Please open your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 50. We'll be reading this evening the final verses of the book of Genesis chapter 50 verses 22 through 26. We come to the end of our study. We began a little over a year ago in Genesis chapter 37 with the life of Joseph. And here we bring it to a conclusion with the death of Joseph. Let us give ear now to the reading of God's holy, inerrant, and life-giving word, Genesis 50, beginning in verse 22. So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years, and Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were counted as Joseph's own, Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. The grass withers, the flowers fall, but the word of our God abides forever and ever. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your revealed word, and we ask, oh now, as we have opened it before you, that you would illuminate for us by your Holy Spirit, divine truth. I pray that your word would go forth and not return void, that you would bless us through the reading and the preaching of your word, even this evening. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts tonight be acceptable in your sight, O God, our strength and our redeemer. In Jesus' name, amen. Often a person's obituary will tell you pertinent information about that person's life, their posterity that they leave behind, those who preceded them in death, perhaps. Often a list of their accomplishments is included. And here at the end of the book of Genesis, we have a rather interesting little section that functions somewhat like an obituary for Joseph. And yet there's more here than just a reporting of the end of his life. Joseph's obituary, as it were, doesn't mention a whole lot of his major accomplishments that are left out of this part of the text. Just his last words and his length of days and a bit of his posterity. And at first glance, the book of Genesis ends on somewhat of a strange note on the surface, Joseph's statement about his bones and then his being embalmed, of course, and put in a coffin in Egypt. The book of Genesis ends really without any resolution to the situation in Egypt. There's almost a sort of a to-be-continued aspect to the end of this book of beginnings. This passage about Joseph and his bones and his coffin has much to say to us, however, about the nature of biblical faith, the nature of hope. Joseph's bones speak loudly concerning his faith and concerning what ours ought to be like. What do Joseph's bones teach us? There are three things that I want you to see from this text this evening, and the first is this. Joseph's bones show us a faith that is grounded in covenant promises. They show us a faith that looks back on covenant promises. Here, Joseph's death is a foregone conclusion, and yet as it approaches, inevitably, Joseph is standing on all of the old promises. The end of a whole life lived based on God and his promises. Joseph has been totally governed by his trust in the God of his fathers. And here in his old age, as death is coming, Joseph is still fixated on the God of his fathers. Look at the formula in verse 24, speaking of the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. This is the first time in the scriptures that that formula has now been used. And it will be echoing throughout the rest of the Old Testament, looking back on the promises to those patriarchal fathers. And here Joseph is resting on the promises of God to his fathers. Of course, Joseph's whole life had been lived in light of the God of his fathers. And here at his death, it's explicit. What is your hope, brothers, is to look back is to look back to the God of our fathers and his covenant promises from so long ago. Charles Spurgeon describes a scene like this. Here we see Joseph so calm, so quiet that he remembers the covenant and falls back upon it and rejoices in it. He speaks of dying as if it were only a part of living and comparatively a small matter to him. He gives no evidence of trepidation whatsoever. No fear distraction distracts him. He bears his last witness to his brothers who gather about his bed concerning the faithfulness of God and the infallibility of his promise. How did Joseph know all of this? A boy who was ripped out of his family situation at age 17, here he is at age 110. How had he kept his faith? It was the faith of his fathers handed down to him. In only the few short years he had been in his father's house until he was 17 years old, Joseph had been given the heritage of faith in those explicit covenant promises of his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather, Abraham. And now Joseph hands down the same old promises. Look at verse 24. He speaks of the land that he swore. God swearing with an oath. We're used to that sort of language, but when you think about it, why in the world would God swear an oath? The word of God has veracity in and of itself. He does not need to swear with an oath. He does that for our benefit. Joseph is riding out the end of his life on that confidence of that promise sworn to his fathers. There's certainty in Joseph's language here. In verse 24, I'm about to die, but God will visit you. It's really not apparent. the English translation there, but there's an emphatic construction in the Hebrew in verse 24. Really, it's awkward to translate it literally. It would sound something like, God will, visiting you, he will visit you. One Hebrew professor I had would explain that translation like, he will visit, visit you. The Hebrew writers didn't really have a way to highlight or bold font or yell in a written text. This is the way they would do it. There's certainty in the language. Verse 25, it becomes more apparent. He says, and this is the way the English translation, at least the ESV has it. God will surely visit you. It's the same construction. He will visit, visit. It's coming. It's certain. He promised it. We'll see a little bit more about what Joseph is anticipating in a moment. Uh, but there's certainty in his language. Just like in all of Joseph's difficulties in the previous passage, when he told his brothers that the Lord had been working all this time, in all of his difficulties, he saw the hand of the Lord and his providence at work. And here in his