Tonight we finish out Genesis 49. We are getting close. One more chapter and we're finished with the book of Genesis. And it's been a wonderful journey for me. I've loved Genesis. And where we're going next, just so you know, we're going to bookend the Old Testament. I'm going to Malachi next, which is a wonderful book. has some great stuff about marriage in that book and some other great things. And that will give us a chance to kind of see how the Old Testament works too, just how it ties together from beginning to end. And so we're going to be moving into Malachi probably, well, soon. Genesis 49, we'll be starting at verse 13. Let's open up in prayer. And remember, on Wednesday nights, we're a little more informal. That means I'll be asking you questions that are not rhetorical. I'm looking for answers and feedback. So if you can't hear me, move a little closer. My throat's a little bit bad, but it should be no problem. to be loud enough. Father, thank you for the blessing that the book of Genesis has been to us and all that we have learned from the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob since Genesis chapter 12. We thank you for the life of Jacob as we say goodbye to him tonight. May we remember all that he has taught us and may we be thankful that we will actually see him and glory and be able to talk about that ladder that he saw and that angel that he wrestled with. This is not a fairy tale. This is not a joke. This is reality and we're privileged to reflect on it and to consider that we are just passing through like Jacob of old. Teach us from your word tonight. Be with the children tonight as well and those who teach. May they enjoy your word and be strengthened and brought some to salvation and some to different levels of glory as they see more of Christ. May they be transformed into Christ. May we all lay hold of the one who has laid hold of us and that we would grip him with all of our might And to remember that we are gripping, although we grip in the power of the one who grips us. But we are gripping, and we never forget that He is working in us to will and to do His good pleasure. But we are at work. Father, bless this time in Your Word, we pray in Christ's name, Amen. Okay, last time, and it's been a while, last time we talked at the beginning, I asked a question. I'm going to ask the same question tonight, and that is this. See if you remember. What is the one word that encapsulates the theme of the book of Genesis? Okay, turn to Genesis 1.28. Genesis 1.28. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. God blessed them. And God called that Garden of Eden and everything that He had created, that first family, and all of that, He called it Very good. Adam and Eve, I mean, perfect fellowship with each other. Perfect fellowship with their God. They were very blessed. Weren't they? They were very blessed. All that they had to do was continue to believe God. to trust Him for the good and not define good for themselves. Not make up their own good and cling to their own good. They had to trust God that what He said was very good. That is Christianity. And that is precisely what was lost when the devil came in and lied to them and told them lies and they lost it. They went from blessing to what? Curse. And the curse spread and it affected every blade of grass in the entire earth. But the blessing would be restored, wouldn't it? Blessing would be restored through the seed of the woman. who would crush the head of the one who brought in the curse, the serpent, the serpent would strike this seed on the heel. but he would crush his head. There's a prophecy of restored blessing, even in Genesis 3, through the seed. And the theme of the seed is all throughout the entire Bible, and especially in Genesis, that the seed of Abraham would bring back blessing to all the nations of the earth. and that led us from the seed of Abraham, that led us to Isaac, and of course the seed of Isaac was Jacob, that led us to Jacob, and Jacob led us to the 12 seeds, the 12 tribes of Israel. So here we are in the life of Jacob at the end of his days giving his last words, and I want you to look at his last words in Genesis chapter 49 in verse 28. So turn to Genesis 49, And look at verse 28. All these are the 12 tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him. The book of Genesis begins and ends with blessing. That's really the theme. Not beginnings as much as, yes, everything began, but the theme is blessing. Lost blessing. Restored blessing through the seed of the woman. And here, Jacob of old, the seed, right, is talking about that blessing to his sons. Now, last time we looked at the first four sons. And we emphasized that some of them were chastised and passed over. And really Judah was given an incredible and ultimate blessing. We're gonna find the same thing a little bit where Joseph is given kind of an