Genesis Ends With a Coffin - But Also Hope! | Genesis 50:22-26

Genesis Ends With a Coffin - But Also Hope! Why Joseph’s Final Request Still Points Us to Christ

Sermon Transcript - Genesis 50:22-26 | The Death of Faithful Joseph - Ken Addison, Teaching Pastor

Uh if you count staying up all night on Friday night because your kids made you do it. Celebration. But no, yesterday was so great. So great. Um so I celebrate all that God's doing and all that you guys and our community, the the the money that was collected to go back out to the ministry of the kingdom. So good. So good. But today we get to gather together and spend our last official uh time in Genesis together. And I just look to make sure we started this thing in August of 2023. Yeah. Lots gone since August 2023. A lot of celebrations, a lot of a lot of hurts. We've we've lost people since then. We babies have been born since then. a lot of wonder under the bridge in life, but also in this in this great book of the Bible that as we've walked through it, just God has taught us so much and it's been so relevant.

Something something about the very first days of creation through, you know, the years after that are relevant today as it is with all of scripture. And so we celebrate God, thanking God that he has been so faithful to us to carry us through such such such rich truth from his word. And so we're coming to the death of Joseph. We're in Genesis chapter 50. Uh starting in verse 22, we'll go to 26. Jacob, Joseph's dad has died and and the brothers, Joseph's brothers are, you know, they're a little nervous that uh that Joseph's going to retaliate on them because of what they did to him by selling him into slavery back when he was 17 years old. But Joseph assures them that, hey, look, I'm not in the place of God. It's God's to give vengeance, not mine. and and really God was in what you did to me and he's used it for good. So, I'm not going to put my place in the myself in the place of God. He basically assures him that he's forgiven them and um that he's going to provide for them while they're in Egypt. And so, there's where our last passage picks up uh today. So, if you'll stand with me, let's read um Genesis 50 22- 26.

So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Makir, the son of Manasseh, were counted as Joseph's own. 3:003 minutesAnd Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here." So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They inbalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. This is God's word and it's good. You can have a seat. After assuring his brothers that he intends them no vengeance, that he's forgiven them, that he'll provide for them and their families.

Joseph and his father's house remain in Egypt. And he lives to be 110 years old. This is apparently seen from what I've read as an age that the Egyptians, remember he's in Egypt, that the Egyptians deem as a desirable age to attain. It's interesting. Um Joshua uh uh also lived to be 110 years old. I read something, you know, Joseph is is the reason that the Hebrews came to Egypt. Joseph brought them to Egypt and Joshua is the final one who takes them from Egypt back into Canaan. You know, they had already come through out of Egypt, but he he puts them back into Canaan. So, Joseph's the reason why they come from Canaan. Joshua is the reason that they settle in Canaan. He's the leader at that time. They both live to be 110 years old.

He lives to see his son Ephraim's grandchildren, maybe great-grandchildren, depending on how the third generation is is talked about here. And his son Manassa's grandchildren were born. And some of your translations may say placed on Joseph's knee. Um, that may indicate adoption. They were made Joseph's own. As our scriptures, as the ESV says, Joseph lives long enough to see at least three generations after him. This is another indication of a long and a blessed life. Psalm 128:6 says this, "May you see your children's children." And Joseph certainly did. God was gracious to him on top of getting to spend his dad's last 17 years with him. Remember, he didn't know if he'd see his dad again. and his dad didn't know that thought he'd never see him again. But Jacob's last 17 years, Joseph got to spend with him along with his brothers.

God was very kind to Joseph and let him see his posterity after him. God had promised to make Abraham's family a great multitude who would become a nation that would possess Canaan as their own. And Joseph, he doesn't see the possession of the land. He dies before that. He doesn't see the possession of the land while he's still alive, but he sees the start of God multiplying his people who would become the nation that would possess the land. These are blessings to Joseph. And so, knowing he was about to die, Joseph has a message for his brothers. Doesn't necessarily mean all his brothers. Remember, he was one of the youngest ones. So, some may have passed on. So, this doesn't require, the passage doesn't require that all the brothers were there, but maybe they were. Maybe there was just some of them.