final moments on earth, he's looking back to that God of the covenant. Joseph is going out, he's peacefully dying, and yet he's doing so with a defiance and a declaration that unwaveringly and triumphantly rests upon the old promises and the faithfulness of God. You think about who's recording this for us. It's Moses, 400 years later. How did Moses hear and know about these old promises? They were handed down during those dark years of bondage and affliction. The faith of Joseph and his God that is now going to be made visible in a coffin That mummy in Egypt meant something to Moses' parents. The old promises were alive and well in the hearts of God's people. In Jeremiah chapter six, the prophet says this, thus says Yahweh, stand by the roads and look and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it. and find rest for your souls. What is my plea and my hope for my children? What is my plea and my hope for your children? What is my plea and my hope for you is that you will stand by the roads and look and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and find rest for your souls. Andrew Peterson has poignantly put that into verse. Keep to the old roads and you'll find your way. Go back, go back to the ancient paths and you'll find your way. What do you do if years from now you find yourself having wandered away? What is your only hope? It's to hear the old promises. It's to hear the old, old story of Jesus and his love. It's to go back, to go back to the ancient paths. where the good way is and walk in it. Ground your life in the covenant promises. It is the only way to live and it is the only way to die. Faith in the covenant, keeping God and his promises. The second thing that Joseph's bones teach us in this passage is that they show us a defiant faith that is looking forward to future redemption. defiant faith that is looking forward to future redemption. Joseph said, I am about to die, but God. The future is what those old promises were about. The future is what Joseph is so confident in. Joseph's directions concerning his bones stake his faith and make it totally dependent on the coming exodus from Egypt. It's the future Joseph is concerned with here. It's a bit of a contrast with his father Jacob. We'll see in a moment, Jacob looked back to those promises and demanded to be buried in Canaan as he should have, and it was a grand demonstration of faith. But here, Joseph is hanging everything on that promise of the land by waiting for his interment in it. The Abrahamic promises where the land has been promised, descendants have been promised, And yet, at the same time, during those and in those promises, God said this, there are dark clouds coming in your future. Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs. They will be servants there. They will be afflicted for 400 years. 400 years. And Joseph knows that it's almost here. Hang on brothers, brutal affliction and bondage is coming. And then the Lord continues in his promise to Abraham, but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Redemption is still coming. Mark it down. It is a settled fact. It's been promised with an oath. It will happen. And Joseph and his directions concerning his bones is utterly and completely banking on it. Keep my bones here. I want you to look at them and to know that redemption is coming. He's tying his whole hope in with the lot of his people. It is with regard to the future that Joseph is so assured and of which he assures his brothers and his children and their children. Joseph. knew the promises. He knew they contained bitter and hard things on the horizon for God's people in Egypt, and yet he believed the rest of the promises as well. Look at the language of verse 24. God will visit you and bring you up out of this land. The verb form that is there in the Hebrew is one that makes it very clear that this will be an act of God alone. God will do this. You just have to wait and watch him do it. And his command concerning his bones is evidence, compelling evidence of Joseph's certainty of that future redemption. He's standing on the promises and he's even going to, by his mummified corpse, give witness to future generations of his faith and those very promises. The book of Genesis really leaves the reader hanging with its final ominous word, a coffin in Egypt. There's that to be continued. But it does so with a hope and a faith defiantly manifested by Joseph's bones in a coffin, waiting for redemption. In fact, the writer of the letter to Hebrews, very interestingly, assigns this moment as the very pinnacle of the faith of this man, Joseph. Think of all the acts of faith that could have been referenced in the book of Hebrews chapter 11. By faith, Abraham, by faith, Sarah, by faith, Moses, by faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. This is the pinnacle of Joseph's faith. Joseph's bones show us the mountain peak of his faith in the coming redemption of the people of God. The faith of his father, Jacob, of course, was evidenced in his insistence that he be buried in Canaan. Now, do not bury me in Egypt. But Joseph's great act of faith shows us something even stronger. Joseph's message to his brothers and to his children is that darkness is about to fall upon you. Egypt will soon begin to afflict you with merciless brutality. An ever-deepening gloom will be your new reality for four centuries. But you're going to look at what will soon be my wrapped-up corpse in a coffin, and my bones are going to be a silent witness to you about the certainty that salvation is coming. Dark, dark shall be the midnight, but dayspring will be at hand. That mummy in Egypt would be a silent witness for 400 years for God's people to see and to be encouraged by and to believe. By faith, Joseph gave directions concerning his bones. All Israel had for all of that time in that brutal affliction was a coffin with a mummy inside. No outward evidence at all that the promises were going to come to pass. Paul Settle puts it like this, was Israel strong? No. Was Egypt strong? Yes. Was Satan inactive? No. Was there any sign that God's promise is going to be kept? Not really. There was no outward evidence that the promises would be kept. They had only a coffin, only a hope, but they had a