I want to speak to you tonight from the 30th verse, where it says, This chapter is a bridge. It is a bridge between the past history of Jacob's family sordid and unscrupulous as his sons were, and the glorious experiences of the life they look forward to with Joseph in the land of Goshen. Israel is a happy man. His beloved son, who for 25 years he's mourned over, is now found to be alive. Joseph is glorious in Egypt. And he's so blessed at the prospect of seeing his father after all these years. He'd ask his brothers every time they came, how's your father? And now he looks forward to seeing him. That's the way it is with all of God's children. We have troubles in our lives. We have disorder and confusion at one time or another. We travel the pathway of our pilgrimage waiting for God to work in our lives and to work in our hopes. Tonight I want to look at this glorious account of God's blessing and God's provision of their needs in Egypt. I want to speak to you tonight, if the Lord will help me, a message that I have titled simply The Reunion. of Jacob and Joseph. In the first four verses of this chapter, and I think I'm probably not through with this, but I want to deal with this tonight, we find Israel worshiping God at Beersheba. Remember, he's been there before. He's dealt with God in this place before. And as he takes his journey with all that he had, it says he came to Beersheba. And he offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. Jacob had several reasons to offer sacrifice. First of all, he had to ceremonially purge himself of all his sin. Not only himself, but his household. Don't know how much Jacob needed it, but I know his household did. He had a whole bunch of rascals among his children. Secondly, he had to offer a sacrifice to thank God for all he'd done for his family. He's been taking care of them and watching over them now for many years. And now after 25 years of mourning and grieving, he finds out that his favorite son, Joseph, is not only alive, but sitting on the throne of Egypt. He also offers a sacrifice as an inquiry. See, Jacob hadn't completely lost his perspective. And Joseph has sent word with his brothers and sent the cards and said, bring my father down to Egypt. But Jacob doesn't want to go. if God doesn't want him to. Should he go? Should he stay? You only find out by asking God. Solomon wrote this in Proverbs 3, verse 5, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thy own understanding. Boy, aren't we guilty of that. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy path. We forget that so quickly. If God doesn't do what we want Him to do when we want Him to do it, we all of a sudden decide we better go our own way. Or maybe God's just letting us do what we want to do if we're going to do what we want to. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thy own understanding. Jacob's children didn't care, but he did. Jacob needed God's permission. before he left Canaan. You remember Abraham went down to Egypt. When Isaac tried to go, God stopped him. And Jacob had heard that story many times. And now as he stands here on the edge of the promised land at Beersheba before he goes over into the wilderness that led down to Egypt, he had to ask God, is it okay for me to go? There are a lot of people that just don't want to deal with the idea that we as Christians need to ask God, is it okay for me to go? Is it okay for me to do this? Is it okay for me to do that? Now Jacob stopped here at this special place called Beersheba. It was a place that was dedicated to the worship of God. You remember Jacob had flipped there before. He saw a ladder coming down from heaven there. And he knew it was a place where God was to be worshipped. It was a place where his fathers, where Abraham and Isaac had met God and had received great mercy. A lot of people believe, I don't know this for a fact, but there are a lot of commentaries who comment on this, that it was at this place where Abraham was told to take Isaac and offer him to God. It was a place that lay between Hebron where they lived in Egypt. If he was going to Egypt, he had to go through Beersheba. And it's interesting to me that God is never ashamed to be called our God. He offered sacrifices unto the God of His father, Isaac. The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 11, 6 says, Without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. He has to give faith. He gives faith to His people and they trust Him. Now Jacob prayed after he offered these sacrifices. He prayed because he knew that he was heading into trouble. Jacob was not an idiot. He heard Isaac talk about it. He heard Abraham talk about it. He heard probably the women in the camp talk about some of the experiences that had taken place down in Egypt. His question was this, Joseph is down there and he's sent for me, but the question is, I know that Joseph's in Egypt, but when I get there, is God going to be there? You're a child of God. You better make sure God's going to be where you're going. Now, corn was abundant. There was no food in the land of Canaan. There was no food there. People were starving. They were going hungry. And there was plenty of corn in Egypt. The silos were still spilling over with what Joseph had stocked up. But Jacob's question is this. There's corn there, but will God be there? It's better to live on bread and water with God than it is to live on T-bone