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Sermon
Genesis

The End of Genesis

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August 11, 2024
Genesis 50:1-26
Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

The Sovereignty of God

Faith

Suffering & Trials

Transcript

0:16We did it. We're at the last chapter of Genesis. I think we started this just about a year ago. Let me encourage you, keep your Bibles open to Genesis 50. And God has been good to us as we've walked through this book. Would you join me now as I pray? And we ask the Lord for help. Father in heaven, we come once again as needy and desperate people. Oh, that you would open our eyes and cause us to see what we need to see this morning. You have a tailor made message for each and every individual that hears my voice. And so come in the power of your spirit and speak oh Lord, for the good of your church and for your glory.

1:10We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. What would you say is the final note of Genesis? What's its very final note if, if it's a symphony, we began with wonder and awe in Genesis one at the creation story. And then the symphony moved into all the dissonance of the fall. And then it had the ups and downs of sin and brokenness and conflict, but then blessing and promises fulfilled. And you can kind of see how the symphony would go. And if we come to the end in chapter 50 with you just heard, read, what is the reader? What is the listener to feel? What are we to walk away thinking most of the times in great books or movies, we want closure.

2:14We want everything tied up nicely. Everyone lived happily ever after. We wanna be able to say, that was such a satisfying ending. I just wanna read the book again to get to that ending spot. And other times you read a book and you're like, the ending was so bad it just ruined the entire series, the entire book to begin with. I think one of my kids said that about Hunger Games, you know the, the ending's so bad, whatever book you get to or it's like that perfect dessert at the end of a meal. It's just exactly right. Not too sweet and not too much with a cup of decaf. And you're like, oh, that just capped off the perfect meal.

2:58Or you go to this concert or you go to this musical and and it's like the high note that it ends on or with the Olympics, right? We end with the finale of those track relays and everyone's excited. We want cognitive closure. We want to feel like things are tied up and then we can move on to the next thing. Well, this morning we come to the last chapter of the book of Genesis, which in theory should give us closure. And in many ways it concludes several storylines. We see the burial of Jacob, we see the death of Joseph, and then we see one last interaction between Joseph and his brothers. But Genesis 50 does not give us what we most want, which is an ending where everything is happily ever after.

3:51God's people are in Egypt and they're not in the promise land promises of God go unfulfilled. And so we're left with questions here in this last chapter. Questions like, will God still be faithful? Will God's promises come to pass? Will God be true to his word? And in the same way some of you are asking those questions this morning as well as you reflect upon your life, your circumstances, the season of life, you're asking, is God still faithful to me?

4:37Is he still true to his word? Will God keep me until the very end to old age and gray hairs? Will he sustain me in this new trial, in this new suffering, in these new uncertainties? Is he still there? Is God still for me? Genesis 50 doesn't give us closure, but it does give us something better. It gives us a final message for us to take to heart. So we're gonna look at this chapter in kind of three themes if you will. First we get the end of an era where we're gonna look at the burial of Jacob and the death of Joseph. Second, we're gonna see God's good providence in that middle section. And then third, we're gonna look at the hope for the future.

5:32So look with me now end of an era. So first we come to Jacob's funeral, he dies at the end of Genesis 49. And these first 14 verses of chapter 50 are all about his funeral arrangements. And it goes into kind of really excruciating detail about how his body's embalmed and who goes to Canaan with Joseph and how he has to ask permission from Pharaoh. And then the return. So the, the question when you read a section like this is why, why does it devote so much time, 14 verses to all of his funeral arrangements, if you will. It, it doesn't hardly do that with anyone else who's died in the book. I, I think at least one of the things we're to see is that Jacob's death is a big deal, not only for Joseph but for the nation of Egypt.

6:22At this point. He, verse three says, the Egyptians wept for him 70 days. He was embalmed for 40 days. And then verse nine, Joseph goes up with a great company to make a great lamentation. And then look who is involved in this entourage that goes to Canaan, Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his household, the elders of the land, Joseph's household, his brothers and his father's household. Lots of people go. And then the Canaanites noted the grievous morning or the heavy lamentation. What this is trying to convey for us is this is like a state funeral with all the po and ceremony of someone of unusual prominence.

