Good morning, Rhema Community Church family. Again, it is a blessing to gather here this morning, and again, as I mentioned earlier, as we get to chapter 49, the book of Genesis, in our long study, we've sent a video out this week, our staff and I, looking at 17th, next Sunday, as the first day we're going to try to get back and

gather what that's going to look like, what the children's ministry is going to look like. It's on our website. It's on the GroupMe. It is on our Facebook page. Please take time to review that as well. And again, we will still do live broadcasts as well. So if you feel most comfortable staying home at this period of time, we understand that completely as well.

We're going to continue to keep an eye on the county and our community, and as long as there's no massive outbreaks, spikes in COVID-19, we'll move ahead with service on the 17th.

We're excited about that possibility. I know that will be different. I know I'm not going to go into all the details of what we're trying to do and not to do, because that's on the video.

But take the time to check that out. But it will be a blessing to see some of our family here in this worship center again.

I want you to continue to pray for Ahmaud Aubrey and his family and this tragedy that's taking place within our community.

This is devastating. And our prayer here at Rhema Community Church is this is a right and wrong thing, and we're just asking that God would bring truth to light.

And that's that clearer heads and spiritual hearts and minds would prevail and truth would come to light.

So remember the family in your prayers as well, too, as we reach out to the community and asking the Lord how we can love our community through this as well, too.

When we get to Genesis chapter 49 this morning and we had just finished 48 and in chapter 48, we see that we see that Jacob has gathered Joseph and Joseph has brought his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and for a blessing before his dad dies.

It's a private thing. It's a private thing that's going on. Joseph comes in there and Jacob switches his hands.

He crosses the blessing at the last and he blesses the younger over the over the over the older.

And we said that we see a picture of the cross in that that it is God who accepts the second birth.

The first birth doesn't get us into the kingdom of heaven. It's the second birth that that God recognizes.

The scripture says that you must be born again, born of the spirit.

And so we see a picture of that in that in that passage of scripture.

And now we get to chapter 40, 49 and 49. We see blessings from a father, blessings from a father.

And when we get to chapter 49, it's one of those chapters you have a tendency, we just have that tendency to read the Bible, to read the scripture, and we just read the words.

We understand the grammar, we understand the syntax of it all, but we miss a lot of times what's going on.

And I want us to slow down and look at that this morning.

And Jacob is blessing his sons, and it turns out to be another opportunity to discover what we've been reading for years.

And it's actually laden with more than we just see from the outside looking in.

Verse 49, chapter 49 starts,

Then Jacob called his sons and said,

Gather yourselves together that I may tell you what happened to you, what shall happen to you in the days to come.

And this is interesting that the importance of Joseph sort of concludes here.

We've had so much real estate given to him within the book of Genesis,

but he will, as we'll go see, his main importance from now is to make sure that his bones and his father's bones get brought back into Canaan.

Okay?

Jacob knows he's about to die, and he formalizes things, and he brings his sons together

in order to bless them.

Verse 2,

Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father.

One of the things we need to remember is when he received this name when he was at the brook.

Okay?

The name of, it was given to him, the name Israel.

That is a covenant name.

It is pointing to a covenant identity.

He is Jacob.

His father names him Jacob, but God gives him now...

use that name. And Jacob will speak to his sons generally, but not exclusively in their birth order. We will see that as played out. Reuben, verse 3, you are my firstborn, my might and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. Reuben has to be thinking this is starting off pretty well, right? But then he says, unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence.

Because you went up to your father's bed. Reuben has preeminence because he is the firstborn. But Jacob remembers Reuben's sin. When Reuben took Jacob's wife, Bilhah, I am sorry, and took her to bed and lay with her.

And so Jacob may be old. He may be on his last dying breaths here. He may have lost some memory. He has not forgotten about this. Jacob remembers this. And Reuben will become the head of a tribe, but it will not have preeminence because of his sin.

Verse 5.

Now, we understood that Jacob was a man of war when it was necessary. We got a glimpse of that when we ended chapter 48. If you remember, he gives Joseph, rather than the other brothers, this exclusive piece of property. It's this one mountain slope that the scripture says that he took from the hand of the Amorites,

with my sword, with my sword and my bow, with my sword and my bow. And this language will come up again when we get to Jonathan, the son of Saul.

And the scripture tells us that Jonathan was mighty with his sword and with his bow. It's the language of someone who has great military ability.