coffin and a hope with a promise. They had the word of God because true Christian faith True living faith does not ask for signs. It does not try to test the truth of the promises. True faith simply hears the word and believes the word. Salvation is coming. That coffin was a silent preacher of trust and patience in God's word and faith for a coming redemption. It's very interesting. This is not the last time we hear of Joseph's bones in the Bible. As the final plague of the Passover and the judgment of God upon the firstborn of Egypt has taken place and Israel is being thrust out of Egypt, we read this in chapter 13 of the book of Exodus, Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. For Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear saying, God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones with you from here. It's almost like, as Moses records the Exodus, in all of the flurry of the activity, in the frantic nature of getting out of Egypt, the morning after the Passover and the death of all those firstborn sons in Egypt, they took their dough before it was leavened, their bowls were wrapped up in their coats. They were thrust out of Egypt as it were. They had no time to prepare any provisions for themselves. But the Bible makes sure that we know that Moses, on the way out of town, says, nope, We cannot forget that coffin. We are bringing that coffin full of bones with us. We need that mummy. The Bible is tracing Joseph's bones then 400 years after the end of the book of Genesis. And the Exodus event would ultimately come to pass as a result, as we've said, of the Passover, of the Lord's judgment, those who were saved, by the blood of the Lamb on their doorpost. And, of course, that Passover and that Exodus wonderfully pictures for us the once-for-all redemptive event accomplished by the shed blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. How much clearer can you and I look back and see and know our accomplished redemption? Joseph was looking forward, and we're looking back. Praise the Lord. Our sins have been forgiven. A new life. Resurrection reality. Regeneration. And yet we are pilgrims still. So the language we sang just a moment ago of Isaiah 43 is even more clearly certain for you and for me. I have fear not. Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned. And the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. You have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Your redemption is certain. Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Do I live in light of this truth? Do you live in light of this truth? Well, the final thing I want you to see from Joseph's bones in this text this evening is that Joseph's bones show us a triumphant faith that is looking forward to the final resurrection. Joseph's bones were taken out of Egypt in the Exodus by Moses. It's very interesting, of course, that the Bible includes this detail, but that is also not the last time we hear about Joseph's bones. We skip forward to the end of the book of Joshua. In chapter 24, we read this. The Israelites are now in the land. They've crossed over the Jordan. The conquest is complete. And listen to what we read. As for the bones of Joseph, Just in case you were wondering what happened to those bones that were carried out of Egypt in the Exodus. As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem. This wasn't the family tomb that Abraham and Sarah and Jacob had been buried in, of course, but it was in the heart of the land of promise. In fact, it was buried in the place where the very covenant was renewed with God's people. So what this means is, when you think about it, the Bible has now traced Joseph's bones from the end of the book of Genesis all the way to the end of the book of Joshua. The mummy, of course, was a silent witness in Egypt for all of those years of affliction, but that mummy was also a silent witness as they crossed the Red Sea. That mummy was with them in the wilderness years of wandering. That mummy was with them as they crossed over Jordan. I always think it's interesting to imagine being one of the people who was carrying the coffin of Joseph's bones 400 years later. You might have a conversation with someone who was carrying the bones with you. These are Joseph's bones. Can you believe this? He said this was going to happen and it's happening. All of the promises are true. He said God would do this and he did. We're carrying a coffin with a mummy in it. And we're going to bury that mummy in the land that was promised to us. And we are headed there right now. And we're going to bury this coffin because it contains a body that will one day rise again from the dead. Something about the land that was promised. It was promised to Abraham. It was promised to Isaac and to Jacob. Well, they are dead now. Abraham has been dead. Joseph has been dead now for 400 years. And he's now buried somewhere in that land in Shechem. And yet all of those men, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, have been promised that land, not merely for their descendants. They've been promised that land personally. And the only way for them to personally enjoy the possession of that land, given the fact that they're already dead, is by life after death. only in the resurrection of the dead. The Old Testament, we don't have time to trace this out, but the Old Testament highlights over and over again the people of God and their desire to be buried in the land of promise. There's something about that land. In the New Testament, we get an even clearer picture of this when Paul explains for us that Abraham was promised the earth itself. But later in the Old Testament, Ezekiel, The prophet has a vision in chapter 37 of his prophecy, and it is a vision of a valley full of bones. Of course, this is during the exile of the people of Israel. There's a scene that he sees in a vision, and it's a valley covered in dry bones, and they are very dry. And the Lord says, son of man, can these bones live? and you should prophesy over them. And so of course, as the vision continues, he prophesies over the bones and they begin to rattle and they begin to shake and they begin to reconstitute themselves into skeletons and then sinews and flesh begin to be wrapped