Jacob: As a Man he Struggled with God

We're gonna read from chapter, verse 27 through, to 22 of chapter 48.

Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number. Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years, and the years of his life were a hundred and 47. When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers carry me out of Egypt, and bury me where they are buried.

I will do as you say, he said. Sware to me, he said, then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff. Sometimes later, Joseph was told, your father is ill. So he he took his 2 sons, manasseh, and Ephraim, along with him. When Jacob was told, your son, Joseph has come to you, Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.

Jacob said to Joseph god almighty appeared to me at loose in the land of canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you. Now then, your 2 sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine. E Framman Manassa will be mine, just as Rubin and Cymian are mine. Any children born to you after them will be yours.

In the territory they inherit, they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. As I was returning from padan to my sorrow, Rachel died in the land of Canon while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephraff. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephraath, that is Bethlehem. When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, who are these? They are the sons god has given me here, Joseph said to his father.

Then Israel said, bring them to me so that I may bless them. No Israel's eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face again, and now god has allowed me to see your children too. Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.

And Joseph took both of them, ephraim on his right towards Israel's left hand, and manasseh on his left towards Israel's right hand and brought them close to him. But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head. Though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasa's head, even though Manasa was the first born. Then he blessed Joseph and said, may the god before whom my father's Abraham and eyes at walked faithfully, the god who has been my shepherd or my life to this day? The angel who has delivered me from all harm, may he bless these boys?

May they be called by my name and the names of my father's Abraham and may they increase greatly on the earth? When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand, on e frame's head, he was displeased. So he took hold of his father's hand to move it from e frame's head to manasse's hedge. Joseph said to him, no, my father, this 1 is the first born, put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said, I know my son, I know.

He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he. And his descendants will become a group of nations. He blessed them that day and said, in your name, will Israel pronounce this blessing? May god, make you like ephraim and manasseh.

So he put a frame ahead of manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, I am about to die, but god will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers. And to you, I give 1 more ridge of land than to your brothers. The ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow. Well, good morning again, everybody.

And, as Phil says, my name is Tom, and I'm 1 of the past us here. And it's lovely to have you with us this morning as we conclude this series in the life of Jacob. And so welcome to you. If it's your first time here, and, if you are returning from holiday, then it's good to have you back. If you are on holiday, you're watching online, then it's good to have you tuning in.

And as we turn to this passage, or rather these these few chapters really that we're gonna be considering this morning. Let's bow our heads together and pray. Almighty god, for many of us here, no matter how old we are or at what stage of life we are, we know that the words of chapter 48 verse 15 are true, that you have been our shepherd. For all of our lives and to this day. We thank you lord Jesus Christ, great shepherd of the sheep.

That you are 1 who does not forsake your people at any stage of life. When they are young and strong or when they are old and weak that you are ever with your people to shepherd them. And we pray that you would speak to us, please, as we look at these last moments of Jacob's long and interesting life that you would speak to us now. Speak please to every 1 of us through his dying reflections, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Now if you, have heard of Jonathan Edwards, and, I don't mean the triple jumper.

I mean, Jonathan Edwards, the eighteenth century theologian and preacher, you may have come across at some time his 70 resolutions. So as a young man, he wrote these 70 resolutions. They were basically biblical, wise thoughts. That he wanted to live by by the grace of god, and he thought that these 70 resolutions would help him to maximize his life for the glory of god. 70 resolutions.

They're worth looking through if you get a bit of time the next week. Well, this morning, we we are not going to look at all 70 of them, but we are going to look at 1 number 52. Here's number 52. I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live. If they were to live their lives over again, resolved.

That I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age. Now that second bit is a little bit clunky. But the first bit is pretty clear. He's saying, I frequently hear people in old age who are approaching the end of their lives, looking back and thinking about what they would have done differently, if they could have their time again. Any regrets that they've got?

Any things they wish they had done, which they didn't do? Any things they did do that they wish they hadn't done? What would I do if I had my time again? He frequently heard older people talking like that. And then he thinks, okay.