And so that speaks of Jacob. And so that speaks of Jacob. But Jacob here is concerned that these two boys are violent beyond their covenant responsibility.

They are violent. We remember the retribution. They were trying to bring about retribution from their sister Dinah.

All that took place. And they kill all these people. They kill the whole village and everything.

And you remember, Jacob understood that this was a...when this took place, the dad understood this was a very...it was a dangerous retaliation.

And he ends up saying that you made my name a stink in the land, okay?

But we're told that God protected Jacob. But again, Jacob has a long memory. He remembers when this happens.

It's also interesting that these guys, he says, these guys are so violent, I'm not going to let you guys be together.

I'm not going to let you reside together. I'm going to scatter you. I'm going to scatter you.

You guys, you guys are not safe in mass. So I'm going to scatter you.

Then we come to Judah. Verse 8.

He says,

son upon whom he could count. Jacob knows that. And Judah has already shown up in the Scriptures as a negotiator. He has shown up as a protector. He has shown up as a representative of his father. But do you realize what Judah is showing up here as? The language here doesn't belong. When you read the language, it doesn't belong. Again, remember the context. This is an elderly patriarch, Israel.

You know, speaking. This is a nation that doesn't exist. That is, in terms of territory. Right now, it's a family. These folks are exiles in Egypt of necessity because of the famine. And as we know, they are in Egypt right now because Pharaoh has this great affection for Joseph. And so the language jumps out at us right here. And the language here is language of kingship, and it's language of royalty.

And this is the first part of the blessing for Judah. It is sweet, and it's an affirmation of victory. First of all, among his brothers, you are going to have preeminence. Among his brothers, Judah is, because it says, your brothers are going to praise you. Now, we need to remember, again, that this stuff is bigger than it seems when we're looking at it. Remember who had the dream of the sheaves of wheat bowing down and

all the other sheaves bowing down? That was Joseph that had the dream. And he was the one who has the dreams where it made it impossible for the brothers to even talk to him. They despised him so much. But the dreams

even offended his father Jacob at one point. That was Joseph. So if we were to hear at this point right here, that this blessing is going out to Joseph, that everyone's bowing down, that would make

sense. Because that's part of the dream, right? But it's not what we are reading. At this point, the promise of that nature is given to Judah, not Joseph.

Joseph. Joseph's function in the flow of biblical history and in biblical theology is to explain how Israel, as a young nation, survives in Egypt by God's protection.

And how, in a supernatural way, Joseph's life is saved. And how, in a supernatural way, Israel's life is saved. And in a supernatural way, they find

themselves in the most ironic place in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, where they are prospering. But this is not the land of promise.

Joseph is the singular explanation in all of these chapters as to why Israel has survived. Against all the odds of his brother's evil plots and plans against him, he doesn't end up a slave. He ends up co-regent.

Co-regent, the prince of Egypt. And he says, but Jacob says, your father's sons shall bow down to you.

Judah, not Joseph. Hang on to that. Look again at verse 9. Judah is a lion's cub. The lion is a royal symbol. It's a royal symbol. And you're already thinking where this is going. I know.

Now, the lion language is found here as Jacob is blessing Judah. And then he goes on to say that the scepter, the scepter shall not depart. The scepter is a clear sign of royalty.

The scepter is that which is held by the king. By the king. Verse 10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until the tribute, until tribute comes to him.

And to put him and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. The peoples. The peoples is a clear reference to the nations. To those beyond Israel. It's beyond Israel.

Israel. It's not just the fact that we're being told that he's going to reign over Israel and his house and the house.

than we're used to seeing anywhere else thus far in the Scriptures. There's no royal language used in terms of when they speak of Abraham and Isaac and when the covenant is made. When the covenant is made to Abraham, it's like it says that in him and in his seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. The nation language has been used, but the kingly language, this is important, the kingly language has

not yet been used. The language of the scepter, the language of the lion, the language of the staff, may not, has not been used, but now they are being used of Judah. Of Judah. And these are being used in such a way that there's going to be an attraction that all the other nations are going to be drawn. The other nations shall come.

And in one sense, this points to David, okay? To David's benevolent rule, to the golden age of the monarchy, so to speak, with Israel and Judah, when Israel was preeminent among the nations. But of course, long term and most important in the sense of biblical theology, this is pointing to the throne of David upon which sits Jesus Christ.

