Genesis 48. This evening, I'm going to give the title of this for Campbell's benefit, On the Edge of Eternity. On the Edge of Eternity. And old Jacob is 147 years of age. He's got a good lot out of the pension, hasn't he? He's lived 17 years now in Egypt. eleven years free from famine, and he's had seventeen good years with Joseph and Joseph's two boys, and the family are at peace. And old Jacob says in verse 11 to Joseph, he says, I had not thought to see thy face. I never thought, he says, that we would see each other again. And lo, God has showed me also thy seed. He says, God's so good. He not only let me see again, Joseph, 17 years together, he says, he's even let me see my grandsons, born of your line. Let's read the story. It says, and it came to pass after these things that one told Joseph, behold, thy father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Now Joseph is 56 years of age, lived now the majority of his life in Egypt. He's wealthy, he's powerful, he's extremely busy. He's popular with both king and the people, but he gets the news dad's dying. He sets everything aside, takes his two boys, probably now in their 20s, Ephraim and Manasseh, and he says, we've got to get to where dad is one last time. Says, and one told Jacob and said, behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee. And Israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty, else should I. in the Hebrew, appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine. As Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine. And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath. And I buried there in the way of Ephrath the same as Bethlehem. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, Who are these? And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him, and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and, lo, God hath showed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand towards Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him. And Israel stretched out his right hand, and he laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. And let my name be named on them, and let the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.' And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father. For this is the firstborn, put thy right hand upon his head.' And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed him that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he said, Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die, but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow." Now, this is a wonderful scene of the passing into eternity of a saint of God. Jacob had lived a long life. And despite the fact that he lived 147 years, the Holy Spirit takes this incident in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 21, as an illustration of the faith of Jacob. Maybe there wasn't an awful lot of faith in Jacob's life that he could draw from, but at least he got there in the end. And in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 21, listen to what the writer says, by faith Jacob, when he was a dying, Bless both the sons of Joseph and worshiped leaning upon the top of his staff. This incident that we read is one of the pinnacles of faith, maybe the pinnacle of faith in the life of Jacob. And Jacob knows he's dying. He can hear the trumpet call in the distance. And Jacob wants his death and his funeral to be a testimony to his children and his grandchildren and to all of Egypt that he died a man of faith in the promises of God, that he died in the same faith of his ancestors, Isaac and Abraham. And he wanted them to know that despite the fact that he was living in Egypt for the last 17 years, and no doubt living in comfort in Egypt because of the position of his son Joseph, that he wanted the world to know that he still believed that the future of his people was tied up, not in Egypt, but in the promises of God to Abraham and to Isaac and to him about the land of Canaan. And of course he was right to do so, because today the Jews aren't in the land of Egypt, are they? Where are they? Back in the promised land, back in control of Jerusalem. 3,000 years after Jacob makes these arrangements for his funeral, despite the fact that when he spoke that day, he was living in luxury in Egypt, and he didn't even own really a square foot of Canaan. He still believed God's going to bring us out and God's going to plant us in that promised land. God's going to make us a great nation. And he was right to do so. And here we are over 3000 years later, and God has kept the promise of Jacob. Now, it seems that someone sent word to Joseph, your father's about to die. Joseph, despite his busyness, threw everything aside and he rushed to the bedside. And when old Jacob heard that his favorite son, his greatest son, his godliest son, had arrived, the Bible says, Israel strengthened himself. Verse two, as if the old man knew, I have something, one more to do. And he pulled himself up in the bed. and he wants to speak to Joseph. And really he's going to talk about three incidents in his life, three of the most significant moments in the 147 years that he had lived. A life that had many ups and downs, a life that had many sorrows in it, failures in it, many heartaches in it, from being driven from his home, from causing a civil war in his family with Esau, splitting the family, and then living that difficult life down in Harran where his uncle Laban took advantage of him, cheated him. And then marrying Leah and Rachel and all the children starting to come and all