Now what about me? I'm gonna imagine myself now. In old age, on my dying day or in my dying days, what kinds of things might I reflect on as I look back at my life? What what are the things that I might wish I'd have done? What are the things I might wish I hadn't done?

And then he says, with that in mind, resolved to live now in a way which will minimize regrets later. That's a challenging thought, isn't it? Resolve to live now as I wish I will have done when I'm approaching my last days. Well, Jonathan Ed was wrote that at 19 years old. And so let nobody ever say that teenagers are not capable of the kind of spiritual ambitions.

That would show up Christians 2, 3, 4 times older than they are. They are. He wrote that at 19 years old. And it's interesting to think about, isn't it? What about us?

When we come to our dying day or our dying days. And if we're even able by the grace of god to reflect, what will we think about our lives? What will we reflect on? What will we think it was all for? And as we think about our legacy and who's coming after us, and what kind of memories will we be leaving in the minds of those who come next?

What will they be thinking? Those are all challenging thoughts, important thoughts, aren't they? And I want you to have that kind of thing in mind because this morning we join Jacob on his dying day. This is not a man who is imagining himself on his dying day. He actually is on his dying day.

And in chapters 47 to 49, scattered throughout these chapters, we find the dying thoughts of a dying man. These are his reflections upon his life. And I think there is lots for us to learn from his dying reflections. We may not be there. We may be very early on in life's journey, but at whatever stage we find ourselves, there is lots for us to learn from Jacob.

I mean, if you've been in this series, he hasn't always been a sage. Has he hasn't always been a fount of wisdom. But what he says here and now in his last moments about his past and about his present and about his future and about his god are worthy of our reflection. And so this morning in this Last sermon in Jacob, we're gonna take 4 looks. We're gonna look back with Jacob.

We're gonna look around with Jacob. We're gonna look forward with Jacob, and we're gonna look up the Jacob. 4 looks. Firstly, and I think the point will hopefully come up on the screen, Steven. We're going to look back.

The past was often painful. The past was often painful. Let's turn to Genesis 47. We're gonna spend most of our time in 48 and 49, but Genesis 47, it will be on the screen. But if you've got a Bible in front of you, you can turn to 47 7 to 9.

And this is the moment when Jacob the elderly dying shepherd is going to have an audience with pharaoh who is probably the most powerful man in the known world. So you could imagine that coming together of these 2 worlds. And who's gonna bless who? Who's gonna bless who? Jacob is gonna bless pharaoh.

It's not normally the way it works. Is it? Normally, the greater, blesses the lesser. Here's a dying old hungry shepherd about to bless the god of the known world. 47 verse 7 to 9.

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Ferrow. Ferrow asked him. How old are you? I put a little bit of sort of intonation in that to think what I that's what I think it's getting at.

I think Ferrow is obviously interested or impressed, by how old Jacob appears? How old are you? And Jacob said to Ferrow, the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and 30. My years have been few and difficult. And they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.

Then Jacob blessed Ferrow and went out from his presence. Now there's a bigger question to ask you about why is Jacob actually talking to Ferrow. And so just bear with me a minute to fill you in on the the chapters that we haven't looked at since last time. So last time, if you were here, You remember we were in chapter 32 and 33, and we were looking at the time where Jacob through the night wrestled with the lord Jesus Christ. And in that overnight wrestle, he ended up getting his name changed, which is why in this passage, Jacob and Israel are used interchangeably.

He got his name changed from Jacob to Israel, and he got his nature changed. He was no longer gonna be a snake and a deceiver. He was gonna be 1 who lays hold of and relies on god. And then after that encounter, you remember that Jacob reconciles with his brother Eesaw after 20 years of estrangement, and it really is the beautiful climax of that whole part of the narrative where Jacob and his brother are back together, thanks to god. Now after that, if you know the book of Genesis, you'll know that the narrator moves away slightly from Jacob and his story, and starts to follow the fortunes of Jacob's sons, and most of that next section is given over to Joseph.