But he gathers his brothers together. He has a message for them. And he says verse 24 and 25. And Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." That I think this is the first time we see that that trifecta is talked about like that. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That becomes such a a phrase throughout scripture. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joseph's like, "I'm about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here." In this message to them, Joseph kind of brings out two things I want to highlight to you. Joseph is convinced that God will fulfill the covenant promises that he gave to Abraham to possess the land. Back in uh chapter 15, chapter 17, God assures Abraham, I'm giving you this land. Your descendants will have this land. They will be a nation in this land.

And Jacob had assured Joseph of of this promise near his his Jacob's own death in chapter 48 21. Then Israel, that's Jacob, 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." So, Joseph to his brothers is basically just mirroring in words what his dad had already said to him. the the promise that his dad said to him, he told his brothers, he's passing it down. Additionally, surely J uh Joseph had heard God's words from Genesis chapter 15 um verses 13 to 14 when God said this. Then the Lord said to Abram, that's Abraham, know for certain that your offspring will be sojourers in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there and they will be afflicted for 400 years. That's what's about to happen to the people of God in Egypt.

All the way back in chapter 15, God told Abraham that was going to happen. Surely Joseph heard this. Verse 14, God told Abram, "But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions." So God already told Abram, "Look, your your your your descendants, they're going to be in the land. They're going to be servants for 400 years, but I'm going to bring them out. They're going to actually come out with possessions." Surely that had been passed down. Joseph knew this. And so he passes it along to his brothers that God's going to bring him out of the land. He comforts and assures his brothers that though he is about to die, don't miss this. Joseph is the link between Pharaoh and the generosity and kindness that has been shown to his brothers in Egypt. Remember Egyptians weren't too fond of Hebrews.

Joseph is that link. Joseph comforts and assures his brothers that though he is about to die, God would visit them and take them to the land that he had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Maybe to address the fears of what would happen to them in Egypt after he was gone. If Joseph's gone, how are we going to be treated? Will we still have the same kindness? What comfort his words must have been to the people many generations after? If you right there in the first page of Exodus, we're not starting Exodus. Don't worry. But but look at at verse 8 in chapter 1. Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, "Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply.

And if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land. Therefore, they set task masters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens they built for Pharaoh's store cities, Pitham and Ramsy's. There was a a Pharaoh that didn't know Joseph and made the people of God slaves. So surely these words that Joseph gave his brothers that they hopefully passed down to their generations after them would hear these words and know these words and say, "Yes, maybe we are slaves now, but God is going to visit us and he will take us from here to the land that he promised us." God's promises in to us are a comfort in times of loss. Joseph is dying. God's promises to us are a comfort in times of loss. God God's promises to us are comfort in in fear of the future.

What's going to happen? God's promises are a comfort to us in times of oppression, times of hardship. And Joseph had heard God's promises passed down to him. And he assures his brothers that they would not be destroyed. Nor were they to assume that Egypt was their forever home. They weren't to set their hearts upon Egypt as their home. God would visit them and bring them from Egypt to Canaan. Matthew Henry, I love what he says here. He says, quote, "Thus we, thus must we comfort others with the same comforts with which we ourselves have been comforted of God and encourage them to rest on those promises which have been our support." If you've been encouraged by God, tell somebody else. If God's word has comforted you and and ministered to you and and taught you and changed, go tell it to somebody else. That's our job.

And also in this message, Joseph makes them swear that when God visits them to deliver them to Canaan that they'll take his bones from Egypt to Canaan with them. Interesting. Unlike Jacob, Jacob says, "I'm going to die. Go bury me in Canaan like now." And they do. But Joseph's like, "I'm going to die, but don't bury me over there yet. Leave me here in Egypt. But when God delivers you, take my body with you. Bury me there. And during the Exodus from Egypt, Moses takes Joseph's bones with them. Exodus 13:19. And Joseph is eventually buried at Sheckchum. Joshua 24:32. See, Joseph believed in the covenant promises of God. Though listen, this is crazy to me. He had lived in Egypt for 93 of his 110 years, but he hadn't become an Egyptian.