the problems that came into his home and the heartaches. And then seeing his sons let him down, Reuben and Judah and Simeon and Levi. And then seeing all the sons at war to the point that he lost Joseph for many years. And then being driven from his home in a famine. as an old man and having to live the last 17 years down in exile, really, in Egypt. But those were hard light years that he lived. But he picks out three things. The first thing he chooses to reflect upon is a moment at a place called Bethel in Genesis chapter 28. where God met him for the first time. God touched his life for the first time. And then the second incident he'll speak about will probably be the most painful moment of his life. A life that had much pain in it, but this probably was the greatest pain, where he lost his beloved wife, Rachel, in the birth of Benjamin. Never forgot that. And then finally, the third incident that he'll speak about in these closing words with Joseph will be when God redeemed him that night. The angel that redeemed me. When he was on his way back to meet Esau, and God stepped into his life, and God touched his heart, and God anointed Jacob, and God made Jacob the twisted, corrupt, selfish man into Israel, the Prince of God, the one who prevailed with God. And he became a new man after that experience. And those three big moments Jacob will reflect on in this address to Joseph. And if you read it very carefully, what's very interesting when you read it is that Jacob doesn't talk an awful lot about Jacob in his closing words. In fact, what Jacob weaves through his closing address is the Lord. He's talking about God, what God did for him, and how God touched him, and how God changed him, and how God looked after him. In fact, he sums up his life, if you look, and he says in verse 15, and he blessed Joseph and said, God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day. Oh, blessed is a man or a woman that can come to the end of life and say, I can see the hand of God from the first day to the last day. That God has been with me and God has taken care of me and God has weaved his plans through my life. Now, Jacob didn't always see that. Jacob often fought against it. And that caused him great trouble and great heartache. Great frustration, but now at 147 years of age, the old man wants Joseph to know, he wants these two grandsons who've grown up in Egypt to know that God has been at the center of Jacob's life all those years. So this is his last will and testament to the family. Now, the first incident that he picks, go back to verse three, is this first time that God appears to him. And he uses the Hebrew El Shaddai, God Almighty, the Almighty God. Jacob had been living a life for about 70 years without God. fighting with God and resisting God's ways, even though he had met his father, Abraham. I think Abraham died when Jacob was about 15 years of age. He'd grown up with the godly Isaac, the next patriarch. And yet, despite all of those privileges of knowing Abraham and being with his father, he was a man who had turned his back on God. And then in Genesis 28, when he was forced to run away from his home because of a deception that he had engineered upon his brother Esau, his twin brother, God stepped into his life. Not just any God, the almighty God, he says. He says, the almighty God appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, Bethel, and he blessed me. And he said, behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people. Now, it doesn't seem that this would come true, because despite the fact he was over 70 at the time, he still wasn't even married. And even at this moment in history, he has 12 sons, he has a daughter, at least one daughter, and a number of grandchildren, probably a number of great-grandchildren, but really not a big family. Certainly you wouldn't call them a tribe. Certainly you wouldn't call them a nation or a great nation. And yet Jacob says to Joseph and the two grandsons, he says, God has promised me and he promised my father and he promised my grandfather. And I want to leave this world reflecting on that and stating that and restating it, that God is going to make of us a great nation. And then he says something else, which is very controversial today. Very controversial in this country today, because the majority of people who live in this country don't believe this. And what does he say? And I will give this land, what land? the land of Canaan, the land of Israel. He says, I will give this land to thy seed after thee, and notice the next expression, for an everlasting possession. Who owns the world? God owns the world. Who has the right to give and take? God. He decides. And he says, I've given this promised land, the land of Canaan, the land of Israel, I've given it to the Jewish people. for an everlasting position. Now, they didn't always occupy it. God doesn't promise here that they would always occupy it. Because of their sin, for most of their history, they've been driven from the land as a judgment upon them. But it's their land, and the United Nations can say what they want. And the left wing and the right wing and the Sir Keir Starmer and whoever wants to have an opinion, Donald, they can say what they want, but God's opinion is all that matters. And he says, it's their land. And it's their land forever. Because I have chosen to give them this land and place them, as Ezekiel says, at the center of the nations. And the land of Israel today is at the geographical center of the world. It's the political center of the world. And all the traffic and