Joseph No.21 A visit to Grand dad

Reading this morning is taken from Genesis chapter 48. Sometime later Joseph was told your father is ill, so he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. When Jacob was told your son Joseph has come to you, Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.

Jacob said to Joseph God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and there he blessed me and he said to me I'm going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples and I will give you this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you. Now then your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine.

Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after them will be yours. In the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers.

As I was returning from Padan to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way a little distance from Ephraim. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephraim, that is Bethlehem. When Israel saw the sons of Joseph he asked who are these? They are the sons God has given me here Joseph said to his father.

Then Israel said bring them to me so that I may bless them. Now Israel's eyes were failing because of old age and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him and his father kissed them and embraced them.

Israel said to Joseph I never expected to see your face again and now God has allowed me to see your children too. Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground and Joseph took both of them Ephraim on his right towards Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left towards Israel's right hand and brought them close to him. But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head though he was the younger and crossing his arms he put his left hand on Manasseh's head even though Manasseh was the first born.

Then he blessed Joseph and said may the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has delivered me from all harm may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and may they increase greatly upon the earth. When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was displeased so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

Joseph said to him no my father this is the first born put your right hand on his head but his father refused and said I know my son I know he too will become a people and he too will become great nevertheless his younger brother will be greater than he and his descendants will become a group of nations. He blessed them that day and said in your name will Israel pronounce this blessing may God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh then Israel said to Joseph I am about to die but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers and to you as one who is over your brothers I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.