He knew he was one of God's people, that Egypt was not his home. He was such a faithful man to the to the covenant God that he wanted to be forever identified with God's chosen covenant people that he wanted his body taken from Egypt to be buried in Canaan, the land of promise that he believed would be theirs. What faith? Hebrews 11:22. Of all the things that the he writer of Hebrews could have could have said to demonstrate Joseph's faith, and there's a lot. I mean, all the way from chapter 37 to to 50, we see Joseph and just demonstrations of his faith are just all over the place. But the writer of Hebrews chooses this to demonstrate Joseph's faith. Hebrews 11:22, "By faith, Joseph at the end of his life made mention of the Exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones." The writer of Hebrews like, "You want to see Joseph's faith?" He wanted to be buried. in Canaan.

He wanted those coming through the Exodus to be to carry his bones and bury him in Canaan. And so by making his brothers swear to take his bones when God visited them and brought them up to Canaan and Joseph is declaring his great faith in the promises of God. Warren Wearsby says this quote, "True faith always leads to obedient action." And he references James 2. Joseph knew what he believed and where he belonged. Therefore, he didn't want his coffin to remain in Egypt when God delivered his people. End quote. So, after so many trials in his life, Joseph remained faithful to the end. in command to Pharaoh. Pharaoh. Joseph. Dude was respected in all of Egypt. He had sway. He had power. He had influence. My man could have said, "I want to be buried in that tomb. I want to be buried in that ornate tomb. I want I want this type of like c, you know, uh com uh memorial. I just want this to he he could have said that being buried as one of the most powerful men in Egypt and remembered as one of the most powerful men in Egypt was important to him.

He could have said, "I want to be buried here where I spent most of my life and where I had most of my influence." He could have if wealth and power and prestige were his priorities, but they weren't. He said, "Just leave me here, but when you go, you take me there because I want to be remembered that wealth and prestige and power are not my priorities, but my faith in the promises of God and being one of his people. That's what I want to be remembered by. And so after so long in pagan Egypt, 93 years in pagan Egypt with false religion all around him, away from his family in great wealth and power and no doubt many temptations with possibly no one to encourage his faith. Joseph stayed faithful and he died in great faith wanting to be identified with the people of God in the land that God had promised them. Wow.

18:0018 minutesHis identity and his people's hope weren't rooted in Egypt, but in Canaan. His heart wasn't in Egypt, but in Canaan. So, like Joseph, most of us, hear this. This is great application for us this morning. like Joseph. Most of us are not completely detached from secular pressures and influences. We live in the world. We're not detached from from every from from this worldly system and worldly ways and worldly people. We're not detached from that. And Jesus didn't even necessarily want that. He he said, "God, don't take them out of the world, but but don't let them be not of the world." Right? So we're not detached from secular pressures, worldly influences. And Joseph shows us . There are some times where you need to separate from certain situations in the world. Okay, Joseph an an excuse to just go plunge yourself into the world and not worry about its influences. Separate, detach in certain time. But but we can't do that all the time.

But but Joseph teaches us we don't have to conform to the world. We don't have to become like the world. All throughout his life in Egypt, he had kids, right? He named them Hebrew names because he remembered God. He was faithful to God. Secular influences and adversity don't have to destroy our faith. But our faith can grow and remain steadfast even there. The same pressures that Joseph faced are used by some people to excuse their unfaithfulness. I've just gone through so much. It's just I mean my life's just been a a constant Eeyore existence, right? I've just I've just it's just been so hard. God don't love me anymore. And I'm just sad. And you know what? I'm just going to go do what I want to do. Sorry.

