Joseph's Faith

Truly our Lord is greatly to be praised. And we're going through the book of Hebrews and we're in the 11th chapter and been there for quite a while. And we'll continue to be there for quite a while as we study each and every character in the hall of faith. And what the Holy Spirit has done is unveiled to us a unique aspect of each person's life. The Holy Spirit has highlighted to us their faith and chosen events and circumstances and situations in the lives of the people in the hall of faith that will stick out most in the minds of the Jewish people that the writer is speaking to or writing to, that we might understand the uniqueness and greatness of our God.

Well, today we're gonna look at Joseph's life. And if I was to ask you about Joseph, there are a myriad of things you could tell us about this man and his life. In fact, his whole life was a life of faith. He left at a very young age, was thrown into a pit, sold to the Ishmaelites, sold into slavery, right? Served in Potiphar's house, was lied about, thrown into prison. So many negative things happened to him, but yet he was a man of great faith. And great, this is so good. Think about this. He lived in Egypt in a pagan culture and Joseph never had an accountability partner.

Nobody. Oh, by the way, neither did Daniel. The two most prominent pure men in Scripture in the Old Testament never had anybody on earth to hold them accountable for their walk with God. Didn't have to, because they just loved their God and they were gonna serve him. And they made commitments to their God. And that was Joseph. And so think about all the events that have taken place in Joseph's life. And the Holy Spirit passes over all of those events and chooses one at the very end of his life. One that you and I would have never chosen.

But once you understand why he chose it, that is the Spirit of God, you'll say, ah, now I understand. Hebrews 11, verse number 22 is our verse. It reads this way. By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones. Wow, that is just so powerful. You read that, you think, okay, the exodus, the bones, what's the big deal? Oh, there is so much there. I wish we had weeks to uncover it for you. We don't, although we could take the weeks.

It's important to realize what the Holy Spirit wants to teach us. So like always, we gotta journey back in time to the book of Genesis. So turn with me, if you would, to the book of Genesis, the 50th chapter.

The 50th chapter, the last five verses, okay? This is how the book of Genesis ends. It talks about the death of Joseph. And so when you begin to realize the book of Genesis and all that it entails, this is how the book of beginnings ends. And it highlights the most illuminating and the most illustrious aspect of the life of Joseph. There are so many there. In fact, I read a book this past week that said there are 101 different examples of Joseph that make him the perfect type of Christ in the Old Testament.

101. And as you read through them, you begin to realize how Joseph became that type of Christ in the Old Testament. Although he's never called a type, he portrays to us the magnificence of our God because it was through the life of Joseph that Israel was saved. And it's through the life of Christ that Israel will be saved. It's a beautiful, beautiful testimony to the power of the living God. But this is how it ends. So let me just walk it through with you and then we'll spend some time looking at the significance of Joseph's bones.

Think of your bones. Maybe they're old and crickety. Maybe they're young and virile, I don't know. But think of your bones. I'm not so sure we'd want anybody to remember our bones. But for Joseph, that's the case. And for the Holy Spirit, this is what he uses in Hebrews 11, verse 22, for us to understand faith. How to walk by faith, how to live by faith. It's all about the life of Joseph in Genesis chapter 50. Listen to what it says. Now Joseph, verse number 22, stayed in Egypt, he and his father's household, and Joseph lived 110 years, okay?

Stop right there. Joseph lives 110 years. His father Jacob dies at age 56, that is Joseph's age. Joseph is 56 when his dad dies. And the Spirit of God jumps over 54 years after the death of Jacob to bring us to the death of Joseph. Now all that took place in those 54 years, we have no idea, right? But Joseph, he truly was the leader in Egypt, although he was second in command to the Pharaoh.

And he was wealthy, he was a healthy man. He had children, he had grandchildren. He was one who had influence and majesty. He was one who had power. He was one who, when he gave an order, everybody followed it. Complete and total obedience to every command that he gave. And here was a man who truly lived for the glory and the honor of God. And yet the Spirit of God jumps over those 54 years to bring us to the end of his life. Because Egypt was not important to Joseph. Canaan was important to Joseph.

He desired Canaan, the land of promise, more than the land in which he lived. And yet it was through the life of Joseph that he was able to spare his father and his brothers. And God used him in a mighty way. And then it says this, verse 23, Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim's sons, also the sons of Mechir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph's knees.

I think it's so neat how the Spirit of God puts that in there for us to understand that Joseph was a grandfather. Not just a father, but a grandfather. And can you imagine the stories that Joseph could tell to his sons and grandsons? So many stories. Because the truth had been passed down. They couldn't just pick up a book and read the stories. We'd pick up our Bible and we could read about the Old Testament and we can read about all that took place with the different characters and we can study it.