steak without Him. Everything seemed to draw Jacob to go to Egypt. When he found out Joseph was there, his heart wanted to go there. Joseph had sent word, come on down. His son said, let's go. But Jacob had to know, it's alright with God. You see, the worship and the glory of God must always be the dominant concern of every believer's life. I don't keep count of these kind of things. Maybe I ought to keep a journal or something. I don't. Throughout the last 40 years that I've been the pastor of this church, there have been numerous people who have been members here who came to me and said, I've been offered a job in Texas or Colorado or South Carolina or Florida or New York or Montana or somewhere. Do you think I ought to go? My response to them on every occasion is you better ask God, not me. I'll give you bad advice. I'll tell you to go based on what kind of salary you're going to make, what kind of opportunities you're going to have, what it's going to do for your children. I've got a lot of questions I can ask you. But the real question is, what's God want you to do? Surely God wants me to take a promotion. Maybe not. Maybe not. Our great concern in life ought to be God's glory and God's will. Now God loves to perfect His strength through our weakness. He spoke to him here in verse 2 and said unto Israel in the visions of the night, He said, Jacob, Jacob. Now the last time He talked to him, He started calling him Israel. But now He goes back and calls him Jacob. And He said, Here am I. God immediately answers this chosen child of faith, by saying to him, in verse 3, I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not to go down to Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again." There is a blessed assurance here of God's rejoicing. Prophet Isaiah wrote this in Isaiah 41.10, Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help you. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. I want God to say that to me. A couple of chapters later, he said this in Isaiah 43.2, When thou passest through the waters, I'll be with you. And through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." I think about those three Hebrew children. They put them in that fire that was heated seven times hotter than it had been for anybody else. They put them down in there and they're walking around. Their clothes aren't even burning. They aren't smoking. They take them out and they don't have a bit of smell of smoke on them. How'd that happen? Because God was walking around there with them. fears nothing when they're holding their parents' hands. A couple times when my children were small, they'd get separated from us. They'd panic. I used to hide from them to watch to see what would happen. David was worse than John. We walked down the street in Cincinnati one time, and David got to looking in a window, and I walked around the corner. I could see him, but he couldn't see me. And all of a sudden he realized I wasn't around. His eyes got that big, you know, half a dollar. He was looking. He didn't know which way to run. And I finally said, I'm right here. And you could see him just relax. Children don't like to be alone. They like to be with their parents because they trust them. Now there were some good reasons for Jacob to be concerned There were some good reasons for Jacob to pray here. Here's one of them I like. I read just two or three commentaries. I don't know who's copying off each other, but I'll copy off all of them. It said, Jacob was an old man. And most older people don't like changes. I read that and I said, Amen. I kind of like things to stay the way they are. I know where they are. Jacob was an old man. He just said, God, I want to know what you want me to do. He was fearful because Egypt was a very pagan country. It was the most civilized and developed nation in the world. People in America always look at somebody that lives in New Guinea or somewhere like that and they talk about them being primitive and hot and tot and so on. They run around half-naked in the jungle and just live off what they got. We feel so superior and arrogant to them. We got more hot and tots and running around in the United States in Brooks Brothers suits and Florissant shoes than they do down there in the jungle. Egypt had plenty of those. Egypt had a pantheon of false gods. They worshipped cats. They worshipped the moon. They worshipped the sun. They worshipped the Nile River. They worshipped fish. They worshipped everything you could imagine. It was a degenerate religious society. Paul said this in Romans chapter 1 verse 22, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like a corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. That is what the Egyptians were. Jacob was afraid of that. And you should be too. Egypt had bad memories for Jacob because of Abraham's struggles. I still laugh about that. Abraham would, he'd tell Sarah, he'd say, now don't you tell them you're my wife, you tell them you're my sister. That way if they decide to take you, they won't kill me first. There's not a single place there to ask us what Sarah thought about the deal, but He happened more than one time. Jacob still remembered that. Jacob had been warned that there were future evils to come. Future evils that hadn't been revealed yet. Genesis 15, 13 says, He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that's not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. Abraham