overwhelming blessing as well tonight. But make no mistake about it, this is super important, that every single one of the sons of Jacob were blessed. As one has said, because they all became founders of tribes that would emerge victoriously from Egypt as the children of Abraham. And from them would come the blessing. If you haven't had a chance to listen to part one, it was one of my favorite sections in all of Genesis personally for me. And I'd recommend that you jump in and find all about Judah because it was wonderful. Judah, the source of the ultimate messianic lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah. There were whispers of Davidic kingship. There were whispers of the millennial kingdom. There was whispers of the new covenant. There was whispers of salvation through the Messiah. There were so many whispers of grace in that section that I would commend it to you. It's absolutely wonderful. But tonight we're gonna look at verses 13 through the end of the chapter. And we're gonna find out, and I hope really see, even for us as children of Abraham, through faith, that we indeed are blessed beyond imagination. And I hope that we really see that tonight. So we're gonna look tonight at the prophecy of blessing fit for the brothers. the prophecy of blessing fit for Joseph, and the prophecy of blessing fit for you and me. So that's what we're going to do. First, let's look at all the brothers. And we're going to start in verse 13 with the fifth brother named Zebulun. Abiel, if she were a boy, would have been named Zebulun. I'm kind of glad she was a girl. That name hasn't grown on me over the years. However, Zebulun is an interesting character in God's Word. Now, remember, here is Jacob. He is, as Donna has said, as old as the dirt. And so he's very old. In fact, he's not only old, he's sick. Now don't imagine a guy all fired up, you know, giving a teaching and a prophecy here. This is a guy who is probably barely above a whisper and there's these boys gathering around his bed while he's propped up, listening and hanging on his every word. That's kind of the picture that you want to have, because this man is dying, as he says his final words. And his words, he's speaking in this prophecy. It is a prophecy, but it's truly poetry. It's prophetic poetry. It's filled with images and metaphors and word plays. In fact, almost all of the names, like Dan, what happens to Dan are all word plays on his name. It's amazing how God chose these names and their future was all wrapped up into the name of these boys. We're not going to be able to unpack all of the amazing Hebrew nuances in the text, but it's an amazing work of the Spirit of God for us. And it is prophecy, evidence of fulfilled prophecy, years before it was ever fulfilled. Now, here's what I want you to do, though. As we look at all these short blessings on the boys, I want you to think and maybe make a note as you're going, you know, the one word that sums up each of the sons. And when you have all those one words, try to put those together into one or two words that summarizes the blessings of these boys, okay? That's your job as I run through these relatively quickly so we have more time for Joseph and then to apply it to our own lives. So, start with Zebulun then. And remember, you're going to be asked a question. Verse 13. Zebulun will dwell at the seashore, and he shall be a haven for ships, and his flank shall be toward Sidon. So now, generally, Jacob's kind of going in the birth order, and he's gone to his fifth son. And Zebulun, And the reason I like that name is because I like Zeb, for short, and I love the ocean. Not a great reason, I know, but that's why. Then I realized Zebulon doesn't even border the ocean. Well, it's close. The tribe of Zebulun is close to the ocean. And the Hebrew text says the Zebulun will dwell toward the seashore. It doesn't literally have to be on the seashore. But the truth of the matter is that Zebulun and the land siphoned all kinds of prosperity from the seagoing trade because of their nearness to the ocean. They were blessed and they prospered because of the sea. And so, the international trade would be the trademark of Zebulun towards the ocean, prosperity from the sea. And then on to Issachar, verse 14, Issachar is a strong donkey. You know, I'd rather have the ship metaphor, but Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds. When he saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens and became a slave at forced labor. Issachar is a bit of a mixed blessing. Issachar is blessed with strength. Absolutely strong. Strong donkey. And it was also blessed to be able to choose to live in an area where it was very good, it was a very fertile land, a very pleasant land, a very good land. And they would, because of that, have the material things of life, the food that they want, and the good pasture, and all of the green, and