7:07Only these types of funerals happen for former presidents that that sort of idea. So we see that God has made Jacob great in the nation of Egypt. The the second thing we're supposed to see is God is fulfilling his promises to Jacob. Verse one, Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him. And this is to remind us, when Jacob was afraid of going up to Egypt, God came to him in a dream and he said, don't worry, Joseph shall close your eyes. And sure enough, Joseph closes Jacob's eyes. Verse 13 says, his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Ella.

7:55And that again is fulfilling God's promise. I will bring you up again. Another promise fulfilled Pharaoh, Gant Joseph's request. And they've become this great nation that God had also promised them and only their children, their flocks and their herds remained in Goshen. That's another reminder. Look how prosperous they have grown and multiplied. God has blessed his people. The mention of the Canaanites also begins to foreshadow God's promise that he's going to give the land to Israel. Right now all they have is a grave in a cave. But God is faithful. Jacob's death fulfills or signals the end of this era.

8:45But the note that is struck is that God is faithful to fulfill his promises. God is faithful even in death, even in mourning, even as you make funeral arrangements, God is faithful. God fulfills his word. And perhaps there's someone that needs to hear that word here this morning. You are at the end of your rope. No one can see it on the outside, but inside you, you are just torn up. There's great and grievous, lamentation taking place in your life, suffering threatens to undo you. Perhaps it's your sin that has brought you great heartache and pain. And what you want more than anything else at this point is closure.

9:39I just want to know, I just want a definitive diagnosis. I just want resolution. I just want reconciliation. But it evades you. And what you are to hear this morning is that God is faithful. God is faithful to fulfill his promises. Verse 14 concludes, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers. It means they did not stay in Canaan and they would not return for another 400 years. Though this is an end of an era, it's not the end of God's faithfulness to his people and to his promises. That's what we're to see here. Now let, let's look at Joseph's step. Skip down with me to verses 22 to 26. Joseph lives 110 years, all of which except 17 of are in Egypt.

10:35And there are several parallels between Joseph and Jacob. They're both blessed to see their children and great-grandchildren. In verse 23, Joseph in a sense adopts his grandchildren just like Jacob did with Efram and Manasses back in chapter 48. And their last words are both very similar, that they make their family swear to carry their bones up to Canaan. They're both embalmed. But there's a very distinct difference between the two deaths of these two people. Jacob's death revealed God's faithfulness to fulfill his promises. But in contrast, Joseph's final words reveal that his hope, his faith is in God's promises that are yet to be fulfilled.

11:26His bones don't get carried up right away. In fact, they don't get carried up for another 400 years. This is a forward looking ending where he says in verse 25, God will surely visit you. He holds out hope that though the promise is not yet fulfilled, it won't be fulfilled for centuries, decades. God is still faithful. And when he comes because he will, because he said it, then now carry up my bones at that time. This reminds us of the hall of faith that we see in Hebrews 11. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. And the first 22 verses of Hebrews 11 talks all about all the characters we've seen here in Genesis.

12:19And at Hebrews 1122 it says this, by faith Joseph at the end of his life made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. So this word that he gives right at the end is not just, well maybe God's coming. This is by faith. God will surely come carry up my bones. And if we look ahead who will see that In Exodus 1319, Moses took the bones of Joseph with him or Joshua 24 32. As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt and then carried around in the wilderness for 40 years, they were buried at Sheko. So what we see here in this account is this already and not yet dynamic.

13:13We see the pump and circumstance of Jacob's burial. Everyone goes up, this is a royal funeral. Everyone goes up there, there's all this weeping and lamentation and all, all the big guns come out for this funeral and for Joseph, not yet, not yet. And when it does get brought up, 400 years later, it will be even greater. Think ahead with me to the Exodus. When they bring out Joseph's bones, Egypt is laid waste. Their pockets, their chest are full of Egyptian gold and riches. The nations around them fear the God of Israel. And they walk out with great celebration because God is for them. They're led by the strong hand of Yahweh.

14:10And that's the picture here. This already they have this tomb in a cave, this grave in a cave. And yet God is going to fulfill his promise and it will be great. The kingdom is going to be consummated ultimately at Christ's second coming. So what note is struck at the conclusion of these two deaths, not only is God faithful, but God will be faithful to his people to fulfill his promises In the future. We can have faith in future grace. God can be trusted this morning. So trust him all the more. And for believers on this side of the cross, God is not only faithful to be on our side, but he will bring us all the way to our heavenly home.