died not knowing what that meant. Jacob's not sure what it means but he knew about it. And that's not unlike our own fears as we age in this world in which we live. Job chapter 5 verse 7 says, Yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. Trouble is just as natural for us as it is for sparks to come off a fire. Troubles of physical health, emotional problems, relationships with other people, our situation in the world, all these things, they are just a source of trouble. But God's closing words to Jacob are comforting. He says, Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. Jacob is assured that Joseph will be there with him when he dies. That Joseph will close his eyes. I've been with a lot of people when they died. Most people die with their eyes open. Most people I've been around die with their eyes open. Somebody has to close their eyes. Job chapter 19 verse 26, Job said this, when he was in the midst of his worst afflictions, with balls from head to foot, having lost everything he had, being criticized by his best friends and his wife and everyone else. He said, though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. If you know that. If you know that. If you really know that. than whatever happens in this world. You can deal with it. In verses 5, 6, and 7 we find the family's long journey to Egypt. Remember it's about 250 miles. Now they're riding in a wagon instead of walking but still a long way to ride in a wagon. 250 miles is a long way to ride in a car. They're still riding in a wagon. Jacob rose up from Beersheba and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, and their little ones, and their wives, and the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry them. They took their cattle and their goods which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him. His sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt." God always knew that humanity was going to fail. But he was certain that all of his plans and all of his purposes were going to come to pass. Jacob's not sure what's going on. His family's just glad to get somewhere where they got food. But Jacob's a more spiritual man. One thing he knew was that God was going to keep everything in order. That's interesting to me when you read these verses to note. You remember when Joseph sent up there to get him, he said, tell him to come down, don't worry about anything. Pharaoh said he'd take care of everything. Just leave everything behind and come on down. It's interesting that Jacob didn't leave anything. He took everything with him. He didn't leave behind a single person. He didn't leave behind a single possession. They just all left and went down to Egypt in the wagons that Pharaoh had provided. There's a warning there to us. We must never become so fearful that things will come unglued that we forget that God always makes everything work out not only to His glory, but to our good. I'm oftentimes intrigued at how people miss that God's working things out to their good. We're so focused on the things of this world that we oftentimes forget that God's working everything out to our good. In the province of God, Jacob and his family took everything they had. Now, they didn't know it. And I'm sure if we ask them why you're taking it, they probably had all kinds of reasons. They didn't know it, but it would be centuries. They thought they were going back home pretty soon. But it would be centuries before they would return to the land of promise. He told Abraham it would be over 400 years. And it was. Now, in the verses between verse 8 and verse 25, 26, we just have the names of all these children. And you can read those if you really want to. There's a lot there. Interesting reading. But let's get down to verse 26. And all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt which came out of his loins besides Jacob's sons, wives, And all the souls were threescore and six. And the sons of Joseph which were born him in Egypt were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt were threescore and ten. And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph to direct his face unto Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen." Now this number is 70 here. In some other places it's a different number. And it changes. At one place there, it's 66. Three score and six, 66. In another place, it's 70. In another place or two, it's 75. It all just depends on who you count and how you count, who you leave in, who you leave out. What's interesting to me is that it's been almost 40 or 50 years, maybe longer than that. Since God told Abraham that he'd have children as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the sea, but there's only 70 of them. Only 70 of them in the company of Jacob's family. Now I'll give you a little secret. 