Now if you're new to the Bible and you've never read Joseph's story, it's a cracking story. And, you really must spend some time familiarizing your, yourself with it. It's a great read. But basically, what happens towards the end of Genesis is that a very big bad famine starts to work its way through the land. So, canaan, the home of Jacob is in famine.

Egypt is in famine too, but Egypt has got something that canan doesn't have, and that's food. And the reason it's got food is because Joseph who is now a big hitter in Egypt. And again, if you don't know how that happens, you've gotta get familiar with it. It's a miraculous work of providence that takes 1 of Jacob's sons and makes him number 2 in all of Egypt. Has got a strategy thanks to god to feed Egypt.

And so what Jacob has now done is to be brought down from Canon into Egypt by Joseph. Joseph has brought him down into Egypt in order to save his life, basically. And now Jacob is having this audience with Ferris. So that's the very potted short version of why these 2 characters are together. And his dying reflections or part of his dying reflections with Ferrer are very interesting.

Look how he considers his life. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers. Now at this time, he is a hundred and 30 years old, and Jacob is going to go on and die at the grand old age of a hundred and 47. So here, he's a hundred and 30, and yet he says his days have been few. Now we might argue a little bit with that and say, well, actually, mate, we think you've done pretty well.

And he had I mean, at this time, he is probably 1 of the oldest people in post flood history, a hundred and 30 years. And yet when he compares his own pilgrimage to the years of Abraham, who was a hundred and 75, and Isaac who died at a hundred and 80, he considers his years few. But not only does he consider them few, he says they've been difficult. They have been few and difficult. Now difficult certainly captures something of Jacob's life, but in more literal translations, 1 like the English standard version, they pick up on a different aspect of that sentence, and they translate it this way.

My years have been few and evil. My years have been few and evil. And that is a true reflection about his life. So if you know the series, if you've been following along, there has been much in Jacob's life that has been difficult and has been evil. There is evil that has been done to him.

And there is evil that has been done by him. Maybe he's got in mind those years as a young man when he deceived both his brother and his father multiple times. Maybe he's got in mind his own lack of spiritual leadership when he was collecting all those wives and children and his family life went to chaos because he didn't do as much as he ought to have done. Or maybe he's got in mind the evil that was done to him by laban, that snake who cheated him out of his wages 10 times and tricked him and enslaved him, or maybe he's got in mind the more recent evil. When his own sons lied to him about the fate of Joseph, and they bought his soul down to the grave.

That's how he expressed it. As he looks back on all of his life, There has been blessings, and we'll come to that. But what he seems to mainly remember here is that my days were few and they were evil. At our men's breakfast recently, we had Tim saunders coming to speak to us, and he has just retired as the pastor of Hope Church in Sutton. And, before he spoke to us on the subject of the morning, we heard his testimony And he's 1 of those Christians who, basically, for as long as he can remember, has been following Christ.

So right early on in his life, he became a Christian and has been following the lord ever since. And we were asking him a bit about that because some people consider that or would think of that as a sort of boring testimony. You know, where's the, where's the life lived? Where's the before and after? Where's the brush with Satan and the time in jail and the great conversion?

Isn't that more of an exciting story? And, you know, he was reflecting on that and saying how grateful he was that he has been a Christian for all of his life and how exciting that has been. Because it saved him from much evil and difficulty. And he was saying that that is 1 of the things that we need to remember about sin, but sin does do great damage. It does do great damage.

When it's done to us and when it's done by us. And as Christian people, when we look back on our past, we can know that thanks to the blood of Jesus Christ, we have been forgiven of all of our sin. And all of the guilt and shame associated it has been washed away. And yet in this life, we know, don't we that full healing from the consequences of sin is not always gonna be possible. That evil does great damage.

