God Meant it for Good

If you were paying attention during the prayer, you know that we will conclude the book of Genesis this morning It was Woody Allen that great theologian who said it's not that I'm afraid to die It's just that I don't want to be there when it happens. I think that a lot of people could could voice that Unfortunately, you will be there when it happens for the Bible says it's appointed a man Once to die and after that the judgment, but you know today we're going to look both at Jacob and Joseph going home to be with the Lord chapter 49 It's in and of course chapter 50 and right in between there is that great statement that Joseph makes That great statement that governed his entire life what you meant for evil God meant for good and that statement was a nutshell of the life of Joseph that helped us understand this man's perspective Let's read the narrative Genesis chapter 49 the verse number 29 Then he charged them and said to them I'm about to be gathered to my people Bury me with my father's 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 Rebecca 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 then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him and Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father So the physicians embalmed Israel now 40 days were required for it for such is the period requiring for Embalming the Egyptians wept for him 70 days and when the days of mourning for him were passed Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh saying if now I have found favor in Your sight, please speak to Pharaoh saying my father made me swear saying behold I'm about to die in my grave, which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan there You shall bury me now Therefore, please let me go up and bury my father then I will return and Pharaoh said go up and bury your father as he made You swear?

so Joseph went up to bury his father and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh the elders of his household and All the elders of the land of Egypt and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father's household They left only their little ones and their flocks in their herds in the land of Goshen There also went up with him both chariots and horsemen and it was a very great company When they came to the threshing floor of a Todd which is beyond the the Jordan They lamented there with a very great and sorrowful Lamentation and he observed seven days morning for his father Now when the inhabitants of the land of the Canaanites saw the morning at the threshing floor of a Todd They said this is a grievous morning for the Egyptians Therefore it was named Abel miss Harim Which is beyond the Jordan and thus his sons did for him as he had charged them For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre which Abraham had bought along with the field of for burial site from Ephron the Hittite and after he had buried his father Joseph returned to Egypt he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father When Joseph's brother saw that their father was dead They said what if Joseph should bear a grudge against us and pay us back in full for all the wrong Which we did to him So they sent a message to Joseph saying your father charged before he died saying thus you shall say to Joseph Please forgive I beg you the transgression of your brothers and their sin for they did you wrong and now?

Please forgive the transgressions of the servants of the God of your father and Joseph wept when they spoke to him Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said behold We are your servants But Joseph said to them do not be afraid for am I in God's place and as for you you meant evil against me But God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive So therefore do not be afraid I'll provide for you and your little ones So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them now Joseph stayed in Egypt He and his father's household and Joseph lived 110 years and Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim sons also the sons of Makir the son of Manasseh were born on Joseph's knees and Joseph said to his brothers I'm about to die But God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which he promised on oath to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear saying God will surely take care of you and you shall carry my bones up from here So Joseph died at the age of 110 years and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt That's how it ends you think there'd be some great ending to this book of beginnings and at reading it You'd think well, that's just not a big bang ending, but it is You bear with us and you will see at the end how great a bang it really is As we come to the end of this great and marvelous book of beginnings the book of Genesis Two things you want to see we want to see Jacob's funeral and then we want to look at Joseph's Farewell and in Jacob's funeral we want you to notice first of all the promise He wants his boys to make a promise to him that he won't be buried in Egypt But he'll be buried right by Abraham right by a Isaac right by Sarah right by Rebecca and right by Who Leah?

Not Rachel. I found that really interesting Why not be buried in Ephrath there on the way to Bethlehem, that's where Rachel's buried That was the one he loved so dearly Why is it he wants to be buried in that place that his grandfather Abraham? Purchased way back earlier in Genesis Jacob wanted to be associated with the faith of his father's Abraham and Isaac and he made a statement By saying I want to be buried there because he believed in the promises of God That the life hereafter is always more important than the life right here That's a statement The preparation was given personally to Joseph earlier when Jacob would bless Joseph's sons But now it was given publicly to all of his boys This was Jacob's last will the last couple of weeks We looked at Jacob's last words.

This is Jacob's last will and so he had prepared his sons for his death He prepared them with with the words of wisdom words that would take them into the future And now they they would they would embalm him. It would take them 40 days to do So it was quite the process as they would take his body and prepare it It would preserve his body long enough for them to be able to go to the land of Canaan and bury him the third thing I want you to notice is the permission Joseph asks for permission to leave Egypt and to go to the land of Canaan to bury his father Please let me go and I will return he says and then the emphasis is given once again down to verse number 14 and Joseph returned to Egypt.

You must understand that that Joseph as great as he was Understood authority. He understood submission to authority. He never saw himself as greater than Pharaoh even though he was He was used of God in a mighty way, but he knew the chain of command He knew how to operate in the right manner. And so he would go to the Pharaoh. He would ask permission to leave He was a model of submission And Joseph says I'll come back Why Joseph why you gonna come back because Joseph Submission was more to his God than it was to God's ruler at the time It wasn't time for him to return to Canaan yet because God hadn't given him permission to go back to Canaan yet to live there That reminds me.

