Would you please join me in the written word of God to the 49th chapter of Genesis. We have maybe one or two more sermons to work through in Genesis, and then we will be completed. And God willing, we'll be getting into Philippians for the bulk of this year, and then most likely into the Gospel of John, probably beginning around 2021. Look forward to those times together. Here in Genesis chapter 49, let's begin by reading verses one and two. Jacob called his sons and said, Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days. Gather together, and hear you sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father. Now skip down with me to verse 16. Dan shall judge his people. As one of the tribes of Israel, Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that its rider shall fall backward. I have waited for your salvation, O Lord. Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him, but he shall triumph at last. Bread from Asher shall be rich, and he shall yield royal dainties. Naphtali is a deer let loose. He uses beautiful words. Joseph is a fruitful ball, a fruitful ball by a well. His branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him, and hated him. But his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong. By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. by the God of your Father who will help you, and by the Almighty who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessing of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your Father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors. Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, and he blessed them. He blessed each one according to his own blessing." And look at verse 33. And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. Let's pray. Our Father, we would ask for the outpouring of your Spirit through the merits of Christ, that you would speak to each one that is here. Open our hearts to your truth, give illumination to our minds, and help us to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. When Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise, The Garden of Eden was behind them, the fallen world was before them, and there was a cherubim posted at the entrance to the Way of Eden that had a flaming sword that went in every direction, guarding the path, keeping them from ever being able to enter paradise for that way again. And as they left, doubtless they were discouraged, distraught by the fact that they were now under the curse, that they were now sinners, and that they were now under God's wrath. And yet, as they left that place, their hearts were not completely forlorn. There was some glimmer of hope still in their hearts. Because before God ever cursed the first man and the first woman, He first preached the gospel to them in Genesis 3, verse 15. He promised that one day He would send a Redeemer, a Savior, a Deliverer, someone who would overthrow Satan and his dominion. Someone who is called the seed of the woman, whose heel would be bruised by the serpent, but who would crush the serpent's head. And so there was this hope alive in their hearts, even as they were saddened by all that had happened and all that had transpired. And so the narrative of Genesis, then, is all dealing with the propagation of that seed. Where will the promised seed come from? And as we talked about this last week, we consider the fact that the Scriptures are clear. They indicate, as we go through the text in different ways, that first of all, it would come through Adam and Eve's son, Seth. Then it would come from Noah's son, Shem. And then the seed would come through Terah's son, Abraham. And God made His covenant with Abraham. And as you know by now, and I'm sure you can quote this by heart because you've heard it so many times, it was a fourfold promise that God made a covenant with Abraham. He said, first of all, your descendants will be as the stars in the sky, as the sands upon the seashore. Secondly, I will make your descendants into a great nation. Third, I will give them land. And fourth, in your seed, in Abraham's seed, all nations of the earth. Not just Israel, but all nations of the earth will be blessed. And as we keep going through this text, we find that it's Abraham's son, Isaac, through whom the promises are made. And then it is Isaac's son, Jacob. And then God gave Jacob twelve sons. And gave him not only a new heart, but a new name. Israel. And when He gave them that name, He was giving a name to the promised nation. Now here's Israel and His 12 sons, who, of course, as you know, would become the 12 tribes of Israel. The question then remains, which of those 12 tribes, through whom, will the Messiah come? We're in a text where Jacob is giving blessings to his son. As we noticed last week, these blessings were given over 3,000 years ago. And this is not Jacob being a crotchety old man and expressing bitterness and frustration, even though there's some heavy things said and some strong rebukes given to some of his sons. It is Jacob speaking as a prophet, And the Holy Spirit is moving him to say the things he says to predict the future of the 12 tribes of Israel, from the time of Jacob's death all the way until the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. And as we noted last week, he says to Joseph, I'll get it right in just a minute, he says to Judah, and use one of those J words, he says to Judah, He says, "...you are lions' whelp, and the scepter shall never depart from Judah. Yours will be a lineage of kings, and you'll pass the scepter from one generation to another, almost like a relay race, until Shiloh comes, he to whom the scepter truly belongs." And when He comes, to Him will be not only the obedience of Israel, but the obedience of all the peoples, because He will be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And you know the story, how a thousand years after Jacob made his prophecy, God raised up a king from David, the son of Jesse, who was of the tribe of Judah, and made his covenant with him, and said, I will send my Messiah through David. As a matter of fact, Psalm 89, read it sometime, it's a celebration of worship, worshiping