It does great damage. And Jacob, I think, is saying something like that to Ferrow. As he looks back on his 130 years, I don't think he's wallowing in godless regret. I don't think he's thinking what a waste of a life that was, and I've never been able to move past these things I've done. I think it's just an honest reflection in a fallen world.

My years have been few and they have been evil, few and evil. And so that is that is looking back. Looking back, the past was often painful. Secondly, looking around. Looking around.

And again, hopefully that's up there. The present is quite remarkable. Looking back, the past was often painful. Looking around the present. Is remarkable.

Look at what happens in chapter 48 verse 1 to 5. Sometime later, Joseph was told your father is ill. And by the way, when we get to chapter 48 and 49, this is now Jacob at age 147, and at the end of chapter 49, he's going to die. So this is now his dying day. Sometime later, Joseph was told your father is ill, so he took his 2 sons, Vanessa, and Ephraim along with him.

When Jacob was told your son Joseph has come to you, Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed. Jacob said to Joseph, god almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canon, and there he blessed me and said to me, I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give you this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you. Now then, your 2 sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you will be reckoned as mine. Afreim and Vanessa will be mine.

Just as Rubin and Simien are mine. Now there's loads that we could spend time on on this chapter and it really does deserve a whole sermon on on its own. There are so many interesting details here about the way, the lord wraps up Jacob's life with such irony. You know, his eyesight is failing, just as Isaac's eyesight was failing. The younger gets the blessing over the older, just as it did with Jacob and Eesaw.

And all of these themes are coming back to Jacob at the end of his life. But just I wanna underline those words of verse 5. Cause what is happening here is quite remarkable. Your 2 sons born to you in Egypt. Before I came to you here, will be reckoned as mine.

Ephraim and Vanessa will be mine just as Ruben and Simien are mine. Now, there's 2 things to note here about Ephraim and Vanessa. Firstly, these are not actually Jacob's sons. These are his grandsons. These are his grandsons that have been born to Joseph.

That's the first thing. The second thing to know about them is that they are half gentile boys. So these boys were born to Joseph and to a Egyptian mother. Okay. So you've got at least what you could describe as half gentile grandsons here.

And what does Jacob do for them on his dying day? He does 2 things. He elevates them from grandchildren to his children. These are going to be my sons. As Rubin and Simyan are my sons.

And then he identifies these half gentile boys with the covenant name of god. He says, these 2 boys born to you by an Egyptian mother They are not going to be identified by Egyptian culture and religion. They are going to be identified by the promise keeping covenant god of my fathers. So you see what he does? He takes his half gentile grandsons and he elevates them to covenant sonship.

These are my sons. He says in verse 16, if you can see that, may he bless these boys? May they be called by my name, and the names of my fathers, Abraham, and Isaac. And so on his final day, Jacob is witnessing something really quite remarkable. The promise that god had given Abraham back in Genesis 12, that the blessing associated with him and his sons would extend to the nations.

That the nations would be able to come in and know this covenant god by faith. He is seeing another step in the unfolding of that plan on his dying day. These half Egyptian boys are taking the name of yahweh. And, of course, as you go on into the new testament, you see that that same promise continues to roll out, and it really is the glory of the church, isn't it? That in the church, there is neither Jun or Gentle nor slave or free.

But we are all 1 in Christ Jesus. That wherever we are from, we are identified by 1 name and by 1 culture, which is the culture of Christ and his church. How exciting for Jacob. He's on his dying day. And he's getting to see the promise unfolding.

See, we must never think that god doesn't have exciting things planned for our old age. Sad, isn't it? When we think like that, that we feel a bit stuck in life or a bit useless or we feel a bit old and our eyes don't work anymore, and our strength is failing. And we sort of come to believe we're just in a holding pen, like, waiting to be taken home, and that our days of usefulness are over. But it seems to me that god has saved some of Jacob's most remarkable work for his final day.

Old age is never the end of useful service. Old age is never the end of exciting gospel work. He's on his dying day. And the nations are getting identified by the name of his god. What a great way to end.