They couldn't do that. But Joseph could recall all kinds of things from what we would call the Old Testament, from life that began. He could talk about Abraham and the call of his father Abraham. He could talk about Mount Moriah and Isaac and going up on the mount. And you can just see Joseph there with his grandchildren all around him, tell him about the stories of Cain and Abel. Tell him the stories about the flood and all that took place and how God was gonna repopulate the earth and he would begin to pass these things down from generation to generation, telling them all the things that had taken place and what happened in his life and what God did in his life and how he was committed to his God, even though he lived in a pagan culture, how he never compromised the word of God.

You see, grandfathers play a very important part in the life of a family because they take you from the past and lead you into the eternal future. They can show you the way to glory but they can also tell you about the way things used to be and they can tell you about what God did in their lives and how God transformed their lives and how God had worked in and through their lives and as he would sit his grandchildren around him, he would begin to tell them all the stories, stories they could not read but he could tell them because they were passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph and he knew what God was going to do.

And how did he know that? Because it was passed down from father to son, from father to son, from father to son. Just like we should pass down the truth, fathers, to our sons, to our grandsons and granddaughters that they might understand the truth of the living God. So you read on, it goes like this, verse 24. Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land which he promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. That is a tremendous statement.

He gathers his brothers, he talks to his brothers and he tells them what God is going to do. How does he know what God's going to do? Well, look at Genesis chapter 15.

Genesis chapter 15, God is speaking to Abraham. He says in verse number 12, now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him and God said to Abraham, know this for certain. Abraham, you can bank on this. This is absolute, it's never going to change. Your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve and afterwards they will come out with many possessions.

As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation, they will return here for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete. God tells Abraham, let me tell you something about your future.

Your descendants, I'm gonna multiply your seed and there's gonna be a multitude of descendants but I will let you know something. They are gonna be enslaved for 400 years. He repeats it by saying it in a different way. In the fourth generation, after 400 years, they will be brought out of that bondage. That was passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph and for Joseph, the land of promise was not something that he could allegorize. It's not something that he could, was some kind of mystical experience.

It wasn't something that was a figment of his imagination. No, the land of promise was a real promise and he knew it because God told Abraham what he was going to do. So as he gathers his brothers together, he says, I wanna tell you something. As God said to Abraham, know this for certain, I'm gonna tell you, God will surely visit you. Maybe your text says, God will surely take care of you. Well, God can't take care of you unless he visits you and the word for visit is explained by the fact that God describes an event by which Abraham there was divine intervention.

When God visits you, this is divine intervention at work. So God tells Abraham, I'm going to visit your descendants. Know this for certain, I'm gonna bring them out of slavery. I'm gonna bring them out of 400 years of bondage. That was passed down. Now, Joseph says, know this for certain because I believe in the infallible truth of the word of God. I believe that what God said to my father Abraham is absolute truth and that God is faithful to his word. He's not gonna compromise his word and so I will let you know that God is going to bring you back to the land of promise.

Remember now, they're in Egypt, right? And as they sit in Egypt, Joseph is telling them, I'm about to die and I'm not gonna be able to see the land of promise. I'm not gonna be able to go back to that land. But you will. It's gonna be a while but you're going back and you can bank on it because God's word said it. That's why it's so much a life of faith. He believed absolutely and behaved accordingly to all that God said. That's faith. Trusting obedience. There was absolute belief in what God said.

So much so that he could behave accordingly. So now he says this, verse 25. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely take care of you or God will surely visit you and you shall carry my bones up from here. Wow, my bones? Why not my body? Because Joseph knew how long they were going to be there. And after 400 years, guess what? There's not much of a body left. All you got's bones. Joseph knows that. You're gonna take my bones from here. Now you imagine what the brothers must have been thinking.

Jacob's dead, got the brothers together and Joseph gathers them all around and he's about to die. So you're thinking, wow, he's gonna bequeath to us maybe a mansion on the Nile. That'd be kind of nice, wouldn't it? Or maybe a whole bunch of Arabian horses and a stable and a ranch. Boy, that would be kind of cool if Joseph gave that to us. Or maybe some of the treasures, the wealth of Egypt. He's gonna bequeath that to us. We could use some extra cash on hand after Joseph dies. Now that's important to Joseph.