God for the Davidic covenant. And in verse 27 it says, Also I will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. By using such language, it's obvious he's not just talking about David. He's talking about David's greater son, who is Jesus Christ, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. Now, there have been rebukes given in this prophecy. When you look at Reuben, or you look at Simeon, or you look at Levi, God has rebukes for them. And we might think to ourselves, that's a curse. But at the end of the day, a rebuke from the Lord is a blessing. Because when God rebukes us, He's calling us to repentance. He's calling us to deal with sin. You know what a great curse would be? For God to see us in our sin and not call us to repentance. To not rebuke us. To let us cast off all restraint. As a matter of fact, look at our nation. Our nation right now is under the curse of God. Because they're throwing off all restraint. And doing whatsoever they want to do. And they're not being rebuked. And they're not being restrained in their sin. No, rebuke is never pleasant. It's never pleasant to have your sin shown to you. But at the end of the day, aren't you glad that God loves you enough that He has shown you your sin? And He goes on showing your sin that we might repent and deal with sin. When we tell someone, this is sin, and they're a Christian, there's a liberating truth there, isn't there? Because as a Christian, I know what to do about sin. It may be hard to repent of sin, but when I recognize this is sin, it's displeasing to God, I know what I'm supposed to do about it. I'm supposed to repent, and I'm supposed to pursue holiness. Well, we've gotten through the first six of the children. As I said to you last week, Jacob is not being strictly chronological. He's not just simply going from the oldest to the youngest. Rather, he is arranging this topically according to their birth mothers. So what we saw last week was the destinies of Leah's six sons. We're going to pick up right where we left off this morning with Roman numeral 2 and 3. Roman numeral two is the destinies of Bilhah and Zilpah's four sons. And then third, the destinies of Rachel's two sons. So first of all, the destinies of Bilhah's and Zilpah's four sons. You remember what was happening. The Lord had opened Leah's womb to bear children. She was neglected by her husband Jacob. And Rachel was barren. And so there began this competition. Rachel gave her maid, Bilhah, to Jacob to be his wife, and all the children born to her were actually considered Rachel's children. And then, not to be outdone, Leah gave her maid servant, Zilpah, to Jacob. So they were competing and vying for the affections of Jacob. So four sons came from Bilhah and Zilpah, two to each. And those are the ones that are blessed next. Beginning in verse 16 with Dan. Dan was Bilhah's firstborn son. His name literally means judge. And so it's interesting that this tribe is named in accordance or the blessing is given in accordance with his name. Dan shall judge his people. So just as his name is, so he will do, so his descendants will be. And it's noteworthy to realize that there was a Danite who became a judge. He's very famous. His name's Samson. And he was from the tribe of Dan. But notice he says, Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Now, you may look at Dan, you may look at Gad, and Asher, and Naphtali, and say, their blessings aren't quite as abundant as those given to Judah and to Joseph. And certainly you would be right. But I do want us to pause in verse 16 and realize that when he says this, he'll be one of the tribes of Israel. He will have his name numbered among God's church. That is no small thing. That is no small thing at all. Perhaps you're here and you think to yourself, well, I'm a Christian, but I'm just kind of nobody in God's kingdom. I'm nobody from nowhere. No one's going to record anything about me in the annals of church history or anything like that. I'm just the least of all the saints and nobody. May I submit to you that if your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, if you are numbered among God's church, that's a very big deal. There's nothing small about that whatsoever. The word imputed, which we use often, when we're justified before God, God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us. The word imputed also means to be numbered with. Jesus was numbered with the transgressors. He was counted as one of them because our sins were imputed to Him. But therefore, when Christ's righteousness is imputed to us by faith, we are numbered among the righteous. To put it another way, Jesus was numbered among the transgressors so that you and I could be numbered among the righteous. To be numbered among Christ's church is a very, very big deal. And it's something never to take for granted. No matter how small or insignificant you may think you are, to be one of God's chosen ones, to have His love set upon you from all eternity, is a very, very big deal. Because God is building His church, and His church is made up of the entire number of His elect, from the foundation of the world even to the end of the age. And to use the analogy of Paul, we are a living temple made up of living stones. And the analogy there, of course, is from Solomon's temple. When Solomon's temple was formed, they literally chiseled out the rocks at the rock quarry and then shipped them to Jerusalem so that they were custom built and custom put together without the sound of a hammer ever being heard on the site. And so the analogy Paul is using is this. Each one of the stones that make up the temple of God, this living temple, is hand-chosen, hand-selected by God, and custom-carved to fit into exactly the place God would have it to fit. So that means if you're in Christ, the temple structure is incomplete without you. because there's a specific place that God quarried for you to fit into the body of Christ. And even if you think of yourself as inferior, even if you think of yourself as gifts that are not public kinds of gifts, you need to understand that to be numbered among God's elect, to be a part of God's church, to be a part of His family, is no small privilege at all. So we might look at Dan and say, well, it's not that big of a blessing he's receiving here. but he's numbered among the names. His name is counted, and even so, if you're in Christ, your name is counted. Now, verse 17, you might look at it as something of a curse, because the next thing he does is call Dan a venomous snake. Not exactly the most flattering of terms, but I don't think it's meant to be a rebuke or a curse of any kind. On the contrary, it's meant to say something about the nature of the Danites. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider shall fall backward." It seems that what Jacob is saying is the Danites will be people who are endowed with military prowess. They know how to approach their enemy by stealth and overcome him. And if you think about the conquest of Canaan, this would be a very, very important thing to have. The ability to come by stealth and deal with your enemies. Now, verse 18 is kind of puzzling, isn't it? Because in the midst of all these blessings, all of a sudden, Jacob says, I have waited for your salvation, O Lord. When in the world is that all about? Because it's kind of a parenthetical statement. It doesn't really seem to have anything to do with the blessing of Dan. And we're left to our own sanctified speculation when we think about this, because it doesn't give any explanation for it. But it strikes me this way, that here is Jacob. He is dying. He's going to be dead by the time this speech is over. He knows that his hour is approaching. And here he is having to be reminded of some of the sins of his sons. For example, Reuben and the incestuous things that he did with Bilhah. Or you think about Levi and Simeon and the bad name they brought to Jacob when they slaughtered the men of Shechem. And as you think about all those things, certainly as Jacob is reciting these things, He's having to relive some of these horrible things that have gone on. Even though he's blessing his sons, he's having to relive those things. He had told Pharaoh just 17 years earlier, he said, "...few have been my days. I have not attained to those of my forefathers. I have fallen short. My life has been hard. It's been a difficult life. I've lived in this sin-cursed world for over 140 years now." And it seems to me that what he's doing here is he's stopping and pausing before he blesses the last five to find strength from the Lord in the midst of it all. And I think he has two things in view when he says, I have waited for your salvation. First of all, you find echoes of the same language in Simeon. Remember Simeon, he was the old man who was waiting for the salvation of Israel, the salvation of Jacob. And then when this couple comes in, Joseph and Mary, they're carrying a little baby and they put the baby in his arms. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to have watched Simeon as he holds the Messiah in his arms. And he looks down at this baby and knows he's seen the thing that he was promised. He's seen the salvation of Israel. And not just the salvation of Israel, he says he will be a light to the Gentiles as well. He's holding the baby, and this is the salvation He's waited for. So I think that what Jacob is saying, first of all, is, I long for the day when the Messiah finally comes. When the promised one finally arrives and deals a death blow to Satan, and overcomes our sins. I'm longing for that. But I think there's a second meaning here as well. I've waited for your salvation. I've lived in this sin-cursed world for 146 years, and I don't like it one bit. And when I get done with these blessings, I'm going to be ushered into heaven. And I'm going to be set free from the curse, and set free from remaining sin, and my eyes are going to look upon my Savior. And He's looking with anticipation to this glorious time when all this trouble leaves Him behind. It's really a remarkable thing when you think about it. Because Jacob was not a man who exactly started real well. But here he is as the grave approaches and he can look right into the mouth of the grave and not be afraid to say with joy, I'm about to see your salvation. It's about to be over. I am about to enter into a glorious time where forever I will be set free from sin. And so he's able to say that and he uses this to get his gaze back on heaven and to strengthen himself for what he's got to say next. So he moves on then to Gad. Gad was the firstborn of Zilpah, Leah's son. His name means troop, and the idea seems to be, look, I've acquired so many children, I now have an entire troop, an entire garrison that I've given birth to for Jacob. Now, maybe he'll pay attention to me now. Maybe now he will love me. Well, the blessing given is a play on Gad's name, which means troop. Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him, but he shall triumph at last. He's saying here that here's a man who's named Troop. There are other people who are going to oppose him, invade his territory, but in the final analysis, all of the Gadites are going to be victorious over their enemies. Well, it's interesting that Gad would receive an inheritance of territory east of the Jordan River, situated right between the southern end of the Sea of Galilee and the northern end of the Dead Sea. And they would be invaded repeatedly by the Moabites and the Ammonites and the Syrians, but God indeed did make a mighty troop of them. As a matter of fact, a thousand years later, 1 Chronicles 12 verse 8 tells us that the Gadites were able to assist King David. The text says this, Some Gadites joined David at the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for battle, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as gazelles on the mountains. Now, how could Jacob have possibly known a thousand years in advance that the Gadites would become such mighty warriors, and yet that's exactly what he said they would become? The point I want to drive home to you is this. Because God cannot lie, He's always true to His Word. Whatever He promises, He will perform, and whatever He has prophesied will come to pass. Now, you're going, Pastor, you have said that so many times