So I think that should all give us a hopeful expectancy about what god might do with us on every day. Of our lives, and whatever stage that we're in. See, it might be that physically we are beginning to fall apart, and we can no longer lift giant stones, as Jacob 1 day did. Remember he lifted that huge stone off the well. We can't do that anymore.

He can't see anymore. And maybe we can't either, but we could pray the way he prays. Couldn't we? That would be a powerful thing to do in old age to pray for the kids of our church. That they would not identify with the religion of Egypt.

That they would not be known by the culture of the world, but that the next generation of Cornerstone Church would identify with Christ. And be known by the culture of Christ, or we could pray in our old age that the nations would continue to gather as he does here. Seems to me, that's a powerful thing to do in later life. And so as he looks back on a painful past, he doesn't just wallow in regret, he doesn't lament, he's not cynical about it all. What was the point?

He looks back honestly, and then he says, I wonder what god's got for me to do now. I'm gonna bless my sons, and I'm gonna see the promise of the gospel unraveling before me. Looking back, past was often painful. Looking around the few that the present is quite remarkable. Quite remarkable.

So looking forward them. Looking forward, the future is largely hopeful. The future is largely hopeful. And I say largely because when you come into chapter 49, Jacob is continuing to bless his son. So he's spoken to Ephraim and Vanessa through Joseph, really.

He blesses Joseph, but he's sort of blessing them through Joseph. And then he gathers his other sons to bless them. And again, it's not something that we can read in full this morning, but you ought to read it later on, and you'll just see that as Jacob blesses each 1 of his sons and talks to them about their future. Sadly, their future is going to involve some of the apostasy and the chaos and the brokenness that he himself had known. That his sons and their sons and the sons coming after them would still have to do their lives.

In the curse of a fallen world. And sometimes that would look pretty, pretty horrible. That's all there in Genesis 49. But look what he says in 49 verse 8. And this is why the future is largely hopeful.

It's not perfect, but it's largely hopeful. Here he is talking to Judah. Just 1 verse we can pick up on. Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies.

Your father's sons will bow down to you. You are a lion's cub, Judah. You return from the pray, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness? Who dares to rouse him?

The scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet. Until he to whom it belongs shall come, and the obedience of the nations shall be his. And so amongst all the the chaos and the mess of this, these blessings and what is gonna come in the lives of these sons. There is this incredible promise halfway through the chapter that a descendant of Judah is going to come. And that the sector will never depart from his hands.

In other words, there is an eternal ruling king who is 1 day going to come from Judah's line and the nations will bring their offerings and their obedience to him. And that can be none other than the lord Jesus Christ, who in Revelation is actually called the lion. Of the tribe of Judah. He is that lion spoken of here, and his kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and the scepter of god's authority will never depart from his hand. And the nations will bow before him in reverent obedience and faith, and they will bring their offerings to him.

No matter what happens in the future. Let there be greed and lust and chaos and apostasy, Christ is coming, and Christ is gonna reign forever. And nothing that happens in this life will ever be able to dethrone god's right full king. No amount of sin on planet earth will be able to hand the victory back over to Satan because Christ has won and Christ has come. And so the future is largely hopeful.

It's not perfect, but it's largely hopeful. And it seems to me that that is a very Christian way of thinking about the future. See, our politicians sometimes and social commentators, they want us to believe that the next generation is always going to be better than the last. But those who come after us will be richer, will be more tolerant, will be less oppressive, more into equality, there are better prospects than we ever had. And of course, it's true that there are changes that can be made that do benefit society, but have we not learned that with every new generation, the old heart is reproduced.

And it's a heart which is wired towards coveting and sin and godlessness and oppression. Every new generation will have its measure of chaos and sin. And yet a Christian can look forward and say because of the lion of the tribe of Judah, the future for the gospel is hopeful. That the message will continue to go out and the church will continue to be built. And nothing that can happen can change that until Christ returns and gathers to himself all those who are his.

