THROUGH THE BIBLE - Genesis..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Genesis chapter 48. After this, Joseph was told, behold, your father is ill.

So he took with him two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And it was told to Jacob, your son Joseph has come to you. Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. and said to me, behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you.

And I will make you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession. And now your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine. As Reuben and Simeon are, and the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in the inheritance.

As for me, when I came from Padan to my sorrow, Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way. when there was still some distance to go to Eprath. And I buried her there on the way to Eprath, that is Bethlehem. When Israel saw Joseph's son, he said, who are these? And Joseph said to his father, they are my sons, whom God has given me here.

And he said, bring them to me, please, that I may bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim with old age so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face and behold, God has let me see your offspring also. Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand towards Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand towards Israel's right hand, and brought them near. And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim. who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossed his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said, the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys. And in them, let my name be carried on and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

When Joseph saw that his father laid his hand on the head of Ephraim, he displeased him and he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, not this way, my father, since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said, I know my son, I know. He also shall be a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.

So he blessed them that day, saying, By you Israel will produce blessings, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, behold, I'm about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. Now together we as a congregation have been working our way through the book of Genesis. We've gone through chapter by chapter, reading corporately and giving brief explanations. So we're well versed as to where we are in the story in this book so far. For over half the book, Jacob or his sons have been the focal point from around 25-27 onwards.

So we now know in this passage that Jacob's life, one of the patriarchs, the son of Isaac, who's the son of Abraham, now his life is coming towards an end. So it's in order for him to get his family affairs in order. We're told that he falls sick and that sickness would lead unto death. We know that. So what does he do?

Well, we know that someone would have gone and informed his son, Joseph. And Joseph, upon hearing the news, has come. Him, as well as his two sons, Manasseh, the elder, and Ephraim, the younger. He makes his journey towards his father. Now, we must also realize these aren't young boys.

They're not infants. They're probably in their 20s because we know they were born to Joseph before the famine. And this is about 12 years after the famine, seven years of famine, 12 years, there's 19, and they were born before then. So probably early 20s, young men, yet they were obedient to Joseph. And they came with their father so that they would see their granddaddy one more time, but more so.

that they will be blessed by him. But when Jacob sees them, it seems like he has something in his mind. It seems like he's concerned to teach these young men a lesson on their heritage. He wants them to know where he's come from. He wants them to know about Abraham and Isaac and the promises of God.

He wants them to know about the providence of God and the goodness of God that has brought him to the place where he now stands. He wants them to know that God is, in His providential care, taking care of business. And by doing so, He looks after His own. And ultimately, His plans and His purposes are being fulfilled perfectly. He wants them to know.

So what does He do? He reminds them, or tells them of the story where He encountered God in a place called Luz. Now, that name hasn't come up very often in the book of Genesis. But if you remember, back in Genesis chapter 28, Luz is what the place was called before Jacob renamed it to Bethel. Bethel means house of God and he's been there twice and on two occasions he meets with God.

God appears to him on two occasions, two encounters, on the way to Paddan Aram, to his uncle's place in Laban, if you remember Laban. And he goes there and he spends about 20 years, gets married to Leah and Rachel, and then heads on back. But he's on his way there, he's fleeing from his brother Esau, because his brother's wrath had been kindled. Why? Because young Jacob, my apologies when we say young, It's probably close to 70.

But anyway, he deceived his brother of his blessing. And so he's afraid. He's anxious. And he goes to this place where he calls Bethel. And what does he do?

Well, God comes and meets him there. And God says these beautiful words. He says to him, behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to the land, and I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised, what I have promised you. His promise he fulfills some years later. Jacob returns back to his father's home.

He returns back to Canaan. You see, He knew God, not as a distant, aloof God. He wasn't a God that would communicate with him from a distance, and he knew of him, but he had an intimate knowledge of God. We know this because he uses the word shepherd in verse 15. He says, God was a shepherd to him, that he took care of him.

He was aware of his grace, of his care, of his protection. Now, despite Jacob's dishonorable actions, Despite Jacob's deception, God was still taking care of his own despite the sin and in times of rebellion of his own. And it's very interesting to me that when he meets up with Pharaoh. In the previous chapter, we hear that he meets up with Pharaoh. What was his words to him?

He emphasized the short life that he had and also that his days are evil. And now 17 years on, he's able to look back with renewed eyes and is able to see God's incredible providential blessings upon those evil days. Now he looks back and he sees that God's hand was in God's hand was with him during those evil times, and because of those evil times, he's able to stand down and say, I trust in God. Those times, the times of suffering, have formed his character and developed in him a trust for God. And now he's very keen, he's very concerned that his Egyptian-born grandsons know his God.

that would recognize God's providence, that would recognize who God is. And so we know that as he went to this place called Laz or Bethel, on the way away from his father's home, he met with God and he met with God on the way back. And there's two things that happened in both those occasions. Another promise was given by God. And it's a promise that would not be fulfilled in Jacob's life, but rather in Jacob's death.

A promise of a land. a promise that his offspring would be numerous, and also a promise that through him, all the nations, all the families of the earth would be blessed. This is the beautiful thing about looking in the past, that looking back and seeing how faithful God is, even in our own lives, we're able to say he has fulfilled all his promises to us. He's been a shepherd to his own. And therefore, when we look forward to the uncertainty, to the unknown, we know that our God will fulfill all His promises to His own, because He's always faithful.