Christ. This is a messianic theme. This is a messianic theme appearing here for the first time in Scripture. And it turns out, the fulfillment of all that was promised to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob will eventually and will only eventually be fulfilled in a king.

All of that will only be fulfilled in a king who sits on the throne, which will be known as the throne of David. And from this throne, he will what? Rule the nations. He will rule the nations. The book of Revelation makes it very clear that the nations will come streaming to the city of God.

Even Isaiah, when we read that, it speaks of all the nations that are coming to the temple, where all of this is in association and associated with David's city. And later on, it will be called the New Jerusalem.

Now, we thought we were reading the blessings of a patriarch to his sons, you know, dividing the nations into tribes. But here we find the messianic theme of Scripture in the clearest way.

I hope you see that this morning. And in all honesty, it's actually impossible to say that in Scripture this is the first time we see this messianic language, to be honest with you, because we can go back to Genesis 3.15, where in one sense we see the messianic theme found where we are told that the seed of the woman that she bears will crush the head of the serpent.

So I get that. But here it is in dynastic form. Very important. And here it's pointing to the royalty in which Jesus will be the lion of the tribe of Judah as one of his titles. This is very important.

And some of the other things I think we recognize when we know the Gospels. When we know the Gospels, we look at verse 11 and we go, this looks familiar.

We see some of the language in there. Binding the foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine. He has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

You know, when I read that, I begin to think, what is going through Judah's mind? What's going through Judah's mind as he, what is he thinking about when we read this?

Because sometimes we have the tendency to think that, man, I would understand Scripture better if I was there when it happened or if I was there when it was written, okay?

And we read the Gospels and we say, well, you know what, I probably would have understood Jesus a whole lot better if I was there with him when he was speaking on the shores of Galilee.

I would be a whole lot more understanding of all these things.

But then we get to Matthew chapter 16 and you come to understand that they did not know yet what we already know even as we begin the Gospels.

Come on.

they knew. So trying to tie all this together we ask the question well what what would you to be think all of this to mean about the binding of his fold to the vine and about the washing of his garments. He probably would have read this as honor and prosperity and definitely there's honor and prosperity in that but we know because we have the Gospels we know it's much more. It's much more. Verse 12 when it says his eyes

eyes are darker than wine and his teeth are whiter than milk. That just speaks of really good health. Great health. Verse 13 Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea. He shall become a haven for ships and his border shall be at Sidon. It's kind of funny you read that when you think of Israel today and you think of their military force you think of the Israeli army you think of the Israeli air force all that stuff you've heard on the news.

Jews you know you don't think about the Israeli navy because they they it's pretty much doesn't exist. As a matter of fact the Jews were not seafaring people and they actually made fun of seafaring people to be honest with you. But what this tells us is that this sun in terms of the land of Sidon Zebulun will be the commerce link between the seafaring peoples and between Israel. That's what this is getting at. Verse 14

Issachar is a strong donkey crouching between the sheepfolds. He saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant. So he bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant at forced labor. This appears to be a statement that Issachar is going to be made up of those who are strong but they're going to be they're going to be laborers.

Verse 16. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way a viper by the path that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward. I wait for your salvation oh Lord.

Okay. Now this is a blessing that's taking place that is a blessing laden with judgment. The name Dan means to judge anyways means a judge. Okay. And the judgment is not immediately understandable to us and some of it plays out through the history of Israel and Judah going forward.

But in this case we are told that Dan is going to be a judge and he's going to judge but not very well. Not very well. This statement that's made in scripture here does not sound like a great resume builder for a judge does it when you read it.

And Jacob also says to his son as he says at the end of the bus saying oh I wait for your salvation oh Lord.

You know in the most immediate sense that points to a little bit of trouble but in a longer term sense it points to the necessity of God's final judgment.

I mean hear me on this this morning. No human judge. No human judge.

I don't care how wise. I don't I don't care who they are. There's no human judge is going to execute perfect judgment.

Only God. Only God. Maybe just maybe that's why the scripture says vengeance is mine says the Lord.

Let's go to verse 19.

Raiders shall raid Gad but he shall raid at their heels.

Asher's food shall be rich. He shall yield royal delicacies.

Nephtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns.

All these are really short.

And then Joseph is a beautiful bow.

A fruitful bow by spring.

His branches run over the wall.

The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely.

Yet his bow remained unmoved.

His arms were made agile by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob.

From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.