Some people excuse their unfaithfulness because of the trials in their life. Joseph could have gone, you know, Joseph, remember, he didn't have his family around him. He didn't have a lot of Christian, you know, godly people around him. And some of us are like, you know what, I don't got any godly people in my life. I mean, you know, they separate themselves from church and they don't intentionally get involved in a church. They don't tend to think about that. But but but not having, you know, people around them, they're like, I just don't have anybody to encourage me. It's just, you know, whatever. or I just, you know, I mean, the people who live around me, this is just what they do in order to fit in. That's what I got to do.

So many people that profess Christ use all kind of excuses to live like the world, not Joseph. and it shouldn't be us. So unlike Jacob who back in chapter 47 and earlier in chapter 50, Joseph doesn't focus on being buried immediately in Canaan, but he wants to wait until God delivers his people to be buried there. Derek Kitner says, quote, "No funeral procession like Jacob's was set out for Canaan. the matter could bide God's time and a better exodus." End quote. That's good. He was waiting for God to deliver his people. And so, why did he want it this way? Why didn't he say, "Go ahead and bury me over there?" I don't exactly know. I've got a sneaky suspicion though that his unburied coffin in Egypt would do for the generations of Hebrew people that come after him, whether they were enslaved in Egypt or wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus. I mean, somebody carried that coffin through the Red Sea.

Somebody's job was to let's go Joe, you know, and wandering through the wilderness. Whether they were enslaved in Egypt or wandering in the wilderness, those generations after Joseph's death would remind them of Joseph's faith and his assurance that God would give his people the promised land. And that the reason this coffin wasn't buried yet was because Joseph believed that and he wanted his body carried to his homeland when God fulfilled his promises to them. That coffin would scream to them. God will give you the land. Trust him. God can be trusted to keep his covenant promises. Hebrews 11:1. 23:0023 minutesNow faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. You see, biblical faith is not what some people call faith.

Like, some people have a weird idea of faith. You know, it's not like a wish. It's not like a hope that's not founded on something like like the Gamecocks are going to win a national championship. We got no reality by which to base that on yet, right? Worldly faith sometimes is just a wish. is a hope. It's a mental gymnastics thing that says it's not a reality, but I want to create that reality in my future. Therefore, I'm going to believe it in the present. And because I believe it in the present, it's going to create the reality in the future. That's not biblical faith. Biblical faith is a certain hope based on the promises of God, the revealed promises of God in his word. Even in the face of trials, adversity, pain, struggle, and after Joseph died, the generations after him would face many trials. But Joseph was given them reason to trust God even then.

And it's the same with us. Biblical faith in the promises of God. Not just a wish, not just a hope, not trying to create a future reality. No. What did God say? And am I going to believe it? Am I going to stand on it? Am I going to walk in it? Trials reveal the genuiness of our faith. 1 Peter 1. Again, faith is not a wish on a wing and a prayer thrown to the wind, hope left to chance. No. Biblical faith is reliance upon the word of God, trusting its validity and his faithfulness to fulfill his promises to us even in our toughest of times. That's good, ain't it? If the Hebrew people were tempted to settle in Egypt, Joseph's coffin said this to them, "Nope, this isn't your home." If they despared of their struggles and their hardships, his coffin cried out, "God will fulfill his promises. Hope is coming." Y'all, for us, it's not Joseph's coffin.

But it's the empty tomb of the risen Christ that calls out to us that this world is not our home, but that God has promised a glorious future ahead for his people. Christ has risen from the dead, never to die again. And we who are in him will too be raised to receive resurrected bodies, never to die again. 1 Corinthians 15 talks about that. 1 Corinthians 6:14 says, "And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power." Philippians 3:20-21 says, "But our citizenship is in where? Heaven. And from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, his resurrected body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Y'all look, Christ is coming again.

He's coming again. It's a promise. It's a sure promise you can stand on today. He's coming again. And when he comes again, he's going to gather his people to take them us to be with him in the presence of God to enjoy eternal life. Not in an earthly Canaan, but in the heavenly Canaan, in the new heavens and the new earth. Second Peter 3 talks about, Revelation talks about the new heavens and the new earth. When creation is redeemed from the curse and there's a new heaven and a new earth, believers that that that that Christ comes again to gather and and give them brand new bodies. Bodies that will never die, that are that are fit for eternity, that are fit to live forever, will will live with God in the presence of God in eternal life in the new heavens and the new earth. That's his promise.

