Study the Word

Guest (Male): Receiving and passing on the blessings of God. That's coming up next on Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller.

Is there anything greater than having the blessing of God? And then to pass on the blessing of God is in itself a blessing. Yet there's a danger of taking all this for granted unless we cultivate thankful hearts that are lost in the wonder of God. Well, today's Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller will help us with that.

As we conclude our study of Genesis, we'll be reminded of God's ability to work all things together for good. That should fill us with wonder in the power of God. Picking up in Genesis chapter 48 and verse 20, here's Pastor Thom.

Thom Keller: The Jewish blessing, calling out all that God has in mind for them. It's been said that the mother and the father have different roles obviously in raising children. The role of the mother is to hold the child close and tight, to allow it to feel secure and safe. And that's why it's so hard for mothers to let go of a child.

The role of the father is to hold the child out to the world and say, "Son, daughter, this world has tremendous possibilities for you." The mother's trying to hold it tight and the father's trying to—not really. But what he's holding and saying, "The world has tremendous... Go for it. You can do this."

The blessing, the family blessing, includes meaningful touch, a spoken message, attaching high value to the one being blessed, picturing a special future for them, and an active commitment to fulfill the blessing. Let's go on. Verse 21. "Then Jacob says to Joseph, 'I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you again to Canaan, the land of your ancestors. Then I will give you an extra portion beyond what I have given your brothers, the portion that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.'"

Chapter 49. Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, "Gather around me and I will tell you what is going to happen in the days to come. Come and listen, oh sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel your father." You can glide right past that and miss what he just said. But what he said is, "I'm the father Jacob of all of you. I'm the father Israel of all of you."

Jacob is the man of flesh. Israel denotes the man of spirit. And what he says is, "You are sons of mine from my flesh, the Jacob in me, the grabber. And you are also sons of me from the Israel. And I understand that you got from me both sides of who I am."

He goes on. He starts taking them in age, and then he gets off of that. "Reuben, you are my oldest son, the child of my vigorous youth. You are first on the list in rank, in honor, but you are as unruly as the waves of the sea, and you will no longer be first, for you slept with one of my wives. You dishonored me in my own bed."

And again, he's talking about when Reuben slept with Bilhah, which was the mother of Dan and Naphtali. He says, "You will be first no longer." It's interesting that there are no kings, there are no judges, no prophets that ever came out of the tribe of Reuben.

He goes on. "Simeon and Levi are two of a kind, men of violence. Oh, my soul, stay away from them. May I never be a party to their wicked plans, for in their anger they murdered men and they crippled oxen just for sport." Proverbs says you can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his animals.

"Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce. Cursed be their wrath, for it is cruel. Therefore, I will scatter their descendants throughout the nation of Israel." Remember the story: Simeon and Levi went in Shechem, took their daughter Diana, and they went back into the city and they killed every male. When Jacob heard about it, he was furious. He did nothing about it, but he was furious. And on the basis of that, they now lose their blessings.

Proverbs talks a lot about violence. Just one passage from Proverbs says, "Do not envy violent people. Don't copy their ways. Such people are an abomination to the Lord." It says, "They eat wickedness and drink violence." As I read that, I thought about television today, movies. They eat wickedness and drink violence.

What comes out of the TV? If you could describe eating what comes off out of the box, what are most people eating today? Violence, right? Wickedness. Violence is an abomination to man. It says we should make no plans to partake in evil, and violence just shouldn't be a part of our daily intake. It's not on the pyramid of food.

My pyramid starts with chocolate. Let's go on to Judah. "Judah, your brothers will praise you. You will defeat your enemies. All your relatives will bow low before you. Judah is as a young lion that is finished eating its prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down. Like a lioness, who will dare to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from his descendants until the coming of the one to whom it belongs," or some of your Bible say "until Shiloh comes. The one to whom all nations will obey."

Shiloh is a reference to Jesus. Until Shiloh comes, the one whom all nations will obey. "He ties his foal to the grapevine, his colt to his donkey to a choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine because his harvest is so plentiful. His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth are whiter than milk."

