. because it reminds the
Lord, it points to the Lord, it causes the Lord to see his
son. What that sacrifice pointed to
was reconciliation in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice to come. As God, as it were, smells that
sacrifice, As God considers and sets before Him that payment
of sin for His Son, He says, I, I will. He promises and He comforts and
He blesses. Beloved, when we come to the
Lord, God in heaven, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus,
whose name we hope to consider this evening, Lord willing. And
the Lord hears, and he's all ears. He will save, he will speak,
peace to his people, he will speak, for Jesus' sake. The beautiful
thing here, the connection with sacrifice in this word of promise.
Sacrifice being also a confession of sin. Jacob confessing he needs
pardon, and the Lord gives it through his son, the Lord Jesus. A peace that speaks. God says, fear not to go down
into Egypt. And how does that relate to our
lives? Well, we too have many valleys. We can walk in darkness. We can also peer into the mists
of time ahead and wonder what will happen with our hearts resting
on the Lord, however, and on his sacrifice. We can go down
into the Egypts of our trials, of our afflictions, of darkness,
of uncertainty, and even of death itself. Why? Because God's promise
will hold. Here's a picture of God's spiritual
children, Israel, going down into the world of this, Egypt
of this world. And he says, I will surely bring them up again. And
same to you, whatever trials he may send you through, I will
surely bring thee up again. And you go back to Isaiah 41,
I will strengthen thee, I will help thee. Because the Lord is
so powerful, he will raise even from death. A child of God does not need
to be afraid of death. All their lifetime, they were
subject to bondage through fear of death, but he delivers from
that. Because in the end, he will surely bring them up again.
In the resurrection, in the great day, he will make all things
new in Christ. It's how near Christ comes to this
whole experience of Jacob here in Beersheba. Because long after Jacob's seed
is back in the land, and even through another exile in Babylon,
and then again returned, brought up again by God, he sends his
son. Not only to go to Bethlehem,
but also to Egypt. As he flees, as he goes into
a dark valley with the fiery breath of Herod breathing after
him, and he doesn't even realize yet in his human nature, Then
God says, out of Egypt have I called my son. He too went into the land of
Egypt, that house of bondage. He too came forth. He trod all
the way his people take. Isaiah says that in all their
afflictions, he was afflicted. He identifies with his people,
even in the Egypt of death. but he too was surely brought
up again, raised to the power of an endless life and ever lives,
the victor over death, to make intercession for us. Behold your Savior, child of
God. He knows the way that you take. He was himself afflicted. He will carry you through and
he will bring you up again. Surely, surely is the word. There's so many things we fear
in this life. But God says, fear not, I surely. Well, let's turn to the blessings
God gives thirdly. Not only to Jacob, but also to Joseph, receiving
God's blessings. Notice what else God says, and
Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. Isn't this interesting?
God speaks about Joseph. For 22 years, God knew Joseph
was alive, never said a word about Joseph to Jacob. And if Jacob had any doubts left
about what was actually going on there in Egypt, God just told
him, Joseph, he's alive. Joseph shall put his hand upon
thine eyes. It means he'll be there on your
deathbed. You're not gonna lose him again. You'll never lose him. in this
life. And there's a picture there,
too, of what God gives in Christ, the greater than Joseph. He,
as it were, child of God, will put his hand upon your eyes in
death, and he will never leave you. He'll always be there, right
through death and beyond death. Death is not an interruption.
There's no temporary stoppage of the presence of Christ. He's
there. And Jacob could have the reassurance
that the son that I thought was lost will be restored to me,
and I'll never lose him again. His greatest fear and his greatest
earthly sorrow has been turned to joy even by the word of God
himself before he even sees Joseph. What a blessing. But then more
blessings. We read all those names, lots
of names, some of them hard to pronounce. All of them a demonstration of
the faithfulness of God, the blessings of God upon Jacob.
Last time he left Canaan, his own confession was he only had
the staff in his hand. But now look at him, look at
what God has given. Remember he had said it? Joseph
is not, Simeon is not, Benjamin you would take away. He was down
to maybe already a quarter of his children may be gone. But
now he can say all my children are alive. All my children are
here and the vast majority of my grandchildren. We noted the
two who died in the land of Canaan. God has been so faithful. All
these things are not against me, but they are actually working
for me, Romans 8, 28. As we'll sing later, through
pain and trouble, thou hast led and humbled all our pride. Isn't
that so important? Some of that pain and trouble
in our lives is for that very reason, to humble our pride and
to bring us to nothing, so that God would get the glory. But
in the end, to liberty and wealth, thy hand did guide. God is everything
congregation. The blessings he gives. The blessing
here of being able to leave with the confidence of God's favor
upon him. God had spoken. He'd led, he'd comforted, promised. And now look at the confidence
of Jacob as in God he's confident. He rises up in verse five from
Beersheba and he carries them all up into Egypt. All his seed
with him. It's a blessing. That word of
God, that confidence that God gives, no more fear. 70 souls, seven times 10, the numbers
of completion in scripture. We see growth, we see God giving
so much, but we look ahead and we see the time of the Exodus
and how many leave Egypt. Hundreds of thousands at a minimum. God grows his work. He blesses
still today. Look at the church worldwide.
The Lord is bringing in a harvest. Sometimes we wonder why is it
so dark in this world? But the Lord continues to add
to his church. And the darkness of this world shouldn't surprise
us. You ever thought of the amazing truth and blessing it is that
the kingdom of God is saved people, never ever shrinks. Political parties go up and down,
everything in this world, they get more numbers and less numbers,
not the kingdom of God, it only grows. Now unbelievers fall away, but
they went out from us, John writes, because they were not of us,
but the kingdom of God only grows. That's unheard of in this world.