Can people believe what you say? Can people believe what I say Pharaoh could trust Joseph So we move on next to the to the procession and can you imagine the procession I mean this wasn't just a trip outside of of the city to the cemetery and can you imagine the procession the greatest funeral procession in the history of the world is Genesis chapter 50 much bigger than princess Diana ever dreamed of having went way beyond that and it went on for a long time Weeks, it would take them to get there and get back and they would return then back To Egypt which leads us to our final point under Jacob's funeral the perspective I don't know when the conversation started between the brothers about Jacob's passing and they're wondering what Joseph was going to do They were they were scared spitless Let's let's send someone off to to Joseph and tell him that dad said Before he died that you got to forgive your brothers.

They were wrong You need to forgive him and so they did in the response of Joseph is that he wept he wept again I mean, you know, this was a true man of God, you know We think it's kind of macho to never cry that totally goes against what the Word of God states Concerning men of God who wept at funerals who wept over tragedy who wept over difficult times who wept over sin And here was Joseph weeping once again because his brothers didn't believe him He had forgiven them and yet through all he had done for them.

They still didn't get it It caused him to weep profusely and it says that verse number 18 Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said behold We are your servants. Oh, I love that One more time they got a bow down to Joseph just one more time And the Spirit of God puts it in there just to remind us once again that everything God said is true And they continually bowed down to Joseph But I want you to notice something that these brothers are a lot like you and me today because you know, there are times Many times where we doubt that God has truly forgiven us We think that somehow that we ask for forgiveness and we read what the Bible says But maybe next week or next month or or next year God some way somehow Is gonna lower the boom and get back at me.

Isn't that how we perceive God? We read a verse like 1st John 1 9 where it says that if we confess our sins that he is Faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Yeah, we have a hard time getting that why? Because when we ask our brother or a sister to forgive us of our sins and they say yeah sure I forgive you they turn it and give us the cold shoulder or they never speak to us again or they never call us again and we think that's how God is and so we begin to doubt God and and Joseph being that perfect type of Christ.

How does the Lord Jesus Christ feel? He said wait a minute. I forgave you That's it. I forgave you. I cast into the depths of the sea never to bring it up again Don't you believe me? Don't you understand that? I have forgiven all of your sins If you confess your sins, I'm faithful and I'm just and I forgive your sins Well, we couldn't realize that what's our response just like the brothers behold Lord. I'm your servant. Whatever you say Lord That's all that's what I'll do And so these brothers Help us understand us Maybe more than we'd like to be understood Because we have a hard time sometimes with with God's forgiveness, but the Word of God is true And we finally realize that we fall down before him and say Lord.

We're your servant. What would you have me do Lord? Where would you have me go? What would you have me say Lord? and Joseph with that great perspective on God Gives this perspective to his brothers and listen to what he says, you know it well But Joseph said to them do not be afraid for am I in God's place? I'm not in God's place God will do what God will do. I'm a servant of God and I will carry out his work and Then he says he says those famous words and as for you you meant evil against me But God meant it for good in order to bring about the present result to preserve many people alive There's the perspective Well, we call it the perfect spiritual Vision we have told you this and you know what if I die and and I and you guys outlive me You can put this on my tombstone.

He did not think logically he thought Theologically, that's what I want on my tombstone because that's what the Bible states spiritual vision Not physical vision perfect physical vision is 2020 right spiritual vision is 50 20 Genesis 50 verse number 20, that's spiritual vision you meant it evil God Meant it for good That's what kept this man going the sovereignty of Almighty God ruling over everything God's in charge God is great. God is good. He works all things out for good Those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose He's in complete control and Joseph wanted to make sure that his brothers understood that He says so therefore don't be afraid I'll provide for you and your little ones so he comforted them and spoke kindly to them literally in the Hebrew He spoke to their hearts From that I want to go to Joseph's farewell the last five verses of Genesis chapter 50 and it's power-packed with many things But I find it very interesting that the Holy Spirit would do what he has done to conclude this book of beginnings You know when you when you look at these these five verses there are short verses, but they encompass listen 54 Years of Joseph's life.

He died at 110. He was 56 when his father died, but now The Holy Spirit just brushes over 54 years to take you all the way to the end to conclude this book of beginnings and Yet what is said about Joseph? Is the greatest thing that could be said about him? How do we know that because it's what's recorded of him in Hebrew chapter 11 Verse number 22. Let me read it to you It says by faith Joseph when he was dying made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his Bones, that's it the Hall of Faith The record of the great men and women of God.

That's all it says about Joseph and we have spent months Studying this man's life, but that's all it says Because that statement alone speaks to this man's Perception of his God And what caused him to keep going as he did Notice with me several things number one his dwelling the Bible says now Joseph stayed in Egypt He and his father's household and Joseph lived 110 years His desire was in Canaan his dwelling was was in Egypt his contemporaries were preparing for their burial His contemporaries were building their tombs Joseph was not He was spending time with his grandkids.