Now that matters to them because that's not going to serve them well in their captivity. It's not gonna do anything for them. He knows that. But he does know this. Hope will get them through that captivity. And their hope is based on what God has already said. So he tells them, God will surely visit you. Twice he says it. Not God will possibly visit you. Not God maybe will visit you. No, he says God will certainly for sure visit you. This is not something to speculate about. This is absolute truth.

God is gonna visit you. God is gonna take care of you because God is true to his word. Joseph says, I've experienced this all my life for 110 years, I've experienced the faithfulness of God. And now you are gonna have an opportunity to experience that faithfulness because God is surely gonna show up. He's surely gonna visit you. There's gonna be a divine intervention in your life where God will visit you and you'll never miss it. And you're going back to the land of Canaan. You're going back to the land of promise.

And when you go, take my bones with you. You know what? That's exactly what happened. But before we get there, look what it says in verse number 26. 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. Like what one author said, he says, thus ends Genesis. It begins with creation and it ends with a coffin. It begins with the glory and ends with a grave. It begins with the vastness of eternity and ends with the shortness of time. It begins with the living God and ends with a dead man.

It begins with a blaze of brightness in heaven and ends with a box of bones in Egypt. That is the Holy Spirit's final comment in the book of the nature and tragedy of human sin. This is the final exposure of the devil's lie. When he said, thou shalt not surely die. Oh, but they did. They did. And Joseph died and they embalmed him. Thus it ends. So what's so great about the bones? Go with me to the book of Exodus, the 13th chapter. Joseph dies. Exodus chapter one tells us there arises a Pharaoh who comes to power who did not know Joseph, right?

Didn't know Joseph. Joseph's dead. Another king rises to power, doesn't know Joseph. And they began to realize that the Israelites were growing in number. And so they began to treat the Israelites in a very dangerous and tragic kind of way and they enslaved them and they whipped them exactly as had been prophesied. They would be enslaved for 400 years. Now listen to this. When they're finally released, okay, after 400 plus years, okay, it says these words.

Verse 19, Exodus 13. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. For he 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. Moses knew. So here's Joseph. He says, God will visit you. There's gonna be a divine intervention. And you need to carry my bones back to the place that God has promised. Why? Because my bones will always be a testimony to you. When you go through slavery, when you go through hardship, when you go through trials, when you go through temptation, just take a journey past the box of bones and remember what God said.

Don't forget what God said. Just take a journey past the box of bones and remember, God will surely visit you. And so when the 10th plague happens and the firstborn son dies and Pharaoh finally lets Israel go back in Genesis 15, God tells Abraham, you will take many possessions with you.

And they did. But what was Moses' possession? A box of bones. That's what he's taking with him. Why? Because these box of bones, number one, certified God's power.

They certified God's power because Joseph's life was all about the power of God to protect him, to preserve him and to provide for him all the time he was alone in Egypt without his family, without his friends, having no friends, being sold out, being lied about, God always provided because God and his power would take care of his own. And Joseph's whole life is about the power of God intervening in his life. And as you carry the bones, they remind you that God certainly, certainly is powerful enough to take care of you as he did me because you will go through hardship.

You will go through rejection. You will go through affliction. You will go through negative, negative times. But don't worry about that. Just keep your eyes on my bones. Why? Because they certify God's power. Keep your eye on my bones because it will clarify God's promises. They will clarify God's promises because he passed the promise down from Father Abraham. That was passed down to Isaac and to Jacob and now to Joseph. So Joseph knows the timing. Joseph knows it's gonna be 400 years of enslavement.

Joseph knows that this is all going to take place. And so he wants to remind them, listen, this is all about the promises of God. So when you are discouraged and having a difficult time moving on, it's one thing to be in bondage for 400 minutes or for 400 weeks or for 400 months, but 400 years, those are four generations of children that are being born. And you're there year after year after year enslaved to ruthless rulers. Just take a journey past the bones and remember the promises of God. These bones will certify God's power.

They'll clarify God's promises and they will confirm God's presence. God will surely be with you. God will surely visit you. God is coming down. And that's exactly what God said to Moses in Exodus chapter three. I have seen the affliction of my people and I am coming down. To do what? To visit them. Why? There's gonna be a divine intervention and my people are gonna be let go that they might worship me in the wilderness. Sure enough, God's promises were fulfilled and therefore it confirmed God's presence among his people.

And so they would just take a journey past a box of bones because they were a memorial to the faithfulness of God. So the box of bones of Joseph would certify God's power, clarify God's promises, confirm God's presence and they would communicate God's purposes. God had a purpose for his people and God had communicated that purpose through Joseph by bringing his father and his brothers from Canaan that was experiencing a famine. Just think about this. Joseph's whole life of turmoil and all that took place happened because God wanted to save a nation.