for the last three months that we're getting sick of it. Well, the reason I keep saying it is because it's always true. And it's the point that the text keeps making to us, because if someone makes a prophecy in Holy Scripture, and that prophecy did not come to pass, that was a proof that they were not a true prophet, that they had not truly spoken from God. And yet, what do we find over and over again, but these very things being spoken hundreds and even thousands of years before they take place, and they come to place exactly as God had said. My point is this. Always trust God's Word. Whenever God's Word gives you a warning, take heed to it, and soak up all of its blessings and all of its encouragements, and dare to believe that they're true, despite what your circumstances may say, despite what your reason may be telling you. Dare to take the Word of God at face value and say it's true. I was teaching on assurance this past Wednesday night, and I meant to quote J.C. Rowell more than I did. I'll quote him more this Wednesday night, God willing. But J.C. Rowell once wrote, he said, Blessed is that struggling Christian who has a plain text in front of him. Blessed is that struggling Christian that has a plain text, that is, a plain text of Scripture in front of him to encourage him. The point is, the Scriptures repeatedly show themselves to be trustworthy, and we should dare to trust them and take God at His word. Well, God then blesses Asher. Asher was Zilpah's second and last son. It says in verse 20, "...bread from Asher shall be rich, and he shall yield royal dainties." Asher would receive territory in the northwestern corner of Israel, and it seems that the land produced a lot of bread, and they were able to provide bread for others. Then it says they'll yield royal dainties. What in the world does that mean? It seems to suggest that their descendants would be well-skilled in the culinary arts. They would be good cooks. They might even provide for the king's palace. Then he moves on to Naphtali in verse 21. Naphtali is a deer let loose. I don't pretend to know what he means by that except to say if a deer is caught in a trap and then it's set free from that trap and bounds through the woods, it's rejoicing in its heart at its newfound liberty. But then it says he uses beautiful words. What's that mean? It must mean they're skilled in literary arts. They were proficient writers. They were poets. They were lyric writers for music. Now, here's my point. I'm going to bring all this together. Do you see how God gave all kinds of different gifts to these different groups? So that there were different groups who had different skills. You've got some that are wordsmiths. Others that are skilled in culinary arts. Still others have military prowess. Still others have the ability to approach their enemy by stealth and overtake them. What in the world does all this have to do with? What's the point here? Well, first of all, artisans have their place in the Kingdom of God. There's a place for men who are artists. And women who are artists, think of Bezalel from the tribe of Judah, of all things. He was the man, if you remember, who built the furnishings of the temple and the tabernacle. He built the Ark of the Covenant. He built all the tapestries. And the scriptures say of him in the book of Exodus, quote, He was filled with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding and knowledge and all manner of workmanship to design artistic works. to work in gold and silver and bronze, and cutting jewels for setting, and carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship." Now here's a man who was a skilled laborer, a craftsman, and yet he was given that skill by the Spirit of God Himself. Even so, God gives different gifts to His church. He hasn't given us all the same gifts. Not everybody in Israel could be a lineage of kings like Judah was. He also had to have people proficient in writing, people proficient in warfare. God gave different gifts that supplied what other people lacked. Even so, it is in the church. The Holy Spirit distributes gifts according to His own sovereign good pleasure to His people so that we need one another and we are built up as each of God's people exercise their gifts. Not everyone is called to be an elder or a pastor. There are people who are called with gifts of service, gifts of administration, gifts of giving. Thank God there's people who are given the gift of mercy, who can come and put the balm in us when we need it. But God gives gifts to His church because He knows what He's doing, and as we exercise those gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit, the church is built up. More about that later, but my point is, look at how the diverse gifts God gave to Israel. Even so, He gives diverse gifts to His people. So we've seen the destiny of Leah's six sons, and then it moves to the destinies of Bilhah and Zopah's four sons. In the third and final place, we talk about the destinies of Rachel's two sons. Now, you know that Rachel had two sons who were, of course, Joseph and Benjamin. They were Jacob's favorite because they were born to his favorite wife. Chapter 48, Israel had blessed Joseph and he said to him, Your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, will inherit your blessing. They'll be two half-tribes in Israel. When it comes to Joseph in verse 22, all the way through verse 26, he spends a long time blessing Joseph. And by extension, he's not just blessing Joseph, he's blessing Ephraim and Manasseh through him. But he gets very personal with him, and it's beautiful to see what he has to tell him. First of all, he says, Joseph is a fruitful bough, that is, he's a fruitful tree. His roots run deep. The stalk is firm. The branches spread out, and he bears abundant fruit. And of course, what he's describing here is Joseph's spiritual stature. the fact that he was a man who was bearing fruit unto holiness, and that's what he's describing here. It is interesting that the word fruitful bough is actually the Hebrew word from where the name Ephraim comes from. So he is thinking about Ephraim, the first born, or he was the second