Now a couple of things about Judah. Judah wasn't a man without faults. If you remember, he had a profit motive. He's the one that said, "Instead of killing him, let's sell Joseph to the Egyptians." He's the one that suggested getting some money back. He also had sex with his daughter-in-law where his sons had died, and she took up as a prostitute and he solicited her and had sex with her.

So he is not without fault. Jewish tradition says that, again, picture the scene. Jacob's on his deathbed. All 13 involved are standing there listening to this. Judah hears the curse almost that's put on the two oldest. Jewish tradition says that after Judah heard what Jacob had to say to Simeon and Levi, he was afraid because of the evil he had done.

It makes sense. You gulp after the first one, gulp after the second one, and "I'm third." And yet he received a tremendous blessing. It says as a lion, the scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. In Revelation 5, Jesus is called the Lion of Judah. It took 640 years to fulfill in part this prophecy when David became ruler.

It then took another 1,600 years for it to be fulfilled in Jesus's coming. And yet, through that entire time, Judah was always a ruler of Israel. From David's time until Herod, a prince of Judah was head over Israel even during the time of Daniel's captivity. Even under the time where the Romans and others occupied their land, they were still allowed self-rule.

That ended in 7 AD under Herod with the Romans. For the first time, they were not allowed to carry out capital punishment. Why did the scribes and Pharisees take Jesus before Pilate? Do you remember? That's right. They couldn't sentence him to death because they did not have complete self-rule. That happened in 7 AD.

When that happened, when they lost self-rule, remember the Jewish leaders and scribes and Pharisees knew that there would be a leader of Judah over the people of Israel until the Messiah came. In 7 AD, it's guessed that Jesus was probably about 12 years old. It may even be that when this happened was when Jesus was in the temple explaining the difficult things to the religious leaders.

But when this happened, when they gave up their self-rule, it's said that the rabbis walked the streets of Jerusalem and said, "Woe unto us, for the scepter has been taken away from Judah and Shiloh has not yet come." So from the time of this blessing all the way until Jesus's being in Jerusalem, a leader of Judah had always ruled. They had self-rule. In 7 AD, Herod removed that right. The rabbis knew the prophecy and they couldn't explain how the Messiah had not yet come. And yet the Messiah had come. They just didn't know it yet.

Let's go on. "Zebulun will settle on the shores of the sea." He now goes to the 10th born. He's been in order. The number fifth blessing here goes to the 10th born. "Zebulun will settle on the shores of the sea and will be a harbor for ships. His border will extend to Sidon." They in fact did settle between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee.

"Issachar is a strong beast of burden resting among the sheepfolds. When he sees how good the countryside is and how pleasant the land, he will bend his shoulder to the task and submit to forced labor. Dan will govern his people like any other tribe in Israel. He will be a snake beside the road, a poisonous viper along the path that bites the horse's heels, so the rider is thrown off. I trust in your salvation, O Lord."

Some believe that the Antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan. That may be the reference to the poisonous viper. "Gad will be plundered by marauding bands, but he will turn and plunder them. Asher will produce rich foods fit for kings. Naphtali is a deer let loose producing magnificent fawns." Most of Jesus's ministry was in this area of Naphtali.

The 11th one. "Joseph is a fruitful tree, a fruitful tree beside a mountain. His branches reach over the wall. He's been attacked by archers who shot at him and harassed him, but his bow has remained strong." I think this is the first reference we have of Jacob ever dealing with, talking about, mentioning what his brothers did to Joseph. This is the father's reference to what his brothers did to Joseph.

"And his mighty arms were strengthened by the mighty one of Jacob, the shepherd, the rock of Israel. May the God of your ancestors help you. May the Almighty bless you with the blessing of heaven above, blessings of the earth beneath, and blessings of the breast and womb. May the blessings of your ancestors be greater than the blessings of the eternal mountains, reaching to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. These blessings will fall on the head of Joseph, who is a prince among his brothers."