He's always faithful. But now Ephraim and Manasseh will also be recipients of that promise. You see, what Jacob, my apology, does here is he now adopts these boys, his grandsons, from being grandsons into being sons. See, he mentions Rachel in these verses to say that Rachel gave me two boys, Joseph and Benjamin, but she's passed now. But by adopting these young men, both Manasseh and Ephraim, as his own sons, it's as though he's saying that those boys will be as though Rachel bore them to me.

They will comprise as part of the 12 tribes of Israel. So what we find here is Joseph will be blessed by a double portion through his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. So it's important. It's important that they realize that Egypt has so much to give. Just think of who their father is.

They have so much in the way of honor because of what Joseph has done. The best food of the land, the best clothing of the land, they would be apprised to the very best education. Their lives would be fairly secure. It would be fair to say that as they grow, they will probably be given positions of power and prominence. Yet Jacob is trying to reiterate to them by demonstrating the faithfulness of God in the promises of God, and God being a shepherd to him throughout his life, he's trying to say to these young men, don't have your hearts in this place.

Your hearts ought to be in God alone, because he is faithful. Your treasure ought to be in God, not in the things of this world, not in the things that Egypt can give you, and you'll get the very best, and you'll be tempted maybe to stay back, But you ought to know that God's plans for his people are the best. Even though our human understanding may see things otherwise. Even though that you're associating yourself now with an unworthy shepherd community that is despised by the Egyptians. We know that from previous chapters.

Even then, trust in God. Trust in God, hold to His promises, and walk as He would have you walk. I think Moses knew a bit of this, because in Hebrews we're told, by faith, Moses, when he was grown up, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Then we have this odd situation where Jacob blesses the boys. And so you have Joseph there, and Joseph has planned this out.

He knows about the blessing. And so he's walked the boys over, and he's particularly planned this out so that Manasseh would be on Joseph's right hand, and that's the hand of power, the hand of honor. And then you have Ephraim, which is the younger of the two. He'd be on the left. Yet when he comes, what does Jacob do?

He crosses his hands over. And so Joseph says, hold on, you've got it wrong, dad. I mean, your eyes are dim. You were told in the passage, maybe he can't see properly. But what does Jacob say?

He says, no, this is the way, this is the way it's meant to be. This is the way God wants it to be. Yes, Manasseh will be great. He'll be a great people, but Ephraim will be a greater people. He'd be a greater people.

And so we see this throughout the Bible. We see instances where the norm is not carried out. We see that Seth is honored above Cain. And then we see that Israel, who's born first, is not the child of promise, but Isaac is the child of promise, 13 years later. But Jacob himself is younger than Esau.

We see that he was given the promise rather than his brother Esau. And now the same is happening with Ephraim, and Manasseh. Why? Why is this the case? It's easy for us to look back and say, well, some of those characters, the older of the two, were a little bit shady.

And we might say, yeah, they're shady characters that were a little immoral, and that's why. But that's not true. The fact of the matter is that if those who have been chosen have done anything of virtue, it's only because God's hand was on them. It's only because God was sanctifying them as His own. So we ask the question again, why?

Why is Ephraim chosen above Manasseh? And there's really one answer, I think, to this question. That is because God was pleased to do so. That's it. Because God was pleased to do so.

Why does God choose some and not others? Because God is pleased to do so. It's not that Ephraim had better qualities. It's not that Ephraim had a better personality, maybe better hair or better looking or taller. No, no, no.

People choose the taller and the better looking. Saul is an example of that, but not God. See, God doesn't look through the corridor of time and say, I'm going to choose him and him because of these reasons, because they can do these things, because they have potential, because they have aptitude. That's not how God works. Not at all.

It's because God chose him, because he is free in his sovereignty. to select, to use his freedom to accomplish his purposes in election. And he's done that in this instance. You know who's doing the blessing? Jacob.

And Jacob knows at this point, he may have thought previously that God has chosen me Above my brother, because of what I can do. But he's looked back at his life, and now he's being humble. And now he's come before these young men and said, God has been with me. He has shepherded me, shepherded me through life. The evil that I've experienced, I would have fallen if it wasn't for the good shepherd.

It wasn't because of who I am, but because of who he is. It's because of who God is. And that will do well to honor that God, the only true God. Beloved, it's like that for us as the elect of Christ, as those who have been chosen in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. He looked upon us.

He knew us. He foreknew us in Christ, not because of who we are and because of what we can do or our looks or our potential or anything else. Why did God choose the elect? Why are we here this evening? Why are we able to praise Him and worship Him and know Him in an intimate way?

Why? It's because He is good. It's because he is free to do as he pleases. And you know what we ought to do? The very thing that Jacob does.

It doesn't say in the text, but if we go over to Hebrews chapter 11, we're told when he blesses, as an example of faith, when he blesses the sons of Joseph, what does he do? He bows his head and worships. Beloved, that's the only reaction we can give. We cannot boast. We ought to bow our head and bend our knee to our triune God and worship Him alone.

Amen.