May God continue to bless us through his word. Father you see our outstretched hands and our uplifted hearts you're a great God your reward is not according to our doings but according to the mercy and the charitable nature of your heart when we were lost in trespasses and in sins you sent your son on a rescue mission to seek and to save those who were estranged from you to bring into the family of Israel those who by human effort could never have become part of the divine family grouping. We thank you for so many heaped up blessings so many times when you've forgiven so many times when you've drawn near to us when we have not deserved your favor and now Lord bless your children here minister to every heart there are parents here who think of their children and their hearts break there are children who think of their parents and long for their salvation Lord bless every home here bless every family unit we pray our boys and our girls of our church family be with them and bless them the larger company of your children who are not out this morning wherever they are bless them we beseech of you and now father God because you're a God who are both personal and paternal will you speak from your father heart to each one of us here and may we make our response to you and know perhaps for some of us for the first time in a long time the embrace of father's arms as we come back and we acknowledge how good you are and how remiss we have been in making mention of your goodness and living as your children ministers through your word may your word heal may quicken may it achieve its objective for Jesus sake amen now the chapter which susan read for us genesis chapter 48 we read you verses eight and nine again when israel saw the sons of joseph he asked who are these they are the sons god has given me here joseph said to his father then israel said bring them to me so that i may bless them there's a lot for you to learn in this particular chapter in regard to family relationships responsibility of sons to their father their responsibility of parents to their children the responsibility perhaps not often mentioned from the pulpit of grandparents and god parents to a later generation we left israel did we not last week an old decrepit man lying on his bed and leaning across on that staff that had been with him throughout his life i gave you the picture not just of israel but some white-haired elderly christian leaning not on a literal staff but leaning on a well-loved well-thumbed copy of the bible worshipping the lord giving to god the honor and the glory that's due to his name how wonderful it could be for you if the best years of your life were the last years one lady from america made the comment in terms of old age all the sugar is at the bottom of the cup it was for jacob israel he became in those last 17 years a greater man than he'd ever been before and so we thank god for his spiritual recovery and for the renewal of the covenant between jacob israel and god and god and jacob israel i said that last week and perhaps you thought that it was just a sentimental illustration that i used that in some senses that old man reminds me as i imagine his face of a look that sometimes you get when you come in front of a donkey i took you back to the old legend of how the donkey is reckoned to have been informed by jesus of something rather remarkable that would ultimately happen in the world and when you look at the donkey if you've got fanciful imagination it does indeed seem as though that beast of burden that's known so much punishment especially in the middle east nonetheless has a a deep-seated knowledge or seems to indicate that he has an insight into something that's yet beyond fanciful you thought when i applied that to jacob israel later on you will discover not in this chapter but in the next when he has his sons in front of him he actually gives a blessing to judah and if you've got the good trustee authorized version of scripture you will discover that he makes reference to shiloh some great individual who will yet come into the world and to whom all nations will acknowledge his authority and bow in obeisance to him and it's one old preacher fb meyer who makes this interesting suggestion that in the day when jacob wrestled with god and god says what is your name and jacob also said what is your name and meyer says did god whisper into jacob israel's ear the word shiloh and did he from that moment on always have in his thought that one day in vindication of all the promises that god had made to abraham and to isaac and repeated to jacob one day god would bring into this world a great descendant of his who would honor the lord and bring about the purposes of god well i leave that for your consideration or for your rejection as you please we now come to the opening verses of this 48th chapter and we discover that jacob already an old man now appears to be terminally ill and joseph has been informed about this so he sets off with his lads and he comes to visit his father and as soon as jacob verse 2 hears of the proximity of joseph he rallies his strength comes again to him and he sits up on his bed and addresses his beloved joseph here if you please is a word to sons an obvious word but a word that needs repeating in these days and by sons i also include daughters joseph will give you an illustration of a man who honors his father and the lord jesus christ said that that was the first great commandment with promise and if your parents are still alive then honor them visit them do to them what joseph did be a sucker in their old age old folk are not to be put out to graze go visit them and those of you who've lost your own mother and father why not relate to one of the older mothers of israel in the tab are the fathers in god and minister to them as joseph has concerns and illustrates that great commandment for his father and goes to see him and in ministering to his father joseph discovers that father has a great deal still to say to him you see there are two things it seems to me that joseph or rather jacob has to do before he is absolutely ready to die there is an adoption to transact and there is also a blessing to give an adoption well jacob you recall has been roughly dealt with by his older boys not so ruben will not go into the disgusting story has so violated the honor of his father that though he was the first born of jacob's sons he really has forfeited that position of prominence and simeon is really in the same category now it's an interesting thing isn't it that that history sometimes has an unusual way of correcting itself it doesn't always happen but it does sometimes your sins find you out sometimes this side of eternity as i say not always and sometimes before eternity dawns history corrects itself who was jacob's intended life's partner the answer is obvious it was rachel he or so we are led to believe and certainly i like to conclude had in mind just marrying her that due to the duplicity the deception of his uncle laban you recall how jacob actually marries leah and leah is the mother of ruben and the first born of jacob's children had it been what jacob really wanted then rachel would have been the mother of his first born and here you see history in one sense correcting itself as as jacob is in contact now with joseph and as he wants to say to joseph look i recognize all that you have done for me i recognize that you have