By the god of your father, the omega of laymen.

By the almighty who will bless you.

With blessings of heaven above.

Blessings..

His brothers. Now this is another blessing to Joseph. The first blessing to Joseph took place in private with just Joseph and his two sons. This blessing takes place in front of the brothers. All of the brothers. And so by now there is a link in this blessing that Joseph comes yet again. And the blessing is that a repetition of a general theme here. That of prosperity that comes to his brothers.

To Joseph's house. To Joseph's house. That of wisdom. And that is all in Joseph's house. And the blessing. It says the blessing of the almighty. But the interesting thing to me here is it refers. Israel refers to God as the God of Israel. The God of Israel. He names him by himself. And that might seem a little bit artificial to us. But it's actually very intimate language. Because what he's saying.

His name is. My God. The God who named me. The God who named me. My father named me Jacob. But God named me Israel. So by Israel's God. I call these blessings upon you. And again verse 26. It says the blessings of your father. Are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents. Up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be upon the head of Joseph. And on the brow of him. Who has set apart. Who was set apart from his brothers. Again.

And remember. Remember as he's speaking to these sons. Jacob is placing his hands on his sons. He's placing his hands on Joseph. As he's transferring these blessings. Giving these blessings. And don't miss the biblical theology in this. Okay. Because Joseph had preeminence among the brothers. While he was alive. While they were alive. But moving forward. Judah will have preeminence. As history moves forward.

Very important part of the Lord. Very important part of biblical theology.

27. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf in the morning. Devouring the prey. And at the evening. Dividing the spoils. This sort of just surprises us. The language about poor little Benjamin. Right?

Benjamin is described. And it may seem a little bit shocking to us. And it may appear more negative than it really actually is. Okay.

But in terms of military. Okay. But in terms of military. Military terms. And military use. This is very useful.

So it's not necessarily as negative as we would read it. Depending upon the ambition. Okay.

Of Benjamin. Okay. And how he is directed.

Let's close this up. In verse 28.

All these were the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them.

As he blessed them.

As he blessed them. Blessing each with the blessing suitable to them.

Then he commanded them.

And said to them.

I am to be gathered to my people.

Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah.

To the east of Mamre.

In the land of Canaan.

Which Abraham bought with the field.

From Ephron the Hittite.

To possess as a burying place.

They were buried Abraham and Sarah his wife.

They were buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife.

And there I buried Leah.

Again Rebekah his love was buried elsewhere.

Because she died along the way.

The field and the cave that is in it.

Were bought from the Hittites.

When Jacob finished commanding his sons.

He drew up his feet into the bed.

And breathed his last.

And was gathered to his people.

That term as and was gathered to his people.

Speaks of life after death.

It's a hope and a belief of the afterlife.

Of the resurrection from the dead.

That's what that term means in there.

And this is exactly.

I want to tie a couple points together.

Because this is exactly the point that Jesus makes.

If you remember in the New Testament.

The Sadducees.

They didn't believe in the resurrection.

They knew that Jesus did believe in the resurrection.

Okay.

And so they posed this question to Jesus.

They said.

You know that the law of Moses says.

That if a man has a wife.

And he can't have any offspring.

Or doesn't have any offspring.

Seven brothers. Seven brothers. And the oldest married this woman. And the old guy died. Okay. And his brother marries the girl. And he died. They're all trying to have children. For the dead brother. Okay. And he goes on to say. The third married and her died. The fourth married her. The fifth married her. The sixth married her. And they all died. It's really. It's really a stupid analogy. Because somewhere along the line. One of the brothers is going to step up and say. I ain't marrying her. There's obviously something in her seat in there. That's killing everybody off. Right.

But it's a really foolish. Hypothetical thing. But it's hypothetical. So. But they say. So they all die. And they give Jesus this question. They say. So in the resurrection. Whose wife will she be? Because they didn't believe in the resurrection. They denied the life after death. And here's how Jesus answers them. You are ignorant. I love it. You are ignorant. Not knowing. Not knowing the scriptures. No. The power of God.

God. Then he goes on to talk a little bit. And he says. But so that you know that the dead do rise. Okay. Have you never read. Where the scripture says. That I am the God of Abraham. The God of Jacob. And the God of Isaac. It's a great argument. Argument. Case closed. Boom. Drop the mic. Walk out. He didn't say. I was the God of Abraham. I was the God of Abraham. I am. Present tense. Okay.

