WEBVTT 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:01.600 Morning, church. 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:03.200 All right. 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:07.519 Today's passage is the chapter forty-eight of the book of Genesis. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:12.800 After this, Joseph was told, Behold, your father is ill. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:19.920 So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and it was told to Jacob, Your son Joseph has come to you. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:23.600 Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:40.799 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 of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:46.399 And now your two sons who are born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are mine. 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:52.799 Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are, and the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:56.399 They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:09.200 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 Ephraim, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:12.719 When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, Who are these? 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:17.120 Joseph said to his father, They are my sons whom God has given me here. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:20.640 And he said, Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:25.519 Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:28.719 So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:35.280 And Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your offspring also. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:40.239 Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:48.319 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim and his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. 00:01:48.959 --> 00:02:00.000 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, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:21.919 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, blessed the boys, and in them let my name be carried on, in the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:31.680 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:38.319 And Joseph said to his father, Not this way, my father, since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:43.199 But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:46.319 He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:52.159 Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:03:01.360 So he blessed them that day, saying, By you, Israel will pronounce blessings, saying, God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:04.479 Then he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:12.879 Then Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:22.159 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. 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:23.599 This is the word of the Lord. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:24.879 Please be seated. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:29.919 Good morning. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:33.599 Happy Father's Day, everyone. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:35.759 Well, uh, you know, fathers. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:37.759 Uh fathers. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:38.719 Wow. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:41.280 What a great thing to have. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:57.520 Uh I read this great uh little section of a book called Father Hunger by Doug Wilson, and he has this moment where he talks about the word fathers, and he compares it to uh he describes this moment in Narnia, the Chronicles of Narnia. 00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:00.960 He wasn't in Narnia, it's a book series about that place. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:17.279 And he uh uh Aslan, who's the lion, uh, you know, Jesus, is talking with another lion, and Aslan says, you know, us lions, you know, do things this way. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:20.560 And the other lion goes to all the other animals, and he's like, Did you hear that? 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:25.519 Aslan said, us lions, you know, like I am a lion too, like Aslan. 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:26.319 I'm like that. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:29.920 And in this book, he says, you know, that's the way God treats fathers. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:32.480 God could say, you know, us fathers. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:34.399 God calls himself a father. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:38.079 And we would hear it that same way, you know, he'd say, like, did you hear what God said? 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:39.360 He said, Us fathers. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:43.199 He's a he's calling us a father, just like he calls himself a father. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:44.639 We're we're fathers too. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:52.879 And then what Aslan does is he puts that lion in charge of a bunch of rowdy animals that are almost impossible to take care of, and it really humbles the lion almost immediately. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:59.439 And then what God does with fathers is he gives us children and he performs that very same thing. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:06.000 You know, uh it it's uh it's impossible to overstate what fathers mean. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:12.800 You all know this, uh, but it it is a uh um deeply important role. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:27.439 I I can't uh begin to express how formed I am by my father and the things that I saw in him, the courage I've seen demonstrated, the recklessness in seeking to protect me, his son. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:38.480 Uh so so much of the uh um uh foolish things that I would enter into uh before I was qualified to do those things. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:45.680 I I had that sort of reckless courage to do those things uh because I I always considered that he had my back. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:49.199 And that's uh a wonderful thing that I think just fathers can provide. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:51.600 So here's to fathers. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:59.360 Today is a fitting sermon for Father's Day because it's about the blessing of that Jacob gives to Joseph's sons. 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:07.759 It's a multi-generational sort of blessing that we see these promises are passed through the mechanism of fatherhood throughout scripture. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:19.360 God does not um uh superimpose some alternate way of moving his promises through the world, um, some like secret handshake ritual or something like that. 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:23.439 He uses this ordinary means of fathers and sons. 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:27.120 And he continues that practice throughout all of Scripture. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:29.360 So we see that promise today. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:35.360 It's uh it's a fitting Father's Day sermon, um, if I do say so myself. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:44.399 You know, if uh I've gotten I've gotten back on Twitter, much to my wife's chagrin. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:49.040 And oh I love it. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:50.480 I'm gonna be honest. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:54.240 It's a it's like a celebrity cat fight every day. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:55.759 It's awesome. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:13.519 Um anyway, this Father's Day, I've seen so many uh statistics quoted from uh all sorts of people describing uh uh, for example, if the father is saved, then there's a 93% chance that the rest of the family will be saved. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:25.199 Uh there's there's this this incredible power in fatherhood, and it's uh it's made me cons there there's a 60% chance that a that a child will just have the faith of their father. 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:39.199 Since college, uh I my wife and I were a part of a campus ministry in college, so we kind of created this little Christian bubble that we lived in. 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:52.720 And since then I've seen so many of those friends deconstruct their faith, um, which is the uh it's like a Instagram word for apostasy. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:55.120 But they they deconstruct their faith. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:08:09.759 And this I I could fill up a, you know, a book with each chapter being a biography of a different person who's deconstructed their faith in some way, walked away and no longer call themselves Christians. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:20.399 I think that if that book were to cover the last 10 years or just the last three years, they would be the same size book. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:28.879 Uh the the past three years I've seen put such pressure on Christians' faith that they've just walked, they've walked away. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:34.399 And I've had this question of who's to blame for this. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:45.120 I think there's a lot of ill-equipping going on as the the cultural pressures to walk away from Christianity have risen. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:09:02.159 Um as the uh as the just the pressures of of just ordinary becoming an adult, uh where you you God didn't give you a spouse and and you really wanted one. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:06.320 Or God gave you a spouse and you know, they're medium. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:15.519 Or the you're you're you find yourself having to like go into this job every day, and it's it's extremely depleting. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:23.519 And you're thinking, how, you know, what are the promises of God to me as I move into this state, as I just move through life? 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:28.720 And I think as those pressures mounted, people, uh the distance just became too far. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:35.519 And they said that, you know what, the promises of God are not true. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:37.759 He's not good. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:45.120 And I can tell by my life experience, I've been stacking up evidence for the past 10 years that he's not good. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:10:02.480 And the culture is explaining this to me on repeat of how he's not good, and it seems to match my life, so I'm gonna adopt this narrative to reinterpret my whole faith life through. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:04.559 Instead of deconstructed. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:21.039 The Bible's not to blame for this because the Bible does not glance over those moments in life where the promises of God seem vastly different from our experience of life. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:26.720 It doesn't hide those things in a corner of say, yeah, God's all good all the time. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:31.519 Um, you know, sometimes life might not feel like that a little bit, but really it is like that. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:34.240 You've just got to reframe your mind and reframe your thinking. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:46.879 I think a lot of our teaching, a lot of our, you know, especially like college student, enthusiastic, extroverted Christian ministry style of teaching, reinforced that vision of God. 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:48.480 But the Bible does not. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:11:08.159 The Bible is constantly bringing its main characters to the most critical tensions you could possibly dream up between what God has promised and what they are experiencing in their life, and then saying, do they have faith here? 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:11.840 Is there faith in the promises of God here? 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:15.039 And today that's what happens with Jacob. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:31.200 His life, at his, near the end of his life, he's brought to this absolute critical moment where he could look at his life and say, the promises of God didn't come through here, the promises of God didn't come through here, the promises of God didn't come through here. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:32.879 What am I gonna do? 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:35.840 And he acts in faith. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:51.519 This is this blessing that he gives to Joseph's sons is the moment that is referenced in Hebrews 11, that hall of faith chapter, which is like this genealogy of heroes of the faith throughout biblical history. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:12:03.679 And in verse 21 of that chapter, it says, By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:07.759 This moment is the moment that lands him in the hall of faith. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:12.639 It's when, right before he dies, he blesses the sons of Joseph. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:29.679 We're gonna see why these things really uh why what we're seeing here is worthy of that hall of faith, because it is that that perfect moment of absolute pressure on the promises of God. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:31.279 Think of it like this. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:38.639 For most of us, and for most of my friends that I'm writing that book about, where each of one of them is a chapter and I'm showing how they deconstructed their faith. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:42.960 I'm not actually writing that, but you knew that. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:48.960 The discrepancies are vague, okay? 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:55.759 It's like I expected God to be good, and the things I'm experiencing in my life I don't like. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:59.519 Okay, that's the they're they're kind of uh it's a vague tension. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:02.480 It's a tension that's really there, but it's vague. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:08.799 For the Bible characters, it's there's way more pressure that they're experiencing. 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:22.399 We're given the maximal example of this thing, because God says things like, I'm going to give you lots of offspring, and I'm going to give you this parcel of land. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:27.120 Mark it with a rock that you stand up, and look at the stars and look at the dust. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:29.600 We're talking that much offspring. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:36.320 And so these men, the promises that they've been given, they're like, okay, well, I can test this one pretty easily. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:38.480 Do I have the offspring? 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:40.559 And do I have the land? 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:47.840 And here at the end of Jacob's life, you know, us, it's like, things aren't how I thought they'd be. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:52.720 They're like, no, no, no, the promise was offspring and land, and I don't have it. 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:55.039 So is God faithful? 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:04.879 You know, this is as I want us to see how how these are the maximal examples of of this tension. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:08.720 Jacob is about to die. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:14.879 In the last chapter, him and all his sons were sold into slavery in Egypt. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:16.320 They don't have the people. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.879 And there's no bread in the land. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:20.559 They're they're starving and famished. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.519 They were driven out of the land and sold into slavery. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:25.360 No people, no land. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.159 What was the uh promise of God again on my life? 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:29.200 Jacob remembers. 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:31.120 Oh yeah, people and a land. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.759 Nope, nope, about to die. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:35.759 Who am I gonna trust? 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:41.679 The evidence of my life, or am I going to continue to trust the promise of God? 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:45.120 It's an absolute tension. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:47.759 And we see how Jacob follows through with this. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:15:05.679 So let's watch this scene where Jacob, right before he's about to die, remains faithful to the promise of God and sees his goodness over the horizon, knowing it's it's even beyond the goodness of his life. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:17.120 What a fatherly love to invest in something like your children for a goodness that extends beyond the horizon of your life. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:20.480 We see that pictured here by Jacob. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.399 All right, so let's let's jump in and we'll see. 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:28.320 He begins by relaying God's faithfulness to him. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:34.240 After this, Joseph was told, Behold, your father is ill. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:39.759 So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:44.879 And it was told to Jacob, Your son Joseph has come to you. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:49.039 Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:52.960 Joseph lived at the capital. 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:55.200 He had duties to fulfill. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:16:03.360 Jacob and Joseph's brothers and the rest of Jacob's sons lived in Goshen. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:09.360 This deal was uh established in what we the section of scripture that we moved through last week. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:12.720 Goshen is on the outskirts of Egypt, it's pasture land. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:26.159 And so Jacob gets Joseph gets news at the capital that Jacob is sick, and he's an old man, so he comes to visit him for what will be the last time, and he brings with him his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:32.240 Now, Jacob, who is then referred to as Israel, think of it like this. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:40.399 When Jacob is discussing just his own life, him personally, then he's referred to as Jacob. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:52.799 When Jacob is discussing himself or being relayed to us as the covenant head, the head of the people, then he's referred to as Israel. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:58.159 Obviously, there's a lot of overlap there. 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:02.240 But we'll see it go back and forth between Jacob and Israel in this. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:11.599 So Jacob begins when he sees Joseph and his sons, he begins by relaying his life. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:27.920 He's about to bless his to bless Joseph's sons, and he knows he's going to do that, but he begins by providing a context of how does this old man on his deathbed understand the meaningfulness of his life. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:31.359 He says this in verses three and four. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:41.119 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:48.000 And said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:57.519 I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:09.599 At the end of your life, what is a meaningful life? 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:14.240 What does it mean for your life to be meaningful? 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:20.400 Well, let's start here. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:23.839 What is meaning? 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:29.359 The Bible teaches us how to understand what meaning is. 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:33.839 Meaning is when the things down here. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:37.200 I'm gonna do my John Piper. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:47.519 These things down here that you touch and feel, they connect up. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:49.440 Wow, this is getting very piper-y. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:56.319 They connect up to the heavenly places. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:25.519 I want you to see this is this is true in the most ordinary and mundane things, uh, because that is a strange collection of metal and cloth and whatever the cushion material is, and we assemble it into this thing, and it and we it it's I can see rows of them out there, but then like as if from the heavens, we bring down a name. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:27.759 And I say chair. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.440 Now, now I can engage with it. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:34.000 Chair means place to sit. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:37.599 I can conform my body to it, I can engage with it meaningfully. 00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:40.799 I know when to use it and when to not use it. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:50.480 And I've I've because it's connected by the heavens with a name to the material which is on the earth, now I can meaningfully participate in it. 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:57.359 So you see, this is true at every level of reality, from just experiencing a chair to you're on your deathbed. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:19:59.119 What is meaning? 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:03.200 Does your life connect to the eternal? 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:05.920 Or does it end here? 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:16.640 Jacob sees there was one time in his life at Luz, where he was blessed by the Lord. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:18.880 You may remember the scene. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:32.240 In fact, it was just before he was, excuse me, it was just after a scene that's almost exactly like the one that's just about to happen, where Isaac, Jacob's father, blessed him. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:34.880 But it was a deceitful blessing. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:47.200 And Jacob had stolen it, and Isaac had given it to the wrong son, but because they were both deceptive, God was like, I can work with this, and he make he blesses the right son. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:56.160 So just after that scene, he's on the run for his life, and he ends up in this place called Luz in the land of Canaan. 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:04.400 And he sleeps on a on a rock, and in the night he's given a vision of a ladder. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:11.519 And the ladder reaches up into the heavens, and it connects down to the earth, and the angels of God are ascending and descending upon it. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:14.000 That's this is a picture of meaning. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:17.359 Because the heavens and the earth are connected. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:20.640 We could say these things matter, they can be participated with. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:24.160 They seem to be meaningful in a true and real way. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:28.559 They connect to the earth and they reach up to the heavens. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:33.920 And then there, standing next to the ladder, is a vision of God. 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:36.160 And it is there that God blesses him. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:41.200 And Jacob says this, one of my favorite phrases in all of Scripture, which is echoed later in John 1. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:45.119 Surely God is in this place and I did not know it. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:48.319 Isn't that the great revelation of existence? 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:52.319 Surely God is in this place and I did not know it. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:59.440 Jacob is blessed there, and God gives him this promise at that very place, right after he had stolen this blessing. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:08.640 And he will make of you a great nation, and he will uh give you this land as an everlasting possession. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:12.079 And he named that place Bethel, which means house of God. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:15.279 How does Jacob understand the context of his life? 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:18.000 What is it that makes Jacob's life meaningful? 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:21.920 It is that it connects to the promises of God. 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:33.599 In connecting his life to the promises of God, he's holding fast to the meaning which God has described of his life. 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:43.920 You know, that thing that we do with chairs, where we bring meaning to lumps of matter so that we bring them into the human story and we can participate with them. 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:46.319 God is able to do that with people. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:50.640 You know, and he does things like name them. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:23:00.799 And when he names them, all of a sudden this life is connected up to the glories that will last eternally because they are God's story. 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:14.799 Which is why our culture, when we talk about meaning, we have to do all these silly little Facebook quote tricks to convince ourselves that there's such a thing as meaning outside of the existence of God. 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:17.680 You make your own meaning. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:22.240 No, you don't. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:32.400 If you're from nothing and you go to nothing and there's no transcendent to connect to, you definitionally do not make meaning. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:35.519 You continue to exist in nothingness. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:41.039 To think otherwise is to is to deceive yourself as to what meaning means. 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:48.160 Jacob does no such trick. 00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:57.599 Instead, at the end of his life, this look at look at it like this. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:00.880 Last week we saw Jacob speak to Pharaoh. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:03.920 And Pharaoh says, How old are you? 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:05.759 Jacob. 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:13.680 And Jacob says, The days of my life have been evil and short. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:20.960 And then Pharaoh finished the he was like, I guess he's not much for small talk. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:28.240 Now this same life, Jacob's not wrong. 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:29.839 He's not wrong. 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:35.680 Most of it, it's it's lies and deception, and on the run, he's his family's torn apart. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:38.000 He thinks his brother wants to kill him most of his life. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:39.279 He's cheated by his uncle. 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:42.000 He's deceived into marrying a girl he doesn't want to marry. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:43.839 He works seven more years in slavery. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:47.200 When he finally gets back to the promised land, his family tears itself apart again. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:52.400 And now here he is at the end of his life, a slave in a foreign land about to die. 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:55.599 The days of his life are evil in short. 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:59.119 You know, that's a true description he can give to Pharaoh. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:22.720 And yet, here at the end of his life, because he understands what it is that gives his life real context and real meaning, he says, uh he he he describes it in this totally different way, where he's he describes himself as a blessed man who God has met and who has given him these promises. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:26.640 That is what provides the context of his life. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:28.720 See, both are true. 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:30.880 Evil and short. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:32.319 Yeah, that's true. 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.799 But there's one that's more true. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:38.559 The one that's more true is what God has blessed him with. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:41.599 And Jacob, at the end of his life, he has a choice. 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:44.000 Which one am I going to hold on to? 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:53.759 He continues on in this time in this description of the blessing that's to come in verses 48, in verse 5. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:26:00.640 And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt, before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:06.079 Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:10.880 Alright, now this might be like this is weird, okay? 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:13.039 These these types of things are weird to us. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:17.200 We don't have these patterns in our culture because our culture's worse. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:23.839 It is worth laughing at because we're in an absurd, we're absurd people. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.160 But the Bible's not absurd, so we have to learn how to not be as absurd. 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:41.759 So he says, Jacob says to Joseph, your two sons that were born in Egypt, when you were dead to me, they're mine. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:44.240 Those are my sons. 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:46.799 So what's Jacob doing here? 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:52.960 He's standing at the end of his life, and he has there's a sense in which he has nothing to offer. 00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:59.519 He can't offer the land, and them, as a people, have just been sold into slavery in Egypt. 00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:04.960 And yet he has the promise of God. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:18.720 And so he reaches out with the promise of God and he blesses the ones who, by any earthly measure, were the ones who could be most easily left out of it. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:23.119 And those are Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:28.720 When they were born, Jacob was as good as dead. 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:33.440 Or excuse me, Joseph was as good as dead to Jacob. 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:37.839 They're the sons that are born in Egypt of an Egyptian mother. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:46.559 The only grandfather that they had ever known in any legitimate way was their mother's father, who was an Egyptian priest. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:28:00.559 Their names, Manasseh, the firstborn, his name means the Lord has made me forget all my affliction and all my father's house. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:09.680 Ephraim, his name means, the Lord has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:13.279 You hear what their names mean? 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:15.680 I don't need my father's house. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:18.079 I don't need the land. 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:26.240 And Jacob, you know, Joseph, I can't believe I get to see your offspring. 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:27.599 What are their names? 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:28.240 Oh. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:34.640 See, I didn't think you'd ever be here to ask. 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:38.400 This one means forget my father's house. 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:42.160 And this one means I'm doing great in Egypt. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:52.240 And Jacob stands here and he hears those and he says, I am, they are mine. 