two sons i want to adopt your two sons as though they were my own now then verse five your two sons born to you in egypt before i came to you here will be reckoned as mine ephraim and manasseh will be mine just as ruben and simeon are mine at the human level joseph would have been the firstborn and the firstborn has in hebrew custom a double inheritance when father dies and here i say is the great corrective of history joseph's two are included by jacob within the number of his sons so that when he speaks for joseph he actually speaks of joseph he also speaks of ephraim and manasseh and if you put the two together you discover that old reclining jacob israel inspired by god restores the balance and in so doing as jacob is visited by his son he goes down memory lane as some of you all the friends rightly go down memory lane and he remembers his beloved rachel verse seven it's just as though it was yesterday as i was returning from padan to my sorrow rachel died in the land of canaan while we were still on the way a little distance from ifrath so i buried her there beside the road to ifrath that is bethlehem his first his early his constant his supreme love jacob israel laments afresh the passing of his wife and he sees in the presence of joseph some reminder of the blessings that rachel has been to him and as he honors joseph joseph he honors rachel what a great day that was when joseph set out to speak to his elderly relative there are good benefits i tell you in visiting older people perhaps not every old person however has grown spiritually mature with the passing of the years as jacob israel did perhaps not every old person is that attractive to visit then if you're in senior category then let me suggest that you come before the lord and ask that he deals with you as graciously as he dealt with his old servant jacob so that when your joseph's come to visit you they shall discover tremendous blessings just by being in your presence joseph went and he saw his father now the eyes of jacob israel were dim something like that of isaac his own father in years gone by again here's another if you like extraordinary coincidence of history history sometimes goes in cycles it repeats itself isaac's eyes were dim not so and esau and jacob came along and jacob with duplicity in his heart he deceived his old father and here's a rerun of the event only it's now jacob whose eyes are dim and joseph comes along and there's a couple of lads and they're going to be blessed they're going to benefit too from the visit to grandad but there's no duplicity here for there is no one who will behave as jacob behaved in an earlier sorrier stage in his life joseph comes with his two sons and jacob says whose are these whose are these and joseph tells him that the son's god has given me ephraim and manasseh the one who reminded me that the bitterness that i'd experienced in my earlier time in in egypt and the time when i was incarcerated by my own brothers was over the reminding me of the fruitfulness that god granted me when i came to this land of egypt they're here these are my sons a word to sons and daughters the younger generation of the tabernacle oh don't forget the older folk now a word to fathers and mothers be as concerned to bring to him who can give blessings your children as joseph was concerned to bring his lads before their granddad who are these they're my sons i'll bless the lads says granddad and that's a marvelous thing isn't it for grandparents to be concerned to bless their own children their grandchildren but i digress from that point i'll pick it up again in a few moments have you a concern those of you who are parents to bring your lads your girls however young however old they may be to the god and father of jacob who alone can really bless them does the day ever dawn does night ever engulf the light and seal the end of the day when you never took these children to the lord to the one who alone can bless them god let not another day dawn without a mother or father mentions the offspring that god has given them before the one who alone can uniquely bless them bless the lads i bring them to you jacob israel you see there were tremendous if you please temptations that these boys had they weren't ordinary hebrews were they they'd never been in the land of promise all that they'd ever heard about the brothers of joseph and about his older father it had all been hearsay that they'd been taught doubtless at the feet of their own illustrious father joseph but they had never been to canaan they were born in egypt and the possibility would be almost the certainty at the human level that egypt was born in them their mother was an egyptian their tongue would naturally have been egyptian their culture was egyptian lord venasa lord efrem spurgeon calls them and that indeed is what they were the sons of the greatest citizen with the exception of pharaoh in egypt but they are not egyptians by ethnic descent they are jews there are hebrews there are sons of the covenant but how do sons of the covenant born in egypt enter into the benefits of the covenant if they are not reminded whose they are and whom they ought to serve and what better reminder of those things than to bring them to jacob israel to whom god spoke years ago i will bless the seed from your loins and make you a great nation as he repeats the promise he gave to abraham and to isaac there are terrible dangers not so in this world i speak i hope with cautious language i do not wish to be extreme or extravagant terrible dangers for mums and dads who bring children into the 20th century to me one of the most blessed occasions in the tab is when we have a dedication service i really mean that just a five minute interlude so to speak in our morning family service and i take those little mites in my arm and ask you to pray for them and to pray for their mums and dads and remind you afresh and god knows my heart i believe mean it that we are part of a family here we interrelate one with the other and when we're violent whether we're biologically parents or not nonetheless spiritually we have a relationship and a responsibility to these children that they may be brought up to love jesus okay i charge you in the name of god do you pray for the babies in our creche or is it just a nice thing that that nice pastor does as he takes the little children in his arms and kisses them nothing wrong with that sentiment has a good value on it it's a respectable thing but we're not just engaged in sentimentality are we were mature christians we're known as a bible-believing church i ask you to pray do you take these children to the garden father of jacob and you say bless that boy not now when he's visibly held up in the arms of the pastor but you pray for him when the months go by and pray for his mum and dad and the quantity of wisdom that they need in these perplexing days to bring up their kids and you come along hear me some of you it'll hurt this but god knows my heart do you come along on a sunday night sometimes maybe not everything is in order as you would like it in terms of church service but you know this that from the pulpit there will be the unadulterated message of the gospel proclaimed in a meaningful way to youngsters as well as to older friends and you put aside your reservations about the choice of hymns and songs have your big enough heart to say bless the lads bless the girls god pinned