And so that 50 second resolution, you know, looking back, Or do I wish I'd done differently? A bit of that is okay. Too much of that is dangerous. Too much looking back and wallowing is dangerous. Better as a Christian to look away from ourselves altogether.

And to look forward hopefully because Jesus is alive and the gospel is gonna succeed, and we're on the winning side. And so you can see as he looks forward, particularly with Judah and with Joseph as well, but particularly with Judah, Jacob understands that the future is largely hopeful because of Jesus. Lastly then, let's look up. Look back. Look around.

Look forward. Look up, the lord is always faithful. If the past was often painful, the lord was always faithful. This comes to his words in chapter 48. Verse 14 to 16 or 15 to 16 rather.

Then he blessed Joseph and said, may the gods before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully. The god who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has delivered me from all harm. May he bless these boys? And the word harm there is interesting because that's the same word for evil. We looked at earlier.

So in that previous text, it was translated few and difficult. Here it's translated delivered me from all harm, but in the original, it is the same word. It's evil. And it's the next time he uses it. So my days have been few and evil, but the redeeming angel has saved me from all evil.

And so in his dying day, he says, yes, there has been evil in my past. But that's not ultimately what defines me. What defines me is the angel of the lord Christ, who redeemed me from all evil. I now think about the evil in my life as all redeemed evil. It's all redeemed evil.

Because of Christ. And what a beautiful testimony it is. Look what he says about the lord. The god, before whom my fathers walk faithfully, that's the first thing. The god who has been the shepherd all my life to this day, that's the second thing.

The angel who has delivered me from all evil. That's his dying testimony. And it's worth pondering the alternatives, isn't it? I mean, what could he have said at this point? He could have been quite boastful, couldn't he?

Now look at me. I've had more sons than my dad. I've had more sons than my grandad. There's never been a man so fertile in my family, the knee. Look at all my sons.

Look at my children. Look at my grandsons. Abraham and Isaac had a bit of that promise. But man, has he come to me? I'm seeing it.

Could've done that, or he could've just been mournful again, couldn't he? Could've just looked back and thought, well, it's all been a mess. What was the point of that? Wish I had that time again and wish I'd do it all differently and what a waste of a life? What was that battle for?

But he's neither boastful nor cynical nor regretful. What he does is something altogether different. He doesn't boast in himself, neither does he pity himself. He looks up to Christ. He looks to Christ.

At the end of his life. He looks away from himself altogether. And he looks to Christ, who his fathers walked with faithfully, who shepherded him all of his life and to this day, and the angel who redeemed him from all evil. That's who he looks to on his last day. And it strikes me that if we want wisdom on how to reflect on our lives, you can't get much better than that.

That is how to reflect on a life. The lord Jesus Christ has redeemed me from all of my sin and redeemed me from all of my evil through his death in my place on the cross for my sin and his resurrection to new life. He was there with me when Leben was deceiving me, and he was there with me when I was deceiving my father. He was there with me in the disasters that I caused, and he was there with me in the disasters that I didn't cause. On every single day, my darkest days, and my best days, my most spiritually dry seasons, and my most spiritually alive seasons in my best relationships, and in my worst relationships, He was there with me on every day of my life, and even to this last day, as I prepare to be gathered in a matter of hours to my fathers.

He holds me like a lamb in his arms and he is gonna shepherd me home. As David would say, surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the almighty forever. The lord has been his shepherd. What a way to reflect on a life Looking back's alright, looking around's good, looking forward's fine, but looking up to the lord who has been faithful.

See, it's true, isn't it? The old age? Not just old age, but old age can take many things away from us. It can take enthusiasm away from us. It can take strength and eyesight away from us.

But sometimes with age, comes an ability to see things very clearly. And at the end of his life, much has been taken from Jacob, but he seats clearer now than he has ever seen. The god before whom my fathers walked faithfully. The god who has been my shepherd all my day to this life, the angel who has delivered me from all harm, may my final boast. Be a boast in the lord.