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:57.519 By the promise of God, I am putting the promise of God upon them. 00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:00.799 I am, he he doesn't even, he blesses all the other brothers. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:04.160 We'll see that next week, but he blesses just the sons of Joseph. 00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:07.920 He calls that Joseph's blessing when he blesses the sons. 00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:09.200 It's the way he blesses them. 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:16.079 And then he describes them and he says, Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:19.440 Reuben is his firstborn son. 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:22.799 And Simeon is the secondborn son. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:27.359 So he is saying, they will be mine as Reuben and Simeon. 00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:36.720 He's replacing Reuben and Simeon in the hierarchy with Ephraim and Manasseh. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:46.000 Reuben ought to have been the rightful heir, the one who was chosen within the family to carry on the promise. 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:55.359 But Reuben slept with his adopted mother and betrayed Jacob. 00:29:55.680 --> 00:29:57.920 He sinned and he's out of the family. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:08.000 A way of seeing that is he tried to be his father while his father was still there. 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:15.839 It's similar to the sons of Noah uncovering their father's nakedness. 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:30.240 That, just so we can maybe learn to see things more biblically, is the same pattern as we need to destroy the patriarchy. 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:35.519 Because it's about uncovering your father's nakedness. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:39.599 When you uncover your father's nakedness, that nakedness comes back on you. 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:42.480 That's the pattern that our culture is in right now. 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:44.480 In case you're wondering. 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:48.400 These father things are very important. 00:30:51.119 --> 00:30:52.480 Reuben is out. 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:55.680 Simeon is a man of violence. 00:30:56.079 --> 00:31:11.200 Simeon is the one who, rather than pursuing justice, goes and killed uh the men who raped Dinah, and he destroys the entire nation and then steals their wives as well. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:13.599 You could see them like this. 00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:22.160 Reuben is the one who tried to take the being the head of the people, and Simeon is the one who tried to take and seize for himself owning the land. 00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:33.359 There's something about these promises where they must be given to us in the ways that God determines to have them given. 00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:36.000 Both of these men tried to seize. 00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:41.519 And so they, in their seizing, it slips from their hands. 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:47.920 And Ephraim and Manasseh, the forgotten sons, are blessed in their place. 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:53.440 The very ones that they thought they were, they cut off the lineage of, by the way. 00:31:57.200 --> 00:31:59.279 So he reaches out to these sons. 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:03.839 But before he does, he it may look like his mind wanders, but this other thing happens. 00:32:04.079 --> 00:32:26.079 He says, in Genesis 48, verse 7, right after he says, These sons are mine, as Reuben and Simeon are mine, Ephraim and Manasseh are mine, then he says, As for me, when I came from Padon, to my sorrow, Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:31.200 And I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:45.039 I read one commentator who I followed through this whole thing, and it says, you know, he's looking at Ephraim and Manasseh, he's looking at Joseph, and so his mind just wanders back to their mother, Joseph's mother, his beloved Rachel. 00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:55.599 And that when they were going to, when they had just come back into the land of promise and they were continuing down to Bethlehem, that Rachel died. 00:32:56.880 --> 00:33:02.960 And so it's just something like a sweet sentimental memory of a nostalgic dying old man. 00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:04.640 I bet that's there. 00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:11.839 I bet when he did see Joseph, he does see his beloved Rachel, who's been lost. 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:15.599 But it's not just that. 00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:19.440 He doesn't just have this memory. 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:32.240 What he's conjuring, it's maybe not the right word, because he's not some conjurer of cheap tricks. 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:42.559 But what he's calling to mind or asking us to see is, you know, he's in that very position that Rachel was in right now. 00:33:43.039 --> 00:33:45.920 Because Rachel died in childbirth. 00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:49.200 And so her death was not a hopeless death. 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:56.960 It gave birth to Benjamin, the son of my right hand, the son of the south. 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:07.119 And when Benjamin was born, and Rachel dies, it's on the way to Bethlehem. 00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:11.280 See, this is precisely where Jacob is. 00:34:12.079 --> 00:34:14.159 Jacob is about to die. 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:24.400 But he's saying, My death will be something like Rachel's death, which means that it will be a death which gives way to more life. 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:26.719 And that life is headed somewhere. 00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:29.280 It's headed to Bethlehem. 00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:31.599 You know what Bethlehem means? 00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:33.679 It means the house of bread. 00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:36.719 It's headed to the house of bread. 00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:41.440 Has not this whole book been about trying to get that bread? 00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:47.280 They're in Egypt now because they need the bread. 