As Joseph died declaring that God will visit his people to rescue them to Canaan, God has declared that he will coming of Christ and rescue us to our glorious resurrection and inheritance into eternal life. These are promises of God that keep us hopeful and faithful in this sinful world. When we face hardship, when we face struggle, when we face temptation to conform to the ways of the world, the hope of our future home, the sure, the certain sure of it, helps us get through that struggle and it helps us say no to temptation because I'm a person on my way there and I'm living for the values of there. We don't live as our as if our identity and our hope are in this world. Joseph didn't. His identity was not in Egypt.

It was in Canaan. Our identity is not here. It's in heaven. It's where our citizenship is. We don't live as if our identity and hope are in this world defeated. We don't live defeated by our suffering. We don't adopt the ways of the sinful world. We live as those in God's kingdom. We endure present struggles. We live for his kingdom's righteousness now as we hope in our glorious promised future. Amen. compared to to to Jacob's life. Jacob lived and his dad, Joseph's dad lived 147 years. Chapter 47:28. Joseph lived a shorter life than his dad. 110 years. But he spent his life faithful to God. He pointed to faith in God and identifying with the people of God in his life and in his death. He believed God would deliver his people.

The fancy Egyptian tomb meant nothing to him. He wanted to be counted as one of God's faithful people, not a worldly Egyptian, buried in the land God promised them. And in his instructions about what to do with his body, Joseph showed that his values were godly and not worldly. So, like Joseph, you and I, we're going to die one day unless Christ comes back first. And if we're alive when Christ comes back, that's going to be pretty cool because we're not going to immediately go with him, right? We're going to watch him raise the dead, unite their souls with their brand new bodies, and then we will be transformed and get in our new bodies, and we will all be together with the Lord. But if that day doesn't come before you die, you're going to die.

No matter how long our lives though, we can live today as one of God's people. That we can die pointing others to faith in God. We can die like Joseph. Our legacy that we leave those behind us should be one of godliness, not worldliness. I just want to tell you this. This Bible right here is Anna's Bible. It says Anna right there. And I may have told you this. I'm not sure if I have. But on my desk, I've got four Bibles. I got to get one for Jacob. Uh just hadn't done it yet. But I rotate Bibles every every Sunday. I preach from a different Bible. After Anna's, if I don't get a Bible for Jacob this this week, then I'll preach from Joshua's Bible. And then the next week I'll preach from Joseph's. And then the next week I'll preach from Norah's. And the next week I'll preach from Anna's. Why do I do that?

Because I want my kids to know after I die, they get their Bible to know that their dad valued the word of God and the place of the word of God that they need to have in their life. The legacy that we leave those behind us should be one of faith and not worldliness. Godliness, not worldliness. While valuable a financial inheritance that you leave behind, it's infinitely less valuable than the than an inheritance of faith left behind. And Joseph's coffin called out to those after him to trust in the promises of God. Our witness, y'all, is not over when we're laid in a coffin. May we live today that the memory of our lives will bear witness to faith in God's promises that those behind us will believe him, trust him, and worship him.

Joseph didn't want to be remembered as a person of the world, but a person of God. So that brings us to the end of our passage. I got a little more though because I want to remember Genesis here before we go. Genesis ends with the words. It's interesting, isn't it? The last words of Genesis are a coffin in Egypt. Remember how Genesis started in the beginning, God. And then we've got, you know, in those first chapters, God creating life. There's hope. There's life. There's God's power. And the end of the book is a coffin in Egypt. A book that began with God's creation ends in man's coffin. A book that began with God's creation of life ends in the reality of man's death. God's good design of life was corrupted by sin in the garden and had now brought death.