around these bones and they come back to life. And of course, part of what is being pictured there is the restoration of God's people in the new covenant. There's a glorious picture there of regeneration and the life of the spirit in the new covenant. But there's something more going on in the vision of Ezekiel. than simply spiritual reality because at the end of his vision, Ezekiel continues and he writes this, thus says the Lord Yahweh, behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, oh my people. And I will bring you into the land. of Israel, and you shall know that I am Yahweh when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people." Ezekiel saw the coming of the new covenant and the new life of the spirit, and of course, the picture of sovereign, almighty regeneration, but he also saw the consummation of all of the covenant promises, and amazingly, it looked something like a resurrection from the dead. The Israelites had a clear-cut concept of the bodily resurrection. The trend in all Old Testament scholarship today is to say that the Old Testament knows nothing of life after death, let alone a bodily resurrection, and that is simply not true. A coffin in Egypt, can these bones live? And the rest of the scriptures defiantly proclaim, oh yes, they will. Thus, Joseph's bones, of course, were for all those years a silent witness to life after death, not merely the life of the soul, but, excuse me, the eternal life of the body and the soul forever and ever after the resurrection of the dead. By faith, Joseph gave directions concerning his bones. Why? Because he knew that God could raise the dead. Later in Hebrews chapter 11, Joseph is included, of course, in that list of those who by faith were looking not merely for an exodus and a burial and a plot of land, but they were looking for a better country. Thus, as the writer says, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Joseph, in his directions concerning his bones, was looking for the final consummation of all of the covenant promises of his fathers, at the heart of which was the eternal blessedness and bliss of God dwelling with his people forever and ever. I will be their God, and they will be my people. That is how you can live well, and that is how you can die well. to triumphant faith looking for the future resurrection and consummation. The modern secular worldview, with all of its various, and there are many, inconsistencies, has one consistent behavioral element, and it is an utter avoidance of ever thinking about the reality of death, let alone living in light of the reality. of death. There's no need for a faith in old promises. There's no need for a trust in redemption. There's no need for a forgiveness of sins. There's no need, certainly, for dealing with the reality of eternal life, body, and soul. Think of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the literary author of the famous work The Great Gatsby, which epitomized the wild living and the facade of optimism during the Roaring Twenties. At a relatively young age, he had fallen to despair and alcoholism. And near the end of his life, in one of his final interviews, he lamented this. A writer like me must have an utter confidence, an utter faith in his star. It's almost a mystical feeling, a feeling of nothing can happen to me, nothing can harm me, nothing can touch me. Thomas Wolfe has it, Ernest Hemingway has it. I once had it. But through a series of blows, many of them my own fault, something happened to that sense of immunity and I lost my grip. And days later, at age 44, F. Scott Fitzgerald died in total despair. Even the most optimistic and large living secularist finally must succumb to the inevitability of despair to which their worldview is destined because there's no such thing as hope. And you have to admit it. Little did Fitzgerald realize the irony of including Hemingway and his sense of invincibility. Or you have some folks who view Christianity as a sort of a silly pie in the sky kind of optimism. I remember one particular gentleman that I'd gotten to know over the years. He was well-educated, well-traveled, and when he realized that I was a Christian, he was incredulous. He viewed me as someone somewhat educated and traveled and had an open mind, and he couldn't believe that I believed that. And then he said to me, you know, in a sense, I wish I could believe that. I wish I could make myself believe that Christianity was true because I think if I did, all my problems would go away. I hated to break it to him that that was likely not the case, that often Christianity may bring more temporal problems and difficulties in the here and now. But what it does do is it gives gravity and weight and substance to the here and now because it's an eternal reality. It gives us a hope a certainty during the good, during the bad, during the worst, during the indifferent. It's meaningful because it's eternal and our salvation is certain. It is accomplished. And we look past the temporal. We don't have a mummy in a coffin to give us hope. We have something far greater. We have an empty tomb. That empty tomb is where death itself met its final defeater. Victory is coming. O death, where is your victory? Because of that empty tomb, we wait. We wait with difficulties, of course. We wait still dying. And yet we wait with certainty. Book of Revelation, the very end of the Bible, ends with language just like this. John the Apostle says, and I saw the holy city. New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. God will surely visit you. You will call his name Immanuel, God with us. And it is forever going to be secured in the second coming of Immanuel, secured by the shed blood of the lamb, his burial, and his glorious resurrection. All of the covenant promises, all of them fulfilled and consummated, and all of them accomplished by the lamb, who is the glory of Immanuel's land for all eternity. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this witness of Joseph at the end of his life revealed to us in your word. I pray that you would strengthen and nourish us by your scriptures this evening as we go forth into your world. Be with us now as we continue our worship, as we pour out our prayers to you in Jesus' name. Amen.