all of that. But they had to sell one thing to get it, their own freedom. And so they were put to forced labor in order to get that location. And they used their strength not for their own freedom, but they traded their liberty for the good land and became slaves. So Issachar certainly was blessed, but they traded some of it away. And I'm not going to even be able to go in all the ways that these prophecies are fulfilled. But it's super fun to study this, and as you're reading your Bible going through whatever Bible reading plan you're going through, be looking for this happening in the futures of these nations, because these prophecies were fulfilled hundreds of years before they were made. Prophecies about Jesus aren't the only prophecies in God's Word, right? These prophecies are fulfilled hundreds of years, thousands of years in some cases later. On to Dan. Dan, verse 16, Dan shall judge his people. as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way..." I hope that you remember you're supposed to summarize the main things of each one and put them all together. So, "...Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that the rider falls backwards." So the future of the tribe of Dan is that of the judge. He's a judge. He's compared. And this judge, the animal picture is that, not of a donkey or not of a boat this time, but of a snake, of a serpent. A serpent on the road, a small but dangerous creature. And you've got this large, this huge black stallion. And yet Dan, a small tribe, is prophesied to be a fierce warrior, and to pack a lot of bite, and would bring down even large horses, which is really what Dan becomes, is a mighty, mighty small, but a mighty warrior with a huge impact in its justice through the sword and its justice through judging for Israel, compared to a serpent on the road striking the heels of a very large horse. So the tribe of Dan is smaller, but was called to help his fellow tribes to suppress the mighty enemy. Do you remember the famous man that came from the tribe of Dan, a judge, Samson? a mighty warrior, a snake that brought down the horse of the Philistines, a mighty, a whole people was brought down by one man, a famous judge named Samson. And Gad. Now, but before I get to Gad, look at verse 18. We're gonna get to verse 18, but just Jacob stops in the middle of this prophecy, in the middle of it. and says this, "'For your salvation I wait, O Lord.'" You say, why did he say that? I want to know. You're going to have to wait. Because I want you to think about it a little while. But it's interesting that he interjects this prayer, this prophecy, this cry out for salvation in the middle. Then he moves on to Gad. Look at verse 19, as for Gad, raiders shall raid him, but he will raid at their heels. So the tribe of Gad will be raided by enemies, but he will fight valiantly. Again, four of the six words of his prophecy all play on his name. Pastor Paul, look at the Hebrew. It's incredible that on his deathbed, barely breathing, he wordplays four out of the six Hebrew words to wordplay on Gad. The word Gad means fortune. The idea is that Gad would overcome and attack and have prosperity through his valiant warring. Asher, verse 20, as for Asher, his food shall be rich, and he will yield royal dainties. Asher's name means happy. He lived in a very fruitful portion of the land of Canaan. The picture here is royal delicacies, unbelievably good food, good produce. This was a word of blessing upon Asher. And Naphtali, verse 21, Naphtali is a doe let loose. So a deer, you know, I don't know what movie it is, but there's some deer hopping around, is it Bambi? Where they're frolicking and a mountain deer bouncing and jumping and let loose with swiftness and agility. This tribe would be a free mountain people. would move quickly, and this tribe would move quickly to let loose a message, to let loose for the purpose of moving quickly, agilely, to let loose a message, a beautiful message. One can't help but to remember that our Lord came to the borders of Naphtali in the book of Matthew to preach the gospel there. The good news, the beautiful words of life. And finally, Jacob comes to the sons of his beloved Rachel. And because Joseph gets his emphasis, I'm gonna mention Benjamin first, and then we'll talk about Joseph with a little more detail. So let's get to Benjamin, move down to verse 27. Benjamin is compared to a ravenous wolf. In the morning, he devours the prey, and in the evening, he divides the spoil. So the wolf, we live in Minnesota. We know about wolves. We know the ferocity of the wolf. Now, the wolf is a powerful animal that usually kills far more than it can eat. And it is like Benjamin, who is a powerful fighter. And Benjamin would conquer and then divide its spoil and be a blessing to its surrounding tribes. Blessing and success prophesied for a son of Jacob. Saul and Saul turned into