communications and trade of the world flows through that little country. The mobile phone that you hold in your hand, the technology comes from the land of Israel. When you go to the dentist, the anesthetic comes from the land of Israel. All these people saying, boycott Israel. I hope they go to the dentist and tell him, no, don't take the jab. Just take the pliers and give it a pull. See how brave they are. No, it's there, right at the very start, before they ever set foot in it. God said it's theirs. That's why the devil hits that promise, keeps fighting against that promise. And I'm gonna stop and not go on about that anymore. Verse five. He then turns to the two sons. Now bear in mind, you have to understand the context here. These two sons were the sons of probably the second richest, most powerful man in Egypt, Joseph. Their father is probably the most popular man in Egypt. They've grown up in luxury and privilege amongst all the wealth of the Egyptian. And of course, the Egyptians at this moment in history were the most educated civilization of that generation. And here's old Jacob, a sheep farmer, a Bedouin. who came from the tents of Canaan, going around in his tents with all of his flocks. And these two boys, they're growing up, educated in all the great wisdom of the Egyptians, speaking the Egyptian language, dressing in the Egyptian way. It's going to be a great temptation for these two boys to sneer at their grandfather and his background. And he knows old Jacob having lived 147 years, the great temptations that will be in a place like Egypt, particularly for two sons of privilege. They hadn't gone through all the hardships that their father Joseph went through. And naturally old Jacob is concerned for these two grandsons. And of course, Jacob could have said, well, I'm dying, I'm more concerned for myself. He could have said, well, I've plenty of grandchildren to carry on the name. These are half Egyptians anyway. They're not even true Jews, not true Hebrews. In the biological sense, whatever will be will be with them. Maybe let them go. Let them carry on in Egypt their own way. After all, they'll never be able to resist the temptations of Egypt, but not Jacob. Even as he's dying, He wants these two grandsons to not only grow up in Egypt, but to have the promises of Israel in their heart. And he brings these two boys before him. And he says to Joseph, these two are mine. They're fully my grandchildren. Just as Reuben, my son, is my son. Just, he says, as Simeon's my son. I'm claiming these two by the promises of God. as my descendants." And that must have reassured Joseph, because his sons were half Egyptian, really, ethnically. And yet Jacob says, no, they're children of the covenant. They're children of the promises. And he says, I'm taking these two. And at the end of verse 22, he explains why. He says to Joseph, you're going to get the double portion because you're the one God has chosen to be a blessing to this family. And the double portion of the firstborn that Reuben should have got, and then Simeon and Levi and Judah should have got, is going to you, Joseph. And how that's going to work itself out in the future, he says, is that your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, will become two tribes. You'll get two tribes, not one. Judah gets one tribe. Simeon gets one tribe of the 12. Levi gets one. But these two boys, Joseph will get two. Ephraim and Manasseh. And then he begins, having spoke of that great moment when God stepped into his life. He says in verse seven, and as for me, he speaks now of the second pivotal moment, the death of Rachel. When I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan, in the way when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath. And I buried her in the way of Ephrath. The same is Bethlehem. Oh, this must have hurt Joseph or Jacob. Even as he's dying, he's still thinking about Rachel. He's still thinking about the funeral. People say time is a great healer, not always. People say people move on, they don't always move on from the loss, the great loss. And old Jacob still hasn't moved on. And he wants Joseph to know and he wants his two grandsons to know that what he had with Rachel was special. And he's never forgotten her. And he brings it up to them. And it's good to speak of the family, to the family. And what a blessing other family members have been to you. And you notice he doesn't spend his time whinging about Esau and all these things. And how his dad favored Esau and didn't favor him. Oh, he's left all that behind. Just wants to speak about the blessings. And you notice as he's speaking, what he's really trying to say to the two grandsons and to Joseph is this, even though I suffered this terrible blow in the passing of Rachel, which I've never forgotten, how it happened so suddenly, cut off in childbirth. He's letting them know, God still took care of me. God got me through. God got me through the pain. and the suffering. But then in verse 8, he looks at these two sons. Obviously, he's blind almost. He's lost his sight. His eyes are dim, the Bible says here. And he sees the two shapes and he says to Joseph, who are these? Of course, he had seen these grandsons before, but as he's dying, his eyesight is almost gone. And he says, tell me who these are, Joseph, these two boys, these two shapes. And Joseph explains, they are my sons. And notice again in verse nine, how Joseph speaks. We've seen this all the way through from Genesis 37 to Genesis 50. Every time Joseph is having a conversation, it doesn't matter who it is. It