When Adam and Eve sinned that very first time, sin was introduced. And as a result of sin, death is now in our our our our world. Matthew Henry says this, quote, "Thus the book of Genesis, which began with the origin of light and life, ends with nothing but death and darkness. So sad a change has sin made." End quote. But even as sin entered the world and brought death, God promised hope. all the way back in Genesis chapter 3 after Adam and Eve had sinned and after they had hidden from God and now they're they see that their sin they're ashame they they see that they've sinned now they're ashamed of their nakedness and and and and and God is starts to pronounce the curses because of their sin and he starts with the one who tempted them to sin he starts with Satan and he says This I, this is God, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.

He He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. God had a plan to defeat the enemy and the death that Satan had caused to enter God's good design for life. God would have a people, the offspring of the woman, he calls it here, who would have a God-given disposition of enmity towards Satan. A god-given disposition disposition of enmity towards Satan and his people. And from the woman's line, physical line of descendants would be one single he one single offspring who would have enmity with Satan and would crush his head as he bruises his the offsprings heal, defeating Satan and the death that he brought into the world. And so what Genesis does is he Genesis chronicles the people of God. Listen, the the the offspring of the woman. Genesis Chronicles, the people of God whom he, you hear these words, sovereignly chose.

It's not like there was, you know, people came up and said, "Pick me, pick me, pick me." No, God sovereignly chose a people, his pleasure, his will, his purpose. Genesis chronicles the people of God whom he sovereignly chose to bring that one offspring to bless the world and bring salvation from all that Satan has done. of all that we've learned in Genesis, that one theme is a huge theme. God created life. Satan came and corrupted it through sin. And now death reigns. But God said one's coming who's going to defeat the enemy. And he's going to come from a people. And let me tell you about who those people are. A people that I have chosen. The line from which this offspring, Jesus, we know who that is, right? The line from which this offspring would come went from Adam to Seth to Enosh to Kenan to Mahalel to Jared to Enoch to Methuselah. Oh guy to Lamek to Noah to Shim all the way down to Terara who had a son named Abram.

And from no merit of his own, Abram was likely a pagan worshipper. God sovereignly chose Abram to be the recipient of his covenant promises to make from him a nation that would bring salvation blessing to the world. Chapter 37:0037 minutes12:es 1 to3. Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I, not you, Abram, I will make of you a great nation. and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse. Don't miss this. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Probably pagan worshiping Abram is like, "Okay, I believe it.

and he trusted in God's covenant promises and he obeyed him and he left and he went to this land and then from him God chose Abram's son Isaac. He didn't choose the firstborn which would have been natural. He chose Isaac, not Ishmael. And then God chose Isaac's son, Jacob, not the firstborn, Esau. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God chose to be the ones through whom these covenant promises passed. And from Jacob came 12 sons. And as God had done before, he passed over firstborn Reuben. Look, this is God's choice, not man's, not the way man did it. Wasn't firstborn. God chose not the firstborn. and he passed over Reuben and he chose Joseph to have the double blessing and he chose Judah to have the preeminence.

And it's from the royal line, the royal tribe of Judah that would come the king of all kings, the lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus, the Messiah, the promised offspring who would crush Satan's head. It's going to be on the screen. Hebrews Hebrews chapter 2. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he Jesus himself likewise partook of the same things. [snorts] Jesus, the eternal son of God, the eternal God in the you know God before he became flesh, pre-existent, never a beginning, never an end. took on human flesh. He became he he wrapped human flesh on himself. God created a miracle in the womb of Mary by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus, the eternal God, was placed in Mary's womb to to develop like a human just like us.

It's a mystery, I know, but it's God's work. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise parttook of the same things. That through death he couldn't die if he wasn't a human, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. Jesus came and when he died, what he was doing through his death, he could only die if he was a human. He's fully and truly God, but he's also fully and truly human. And because he's fully and truly human, he could die. And when he died, he was delivering those of us, all of us who because of Adam and Eve's sin, passed down through all the generations from them to us today who experience death and are and are in slavery to sin and death. He wanted to defeat Satan's works on the cross when he died, Jesus, so that he could rescue us and deliver us. For surely it's not angels. Verse 16, for surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. That's interesting. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make, here's my word, propitiation for the sins of the people.