"Benjamin is a wolf that prowls. He devours his enemies in the morning and plunders—and in the evening he divides the plunder." The tribe of Benjamin had a reputation for being especially fierce fighters. It's interesting that Saul, the first king of Israel, and Paul, the Apostle Paul, were both from the tribe of Benjamin. Both had a tenacity and Saul certainly could be heartless.

Verse 28. "These are the 12 tribes of Israel, and these are the blessings which Jacob blessed his 12 sons. Each received a blessing appropriate to him." Verse 29. "Then Jacob told them, 'Soon I will die. Bury me with my father and grandfather in the cave in Ephron's field. This is the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a permanent burial place. There Abraham and his wife are buried. There Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah.'"

When Jacob had finished this charge to his sons, he lay back in the bed and breathed his last. Chapter 50. Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. Then Joseph told his morticians to embalm the body. You all know about the Egyptian process of embalming. We still don't know how they were able to do what they did.

The embalming process took 40 days, and there was a period of national mourning for 70 days. A period of mourning had different lengths depending on the importance of the person. A Pharaoh's length of time was 72 days. Jacob's time of mourning was only two days less than a Pharaoh. It shows you how highly Joseph was regarded and how highly the Egyptians regarded his father as well.

When the period of mourning was over, Joseph approached Pharaoh's advisers and asked them to speak to Pharaoh in his behalf. He told them, "Tell Pharaoh that my father made me swear with an oath. He said to me, 'I am about to die. Take my body back to the land of Canaan and bury me in our family's burial cave.' Now I need to go and bury my father. After his burial is complete, I will return without delay."

Joseph is Pharaoh's golden goose. He doesn't want him going far, and definitely wants him coming back. He understands what the problems may be with this. Pharaoh agreed to Joseph's request. "Go and bury your father as you promised." So Joseph went with a great number of Pharaoh's counselors and advisers, all the senior officers of Egypt.

Joseph took his brothers and the entire household of Jacob, but they left their little children and flocks and herds in the land of Goshen. I find that interesting that Moses would include that little tidbit. Why is that interesting? As the plagues went on, Pharaoh said, "You may go, but leave your children, leave your flocks and herds, go worship your God and come back." And they said no.

So a great number of chariots, cavalry, and people accompanied Joseph. When they arrived near the Jordan River, there they held a very great and solemn funeral with a seven-day period of mourning for Joseph's father. The local residents, the Canaanites, renamed the place Abel-mizraim, for they said, "This is a place of very deep mourning for these Egyptians."

Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them. They carried the body to the land of Canaan and buried it there in the cave of Machpelah. This is the cave that Abraham had bought for a permanent burial place. Then Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father's funeral.

But now that their father was dead, Joseph's brothers became afraid. "Now Joseph will pay us back for all the evil we did to him." So they sent this message to Joseph. Father's dead. It's a new day. It's interesting also that they're afraid that now that the father's dead, the brother's going to kill them. It's the same thing that happened with Jacob. Jacob was afraid that when his father was dead, that Esau was going to kill him.

So they sent this message. "Before your father died, he instructed us to say to you, 'Forgive your brothers for the great evil they did to you.' So we, the servants of God of your father, beg you to forgive us." They live 17 years and they still live with this guilt. 17 years after the fact.

I sit with people in counseling sessions and they can forgive what other people did, and they get to themselves and say, "I just can't forgive myself." God says we're to forgive everyone, and that even includes yourself. If there are things that you've never forgiven yourself about, don't carry it for 17 years or longer. They couldn't forgive themselves.

When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. Then his brothers came and bowed low before him. There it is again. Bowed low before him. That's the vision that he had when he was a 17-year-old boy. "We are your slaves," they said.

But Joseph told them, "Don't be afraid of me. Am I God to judge and punish you? As far as I'm concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil." And this is the famous—this is the keeper. This is one of those passages that you will hear over and over. "What you meant for evil, God used for good."