He had to save Israel. He had to save the whole nation. Well, how's he gonna do that? One son, the favorite son, will be lied about, sold into slavery, go down to Egypt. So when the famine comes to Canaan, guess what? He'll bring all the sons to Egypt. They'll be spared, they'll be protected, they'll be provided for. So that, so that my word can be fulfilled so that 400 years after that, four generations later, I will lead them back to that promised land again. The bones of Joseph communicated God's purposes that he wasn't done with, his people Israel.

And of course, the bones of Joseph would always comfort God's people. They'll bring comfort to you. When you realize that God is all powerful, that God is coming to visit you, his presence will be among you. When you're reminded all the while of God's promises, his infallible word to our father Abraham, it's all true, it's all gonna happen. You'll be comforted. The box of bones would comfort God's people. Now you think about that and you wonder why the Holy Spirit puts it in Hebrews chapter 11. Because Joseph's whole life was a life of faith.

He died believing, he died with faith so strong that he says, my bones will be a testimony to the power of God, the presence of God, the purpose of God, the plans of God, the promises of God. Because all those things God had done in my life, God's gonna do in your life. And so when it came time for the exodus, guess what? Moses picks up the box of bones, he gets on the route and he makes his journey. Little did he know there'd be 400 years of wandering in the wilderness with the same box of bones.

So every time they journeyed, Moses picks up the bones and off they go. So for 40 years, they would wander in the wilderness with the same box of bones until you come to the end of the book of Joshua. And Joshua ends the same way Genesis ends. So turn with me to the book of Joshua and it's only gonna get better from here.

This is so good. Book of Joshua, 24th chapter. It's so great, listen to what it says. Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt at Shechem. Just think about this. You're thinking, okay, what's the big deal? Oh, this is huge. It's absolutely huge. See, we read the text and we think, okay, Shechem, someplace in the land of Israel, they bury the bones there. This is what Joseph said to do, so that's what they did, yada, yada, yada. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

It goes way beyond that. Because you gotta ask yourself, where's Shechem? And what's the significance of Shechem? And why would Joseph be buried in Shechem? Now remember, Joshua is the descendant of Joseph through Ephraim, right? Joshua, by the way, dies at 110 years of age as well. And he would lead the children of Israel into the promised land. Moses would die. God had said, you're not gonna see the promised land, but Joshua will. So Moses now has to take the box of bones and pass them on to Joshua.

Because now they have to be buried in the promised land. And it would take seven years to conquer the land, another seven years to settle in the land, right? So that's 54 years from leaving after the 400 years of the covenant. So you got these bones you're carrying around and looking at for over 450 years. You gotta bury them sooner or later, right? Well, now it's time to bury them. But where do you bury them? Because where you bury them is so significant to the significance of Joseph and his bones.

Now I know some of you think I'm kinda crazy. And maybe some days I am. But today I'm not. Because Shechem is that little valley in between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, about 40 miles north of Jerusalem. It was a place, number one, of confirmation.

Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. Abraham's called from Ur of the Chaldees. God tells him what he's going to do. He said, go forth from your country, chapter 12, verse number one, from your relatives, from your father's house, to the land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation.

I will bless you. And your descendants will be great. Right? So he makes his journey. He goes. And where does he go? Well, look what it says. Verse six. Abraham passed through the land as far as the sight of Shechem. Shechem. To the Oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was in the land. The Lord appeared to Abraham and said. Where? At Shechem. To your descendants, I will give this land. So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. The very first stop in the land of Canaan for Abraham was a place of confirmation.

God confirmed to Abraham, this is the place. And this is where everything will spring from. This is the land of promise. And the Lord appeared to him. Where? At Shechem. It was a place of confirmation. But if you move on and you read and go to Genesis chapter 30, you realize it's also a place of confession. Genesis chapter 33. Genesis chapter 33, verse number 18. Now remember, in Genesis chapter 32, Jacob's name was changed to what? Israel, right? He had wrestled with God. He had come face to face with the pre-incarnate Christ.

He wrestled with God and God says, what is your name? Because the last time he was asked that question, what did he say? My name is Esau. But it's not. My name is Jacob. And so God touched his hip so he would limp for the rest of his life. To be reminded of one thing, that you have supplanted everything. That's what Jacob's name means. You have kicked against the plans of God. You've supplanted your brother. You've done all these things. But let me tell you something.

Now your name's gonna be changed to Israel because now you will let God strive for you, right? That's his new name. Israel. The land of Israel. The sons of Israel. The tribes of Israel, right? And Israel's whole history is about letting God strive for them. That's what's in the name. So when you come to Genesis 33, verse number 18, it says, now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem. Same place. Which is in the land of Canaan. And he came from Paddan Aram and camped before the city. He bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father.