them god earth them so from the tabernacle there shall not be those who having heard the message in their young years shall melt off into an unknown future away from god are you part and parcel of our family circle that is concerned constantly to be praying for young people for boys and girls as i also commend younger generation members to pray for older people bless the lads joseph brings his boys and actually the initiative is not so much on the part of joseph let me balance it and get the history of this narrative into perspective the initiative actually flows from grandad verse 11 israel said to joseph i never expected to see your face again and now god has allowed me to see your children too then joseph removed them from israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground in hebrew custom of acknowledgement of the the seniority of jacob israel and the solemnity of this occasion these were not kids you see these were not just children don't take the reference to the knees as though these lads have been sitting on the knees of the old father that have crushed his knees these were at least 17 if not 20 years of age lord ephraim lord manasseh these sons of an egyptian noble man no not that joseph jacob would never allow you to have said that these are my sons these are sons of the covenant and so israel extends his hands towards the two sons of joseph that he has adopted and brought as though they were his own immediate flesh and blood and he starts to talk to them granddad talking to grandsons one of the things that i lacked was the knowledge of my granddad my first my father's father died before i was born and my mother's father he died shortly in the middle of the war but i'd have liked granddad to have talked to me i'd like them to have been able to tell me a little bit about themselves what they did what the early years and the middle years of their life was like you grandparents don't think that you're of necessity of bore to your children's children not at all from you can fall the most gripping stories you can tell them something about their mum and dad that might interest them occasionally so granddad blesses verse 15 joseph and read joseph as standing for ephraim and manasseh and he does so by linking the benediction with his own testimony his own personal relationship with god may the god before whom my father's abraham and isaac walked may he bless these two lads ever known what it was to walk before god not always obediently but ever god almighty had fellowship with him and kept his eye upon him may the god who has been my shepherd shepherd all my life to this day be with these boys the lord had been the shepherd of jacob israel taking him from the land of promise to his uncle laban keeping him during those years in the spiritual wilderness bringing him back to his own bethel and pineal revealing himself always coaxing always encouraging sometimes rebuking on one occasion crippling him but ever the god who was his shepherd may that god bless these lands may the angel verse 16 the angel who has delivered me from all harm not an ordinary angel the manifestation of the son of god our blessed lord jesus christ not an ordinary redeemer but a remarkable redeemer who has kept and preserved jacob israel down all these years may he bless and preserve these boys do you tell your grandchildren about jesus and how he saved you how he kept you the first world war and the second world war just talk naturally to your children about what god has done for you this is what jacob did jacob israel he speaks of the god almighty who walked with abraham he speaks about the god almighty who was his deliverer he speaks about the god who been his shepherd a threefold description of benediction as though he has in mind though i'm not suggesting he fully understood it the tripartite nature of god father son and holy spirit and he combines those three invocations into one verb which is singular interestingly enough in the hebrew may he bless these boys this god with those threefold characteristics may he bless these boys a word to sons and daughters don't put the older generation out to graze a word to mothers and fathers and to all who are god parents or related in any way with the upbringing of children bring them always to the point where they most likely will be blessed as you pray for them and those of you who are in grandparent age category if not literally grandparents yourself talk about the god who's beat your companion who's been your shepherd who's been your redeemer all the years of your life israel jacob has spoken prophetically he overcomes the protestation of joseph he too has switched blessings and the younger shall be more blessed than the former but nonetheless both manasseh and ephraim shall be great in the sight of god and their offspring shall attain great number so jacob israel is now that much more prepared to die he had two things to do an adoption to make and blessings to give so now with that job done he turns to his beloved joseph again verse 21 i am about to die that god will be with you you can say goodbye to your children if you know that can't you i'm about to die but god who is ever the constant one will be with you as shepherd and as guide and as comforter so here is this old man he gets to the end of his days and all he needs to do is just to die and he doesn't die with a melancholy aspect to his character he's going to go into the company of his loved ones going to go into the company of those who have gone on before but he says as a parting farewell gift to joseph there's a tract of land that actually i obtained just that one parcel in the land of promise i give it to you do you remember when our lord jesus was by the well of syka references made in john's gospel chapter 4 and verse 5 to that plot of land that joseph was given by jacob israel my time is gone the burden of my heart i've discharged here in perhaps the most unlikely place is a chapter that deals with family relationships if you honor your father and mother that's good if you speak to your children of the lord jesus that's great if as grandparents or as senior citizens you're prepared to say perhaps today without being melancholy i shall die but god shall be with you then you can go into eternity with a great sense of satisfaction that the god who kept you and blessed you will keep and bless your loved ones let's pray father we're grateful that we can look upon the even tide of life in every other area within the whole sweep of our pilgrimage and offer it to you and that's what we want to do make us more kindly disposed to one another more loving in our relationships more understanding more committed to one another help us not to back off from responsibilities forgive those of us who hold our heads in contrition and say that at times we were not to our parents what we ought to have been and some of us who are parents will say the same of our children we're not what we should have been to them and grandparents likewise and whether or not biologically we fit into these categories we're all part of the family circle of god wherever we are in our lives oh god will you take us and use us to the benefit of others and to the great glory of your name so that when the moment comes when we're taken to be with you we have nothing more to do than just to die and surrender our spirits to the god of abraham isaac and jacob god blessed forever amen you