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.