born, but he's given the first born's blessing. And he says, he's a fruitful bough by a well, his branches run over the wall. Notice in verse 23, he describes the hardship of Joseph's life. The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him, and hated him. There's something of a rebuke here of Joseph's ten older brothers. He's saying there's others who have hated him. For 22 years, he was sold into slavery. He was made a prisoner. Potiphar's wife shot bitterly at him. First of all, she sinned against him. by trying to seduce him. And then she sinned against him by falsely accusing him when he had done the right and noble thing, by claiming he had tried to rape her. These had shot at him. The imagery is vivid of arrows sticking out of his body, hurting him by those who cruelly treated him. But what he says next is beautiful, verse 24. But his bow remained in strength, And the arm of his hands were made strong." Despite the circumstances, despite the fact that Joseph went through very hard things and there were people who cruelly sinned against him, he uses the language of warfare and says, his bow remained in his hand. He remained strong throughout all of this despite what happened to him. Despite how he was cruelly treated, he stood strong. Paul would say it this way, he was cruelly treated and yet he put on the whole armor of God. and resisted the evil one, and he stood strong and didn't become a bitter old man." Think about most people going through the circumstances that Joseph went through. Wouldn't you become a bitter old person? If you had gone what he had gone through, your own brothers that sold you into slavery, you've been falsely accused and put into prison, wouldn't you want to use your power now that you were the second highest ruler in all of Egypt to slaughter your brothers, to slaughter Potiphar's wife, and say, well, I'll show you? And yet, that's not what he does. He emerges victorious despite the fact that people had treated him so cruelly. What Jacob says next to Joseph is beautiful. Because Joseph left to himself, left to his own will, his own strength, never could have survived those circumstances. He never could have came out the man he was. What was the secret? The secret was his God gave him strength in the midst of it all. Notice again verse 24, "...his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong." They were made strong by someone else. And then he says, by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. It was God himself who enabled Joseph to endure all the things he went through. because He was with them. We've seen it before. At every low point of Joseph's life, the Scripture tells us, and God was with them. And God was with them. And God was with them. And that was the secret of his success, even for you and I. Isn't it true? That apart from Christ, we can do nothing. He says, Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch can do nothing unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. Abide in me, and I in you, for apart from me you can do... A thousand things? Apart from me, you can do 250 things? Well, you can do at least one thing apart from me. No, Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing. You are dependent entirely upon me for the ability to work your way and endure through your circumstances and your hardships." Well, that's exactly what God did for Joseph. It was because of His grace poured out upon Joseph that he was able to do these things. And notice the beautiful language he uses in describing who God is. The mighty God of Jacob. It isn't glorious to find Jacob at the end of his life giving praise to God. and saying, I have a mighty God. Nothing is too difficult for Him. And then He gives two descriptors. From there is the Shepherd of Israel. What's a shepherd? A shepherd is one who provides for your needs. He provides for your physical needs. He provides for your spiritual needs. But He's also something else. He's someone who protects you. He protects you from the wolves. He protects you from the enemy. This is the Shepherd of Israel. And not only that, He's the Stone of Israel. He's the foundation. He's the rock that never moves. He never changes. Think about the shifting sands of our time. How about the shifting sands of the year 2020? I mean, everything around us is just constantly changing, from week to week, from day to day. Nothing seems stable. But in the midst of the shifting sands of time, to have someone you can stand upon and know, He'll never change. And His love will never fail. That is exactly who God is. And here is Jacob saying to his son Joseph, even though you were cruelly treated in life, it didn't exactly turn out the way you were expecting. You didn't expect to be sold into a slave. You didn't expect to be a prisoner. Nonetheless, God was your stone during that time. God never changed. He's immutable, He's impassable, and He never changes. His love never fails. He's faithful to you even when everyone around you is unfaithful. And this is the secret why you have gone through this and why your bow remained in your hand even though the archers were wounding you terribly. And then notice verse 25. There's a change. There's a change in tenses. He's talking about this is what had happened to you, Joseph. But now he's saying this is what's going to happen. The God who was faithful to you yesterday is going to be faithful to you today and tomorrow, because He doesn't change. Verse 25, "...by the God of your father, who will help you." Who will help you in times to come. I'm about to die. I'm not going to be here much longer. But nonetheless, my God will be with you. And the God who's helped you in the past is going to help you tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. What did Jesus tell us? Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worries of its own. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Don't worry about tomorrow, because you can't change tomorrow. But here's the good news. When you get to tomorrow, God's grace will be sufficient for every trial that you have. To put it another way, wherever God's providence leads you, His grace will keep you. You know, you and I go through hard circumstances. All of us do. And usually I pray and I want God to change my circumstances. How about you? Lord, you have that power. Could you change things and make things different? And sometimes He does. Most of the time, in my experience, He doesn't. Sometimes He does give, when we have gone through a hard season, He gives a sweet season of peace and reprieve and of rest that follows the hard season so you can recover. But regardless of what goes on, we can say this with absolute certainty. Whether God changes your circumstances and makes them better, or whether He keeps you going through hard circumstances, we know this, His grace will be sufficient for you to endure whatever circumstance He has ordained for you. And that's a great comfort, because if I really start thinking about what could be happening a week from now, or two weeks from now, or a year from now, or ten years from now, I could go insane. They'd just lock me away in the padded cell and throw away the key. All of us could drive ourselves insane by that kind of fear. But to realize that God has been gracious in not showing me what tomorrow holds, but He has promised He will give me grace sufficient whenever the trial comes to meet the trial. At the end of the day, what more could you ask for than that God will sustain us through it? That the God who has been faithful in the past will continue to be faithful in the future. I remember when Sam was a little fellow, there was a bill that had come up that we did not expect. And we were thinking, how in the world are we going to pay this? We've got to pay this quickly. And it turned out it was a mistake, and we didn't have to pay it at all. But nonetheless, I brought it before my family, and we talked about it and said, I don't know how we're going to take care of this. I don't know how we're going to meet it. But let's pray and ask for God's supply. Sam was a little fellow, but he looked at me and said, well, Dad, God's always been faithful in the past. I don't think He's going to change tomorrow. And you think to yourself, hush, I'm not supposed to be the spiritual one here, right? But it was a great encouragement, because it's so true. God doesn't change. And He has been faithful in the past, and therefore He will continue to be faithful in the future. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad God cannot change? That God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. by the God of your father who will help you, verse 25, and by the Almighty who will bless you. If the Almighty blesses you, there's nothing too difficult for Him because He's Almighty. He's omnipotent. He has unlimited power. Therefore, if He intends to bless you, no one's going to stop Him from His purpose. And so He says, by the Almighty who will bless you, and then He tells them what kind of blessings He'll give. With blessings of heaven above." In an agricultural community, that means rain to give you crops, and sun in their due season. Blessings of the deep that lies beneath. Interestingly enough, he says, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. That is, God is going to give you more descendants. He's going to give you abundance of children, and provide the milk necessary for their sustenance. It's a very interesting prophecy, because 400 years later, two years after the Israelites had left Egypt. God commanded Moses to take a census of the people. Women and children were not counted, only those who were men of war from the age of 20 and upward, and the tribe of Levi wasn't counted at all. But by that time, just 400 years after Jacob had spoken here, there were 541,477 men. It's in Numbers chapter 1 if you want to read it for yourself. Of those, the tribe of Judah was the largest. 74,600 men made up the tribe of Judah. That was 13.8%. Yes, I did the math. 13.8% of all the population of Israel was the tribe of Judah. Second only to Judah, was Manasseh and Ephraim, or I should say it as God says it, Ephraim and Manasseh. They made up 72,700 men. If Judah made up 13.8% of the population, then Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph's descendants, made up 13.4%. They were the second largest tribe, when you combine the two half-tribes together, so that what Jacob had promised right here, It came to pass just as he said it would. As a matter of fact, think about it. 541,477 men, just men. That doesn't include women, doesn't include children, just 400 years later. What had God said to Abraham? Look at the stars and count them if you can. So will your descendants be. Go to the beach and look at the sand and count every individual grain. So shall your descendants be. They'll be numberless. And just within 400 years, suddenly the covenant family has grown to where you're probably talking about a million people easily. God was true to His promise just as He said He would be. Well, then notice what He says in verse 26. I find this incredibly gracious and wonderful. The blessings of your Father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors." Now, do you realize what he's saying here? God has blessed me more than He blessed my father Isaac, and more than He blessed my grandfather Abraham. Seventeen years earlier, this same Jacob had said to Pharaoh, "'Few in evil have been the number of my days, and I have not attained to the days of my ancestors.'" What's he saying now but this? "'I never came to the spiritual caliber of Abraham and Isaac, and yet, nonetheless, God has blessed me even more than He blessed them.'" In other words, where my sin abounded, God's grace has abounded far, far more. So that I have been the recipient of grace and of blessings in ways that they never knew, even though they were godlier, better men than I am. And yet, nonetheless, God has shown such grace and such mercy. What grace God shows to Jacob. He goes on to say, "...up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills..." Clearly, he's not referring to Canaan. He's referring to heaven. "...the everlasting hills, the place where I go to live for all of eternity." He's looking right into the mouth of the tomb, as it were, and saying, look at