400 years later, when they come out of Egypt, there's almost a million of them. See, God knows what He's doing. When we don't, He still knows. Jacob sent Judah in verse 28. Judah, who establishes himself as the surety. You remember, he set himself up. He told Jacob. He said, I'll be Benjamin's surety. If something happens, You can blame me. Blame me for every bit of it. I'll be assured. But he sends him to meet Joseph. He said, go find Joseph and have him point us to Goshen. You know, anywhere Christ sends His people, He always goes before them. I had an experience several years ago, I won't tell you all the details of it, but it was a situation where I didn't know what God wanted me to do and I didn't know for sure where He wanted me to go and I just didn't, I wasn't sure what to do. And it was like God spoke to me. He said, wherever I want you to go, I'll be there for you. You get there. I'll be there when you leave and I'll be there when you get where you're going. And I never forgot that. A wise man always directs his affairs, or her affairs, if it's a woman, with discretion. This is a missing quality in the world you live in today. In the 112th Psalm, the 5th verse, it says, A good man shows favor and lendeth. He will guide his affairs with discretion. I notice that most of the people in the world, they want everybody to know what they're doing. That's not discretion. God would have us sometimes keep things to ourselves. If God wanted everything that He wants you to do known to the public, He'd put an ad in the paper. That way it'd be told accurately and completely. He'd have us act with discretion. Now as they come to Egypt, Jacob sends Judah to find directions to Goshen. But when they arrive in Goshen, Joseph is already there. Verse 29 through verse 31, we find the joyous reunion of the father and son. Jacob and Joseph are reunited. And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, to Goshen. And presented himself unto him, and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive. And Joseph said unto his brethren, unto his father's house, I will go up and show Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, in my father's house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me. Joseph was very proud. He was proud of not only his old faith. He'd been walking with God for 25 years. And now his old faith brings him together with his old father. If this reunion, I read this several times in the last few days, and I thought to myself, if this reunion was this joyous, this old man and his son who'd been separated for 25 years Can you imagine what heaven is going to be like? Jesus said in John 17, 24, Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am. That they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me. For Thou loved Me before the foundation of the world. We are going to be with Him. Jacob was a wandering shepherd. He was just a shepherd. Joseph was second in command to the great nation of Egypt. But God brought them together for this tender reunion of joy and tears. See, Joseph was a lonely man. We forget that. Joseph, all those years that he was in Egypt, all those years that he was there in Potiphar's house, in the prison, in Pharaoh's palace. He was by himself. Nobody to talk to in his own language. Nobody that he knew. I'm sure he learned there's nobody he could trust. And he missed his father. Every time he saw his brothers, he asked about him. First time. But Joseph had learned to trust God. and he learned to rejoice in his circumstances. I hear people say this too often. How are you? Well, I'm pretty good under the circumstances. Well, get out from under them. Get out from under them. It was overwhelming for Jacob to deal with the emotions of seeing Joseph at long last and for Joseph to see him after all these years. It is impossible for me, and I've thought about this, to imagine which one was the most joyous. I thought, here's this old man, he's fixing to die, and he hasn't seen his son for 25 years. He had to be so joyous. And then I've got to think about, well, but Joseph's been a lonely man there by himself in Egypt for 25 years. How joyous must he have been? Jacob's many years of mourning for his favorite son are taken away. This sweet moment of reunion just cleared it all up. Every once in a while you read about it, you hear about some brother and sister that were separated by adoption, they've never seen each other, been together, and somehow they get back together. What a joyous moment it is. It has questions and uncertainties, but it's a joyous moment. God's people are feeble and frail, but with God they can do all things. Jacob's life has been hard, been harsh. But now God has given back to him this very special son of Rachel. Verse 30, there is a word of practical application. Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive. You know, there is nothing cheers a parent's heart like spiritual children. You rejoice in the success of your children in this world if they're successful. If they have good jobs and good educations and good families and things. You rejoice in those things. You ought to rejoice in them. But how much better to rejoice if you have a child or children that know the Lord. That walk with Him. Live with Him. If success brings joy, then parents ought to strive to be effective, and they ought to strive to be good parents. But most of all, they ought to strive for their children to know God. I tell you this, don't stop praying for your children. They need it. I tell you, we're the last generation of prayers in this world. Most people that talk about praying don't know what they're talking about. It's like going to see Santy Claus in the department store with your Christmas list. For people to pray. Our children need our prayers. Our families need our prayers. Our neighbors need our prayers. Our nation needs our prayers. Our church needs our prayers. In verse 31 we find Joseph tells the family, I've got to go talk to Pharaoh and get everything set up. He