15:08John 14, three. This is Jesus speaking. He says, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. This is Jesus speaking and will take you to myself. And where I am, you may be also. This is true for every single believer who has died with Christ, raised with Christ, Jesus will bring us home. Amen. Amen. Now transition with me to this middle section, 15 to 21. And we see God's good providence, nestled between Jacob's burial and Joseph's death is this final exchange between these brothers and the brothers are thinking, maybe Joseph has been playing the long game, holding back his wrath and revenge and vengeance for 17 years until dad would die and now he's gonna unleash it on us.

16:09'cause they still feel guilty about all that they had done. And they say in verse 15, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. And indeed it was evil. So the brothers send this message and this really roundabout way, they say, our father told us to tell you to please forgive us of our sins. And then they come and they bow before him and they say, we are your servants. Verse 18, how does Joseph respond? He weeps. He's broken hearted. Oh, 17 years you have still, you still think I have it out for you. I've been giving you food. I got you through the famine.

16:54I've been kind and gracious to you. You're you're still holding on to this it, it just tears him up. But then he speaks some of the most profound words in all of Genesis. Look with me. Verse 19, do not fear for am I in the place of God. This is striking because Joseph indeed, on the face of the earth probably has as much as anybody other than Pharaoh, the power of God. And that's what we want all the time, isn't it? We want to be like God, we want to be able to control our circumstances and control our lives. But then he goes on, as for you, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.

17:47So do not fear I will provide for you and your little ones. Joseph's answer is just stunning. It's amazing. One of the most profound theological truths in all of scripture. What you meant for evil. God meant for good. He doesn't just say, well what you meant for evil. God transformed God. Somehow used God somehow kind of turned it around. You know divine jujitsu right? As someone kind of lunges at you, you can use their own momentum against them and then turn it back around. He says it was intended or it was planned, it was ordained, it was planned for evil. And God intended and planned and ordained it for good.

18:41God had sent Joseph to Egypt to save many. And this has massive implications for us this morning. Brothers and sisters, there are deep tragedies in our lives and in our church body, broken bodies and broken hearts, broken relationships and sin marred situations and horrific sins that have been committed against you. And God means it ordains it plans it, intends it without being responsible for any of the sin for your good.

19:24I think of some of our families who have or will walk through some unspeakable trials or walking through them right now and it's hard to fathom. But this is the word you need to hear. Once again, God is with you. God is for you. And God intends it for your good. And I've thought about this, if in the coming year I get diagnosed with some incurable disease and die within five years and leave my wife and five children, God will have used that for my good, for their good, for the good of this church. And it's true for each and every single one of us. God intends the hard things in our life for our good.

20:14He is sovereign. He holds the whole world in his hands and he holds your life in his hands. And he's never malicious about what he dolls out. Do not doubt the good providence and the loving heart of your heavenly Father this morning. Someone needs to hear, don't throw in the towel. God is good. In every trial that Joseph was experiencing, God was using it. God was intending it to make him great in Egypt. And in the same way in every trial that we have in this earthly life, God is using it. God is intending it. God means it to conform us into the image of his son Jesus.

21:13That's why Paul can say in two Corinthians four 17, for this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us in eternal weight of glory. Even in death, no one will ever get to heaven, stand before the throne, experience all that is there and say, you know what? It really just wasn't worth it. Life on earth was just way too hard. The suffering too great, the heartache too painful. The heaven and all the glories of this new earth with Jesus are just not worth it. I would trade it. No one will say that. Everyone who will see Jesus face to say face will say a thousand times again. A hundred percent. It's all worth it.

22:03Jesus is worth it because he is faithful to his people and he is good. He is my savior. So take heart this morning. God takes evil intended to undo us and ruin us, to destroy us and even to kill us as part of his sovereign purposes, to do us good. And so as the same way Joseph says, do not fear, I will provide for you and your little ones. That's what Jesus says to us this morning. Don't fear, I will provide for you all that you need. You have in the riches of Christ Jesus.