And with that, we come to his dying moments. So these should be on the screen. Steven, I think his chapter 49 verse 29 after he's finished blessing the boys. Then he gave them these instructions. I am about to be gathered to my people.

Berry me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the hittite. And then verse 33 when Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons. He drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. His dying wish, the dying wish of a dying man. Was to be buried with his fathers and to be gathered with his fathers.

It's quite an interesting thought that I was thinking quite a lot about this this week because it comes up a number of times. He he he really wants not to be buried in a pyramid. He doesn't wanna be buried in a pyramid. He doesn't want to end his life amongst the culture and religion, not his own. He wants to die.

He wants to be buried in identification. With the covenant people of God. He wants to finish his life as a member of the church, dying among god's people. And even in this even in the world, there's something of that, isn't there? You know when, people loved ones die overseas.

There's a great, concern to bring them home, isn't there? Even if you're then going to scatter them again, you have a service, then you scatter them. You wanna bring them home. And there's something there about wrapping off a life at home, isn't there? You wanna come and be buried at home, to be identified at home.

And for a Christian, that means to be dying at home among the people of god, to be identified amongst the people of god. See in previous years, generations gone by when churches were built. They spent less time thinking, we need a big car park. And more time thinking, we need a graveyard. Now in our day, we've traded a graveyard for a car park.

And there's something good about that because we want more people to come, but there is probably something we lose there as well. As we gather every Sunday to meet with the people of god, we no longer see those who have been buried and laid to rest in the promise, who have gone before us, who with their gravestones cheer us on into church. We came here once. You clear today. You're part of a legacy.

We walk faithfully. Our fathers walk faithfully, and now you're walking. Keep going. And 1 day you're gonna be later rest here as well, and you will cheer on. Interesting to think about the car park and the graveyard, isn't it?

What is communicated by those things? The Jacob's dying wish is to be taken home and to be buried among the people of god. That's a good dying wish, isn't it? No matter when I die, I just wanna die as a member of the covenant family. I wanna finish my life as a Christian and be with those people.

And then last text, here's Hebrews 11. The writer to the Hebrews reflecting on all of Jacob's life. Gives him this sentence from the bits we've been looking at today. By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. That's what he does.

He takes his staff, which is really the symbol of his pilgrimage, isn't it? The staff is the thing that says I've been journeying all my life, and now I'm going home to that city whose architect and builder is god. I'm about to be gathered home into the better country. I'm gonna trade my staff for a golden key, and I'm gonna unlock my room in my forever home. My journeying days are done, and I'm home now.

But before he dies by faith, he looks forward. And he says Jesus is coming, and the lord has been my shepherd, and I wanna worship him by faith. And so the last word of his life, which has been a flipping messy life, really. The last word of his life is faith and worship and I'm going home to be with God. And I think any Christian who hears that thinks may it be so may it be so with me too.

And so there we are, that's the end of Jacob's life. It's been a great time together, hasn't it. I've certainly enjoyed it and, hope there's lots that we've been blessed by from his dying reflections here. Let's pray. Well, mighty god, we do want to give you thanks for the faithful Christians who have gone before us for those fathers and mothers in the faith.

Who walked faithfully before you. And we thank you our God that you are also our god and that you are faithfully walking with us in our day. And that you have shepherded us for all of our days, the best ones and the worst ones. Even to this day and to this very morning, lord Jesus Christ, you remain our shepherd. We thank you lord Jesus that you are the divine son who has redeemed us from all evil.

That your blood shed for us on the cross was sufficient. To cover our sin and to give us a brand new name and nature. And we do pray lord Jesus that however long we have left and No day we can take for granted. We know that at any point, we could leave this life. We pray that when that time comes, we would finish our lives as Christian people who identify with the family of god.

And who look forward to being gathered together with our ancestors in the faith to spend an eternity with you. And all of this we ask in Jesus' name.