doesn't matter in what circumstances it is. Doesn't matter whether he's a young man, 17 when we first meet him, now 56, middle-aged. He's got another 54 years to live till he's 110. And then you'll see him at the end in Genesis chapter 50 at 110 years of age, about to die. It doesn't really matter. Whenever we see Joseph, he's always talking about God, isn't he? Just flows out of him. And he says, These are my sons whom God has given me in this place. Oh, he's so thankful. These are the greatest gift God has given me. Not the position, not the prestige, not the wealth, not the luxury that I have in Egypt, but these two boys, they're the greatest blessing, he says. They're God's gift to me. And Jacob says, bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. And here at the end of Jacob's life, I love this, he wants to bless his grandchildren. He wants to say something spiritual to them. He wants to ask God to intervene in their lives. He's not caught up with, well, I hope they have good careers and a good education. And I hope they find nice looking girls and successful marriages and all the rest of it. And those things have their place. But the focus of Joel Jacob is I want to bless them. I want to impart something spiritual to them. I want to touch their lives with the presence and power of God. And he brings him near and verse 10 says he kissed him, he embraced him. And he says to Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face. I never thought I'd ever see you again, Joseph. And certainly I never thought I would see your children. What's he saying now? He's saying God's good. Isn't God good? And Joseph brought the two boys out. And he bowed himself with his face to the earth. Even though Joseph is a mighty man in Egypt, he's still the son of Jacob. He knew his place. He knew Jacob was the patriarch, the prophet, God's man for the family to lead that family and to lead the nation that would emerge. And Joseph humbles himself and brings the two boys and shows respect to the old man. And Joseph does what, humanly speaking, is normal in such a situation. He places the oldest Manasseh at the right hand of Jacob. And he places Ephraim, the second child, at the left hand of Jacob. And he's leaving them there for Jacob to bless him. And the natural order of things would be that the oldest would have the right hand, the strong hands, because most people are right-handed. Apologies if you're left-handed. That's the strong hand. And the right hand would convey the firstborn blessing, the double portion. And then the left hand would be the weaker hand, the less significant one. And Joseph, having clearly no insight from God, just followed the normal course of events. for the old man to bless. And to his surprise, old Jacob, as he's dying, he switches hands, crosses his arms, and he puts the right hand on the head of Ephraim, and he puts the left hand on the head of Manasseh. And Joseph, of course, knowing his father's history the way his father had lived his life. He says to his father, in verse 18, not so, this is not the right way, dad. And it'd be very easy for Jacob at this point to give in to natural inclinations. It'd be easier to keep the peace, wouldn't it? Because the two grandsons may not understand what's going on or maybe bewildered And particularly Manasseh may be extremely frustrated, even bitter. Jacob knowing the civil war that broke out in his own family over the birthright with Isaac and Esau and himself and his mother, Rebecca. It'd be very easy for Isaac just to keep the peace and say, well, okay, then we'll just go, we'll follow this way. But he doesn't. Old Jacob says no. In fact, notice what he says to Joseph. Verse 19, and his father refused. This is not stubbornness, Joseph. This is not the old Jacob trying to play games, showing favoritism. He says, not so, as Joseph says, and the father says to him, no. And Jacob says, verse 19, I know it, my son, I know it, this is God. This is the will of God. I fought the will of God for 147 years. And now at the end of my life, I'm not going to fight it again. I've gone through great trials because of making wrong choices, and I'm not going to make it again. He says, I know it. I'm a patriarch. I'm a prophet of God. And this is not the will of God that I should extend the blessing this way. And he says, no, it'll have to be this way. And he explains why. He says, he, speaking of Manasseh, the oldest, he also shall become a people and he also shall be great. And the tribe of Manasseh did produce individuals who were great in the history of Israel. Gideon was from the tribe of Manasseh, of course. And there were no doubt others, but not many. But he says, and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother, Ephraim, shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations." And the tribe of Ephraim all through the history of the nation of Israel, they're always known as what? Ephraim and Manasseh. Samuel, I believe, was from the tribe of Ephraim. Probably the greatest prophet of the Old Testament, apart from Moses. What a man he was. He was an Ephraimite. Ephraim always were the powerful tribe within the family of Joseph. Even when the split happened and the kingdom was divided between the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah in Rehoboam's time, the northern, the ten northern kingdom was known as the kingdom of Ephraim. They were the dominant tribe, powerful tribe. And old Jacob says, no, no, I can't. I can't fight this. This is God's choice. This is God's will. And it must be said, and it must be settled, and