22:46It's amazing how Genesis ends compared to how it began. Do you notice that in the beginning? By the time we get very shortly into the book of Genesis, we get a brother killing a fellow brother Cain murders Abel and all sorts of destruction and chaos and conflict continue to ripple out from that one. One of the biggest storylines in the book is this hostile rivalry between Jacob and Issa. That just goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And now we come to this end and what happens? The brothers repent, recognize their evil, ask for forgiveness. And what does Joseph do? This is his moment.

23:36Dig in the knife. No, he forgives and they're reconciled and God's people will dwell as one united people. There's this note that's pointing forward of hope. Look at what the grace of God does in the lives of his people. And some of you need to hold onto that even as conflict embroils, your own family, your own kids, their own sibling rivalries. So what are the final notes of Genesis? God is faithful to fulfill his promise, his promises both past and present. And he's good in his providence and plans for us. All that he does is good and and you have to have both those truths side by side. If God is faithful to fulfill all his promises, but all his promises towards us are for harm, that's not good news.

24:35But all his promises for us are for our good. And when you put these things together, we have glorious footing to stand on. Brothers and sisters. So this end of an era reveals his faithfulness to his promises. Then we get his good providence that reveals his trustworthiness. And then now we look forward to this third thread. Third theme. This hope for the future. This hope for the future. So remind with me for just a moment to the beginning of Genesis. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And what was the note that was struck in those early chapters? It's good, it's good, it's good, it's good again and again and again.

25:25God said, look how good my creation is. And yet those fateful words rung out from Satan. Did God actually say it's not an outright lie, it's just a twist questioning. God's goodness did God actually say. And then sin entered into the world and wreaked havoc in every place, in every heart, in every relationship, it was all broken. There would be this war enmity that would rage between the offspring of the man, offspring of the woman in fact, and the offspring of the serpent in there would be this battle that would go back and forth, back and forth and man would continually strive to try to get back into paradise.

26:21Let's, let's make a paradise of our own. Genesis 11, tower of Babel. Let's make a name for ourself. And God says, no paradise has been lost. And then God's people would experience this rollercoaster, trials and suffering enslavement in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness, delivering disobedience to the law. Then you get the times of the judges, then you get the people saying, we do not want God as our king. Just give us a really tall guy. We'll take Saul exile from the promised land, silence for centuries. And it seemingly appears that God had failed to fulfill his promises to his people Until until one day God sent his son Jesus into the world, the Savior, the Messiah, Emmanuel God with us broke into our broken sin marred world.

27:31And he said, I'm here. God will surely visit you. God has now come in the flesh to deliver us from all of our sin and brokenness. He would speak as the very living word of God. He would feed the crowds as the bread of life. He would give them living water. He would be the true vine that others could come and abide in. He would declare in no uncertain terms, I am the great I am. Through his death, he reveals that he is the savior. He is the Lord. He is the lamb of God in which all of the temple and tabernacle and all the sacrifice system is pointing to this singular lamb. After this lamb, there is no more need for blood sacrifice because his blood alone is sufficient.

28:24He would show that he's the chief cornerstone. Everything else needs to be plumb to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the capstone. There's nothing else above him. He would declare that he's the king of kings, the Christ, the Messiah, and the one and only savior and redeemer of the world. This brothers and sisters is where all of human history is headed right now. We are caught in this middle place already and not yet we have received Christ. We have his indwelling Holy Spirit. And yet we have not taken hold of all that we are to get. We still struggle in this life. Our bodies still waste away. Our souls still long for something better.

29:11And all those in Christ eagerly await a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells two Peter three 13. And in this place, the book of Revelation says, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore. For the former things have passed away. We will have all that we need in that day with the Lord Jesus Christ. So what's the final note of Genesis 50? It's hope. It's hope. God is faithful. God is good.

30:04So hope in this God, God will indeed bring us home. Look again at the very last words of Genesis 50 last verse, last words of the last verse in Genesis 50. What does it say? A coffin in Egypt. A coffin in Egypt. This foreshadows the time between Genesis and Exodus. Israel is going to prosper and multiply, but ultimately Egypt will be this place of enslavement and death generation after generation. It will be of death, but the hope remains. God will surely visit you. And that's our main point. God's people can hope in their faithful and good God to bring them home. God's people can hope in their faithful and good God to bring them all the way home.