That's God's blessing. Notice also this blessing, the
preservation of God's people. The Lord preserves them. Goshen,
separate from the Egyptians. The Egyptians loathed shepherds.
And we would say, well, that's not very nice. Well, sometimes
things aren't very nice in our life, but they're actually a
blessing in disguise because God keeps the people of Israel
away from intermingling, intermarrying with the Egyptians and disappearing
from the stage of world history. through intermarriage. People of God, you may be shunned.
Marvel not if the world hates you. There's a blessing in disguise
there because the Lord has called you out to come out from among
them and be separate and not to intermingle in this world
and have your religion watered down and your God forgotten and
your future destroyed. Already some had married Canaanite
women, Judah for one, but it also says there in Simeon, Verse
10, Shaul, one of his sons, was the son of a Canaanite woman. Canaan was actually a far worse
threat for them than Egypt. Another blessing of God. And there's the great and obvious
physical and relational blessing in verse 29. He fell on his neck and wept
on his neck a good while. I'm sure Joseph spoke, but not
a word is recorded. And I think we're meant in a
way to just pause at these words. He wept on his neck a good while. Just let that be there. Give
them space. His father and son, their eyes
lock and they hug. Jacob's holding his son and he's
just sobbing. The other 68 standing there and
some Egyptians, probably two, are looking down, giving them
space. Tears and eyes everywhere. and all the stress and all the
tears and all the sorrow is washed from Jacob and also from Joseph.
What a blessing of the Lord. You know, being reunited with
loved ones either lost or not seen in a long time is a great
blessing. And it's a picture of a greater
blessing yet to come, isn't it, for the people of God? What a
meeting it will be in heaven when all Christ's people will
unite again with Him and with one another. That father, that
mother, that son or that daughter who left the scene of this world
long ago, but whose confession was He is Lord. Oh, what will wash over you when
the Lord will be there wiping away every tear from their eyes? To receive you to a rich, bountiful
land, as Jacob does, or Joseph does for Jacob. Brimming with storehouses, of
grain there in Egypt, but of goodness never to be interrupted
in heaven. And Jacob must have said in his
heart and in his mouth, the Lord has been so unbelievably faithful. He says it, let me now die. I've seen your face, you're yet
alive, Joseph. Joseph Jacob sees the whole picture. God has been faithful. And Jacob knows that when I die,
this won't all just be, have been a dream. But by faith, he
levels up, if you will. He says, now let me die, because
what? I will see then. God's promises proved sure and
true even more because there's always more with God. Because
I will enter into glory, I will see my Savior in righteousness
at last, His glorious face to see, and all the weary night
is past, and I awake with Thee then. then I shall be satisfied. He'll say he has led me by his
counsel and will afterward receive me to glory. And child of God,
this is what Christ will do one day. He'll receive you into his
Father's heavenly mansions. And just as Jacob, there you
will see most clearly, why? You fill in the blank. the questions, the things you
don't understand now, you will see it then, and your confession,
your exclamation shall be, God has been so incredibly faithful
in spite of me. Above all, in sending his son
into the Egypt of this world to suffer and die, to prepare
a way. Without Christ, we would perish.
There's no chance of ever gaining access to God. The life that is in God without
Christ. Just as Joseph, right? Without Joseph, Jacob would have
perished in the family. He would never have gotten into
Egypt, even if there was grain there. But Joseph is there, and
child of God, Christ is there. He is your life. And by Him, we have access. by
one spirit unto the Father, because he died, he rose, he accomplished
salvation, and what a day it will be to be received into glory. I was looking at the poem this
morning of Robert Murray McShane, I didn't put it in, but how he
says there, not till then will I know how much I owe. And then a final, very brief
word, but an important word to those of you here who live on.
Without Christ, you hear these things and you think, well, I
can just go on. My friend, you can't just go
on. You will miss Christ in heaven. You must turn. You must awake. You must be terribly alarmed
because Satan wants to destroy you. He's not complacent. So
don't you be complacent either. Do not delay. Let the wicked
forsake his way, Isaiah says. Such a call. And the unrighteous
man is thoughts. The way you think in your unrighteousness,
suppressing the truth, thinking that that which is a lie is real.
Forsake those thoughts, let him return unto the Lord, and he
will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. Flee from the wrath to come,
confess your sin, and fall into the strong and safe arms of this
Savior. The promise of the gospel is
you will live. Amen. Let's pray. Gracious and good doing God in
heaven, please bless thy word to our hearts. We have heard
it. Lord, let it be blessed. May
thy spirit use it to strengthen and encourage and build up the
faith of thy people and to cause those who are outside of
Christ to say, I will arise and go to my Father. Lord, do thy work, we pray, in
all of our souls, pardoning our sin, and oh, receive us into
those heavenly mansions one day. What have we deserved, Lord?
Our lives are filled with sin. Oh, deal with us according to
the mercies in thy Son. It's in his name and for his
sake that we pray. Bless the catechism, Sunday school,
and confession, and other classes and discussions, groups after
Lord. Bless our fellowship together.
Keep us through this day. Return us together again tonight.
And pardon every sin for Jesus.
Jacob/Joseph (18): To Egypt, with God
Series Joseph
Text: Genesis 46:1-7; 28-34
Theme: Jacob/Joseph (18): To Egypt, with God
- Seeking God's Face
- Hearing God's Word
- Receiving God's Blessings
Closing Prayer
| Sermon ID | 1013241841315461 |
| Duration | 40:37 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Genesis 46:1-7; Genesis 46:28-34 |
| Language | English |
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