Paul. Saul the king, Saul the apostle, Paul the apostle would come from the tribe of Benjamin. I can't think of a better picture than Saul, ravenous wolf for the gospel, dividing his spoil to us today. in the gospel, in his labors. Well, OK, so there you have it. So how would you summarize if you're given a multiple choice test, or if I were to give you $1,000 if you got it right, you'd all pay attention, and you'd give me some answers. See, when I teach at Northwestern, we split up into groups, and the teams that win don't have to take the final. and they get real smart when you do that. All of a sudden they pay attention. The sports pages go down and they start paying attention. There is no money nor candy to be thrown to you, but what did you come up with for a couple or three summary words that summarize all of these, I won't say lesser brothers, but the shorter prophecies? So just start throwing some stuff out there. Summary blessings. How would you summarize all the blessings? Just a couple words. Strength. Good one. Prosperity. Yeah, prosperity. Good. Strength and prosperity. Basically, you got it. I mean, that's what I had. I had prosperity and I had kind of victorious warrior, which has the idea of strength. So, victory, prosperity, strength. You see it? Okay. Hold on to that thought. Let's move then to the prophecy of blessing fit for Joseph now. Verse 22. That was just warm up. Now it's going to get good. Verse 22, Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring. Its branches run over a wall. So what I want you to think of, I almost have a picture of it, but they're kind of little trees. But if you had a tree like this, and it was a big tree and really green, and they're big, pieces of fruit hanging all over the place, to the point where the boughs hung low, and they would be big enough to hang over this piano, which is the wall, and they'd be drooping over it, so fruitful, so the passers-by could grab pieces of fruit and be fed by it. That's the picture of fruitfulness and abundance and green and growth that is the metaphor. It's not wolf, it's not donkey, it's a fruitful tree that he is compared to. And you think about Joseph, I mean, what a blessing Joseph was to his family. What a blessing he was to Egypt. What a blessing Joseph was to the whole known world. In fact, in a sense, his fruit, his collection of grain and his ability to feed was part and parcel with who he was. And even when Jacob died and he was gone, Joseph would continue to be a blessing to Israel. In fact, he would be a blessing until a new king arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph. Joseph was a perpetual blessing and peacemaker and fruit maker for an entire known world until a king arose that did not know him any longer. Exodus chapter 1 and verse 8. So that is who he is, but what did he do? He was a fruitful bough, but what did he do and experience? What did this fruitful vine, this fruitful tree experience in his life? His life was one of incredible benefit and blessing to the world. But all of this was done under what? Under intense fire. Under intense fire. Look at verse 23. Look at the shift. The archers bitterly attacked him. bitterly attacked him, and shot at him, and harassed him. Boy, what a shift in the whole metaphor. Talk about mixing metaphors. Unless you're shooting apples, I suppose. Treacherous arrows fired at Joseph. I mean, his brothers throwing arrows of envy and murderous intentions. Potiphar's wife throwing arrows of temptation and then arrows of slander. The prison of loneliness and discouragement as Joseph rotted unfairly in prison and was virtually forgotten for years. Talk about arrows. But what did Joseph do? How could he be so fruitful with that sort of fruit sniping going on? What did he do? Look at verse 24. But his bow remained firm. And his arms were agile. No revenge. I'm sure he had his moments. But he hoped in his God in the middle of slavery, in the middle of loneliness, in the middle of the darkness. He remembered the promises and he hoped in his God. Was Joseph just that good? Have you ever wondered about that? Was he just super spiritual? Was it because he was smarter than us? Or maybe he was a prophet and he knew the end from the beginning and that gave him a bit of hope? Why could he do this? I don't think Jacob answers the question not by telling us how great Joseph is, but by telling us how great Joseph's God is. Do you see it? That's how he answers the question. Look at the description of your God in this passage. from the hands of the mighty one of Jacob. Look at the verse, verse 24. But his bow remained firm, and his arms were agile. Boy, wasn't he good. He had a firm bow. Boy, I'm glad he was a good bow hunter. I'm glad he was a great hunter. No! It's not about him. From the hands of someone else. The hands of the mighty one of Jacob. What is the source of Joseph's strength