I must go along with it. And as to Joseph's great credit, that although Joseph himself was a very powerful man and a very influential man, and physically much stronger than his father at 56 years of age, that Joseph said nothing more. Because Joseph had learned when God says something, Let it settle the way God says it. Even though Joseph probably knew this would cause great discomfort within his family, within his two sons, but he says he lets it go. And he sticks with what God has said. But there's one other incident, and I know I jumped ahead. that I want to pick out, verse 16. The third great incident, and with this, we'll close. Having spoke of God's first meeting with him at Bethel, and then spoke about the great loss of Rachel to him, he then really speaks about the greatest moment of all. On his way back from Haran, Having lived a life of terrible failure, disappointment, Jacob met God in a very personal way. And he says in verse 16, the angel, speaking really of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he was the angel that night who met him, we believe. He says, the angel which redeemed me from all evil. He says, I never forgot that night when the Lord redeemed me and saved me and changed me from the inside out, sanctified me and anointed me. And I became Israel, no longer Jacob, the twisted one, the surplanter. But I then became Israel at night with that new name, the one who has power with God and with man, the prince. And he says, I never forgot that night. But notice what he says in verse 16, the angel which redeemed me from all evil. And then there's a comma, and I like what he says next. The savior that saved me, bless the lads, save the lads too. I want to see these two grandsons saved. I don't want to see them lost in Egypt. I'm about to go and they've got their lives ahead of them in this wicked place, this corrupt place, this place full of idolatry and immorality and temptation. He says, as he dies, may God save them. The old hymn says, we don't want to see them lost and alone. We want them what? Over there. I love to see this, not just parents, but grandparents. There's plenty here in this room are grandparents, some of you even great-grandparents. Be concerned about the souls of your grandchildren. Don't just say, well, it's up to the parents now, not my problem. No, Jacob, he's burdened about the souls of his grandchildren. And as he dies, he's still praying for them. He's crying onto God for them, may God save them, may God have mercy upon them, and let my name be named on them. What's he saying? He's saying, let the name of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob be their name. Let them claim that promise. Join that family, spiritually. And isn't it interesting that, although in many ways there's far greater men in history and in scripture than Jacob, Joseph was a far greater man, in my opinion, spiritually, than his father Jacob. Daniel was a far greater man. Moses was a far greater man. Samuel was a far greater man. Yet when God chose to describe himself in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament, God described and identified himself as the God of who? Abraham, Isaac, And Jacob, why did he choose Jacob? Because God's letting you and I know. God identifies with safe sinners, even the worst. He doesn't just identify with the shining stars. He's interested in the Jacobs, the weak ones, the ones that take years to mature, and sometimes only mature at the end. God is the God who is pleased to associate himself with anyone who has faith in him. So maybe you're looking at your children or your grandchildren and you're saying, oh, not much there spiritually. But even if there's just a little chink of light, God's interested in them. God's pleased with even a little bit of faith. You wish it was more, of course. But if there's something there, be thankful. Pray that the little will become great, that the little Jacob in your family may become a great Jacob, become an Israel. And having said all of that, old Jacob is now ready to go. And he says to Joseph, verse 21, and with this last statement, time has gone. He says, behold, I die. You know, if you like the underlying phrases in your Bible, this is a great phrase. Because he says, behold, I die, but God shall be with you. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, he'll be with you. Abraham may not be with you, Isaac may not be with you, and in just a few moments, Jacob will not be with you, but God will stay with you, Joseph. and Ephraim and Manasseh. And that's the same throughout history. Where's Moses today? He's gone. Where's all the apostles? They're gone. But the God of the apostles is still our God, still with us, and he's still able to bless you and me. Through it all, God was with him, old Jacob. through it all. And the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is still at work in Israel, isn't he? Still keeping his promises. And every Jew you meet, every time you switch on your news and the BBC goes, and in Gaza and Jerusalem, and you see those, Mr. Netanyahu and all those Jews coming onto the television, It's a reminder to you and I, God keeps his promise. God never forgets. God never fails. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this story of Genesis chapter 48. So many lessons, we could just talk about it for hours. And what truths we learn from your word, blessed to all of our lives, blessed to our families, help us to pray for our children and our grandchildren, that God would step into their lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.