said, I'll go up and show Pharaoh and say unto him, my brethren, in my father's house, which is in the land of Canaan, are come unto me. You ever wonder why God arranged the children of Israel to be put over in Goshen? It's a long way from the Nile River. It's a long way from Memphis or Cairo or any of the other big cities. It's the only part of Egypt that has a lot of grass on it. These men were shepherds. They had sheep and goats to raise. They had cattle to raise. They needed pasture. But it was the separation that isolated Israel from the culture of Egypt that kept them away from the demon worshippers, from the false gods, and the cultural atrocities of Egypt. Their work as shepherds demanded physical separation. This is nothing unusual for them. And the last few verses here, we find Joseph gives some wise counsel to his brothers. He says, these men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have, and shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, what's your occupation? See, Joseph knew Pharaoh was going to do this. He knew Pharaoh. He knew him better than anybody. You shall say, thy servant's trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we and also our fathers, that you may dwell in the land of Goshen. For every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. Now, virtuous men and women are not to be ashamed of what they do. And they're not ashamed of their parents. I used to have a friend, his dad worked on a garbage truck. And he didn't like anybody to know that. And he'd make up all kinds of stories about what his dad did. And I asked him one time, I said, why don't you just, why don't you tell people what your daddy does? He said, my daddy works on a garbage truck. I said, so what? He works. He makes an honest living. He puts clothes on your back and food on your table. He's good to you and your brothers and sisters and to your mother. You ought to be thankful for it. Better to be the honorable son of a humble shepherd than an arrogant king sitting on a throne. And no lawful calling is without God's blessing and God's honor. Human opinions don't matter. It tells us there that the Egyptians thought being a shepherd was an abomination. No matter what men think, if God's called you to do something, do it, and rejoice in it, and be glad of it, and don't worry about what other people think. I've seen this before. I've seen it some years. I've heard Patsy tell people, I'm a housewife. And they'd look at her funny like, you're a housewife? Nothing more honorable. That's what God called her. Be a housewife. The Lord takes delight in those who may lack social influence in this world, but have procedural inabilities. Here's what Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence." God said for you to ignore what people think, to do what He told you to do. Let me wrap this up by giving you four or five things here that I think I want you to remember. If God brings change into your life, and I know that a lot of you are at a period in your life where you're going through changes, either because of age, because of health, because of of the situation or whatever if god brings change into your life don't take a step until you seek his face don't move he speaks to your heart and i've had preachers tell me well you'll never move a step well maybe you're better off not to move a step i read an article the other day about people uh... investments and retirement funds. This guy, I said, man, I'd like to read more of what this guy says. He said, it's better off to be still and wait than it is to jump and lose. Another thing that I think is important here is Jacob told Joseph, when I die, be there. God often uses death as a great proof of the Gospel that we believe. A Gospel that is evidenced in divine strength that sustains to the very end. I have to talk about what I know about it. I have never seen a more clear testimony of faith in anybody's life. than I saw in my wife in her dying days. Never. Never. Until the day she became unconscious. Never complained. Just as the Lord's will. I tell you, there were a lot of times her husband sat down and said, I wish I had your faith. But God gave me faith through her. Another thing I think we ought to remember out of this chapter is that those people, and there are a lot of them, who remake God into their own ideal are to be pitied. I hear preachers, deacons, church members, teachers, they keep talking about God and He's not the God of the Bible. He's a God that's different. That's their God. I was going down the road the other day and I heard a lady on there. She was teaching something on the radio. She said something was absolutely stupid. I mean, it was just so contrary to Scriptures. And she said, I know that might be different, but you know, God changes. My God doesn't change. My God doesn't change. When people do that, when they constantly are changing their perspective of who God is and what He is, They miss the excitement of discovering the amazing God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob who does what he wants to. But it's a beautiful thing to watch God work in the hearts and lives of His people. You see, God's on the throne. He's on the throne. He's ruling and reigning and doing exactly what He aims to do. You say, I don't understand that. Well, all the time I don't either. I just by faith believe He's on the throne. All right, we'll stop there tonight.