He was he was passing down to future generations the promises of God He would dwell in in Egypt. The second thing I want you to see is his descendants in the verse number 23.

It speaks of his Responsibility his grandfather what we do with those those grandkids. He would pass on to them stories Can you imagine the stories that Joseph had to tell his grandkids? Yeah, let me tell you what we fathers did Yeah, they sold me in into slavery Really?

Really? My dad did that? Yeah. Yeah, he did that I was screaming from the pit and they were up having a party on top of the pit Wow, my dad. Yeah, your dad did that But you know what God is so good God overrode all that and God brought me here and God brought you here And he's just telling the stories about what happened to him because way beyond that he goes way back to to Abraham To Isaac Jacob's ladder All the way back to Cain and Abel Adam and Eve Noah Giving them the history of the world Speaking to them about what had taken place Ages gone by helping them to understand the promises of God for their lives So we had parents do right?

Grandparents teach their their grandchildren about God and what God's doing and how God works That's what Joseph did and then I want you to notice His discernment first number 24 and Joseph said to his brothers.

I am about to die But God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which he promised it on oath to Abraham to Isaac and To Jacob I want you to notice this man's discernment This man knew the Word of God and believed the Word of God he believed listen the literal Word of God and He will take you to the land that he promised to Abraham and to Isaac and Jacob Joseph believed that and that's why this man was so discerning That's why this man was full of wisdom This is why God used him in such a powerful way because if God said something he believed what God said He knew for God said to Abraham know for certain That your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs Abraham know this for certain Genesis chapter 15 verse number 13 That your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs where they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years that was passed down from Abraham that was passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob and down to Joseph and Joseph knew that but I will also judge the nation whom they will serve and Afterward they will come out with many possessions He knew that that somehow they would come out of Egypt with many possessions This is why he returned to Egypt after burying his father in Canaan he knew what God's Word said and he knew That they had not been enslaved for four generations.

He knew that Now Joseph says God will surely visit you God will surely take care of you and not only will he take care of you He's gonna bring you up from this land to the land which he promised to my father to my grandfather Into my great-grandfather Wow What a man of faith He believed it That's his desire. That's the fourth thing. I want you to see his desire his ultimate desire Was what I want you to take my bones from here to the land of Canaan now think about this Joseph calls his brothers together and says I'm gonna die.

They're thinking he's gonna die. He's gonna give us a stable full of Arabian horses Maybe he'll give us a mansion on the Nile We'll be overlooking the Nile River man for the rest of our lives. It's gonna be great Joseph is gonna bequeath to us all these great things. He's gonna give us the jewels of Egypt He gives to them that which is absolutely worthless to the Egyptians but priceless to the nation of Israel his bones His bones say what's so great about that? Oh Everything is Everything is in fact, it is so great turn over to the next book Exodus chapter 13 verse number 19 and Moses took the bones of Joseph with him for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear saying God will surely take care of you and you shall carry my bones from here with You while all the Israelites were gathering together their last possessions because Pharaoh now was going to let God's people go Moses was scrambling to gather the bones of Joseph some four hundred years later Why?

Why? because Joseph the perfect type of Christ in the Old Testament Said my body is a memorial to you and every time those Israelites Through those years of slavery would look at that coffin.

They would be reminded God will surely Visit you and take you back to the land of promise and what did Jesus give to us? But his body it gives us hope it gives us excitement about the future that one day We will be raised in the likeness of our Savior And we will one day be gathered together with the people of God and glory and there we will worship our God forever and ever That is a theology of hope Joseph's bones gave to them a theology of hope for the future. That's why it's in Hebrews 11 22 That's why it's so significant about the instructions for his bones Because it would be that body that would remind them of their future with their God What a way to end and then we come to the last point is death and what does it say?

So Joseph died at the age of 110 years He was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt. That's how it ends with a coffin in Egypt Do you know that the book of Joshua ends the same way? The book of Joshua ends and the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt Buried they in Shechem in a parcel of ground Which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamar the father Shechem for 100 pieces of silver and it became the inheritance of its children of Joseph Moses would grab those bones on the way out of Egypt Because they would need them in the wandering in the wilderness to give them hope for the future of their land And when he finally went into the land and they conquered the land He buried the bones of Joseph in the land of Canaan and those bones if they could speak today if they would cry out they would cry out about the Future resurrection of all those who believe in the hope that Jesus Christ himself gives Thus ends this great book of beginnings as one man said God buries the workman, but the work goes on think about that for your life and for my life Joseph is buried in a coffin in Egypt.

He's dead But the work that God did in him and through him Carries on it carries on to your life into my life And over the last four years that we have gone through the study of the book of Genesis I would trust that the things that you have learned You've been challenged with would stay with you because the work does go on doesn't it? It doesn't end until until we die and then someone else will carry on that legacy into the future But you know You want to be able to pass on a legacy to your children that they will be committed to the truth of God no matter What anybody else does?

Christ Community Church is that kind of church and one day the leadership of this church will all be dead and they'll arise new leadership in the church and the commitment to the truth of God must continue from generation to generation Until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. Let's pray Amen