00:34:48.480 --> 00:35:12.159 And Jacob is saying, he's saying here, there will be a place where we'll have the bread, and we're not here now, and I'm dying, but I'm reaching out to bless my offspring who are continuing in this hope that they will come to the house of bread. 00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:20.880 This is the way the patriarchs saw their part in the story. 00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:28.000 They trusted in it, even though they wouldn't see it, and they would die before they could get to see it. 00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:37.760 So their whole lives become something like a living sacrifice to tend to those who will continue on in the promise of God beyond their sight. 00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:42.960 That's why these are lives of faith that we celebrate in them. 00:35:47.679 --> 00:35:53.679 Bethlehem, by the way, for you Bible nerds, will become an important little town. 00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:02.159 He blesses the sons. 00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:04.880 I'm gonna start to hustle because I preached way too long last week. 00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:08.800 But here at the end of Genesis, everything is like doing this coming together thing. 00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:11.920 And it's making for long sermons, so I'm gonna hustle. 00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:20.639 In 48, verses eight through nine, when he blesses the sons, when Israel saw Joseph's sons, no, it's Israel now, because he's about to do a formal blessing. 00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:24.800 When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, Who are these? 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:30.000 Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me here. 00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:33.599 And he said, Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them. 00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:36.880 He didn't not recognize his grandsons. 00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:49.199 Okay, you know, it's kind of before uh weddings, uh, well, right to kick off the wedding, I asked this question: Who gives this woman to be married to this man? 00:36:49.920 --> 00:36:55.119 And I I know it's the father of the bride, and he's going to say, My mother and I. 00:36:55.199 --> 00:36:56.639 I know who they are. 00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:01.920 But we say this because we're moving through a formal ceremony. 00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:04.480 One time I said, Who gives this hand in marriage? 00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:06.480 And something very strange happened. 00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:10.719 Oh, that was a little inside for two people. 00:37:10.880 --> 00:37:12.480 I'm gonna leave it that way. 00:37:19.360 --> 00:37:23.440 So he they're moving into this formal blessing. 00:37:24.880 --> 00:37:52.639 And what's happening here is that we're we're also stepping into that moment in Jacob's life that kind of set the whole ball rolling, which is when Isaac was going to bless Esau, the older, Jacob's older brother, when God had commanded him to bless the younger, who was Jacob. 00:37:53.519 --> 00:38:02.559 So Isaac, in sin, sought to deny God and bless Esau. 00:38:04.159 --> 00:38:18.960 Jacob, in sin, working with his mother, deceived the blind old man and pretended to be Esau. 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:34.159 And so Jacob blessed, excuse me, Isaac blessed Jacob, but what Jacob heard was a blessing that he knew was just for and intended for Esau. 00:38:34.400 --> 00:38:44.079 And you can see the whole life of Jacob could almost be read through, he's looking for his father's blessing. 00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:58.239 And in his father's sin, and in collaboration with his father's sin, trying to get it in a deceptive way, his whole life becomes this life on the run looking for his father's blessing. 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:06.320 I wonder if any of you could relate. 00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:18.320 So now it's the end of his life, and it's his job to stand in the place of his father. 00:39:19.360 --> 00:39:24.559 And the question is, will he sin where his father sinned? 00:39:26.719 --> 00:39:31.199 That might be the whole question of Jacob's life. 00:39:32.880 --> 00:39:36.159 Will he sin where his father sinned? 00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:40.000 Is that not the question of the Bible? 00:39:40.239 --> 00:39:43.199 Is it is it's not what it means to be sons of Adam? 00:39:44.239 --> 00:39:46.559 Will I sin where my father sinned? 00:39:48.800 --> 00:39:51.119 So he's he's in this place. 00:39:51.599 --> 00:39:52.960 It's a perfect mirror image. 00:39:53.039 --> 00:39:54.320 He's even blind. 00:39:55.599 --> 00:40:02.320 You know, not totally, because you can see him a little bit, but he's blind in the way that his father Isaac was blind. 00:40:03.679 --> 00:40:08.239 And so here's the question is he gonna do, is he gonna send on the blessing? 00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:14.880 And is he go is he going to do it in the pattern that God saw fit to do it in? 00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:21.599 Joseph was his most beloved son. 00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:32.800 Even there, you would think he would bless Joseph, but he he doesn't. 00:40:33.519 --> 00:40:39.599 And then you might think, well, he'll bless the oldest son of Joseph, but he doesn't. 00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.159 He blesses the younger son of Joseph. 00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:45.920 And he does it like this. 00:40:46.079 --> 00:41:04.159 Joseph brings his sons towards him, and he brings Manasseh the older and Ephraim the younger, and Jacob reaches out like this, and he crosses his hands, so that his right hand goes to the younger, and his left hand goes to the older. 00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:09.599 It's hard for us to see how this is obedience. 00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:20.719 But it is him saying, It is not my choice, and it is not a choice by what I can see with my own flesh that we're moving forward on. 00:41:21.039 --> 00:41:25.679 But this is the choice of God as instructed to my Father. 00:41:26.079 --> 00:41:36.800 And so I will not honor what I can see by my own eyes, but here in this moment, I will honor the choice of God as the thing which we put our faith in. 00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:39.280 And so that's what he does. 00:41:39.440 --> 00:41:43.920 It's it looks just sort of strange and ceremonial to our eyes, but it's not. 00:41:44.079 --> 00:41:48.800 It is a deep act of faith as he crosses his arms to bless the sons. 00:41:49.119 --> 00:41:51.519 Joseph looks at it and he's like, This is not good. 00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:53.599