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. So what's Jesus do? How does he defeat Satan? How does he defeat the works of Satan that began in the garden? And this this sent creation and mankind into death and destruction and hopelessness and hell. The eternal God put on human flesh. And though the Jewish leaders and the Roman governor and leaders might have thought, soldiers might have thought that they were performing some type of worldly, you know, action to minimize Jesus who was gathering influence with the people. What God was doing through just like he did with Joseph. He he worked through the evil of man to put Jesus on the cross because on the cross for whatever earthly people were looking at it like God said I'm putting him there because when he dies what I'm doing is I'm taking my chosen covenant people past, present, future, all of them. And I'm putting their sin on the son and I'm going to punish their sin in him.

You and I deserve hell for our sin. And all of us are sinners. Our sin is an eternal offense against the eternal God. And we deserve eternal hell, his wrath, because he's holy. He's righteous. But God said, "I got a people that I don't want to give my wrath to. I want to give my pleasure to. I want to give my life to. I want to give my favor and my grace to. I want to give them an inheritance. I want to give them a heavenly Canaan. I want to give them the new heavens and the new earth. They will inherit the earth. But I got to do something about their sin. So I'm sending my savior, my son, their savior. And on him, I'm going to put their sin, and I'm going to expend all of my wrath and all of my anger against their sin because I'm a just God. I have to punish sin, and I'm going to pour it out on him. He's going to die. He's going to pay for it. It's going to be finished. He's going to be buried. And then I'm going to raise him from the dead.

Sin will have been defeated. death will have been defeated. He's going to rise from the dead. That all all who are my people who turn from their sin, who have a God-given disposition against Satan, whom I work in, whom I come and I choose, whom I draw, John 6, to myself, those people whom I draw to myself, I'm going to give a God-given disposition against Satan to. And they're going to turn from their sin. They're going to hate their sin. They're going to want their sin forgiven. and they're going to put their faith just like Abraham did and the in what Christ has done that he has paid for our sin and I am going to forgive their sin because Christ has already paid for it. And just like when Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness, when we believe on Christ, God credits Jesus's righteousness to us.

We who are unrighteous, who don't deserve righteousness, he gives to us the righteousness of Christ. And sin is then defeated in our life. Death is defeated in our life. Eternal life is ours. and the work of the enemy in the garden has been crushed. And in Genesis, we've got pictures of what Jesus did for us. I can't go through these a whole a whole lot, but when Adam and Eve sinned and God met him, where are you? You know, we were shamed, so we hid. What' God do? He killed an animal. He sacrificed an animal to cover their shame and gave them loin cloths. He sacrificed an animal [clears throat] to cover the shame that came from their sin. Does that sound like what Christ did when we go to the ark?

Judgment all around. But those in the ark were saved from the wrath of God. Jesus is the ark that we trust in and in whom we live and and are saved from the wrath of God. Abraham sacrificing Isaac. Remember that in Genesis 22. a father sacrificing his son. But then God stopped Abram and he said no. And he provided a ram that was stuck in a thicket as a substitute for Isaac's death. Jesus is our substitute. Joseph's story, my goodness, that he is a type of C. He has shows us Christ that that God used the evil of men to bring about his sovereign purpose. That's just we see the gospel all in Genesis. That's a few. [snorts] But from before the foundation of the world, God had a plan. He had a plan to bring redemption to fallen mankind.

and he sovereignly chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to produce his chosen covenant people to receive his covenant promises and through whom the Savior would come. And though and though we might not be in the physical line of Abraham, we too can become God's covenant people in Christ, recipients of his salvation blessing in Christ as we believe by faith just like Abraham did. Romans 4 talks about that. as we believe by faith in the covenant promises of salvation and forgiveness and righteousness and eternal life offered in Christ through faith in him and not our works. That's what God wrestling Jacob was all about. Right? Jacob was a man who depended on himself so much in his life, his scheme and his working to get what he wanted.