my future. My future is heaven. I have a glorious future awaiting me. And then he says, they shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers. These great abundant blessings that were given to me will be inherited by Joseph. Finally, verse 27, he gives his blessing to Benjamin. You remember Benjamin was born on the day Rachel died, the last of his sons, the last son of Rachel. And again, you might think to yourself, wow, this is pretty mean stuff, because he says, Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. How would you like for your dad to call you a ravenous wolf on the day he died? Well, he's not speaking a curse here, though. He's saying, I'm comparing it to a hungry wolf, who in the morning shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. And again, the idea here is one of warfare. One that he will overcome his enemies, he will overthrow his enemies, devour them as a wolf devours his prey, and then divide his spoils, divide the spoils of war that he takes from his enemies. And think about it, you and I have been blessed by Benjamin's tribe. in more ways than we realize. Certainly, Yehud the judge rose from them, Saul the first king of Israel. Esther and Mordecai, who were used in God's providence to preserve Israel, were both from the tribe of Benjamin. But think about it. In the New Testament, where have we learned our theology mostly? Wouldn't you say it's from the Apostle Paul? Paul, who is this man who is this rich theologian, that we continue to work out the articulate arguments he makes in his books, this man who is the model missionary. Every missionary looks at Paul and says, this is the gold standard of missions, and how do we emulate his methods and his methodology? And yet, where was Paul from? This man who wrote 13 books of our New Testament. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. God has richly blessed us through this tribe that Jacob blessed. There's three applications that I want to make from our text. First, the church is one body to whom the Holy Spirit has mercifully given a diversity of gifts. What diverse blessings God gave to the 12 tribes of Israel. Royal blood flowed through Judah's veins, but not everyone can be a king. The Danites excelled in military strategy. The Gadites were strong warriors. Asher excelled in agriculture and culinary gifts. Naphtali was a wordsmith skilled in the literary arts. This diversity of gifts supplied what was lacking in the other tribes. And even so it is with the local church. God gives us gifts. And in Ephesians chapter four, Paul says that the gifts that the ascended Christ has given to his church, as we develop those gifts, as we use those gifts by what every joint supplies, The church is built up in edification and in strength. In other words, to put it another way, the local church needs you. God's people are means of grace. And if you isolate yourself from God's people, if you refuse to minister to one another, if you choose not to invest in one another with the gifts God has given you, then the body of Christ ultimately is going to suffer for it. Never think that you're expendable in the body of Christ because you're not. God doesn't need you. God doesn't need me. But God is pleased to use us for the building up of His people. The second thing I would say before you is this. Wherever God's providence leads you, God's grace will keep you. Consider Joseph. If anyone ever had a right to be bitter, it was him. Bitter at his brothers for the cruel treatment they had given him. Bitter at Potiphar's wife for the way she had lied and deceived. You realize that what she was doing, she was accusing him of a capital crime. Because committing adultery or rape was a capital crime. She was literally trying to get him put to death. And once he had power and authority, he could have turned around and said, alright, you tried to put me to death, I'm going to have you put to death now. But he didn't. Instead, what we find him doing is being forgiving in his heart towards his brothers. He saw that behind even their sinfulness, God's providence was at work. God is never the author of sin, but aren't you glad He's sovereign even over our sin? so that He uses even bad things, wicked things that are done to us for our good and for His glory? We're going to see that more at the end of chapter 50. You know where I'm going with this. Chapter 50, verse 20, when his brothers come to him and say, Dad said that you should forgive us before he died. And what does he say to them? He says, Brothers, don't be afraid. What you intended for evil, God meant for good. God had a purpose. You and I have been severely hurt by people. The reality is we also need to remember we've also severely hurt other people. Every last one of us in this room have hurt others too. So let's not just look at ourselves as victims. We have victimized other people by things. But we have been hurt. We've been hurt by people who don't come back and acknowledge their sin. Hurt by people who never will repent. And certainly there cannot be fellowship with people when they're not going to acknowledge their sins. David knew what it was to be betrayed like that. In Psalm 55 he says this, It's not an enemy who reproached me, then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me, who has exalted himself over me, then I could hide from him. But it was you. a man my equal, my companion, my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in the throng." Even when people have wronged us, is it God's will for us to be embittered towards them? You know, bitterness is a poison that kills the one in whose heart it is. It kills us. It hurts us. And we have to be able to come to God and say, Lord, just as Joseph, who was grieved even far worse than we have been, was able to not be bitter in his heart, even so I have to be the same way. You know what? I admire Joseph. I'd rather admire him than imitate him sometimes. How about you? And yet we have to go from admiring him to doing as he's done and say, Lord, if your grace was sufficient to help him overcome such a hard obstacle, Surely your grace is able to help me too. The scriptures tell us that we count