31:08Even if right now you're dwelling in Egypt and and your life just feels like I'm enslaved to my own sin, my world is broken. There's death all around me that the pressures feel great. People are telling me to make stones with no straw. God is with his people. He will fulfill his promise and he will bring us home. He will bring us to the new earth, our new heavenly home. And sadly, many Christians do not long for the afterlife. We want to squeeze as much joy as we can out of the present. And and let me just have you consider this quote by CS Lewis. You know, sometimes we think maybe we'll be too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.

31:52We've heard that saying. CS Lewis says this, hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not as some modern people think a form of escapism or wishful thinking. But it's one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. So our hope this morning is not just in this life, not just in the grace of God ministered to us in this life. Yes, we need that. We desperately need that.

32:38But our hope is in God, in the life to come who will fulfill his promises to bring us all the way to our heavenly home. We are indeed sojourners and exiles here on earth. And I feel like we just need to constantly be reminded of that reality because this earthly world feels so real. We can kind of hold it. We can buy our houses thinking this is my forever home. No, you get it for a couple of decades and then you get your forever home. So the frailties and suffering and trials of this life are meant to help us loosen our death grip on all that this world gives us. So that we would increasingly long for the world to come.

33:31You will someday, if you're in Christ, dwell with Jesus in the new heaven, new earth forever and the best day you've had here, the very best day you've ever had on earth, whether you're in the mountains or you got married or whatever it is you, your very best day, we'll pale in comparison to the worst day you ever have with Jesus. Would you trade that a thousand times? Yes. So we began with several questions. Is God still faithful? Is he still true to his word? Is he still going to be faithful to me this morning in the midst of all of my challenges and struggles and hardships and uncertainties?

34:18Is he still there? Is he still working? And I hope you've seen in in this chapter, yes, God is faithful. God is good hope in God. Jacob and Joseph believed in faith and then they acted by faith, by saying to their sons or their descendants carry up my bones. This was an act of faith. They were looking with faith, looking with hope, and acting with hope. And that's what I wanna call us to this morning. As we go from here, we are to look with hope and then to act with hope. And so the question is, well, what does acting with hope look like? Like what do I do? Like what? What changes in my mind or heart or actions and, and I don't have any singular thing in mind, but I just have a thousand little things that you would go about your day from here on out this week acting in hope because of a God who fulfills his promises, who is faithful and who is good.

35:28So we, we fight sin. We, we have to fight sin every day, cleaving to the promise that he who began a good work in us will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ. So as you fight sin, as you were designed to do, God is conforming you into the image of his son. It will happen that you will be made perfect someday. Or when we confess our sins. When we do sin, we believe by faith he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then when we walk into fearful situations where people have it out for us or we look at the world and we're like, what's gonna happen in November or in the future or 10 years from now?

36:11And with the stock market the way that it is? And and we remind ourselves, we preach to ourselves the words of Isaiah 41 10, fear not for I'm with you. Do not be dismayed for I'm your God. I will strengthen you and I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away. Our inner selves are being renewed day by day. So as your body gets a few more gray hairs or you lose the last few that you have and your back feels a little bit worse day by day, the aches and pains grow moment by moment you say, but this inner self, oh, that I would be conformed more and more to the image of Jesus.

37:05And when I see him face to face, it's all gonna be worth it. So act in hope with this promise in view. One Corinthians one, eight, he will sustain you to the end guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what God is doing right now. He is sustaining us by the power of his word through the gathering of his saints. As we worship week in and week out, we're having our hearts realigned. Just again, we just need a little bit of a, an adjustment. Oh, that's where we're headed. This is what God is doing. These are the things that matter. Oh, I I, I was so concerned about that thing and this thing.

37:48They matter less than I thought. These are the things that matter. God is good. God is working. God is conforming you into his image. He longs more than anything else for you to look more like his son. And so we began by saying, Genesis 50 doesn't give us as much closure as maybe we would like, but it gives us a final message. And that message is this, God will surely visit you. He came in the person and work of Jesus and he's coming again. Glorious news. He's coming again in Revelation 22 says, he who testifies to these things says, surely I'm coming soon. Amen. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. Let's pray.

38:42Father, oh, that we would have our hearts realigned to long for the things that matter most, that we would see you at work in our world right now. That you are faithful, you are good. We can put our hope in you, and we would look further out into the horizon where you are bringing us home. Let that be our confidence and our hope as we go from here. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

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Genesis 50:1-26

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