The only way. The only way. God in heaven. Can be present tense. The God of Abraham. Isaac. And Jacob. Is if they are alive. In his presence. They have been resurrected. Beautiful ending to this argument.

Amen. We get to chapter 49. We get to chapter 49. We look at the book of Genesis. And we think about all the chapters that we have been through. And the book has been consumed with Jacob. And then with Joseph. And you recognize that you're looking at a massive portion of the book of Genesis. We're just dealing with these two right here. And the book. It begins with creation story.

God created as the heavens and the earth. And in biblical theology. It moves from the entire doctrine of creation. And all that's within that. Including the creation of human beings. Being created in God's image. As male and female. The gift of marriage. And then the fall. And there's so much Christian. Biblical Christian worldview is located in the scriptures. In these 50 chapters of what we call Genesis. The first book.

And as we close chapter 49. And as we close chapter 49 here. We're already so far in the flow of biblical history. At least looking forward. We've gone all the way. From in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. To now. We are looking for a Messiah. We are looking for a Messiah. Who sits upon the throne of David. All that's within the first 49 chapters. Right here.

And when we think of biblical theology. We often think of the Old Testament and the New Testament. And putting them together. And we think of how to understand the relationships between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

And when we think of covenant theology. And when we think of covenant theology. In terms of the unfolding narrative of creation. And the fall. And redemption. And consummation. And the unfolding nature of God's story.

But have you ever really just thought about how much is already here. Already in the first 49 chapters of Genesis.

Genesis. 66 books of the Bible. And Genesis is the first. And yet Genesis is so foundational to everything that will follow.

That is why we have taken over two years painstakingly to go through the book of Genesis.

It's so foundational. Such that even in terms of understanding not only creation and fall. But in many ways people don't understand in terms of understanding redemption.

redemption. Redemption. Is crucial. It is crucial. It is crucial within Genesis.

And now in ways that just a cursory reading of the text wouldn't allow us to see.

Jacob. Jacob's blessings to Judah will eventually.

Jacob. Excuse me. For the promises. For the promises that God through Jacob gives his people. Okay. He gives his people. This will require Messiah. It will require a Messiah. This will require a Messiah that will not only draw the tribes all together, but will draw together all the nations. That's the blessing that God gives to Abraham. Through your seed. All the nations.

will be blessed. And through his seed will be blessed. And through his seed will come Messiah. So this Messiah will bring this. All these 49 chapters are pointing to the fact that we need a Messiah. It's pointing to a Messiah that will come that will not only bring the nations of Israel together, but will bring all the nations together. All the nations will be drawn. Will be drawn. And so that's how we can find ourselves in for God so loved the world.

That he gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. Because God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. It all ties together. And if we don't have this promise to Judah, if we didn't have this promise to Judah, given the way that it is in a blessing,

then we wouldn't know what it means to go from Genesis 49 to John 3, 16, 17. We would have no clue. And understand that the world in John 3, 16 includes all the nations that will be drawn to the throne of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, becoming the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and that will never be without the scepter of the staff.

It all comes together. That's why it's so important to study the Word in its entirety.

We see the beautiful picture of the Trinity. We see the beautiful picture of the Gospel all painted for us.

And that's my prayer for you today.

That you would see way beyond Genesis 49, and you would see John 3, 16.

That there is a God that so loves you, so loves you,

that He gave His one and only Son.

And whoever would believe in Him,

and that whoever in the Greek means whoever,

you, me, whoever would believe in Him

and trust in Him will not perish,

but have everlasting life with God.

Because see, here's the thing about it.

When we understand the creation of man,

that we are created in the image of God,

what that means is that speaks of our soul.

The soul.

Your soul.

Everyone has eternal life.

We all have eternal life.

The question is whether or not we will spend it with our Creator or not.

And that's not a scare tactic.

That's just a reality.

For all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

will be saved.

Will be saved.

Father, we just come before You in the name of Jesus

and we thank You for Your grace and Your mercy.

We thank You for the everlasting covenant

that You made with all who would call upon the name of Jesus.

The everlasting covenant that Your Son shed His blood

for the redemption of the world.

And God, we thank You for the great love that You give us for You,

but the reality is we love You because You first loved us.

Father, take the Word today.

Grow it in people's hearts.

Challenge us, Lord God.

How to love each other unconditionally the way You love us.

In Jesus' precious name we pray.

Amen.