them blessed who endured hardship. Even so, if we endure that hardship, we will be counted blessed. I think often of the words of Psalm 19 verse 14, and I pray it very often to the Lord. We read it this morning in our call to worship. It says this, let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart to be acceptable in your sight. My Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer, you and I, just like Joseph, can't do that on our own. Left to myself, I would never be able to do that. And coming to God and admitting that is a good thing. God, I'm not sufficient, but just as you were sufficient for Joseph, so you're sufficient for me. And would you grant me the grace to do that which I, by myself, cannot do? Third and final application isn't really calling you to do anything. It's simply hoping to stir up holy affections in you, which is part of what preaching should always do. And that is, in prophesying blessings to the 12 tribes of Israel, Jacob was blessing every single one of you who are in Christ. You've heard me say it many times. I said it last week. I'll say it again this week. You'll probably hear me say it a lot more. And if you're taking our Hermeneutics class, you'll hear me say it a lot there, too. The Bible, the 66 books of the Bible, are one story given by one divine author about one people who have exactly one hero. And the hero's name is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What I want to emphasize to you this morning is this. I want to emphasize that one people part. One people. The Bible is not two stories about two people. It's one story about one person. Our much beloved dispensationalist friends love to say that there are two distinct peoples of God, the Israel and the Church. But that's not rightly dividing the Word of Truth. That's wrongly dividing the people of God. Because in Ephesians chapter 3, Paul tells us specifically that when Jesus died upon the cross, He broke down the middle wall of division between Jew and Gentile, so as to make one people out of the two. And this theme runs all throughout the book of Romans, and really all throughout the book of Galatians. Think about it, what Paul says. He says, he's not a Jew who's one outwardly. nor circumcision that in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart." Romans chapter 4, he says that Abraham, when God gave him this blessing and said, you are going to have so many descendants that you can't even count them. He wasn't just talking about his physical descendants. Because if you are a Gentile who has believed on Jesus Christ, then you are walking in the faith of Abraham, and you have Abraham as your spiritual father. In other words, what he's saying is every Jew who's circumcised, who believes on Christ, is Abraham's spiritual son. And every Gentile who's not circumcised, who believes on Christ, is Abraham's spiritual son. Which means this, when he said the multitude of the stars, he wasn't just talking about his physical descendants, he was talking about the church. A church made up of people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. Everyone who believes on Christ is his descendant. So this myriad of people gathered before the throne who cry out and say, you have redeemed us by your blood from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. These are Abraham's spiritual descendants. In Romans chapter 9, they are not all Israel, who are of Israel. Romans 11, Paul uses the language that we have been grafted in contrary to nature. into the tree of Israel. That we are spiritual Israel, and we're the heir of the blessings. And as many of the circumcised ethnic Jews who believe on Christ, they're in the tree as well. But we have inherited the blessings promised to Abraham spiritually. So that when Jacob was blessing his 12 tribes, his 12 sons, he was blessing the entire church of God. And as I told you last week, when we get to heaven, and we're in the New Jerusalem, we're going to walk in and out of 12 different gates that have the name of the 12 tribes of Israel over them. And it's sitting on a foundation made up of 12 stones with the names of the 12 apostles. Now think about that. 12 Old Testament patriarchs and 12 New Testament apostles. What's the idea being conveyed? The idea being conveyed is there's one people of God made up of the Old Testament saints, and the New Testament saints. And if you're here and you're in Christ, you're a part of that number. You're included in that number who's going to rejoice around the throne of God. Think of it. All of God's people who've ever lived, from righteous Abel all the way to the present day and to the last person who's ever converted to Christ before he comes back. All those people are going to be worshipping the same God through the same mediator, Jesus Christ, with their hearts filled with the same Holy Spirit. And if you're in Christ, that includes you. You'll be a part of that great number in the age to come. It was as Paul was contemplating this very fact, this marvelous thing of how Jew and Gentile have been grafted together into one body, that he was describing it in Romans 11, and what's it lead him to? It leads him to praise. It leads him to worship, because you and I should be led to worship as well. He says this, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgment and his ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become his counselor, or who has first given to him, and it shall be repaid to him. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. What's he saying? He's meditating upon this idea that God has made one people out of Jew and Gentile. And what's it lead him to do? It leads him to worship. My brothers and sisters, as we contemplate the fact that we've been grafted in, contrary to nature, into these blessings, what should it produce in us but worship and love for our great God? Let's pray. Father, we praise You and thank You for being our God. We thank You for grafting us in to Your blessings. We pray, O Lord, that You will work by Your Spirit in us, make us more and more like Christ, and glorify Yourself through us. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.