God comes essentially I don't like I don't like the the headline whatever that says Jacob wrestles with God. I don't like that because that's not how it happened. Jacob didn't pick that fight. God did. God came to Jacob that night and he wrestled him and Jacob wrestled him all night. And he wouldn't give in. He wouldn't submit. Daybreak was coming. God said, "Okay, it's over." Boom. And he touched his hip. And what did Jacob do when he realized that he could not win against God? But he submitted and he clung to him and he says,"I will not let go unless you bless me." He was about to face Esau. He was scared. That whole story where my son gets his name from, that whole story is about us realizing that we can't do it on our own. For us to be saved, we need the blessing of God. We've got to cling to Christ and say, "Without you, I have no blessing.

Without you, I have no hope." It's not something that I can do in my self-will and my works and all my energy and just make myself pleasing to you. No, I need you to bless me. We need Christ. And so by clinging to Christ for salvation, blessing through faith, Galatians 3:29 says that we become Abraham's spiritual offspring. We might not be in a physical line, but we're his spiritual offspring. We're heirs of God's covenant promises in Christ. We're chosen by God's pleasure just like Abraham by no merit of our own. I'm almost done, but I'm going to read you Ephesians chapter [snorts] 1 verses 3-14 because if you're a Christian, this is your story. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

He knew you guys, gals, if you're a Christian, he knew you before you even born, before the world was even created. He chose you just like he did Abraham by his sovereign will. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through who? Jesus Christ. According to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, not you. Look what I did. I trusted Jesus. Well, yeah, you did. Good. We need to put faith in Christ. But you trusted Jesus cuz he he he picked you. He chose you. He came to you. He drew He drew you to himself to the purpose to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In [snorts] him Jesus we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time. Here we go. to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him, we have obtained an inheritance of which the earthly Canaan for the for the early Israelites, that's just a picture of the inheritance that we have in Christ. In him, we've obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things to the counsel of his will. So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of whose glory? his in him. You also when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, there's faith, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. You got the spirit of God right now. And just like God gave Joseph and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the people a promise that they're going to inherit the land, he's given us a promise that we'll inherit an eternal life through Christ. He's going to raise us. He's going to give us new bodies and give us the earth. Give us the new heavens and the new earth and eternal life with him. We've got that promise. And just like Joseph and and all the the Israelites had that promise of a Canaan coming, we have a promise of an eternal life coming. And in Christ on that day, we become victors over Satan, over sin, and over death. Romans 16:20 with the promise of an eternal life and an inheritance in Christ.

Genesis began with God's good design for life. But Genesis ends with the reminder of sin's tragic consequences. Death, a coffin in Egypt. But praise be to God. He has worked to bring new life through Christ. Life where Satan is defeated, sin is defeated, and death is defeated. Praise God that he has worked to restore life eternal for his chosen covenant people. Life that'll never end as his resurrected people live forever in the glory of his presence in the new creation, the new heavens and the new earth. And though Genesis ends with a coffin in Egypt, a somber reminder to us of what sin has caused, it ends with a note of hope as well. Because that coffin was a reminder of Joseph's faith, faith in the promises of God to be fulfilled.



And as God's covenant people, us covenant people in Christ, living in a world of death, we too hope in the sure promises of God that are to come. Eternal life, restored, Eden restored, his people and creation redeemed through Christ as he intended it to be and as he intends it to be. All for the eternal glory of God. Glory to his name. Amen. Oh, we did it, y'all. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you for the the truth that is in this glorious book of Genesis. Thank you for this the the the truth that over these two and whatever years you have walked us through and you have taught us through and you've discipled us in the the challenge you've given us the the conviction you've given us but also the hope the guidance that you've given us Lord thank you for how all of your word points to the savior and so father I just want to give you glory for the work that you have done, are doing, and will do in your chosen covenant people.

That we might be a people who live by the book and who live in this world of death with a hope of eternal life and that we share that hope with those around us that they may have that hope as well. And I pray that in Christ's name. Amen.