For 100 pieces of money. Then he erected there an altar and called it El Elohei Israel. God is the God of Israel. It was a place of confession. Where Jacob would confess that my God, my God is the God of Israel. My God is not only my God, but will be the God of my sons. Will be the God of my family. It's a confession that my God is the true God. The only God that there is. So Shechem is a place of confirmation. It's a place of confession. And thirdly, it's a place of consecration.

Genesis chapter 35. Genesis chapter 35. These words are spoken. Then God said to Jacob, arise and go to Bethel and live there and make an altar there to God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau. So Jacob said to his household and to all who are with him, put away the foreign gods which are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make an altar there to God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I've gone.

So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears and Jacob hid them under the oak which is near Shechem. It's a place of consecration. He says, listen, we're on our way to Bethel, the house of God. We're gonna go and truly worship at the altar of God but we can't do that unless we are consecrated, unless we purified ourselves from all kinds of idols because our God is a jealous God. He doesn't wanna be in competition with somebody else. So consecrate yourself, purify yourself, change your garments because we're going to worship God.

Shechem, a place of confirmation. Shechem, a place of confession. Shechem, a place of consecration. Shechem has more to say because Shechem was not only those but Shechem was a place of clarification. Because in Deuteronomy 27, God tells Moses, you tell the people of Israel when they get to the land that they need to understand the blessings and cursings according to the law of God. So you tell them when they get to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal that from Mount Ebal there will be cursings for those that disobey and from Mount Gerizim there will be pleasure for those who do obey the law of God.

So Joshua knows that. So when they come to Joshua chapter eight, he divides the nation up, puts half at the base of Mount Ebal, half at the base of Mount Gerizim and they would yell back and forth about the blessings and cursings all pertaining to the law of God because at that point they were clarifying their desire to be obedient to God. They were clarifying that if I disobey what God says there will be cursings.

But if I obey what God says there will be blessings. And so they clarified in the mind of all Israel their commitment to God. And now you come to Joshua chapter 24. Not only is it a place of confirmation, a place of confession, a place of consecration, a place of clarification, it's a place of commendation and capitulation because in Joshua chapter 24, it says in verse number one, then Joseph gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem.

And he gives them a last exhortation, a last message telling them you've got to serve God. And they say, we will. He says, no, you can't, you won't. He says, no, we will do this. Why? They're gonna capitulate to all that God says and they're gonna commend God for all that he does.

And it says in verse 25, so Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. Joshua said to all the people, behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us for it has heard all the words of the Lord which he spoke to us. Thus, it shall be for a witness against you said you do not deny your God.

And they dismissed his people and then he dies. And they take the son of the bones of Joseph and they bury them at Shechem. Shechem's name means shoulder because Shechem would be the shoulder that would bear the truth of Israel's history and future. It's all based on the confirmation of God's promises. It's all based on the confession and the consecration of God's people. It's all based on the clarification that they completely understand that if I obey the law of God, there is blessings. If I disobey, there is cursing.

It's a place of commendation, a place of capitulation. It's a place where all Israel would gather together and they would commend to God their commitment to follow him from that day forward. And what better place for the man who exemplified all that than Joseph. So over 450 years later, they finally laid to rest the bones of Joseph because the bones were the ultimate comfort in the land of Israel for the people of God.

Today, it's called Joseph's tomb. Oh, by the way, oh, by the way, God will surely still visit his people because, are you ready for this? Remember in Luke 19, when Christ came into the city of Jerusalem on the backside of a donkey, and he wept for Jerusalem because he said to them, what, only if you had known on this day, the day of your visitation, God will surely visit you. But you did not know. Joseph's bones still speak today. God will surely visit you, and he did. There was a divine intervention when God took them out of the land of Egypt, and there would be a divine intervention when the Messiah would come into Jerusalem.

He would come to visit his people, but they rejected his visitation. But guess what? He is still coming again to visit his people. There's gonna be another divine intervention when the Messiah comes back again that they might receive the fullness of the blessing that all that God has for his people. So whenever you get discouraged, you're going through affliction and hardship, pain and suffering, and you wonder, where are the promises of God? Where is the peace of God? Whatever happened to the presence of God?

Just take a journey back to the book of Genesis and pick up the box of bones and carry those with you throughout the day, realizing that all that God said is absolutely true. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity you give us to study your word. What a blessing it is. Encourage us to follow you all the more from this day forward, in Jesus' name, amen.