under the fire of the arrows of the enemy, even from those of his own family? The mighty one of Jacob. The mighty one of Jacob. The strength was from his Lord. God was his champion. Anybody bow hunt in here? Don, I know bows hunt. Some people want a bow, huh? I know Owen. OK, so you get a bow, and you're eight years old. You get a big old compound bow. And you have the bow, and the little boy can barely even hold the bow up, the weight of the bow. And the picture here is a little boy and God the Father, the mighty one of Jacob, coming behind him. Son, put your left hand on the bow. And his strong left hand goes over the left hand. Put your right hand on the string right here. But Daddy, I can't pull it back. Don't worry, I got this. And he puts his hand over his right hand. He secures the arrow. Pull it back. I pull it back. I can't pull it. Pull it back. The strength will be there. And he pulls it back with the boy. That is the Christian life. And he lets the arrow fly. Who let the arrow fly? Did you let the arrow fly? Yes. Did God let the arrow fly? Yes. That's the Christian life. Who gets the glory for pulling the bow back ultimately? The mighty one of Jacob. That's the picture here. Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful. It's wonderful. It's God who is our strength. Boy, it's God who is my strength. I memorize a verse. Look, do you believe it? Do you see it in this passage? You gotta rest on it. You gotta believe it. His hands are on the bow too. And then Jacob describes God as shepherd. It just keeps getting better. From there is the shepherd. This is the first mention of the word shepherd in the noun form in all of the Bible. The first of many. Wonderful pictures of our God as a shepherd. All of which culminate when who says what? When Jesus in John 10 says what? I am, ego eimi. I am that I am. I am the Good Shepherd. And I lay down my life for the sheep. You know what a shepherd does. He loves His sheep. He knows His sheep. He calls them by name. He picks out the fleas. He puts them on the shoulder. He lifts them up when they're cast and flail around with their legs around. He leads them by the still waters. He protects them from enemies. He is our shepherd. And all of this is what we see Behind that famous psalm, isn't it? The Lord is my shepherd, David says. The shepherd boy, the shepherd king. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He's your strength for your bow. He's the restorer of your soul. But that's not even halfway done. Jacob describes God as what? The stone of Israel. The beginning of all the rock metaphors in the Bible, right here. Isaiah knew about this passage. When he's interpreting, he understands and he's got all these typologies and all of the metaphors of God as rock already built in from Genesis. This is where it begins. Who is the ultimate rock? Where does this point? Christ Jesus. The cornerstone. The foundation stone. And we are living stones built side by side to each other, built and squared by this stone upon this firm foundation. He is the rock. Isaiah chapter 8 speaks of this rock. We talked about it in 1 Peter chapter 2. the stone of Israel. Some will be crushed by Him into oblivion. Some will be built on Him for eternity. But He is the stone of Israel. And the rock was a place of protection too. When storms and rain would come, they could hide under the rock and receive protection. Isaiah speaks about it all over the place. Isaiah 32. Reference after reference. We sing about it. The rock of ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in Thee. The rock of fortitude and the rock of protection. The stone of Israel. Then he goes on to talk about God is God of your Father. recounting God's past faithfulness as a father and God's presence in the life of Jacob, Joseph's father. All the way from the ladder filled with angels, all the way to the pineal where he wrestled with the angel of the Lord and came up limp. The same caring God who had been with Jacob of old was with Joseph in the pit. He was with Joseph in the home of Potiphar. He was with Joseph in the prison all the way to Joseph in the palace. God was with my father. God was with his father. God will be with me too. As my help, the text says. Did you miss that? You didn't get to preach on that. As my help. the text says. It's not even done. He finally ends with God Verse 25, from the God of your Father who helps you and by the Almighty who blesses you. The Almighty, El Shaddai. El Shaddai, the name of God which highlights His omnipotent power and sovereignty and is most associated in the whole book of Genesis with the idea of blessing. We cannot possibly mistake grace. We cannot possibly get this wrong. This is not about Joseph ripping up his own blessings and being way better than everybody else. Is it? This is about God. Every good and perfect gift to Joseph has gone down from above, from the