He brought me to a place of high position I have today so that I could save the lives of many. Listen to his heart. He has a beautiful heart. He's there to serve, to protect others. "He brought me to this high position I have today so that I could save the lives of many people. No, don't be afraid. I myself will take care of you and your families."

And he spoke very kindly to them, reassuring them. When he says, "Am I God?" what he's really saying is, "Look, I am not judge. That's God's business." The Bible says, "Vengeance is mine. I will repay." Joseph gave up his right to vengeance. He gave up his right to retribution. He gave up his right to trying to balance and square the score. He gave it to God.

The definition of bitterness is unfulfilled revenge. Unfulfilled revenge. Bitterness. Unfulfilled revenge. Why are you bitter? "I've never fulfilled my revenge against someone that did something to me." Give it up. It's a cancer that'll kill.

Verse 22. "So Joseph and his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt. Joseph was 110 years old when he died." It's interesting, but 110 years old in this time was thought to be the ideal age to live to. There are over 27 references that archaeology has found to 110 years old being the perfect age to live to. You beat all the old age problems and yet you live a full life. That tells you they were still relatively healthy.

He lived to see three generations of descendants of his son Ephraim and the children of Manasseh's son Machir, who were treated as if they were his own. "Soon I will die," Joseph told his brothers, "but God will surely come for you to lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he vowed to give the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear with an oath. He said, "When God comes to lead us back to Canaan, you must take my body with you." So Joseph died at the age of 110. They embalmed him, and his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt. It's interesting Joseph was never buried. 430 years later, his bones are going to be carried out of Egypt. In fact, it's on the last day of the 430th year from this event.

I always thought that was interesting. I'm kind of a numbers guy and numbers translate perfectly. God does things in exact time. I think it's interesting that there are 430 years to the day. There're 4,000 years before Christ. There're 3,000 years after Christ. We'd make 7,000 years. The millennial reign of Christ is a thousand years. That makes 6,000 years. I'm not a date setter.

But when you start throwing numbers around, it's just interesting what comes up. If you understood that, God bless you. The thing that I'd like to close on is Joseph's faithfulness throughout this entire time and how he left go of everything that he could have held onto. His bitterness, his vengeance, his desire to get even.

The one lesson that is most overarching that would affect our lives is the way Joseph lived so faithfully with what God dealt to him. What others would have been sure came at the hands of others who were opposed to him. He was wise enough and faithful enough to God to know that God could take every situation he was in and use it for his good.

As we now move on to Exodus, let's not forget this lesson. That in every event, every situation in life, whatever you go through, God has a way to take that situation and use it to bless you if you carry the right attitude and heart through it.

Guest (Male): Pastor Thom Keller encouraging us to persevere through the difficulties, knowing and trusting the faithfulness of God to accomplish his purposes in the world and your life. And this is Study the Word.

You can hear this message again as well as what you may have missed in the series online at ccleb.com. You can also call and request a CD copy at 717-507-7862. That's 717-507-7862. Perhaps you've been listening a while and have grown as a result of this radio ministry. You can voice your support through a financial gift to Study the Word and help many others across the nation study the word as well.

Our ministry mailing address is Study the Word, 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. And we'd love to have you visit us at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. See when and where we meet as you visit ccleb.com and download our free church app. Search Calvary Chapel Lebanon in the Google Play Store. Here to lead us in prayer is Pastor Thom once again.

Thom Keller: Father, we thank you for these incredibly powerful stories we've had in Genesis of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. Lord, their faithfulness, their humanness. Lord, I pray that you would put within us the ability, the desire, the focus on you that when we go through trying, difficult events, we would understand that you are God, that you are supreme, you are in control.

You promise to work everything out for our good to those who trust the Lord and are called according to his purpose. Lord, I pray that you would etch this someplace deep within our hearts that as these events occur to us, that we would not become bitter, that we would not seek revenge, that we would know that we are not God and you are. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Guest (Male): With that, we've made it through Genesis and thank you for taking part in our study today on Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller. We'll look for you next time.