mighty one of Jacob, the shepherd of Israel, the stone of Israel, the God of our Father, from El Shaddai. And only one thing matters, listen to me, teens, only one thing matters in your whole life is if you have been blessed If you have been blessed with the one blessing that lasts forever from this God, that's the only thing that matters. Everything else will work itself out. It's not that you'll gain the whole world. It's not that you'll have the applause of men. It's not that you have a lot of money and fame. It's not that you're comfortable. Watch this. It's not that you have finally learned to finally get it just right. I've gotten rid of all the negative ills. Everyone, don't breathe. Don't weep. Life is good. Don't breathe. I've gotten rid of all my circumstances. I have fixed them. I've gotten rid of all my ills. That is the blessing that some of us are looking for as Christians. No. Joseph was obliterated in his life. The one thing that matters in this life is that God has put his sovereign blessing upon you by his grace. That's all that matters. And that's what this text says, because you got a fireworks display of blessing that comes in the following verses. Firework display of the blessings that flow from this God. Look at it in verse 25. from the God of your Father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessing of the breasts and of the wombs, that's horizontal, blessings of your Father have suppressed the blessings of my ancestors, up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills, may they be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers." Can he say it? any more gloriously than that. Top to bottom, front to back, up to down, side to side, full blessing from this God. You say, what does that mean to me? Well, let's talk about the prophecy of blessings fit for you and me. Brothers and sisters, united to Jesus Christ, You have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It's not about you, but you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. All these brothers were blessed. Some are going to experience in the new heavens and the new earth. more propensity to express those blessings and service. It's called rewards. Because what they did, what you do in this life impacts the expression of some of those things. You say, I don't get it. How can I have every spiritual blessing in heaven and places in Christ and there be rewards in heaven? Sorry. It's what the Bible says. Am I right? Are all these blessings perfectly equal here? Yes or no? We have every spiritual blessing in Christ. Heaven is gonna be a place of serving God and what we do in this life and how we trust him is gonna matter in our service for Christ and our experience of those blessings in heaven. It's true. But we need to make sure we've entered into that place of blessing. And this is why I think that Genesis 49 and verse 18 is so powerful where Jacob interjects that prayer. Look at verse 18. For your salvation I wait, O Lord. For your salvation I wait, O Lord. Now look at the verse before and after the word salvation in verse 18. Look at verse 17 and look at verse 19. What are some of the words that are used in verses 17 and 19? Come on. Serpents and heels. Serpents and heels? Huh. What do you think he might be referring to when he interjects salvation there? Do you think Abraham and Isaac and Jacob understood what Moses wrote about? Do you think they knew about the promise in Genesis 3 verse 5? You bet they did. You bet they were hoping. Christ said, Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced. They knew more than we think they knew, I'll tell you that much. And I believe that through the Spirit that this is precisely what was on his mind at this point. We can't be sure, of course, but you can see it there. It didn't take Paul long to see that there. Make no mistake about it, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew about the prophecy in Genesis 3.15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." And once you, brothers and sisters, are blessed by the seed of the woman and blessed with salvation, once you have entered into His death and entered into His life, then sin is gone. Your greatest enemy has been destroyed. Death no longer holds its sting. And you become, like Joseph of old, you become a fruitful bough. You begin, you are united to this one. you're united to His death and resurrection, you're united to His perfections, and you begin to bear fruit in affliction. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ is the branch, isn't He? I think that was a misprint in Isaiah. Isaiah 4, verse 2, In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and united to Him we too will be glorified. Glorified. The ultimate blessing of glorification with Christ. If you have entered into the covenant of Abraham through faith. This blessing that spread to all the nations. That means you have been saved. You've come into experience of all that that means. The fruits of justification and that is being fully forgiven in heaven, the righteousness of Christ as your own and being complete in Him, the fruits of a new heart and bearing fruit and becoming transformed, and ultimately the fruit of being glorified like Jesus Christ. that if you've entered into the covenant of Abraham by faith, you're not blessed like Levi, praise the Lord, or like Reuben, thank you, Lord, or like Simeon, or like Asher, or Naphtali, you're not even blessed like Judah or Joseph. You are blessed like our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoa! That's the blessing that you have. Do you realize that you'll be blessed like your elder brother, your Lord Jesus Christ, in respect to His humanity? Not to confuse anybody. You're not God. But in respect to His humanity, He is what? He's a man in heaven with a glorified body right now. And He's there. And where He is, you will be also with a glorified body. That is the blessing. Because the scripture says in Philippians, for He will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. You're going to have a new body, fit for eternity. No more sin, no more death, and perfect fellowship with God. Here's what it is. It's the restoration of the blessing lost. It's the new Eden. It's the blessing of Eden and the face-to-face communion with Christ, walking with Him in the cool of the day, and that communion being restored through the new Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ. Paradise, peace, presence through our blessed Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. We indeed have what? Every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. I want to soak in this for just a minute because I think we should. So I want you to turn to Ephesians 1. Let's just take all that we've seen in Genesis now and see that it's all part and the beginnings of these kinds of amazing blessings that we have. Ephesians 1. By the way, Paul, I forgot how far it is, but I think this is all one sentence in the Greek all the way through verse 13. He just can't stop. He keeps putting commas. It's all one exuberant thought about all that we have in Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, here it is, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His kind intention, which He purposed in Him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end, that we who are first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory." And it goes on and on, but we'll stop there. Spiritual blessings in Christ. Brothers and sisters, yes or no? Are we blessed? Or what? Does that mean for Joseph that life was easy? Does that mean you're no longer concerned about losing your job? Does that mean you don't feel abandoned and friendless anymore? Does that mean your ominous medical diagnosis has just disappeared? Does that mean you don't need to worry about your children? Does that mean your heart doesn't keep hurting? No. No. No. And no. The arrows will come The circumstances won't change. But what it does mean is that the mighty one of Israel, your shepherd, your stone, your father, El Shaddai is for you forever. And if this God, if the God of Genesis is for you, who in the world can be against you? So what do we really need? We need one thing. And I'm going to read the bittersweet section at the very end of this chapter as we picture Jacob taking his last breath on this earth. And I want you to notice from the death of Jacob the one thing that we need for our lives. Verse 29 of Genesis chapter 49. Then he charged them and said to them, I'm about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers. in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. There they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And there I buried Leah. the field and the cave that is in it purchased from the sons of Heth. When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people. And so Jacob has passed until his dying breath Jacob relied on God's promises for his seed. Jacob's faith in the promises of God remained firm to the end. He's made a mess out of many things. Jacob has. A mess. But at the end of his days, there's one thing on his lips. the promises of God. That's his last word. That's Jacob's last testament. His testimony of faith in the mighty one of Israel. This is the one thing we need, brothers and sisters. We need faith. We need to believe and trust that God is who he says he is. and will do what He said He will do. We need to believe that one day we too will be singing with those in Revelation chapter 5, to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And we need to say that we testify to these things and we can say, amen, come Lord Jesus Christ, amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. That's the end of the book. That's the end of Jacob's life.