Tonight, we are really continuing our study from this morning in Genesis, and we come to Genesis chapter 45. I'd invite you to turn your Bibles to 45, and we begin at verse 25, and read through 46, verse 30. Genesis 45, first book of the Bible, beginning at verse 25. Let's hear the word of the Lord. So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. And they told him, Joseph is still alive and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart has become numb, for he did not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Israel said, it's enough. Joseph, my son, is still alive. I will go and see him before I die. So Israel took his journey with all that he had. And he came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, here I am. Then he said, I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt and I will also bring you up again and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes. Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones and their wives and the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They also took their livestock and their goods which they had gained in the land of Canaan and came into Egypt. Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons and his son's sons with him, his daughters and his son's daughters all his offspring he brought with him into egypt and these are the names of the descendants of israel who came into egypt jacob and his sons reuben jacob's firstborn and the sons of reuben hanak palu hezron carmai the sons of simeon jemuel jamin ohad jacquim zohar and shaul the son of a canaanite woman the sons of levi gershon Kohath, Merari, the sons of Judah, Er, Onan, Shalah, Perez, and Zerah. But Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul, the sons of Issachar, Tola, Huva, Job, and Shemron, sons of Zebulun, Sered, Elon, Jahlil. These are the sons of Leah, whom she born to Jacob in Padana ran together with his daughter Dinah all together his sons and his daughters numbered 33 the sons of Gad Ziphion Haggai Shunai Ezbon Uriah Erodai and Ereli the sons of Asher Imnah Ishva Ishvi Bariah with Sarah their sister and the sons of Bariah Heber, and Machiel. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter. And these she bore to Jacob, 16 persons. The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, Joseph, and Benjamin. And to Joseph, in the land of Egypt, were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenoth, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of On, bore to him. And the sons of Benjamin, Bela, Betr, Ashbel, Gera, Naman, Ehai, Rosh, Mupim, Hupim, and Ard. These are the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob, 14 persons in all. The son of Dan, Hushin. The sons of Naphtali, Jaziel, Jutguni, Jezer, and Shalem. These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter. And there she bore to Jacob seven persons in all. All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's son's wives, were 60 persons in all. And the sons of Jacob, Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt were two. All the persons of Jacob, the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were 70. He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen and they came into the land of Goshen. Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel, his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, now let me die since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. I'm sure some of you, many of you, all of you are often, when we think about life, puzzled about the way that it turns and the way that it goes. And often it seems that we're just trying to figure out where it's all going and the questions of why and what things mean. As we're trying to determine our ways and purpose and faced with living in a sinful world a sinful world living with the consequences often of the choices that we make in this life things go this way things go that way and maybe you feel stuck trying to figure all this out and then we suffer at times for various reasons maybe for the bad decisions maybe not and again you feel no way out and when you're in the midst of these kind of things in the the midst of life and you see no end you really can become discouraged especially if the choices you've made in the course of life have been rather godless i don't know if i've captured anything with that opening but i know this if any of that connects i just described where jacob is i just described where jacob is in our study of genesis this man's life has been hard and i don't know how much you've looked at this and thought about this but here when we survey as we begin to come to the end of jacob's life and we look over his life he had deceived remember dying father isaac cheated his brother lived outside the land for years wouldn't come home was a rebellious son. And here we are at the very end, and where is he? Well, really the last thing that we had emphasized was what he said, I will go to my grave in sorrow. That's the end for me. He sits in Hebron right now, real close to the cave that Abraham purchased, where he knew he would soon go in. And the language that has been dominating his life is it's over for me i go to my grave in sorrow he concluded that that was the right that was the just end to the life that he chose he's earned it bad choice after bad choice after bad choice right all of them seem to have questioned what in the turns of life seem to have been a string of events that god was was punishing them why is god doing this to us remember this morning with the sons and now he sits alone all of his sons are gone he has nothing to live for he thinks he's at rock bottom i remember a man who would always say to me in the ministry years ago pastor he says i believe in the lord's goodness but i still i still look back over my past and i i can't get over the things that i've done and here's where i believe tonight we see the pinnacle of grace we see the real story of grace and god's perfect plan for his sheep god's plan unfold everything had been if you look at from his choices and his own choices jacob's a failure in his life but god from the beginning of it all made a promise and god told us something very specific about Jacob before even the first moment out of the womb. Jacob, I've loved. I've chosen this one. This is the one. Did the Lord give up? Did his promises fail to Israel? Romans 9. There's nothing more encouraging in the Bible when it says the God of Jacob is our help, right? The end of Psalm 46 when it says that the God of Jacob is our health there is nothing that's more encouraging than that because at the very end of his life here we are god's not done he's not even close what he's about to do for this man is marvelous and in the scene before you god gives jacob an unveiling of the master plan jacob had lived a long time thinking joseph's gone benjamin's going to be gone the promise where is it i don't see it and right before death he revives his hope and that's why i love this passage a life of sorrow due to his own choices never shook off god's love the ultimate test here of whether somebody could shake up shake off god's love whether somebody could throw it all away is jacob and the lord gives him one of the greatest blessings at the end of his life that before he dies he will see his long lost son what an encouragement for sinners and this is where we pick up tonight when the brothers return from this morning and we look at when joseph had sent them away you can imagine jacob sitting in the tent door, looking out, and all of a sudden in the distance, the dust kicking up, and here come these mighty Egyptian chariots and wagons. Nobody would have come close to touching those wagons and chariots. There was immediate fear when people knew in the land that it was Egyptian. The best chariots, the Escalades, were coming down. And here they come. And they're no longer dressed in rags. Joseph has changed their garments. They're in Egypt's best. I want you to back up for a minute and think with me of the excitement that must have filled the brothers when Joseph revealed himself and when they reconciled and when they wept and they talked for a good long time, everything of their 20-year run in sin was over. All the guilt they had carried in a moment, It was taken away of what they did to their father. And now they get to go and they get to bear the news that his son is alive. The father on one end ready to go to the grave in sorrow. The sons with this glorious gospel news rushing back to tell them God had reversed everything in a moment. And so as we open up and we look then at verse 25 of this, we look here in verse 25, They came to Jacob, and the first words out of their mouth is, the first words, they can't say anything else. They all yell out, Joseph's a lie. And he's the governor over all the land of Egypt. Next words. At the end of 45, is that the father's heart, Jacob's heart, froze. Jacob's heart stood still. He became numb. I wish I could capture that. How did he capture that? The brothers declare that he's alive and their minds had to process it when Joseph revealed himself and now Jacob stands there and this message comes and your first inclination has to be no way. What are you doing to me? You've carried that grief a long time. You've carried that grief a long time. You've carried sorrow and hurt a long time. You don't lift that out that quickly, do you? Nothing is just taken away that quickly, is it? Too good to be true. Can't be. You ever had anything like that? You ever had an experience like that? None of us have ever witnessed the dead rise, have you? Most of our exciting things that happen to us in life are maybe good gifts that we receive or maybe something exciting that happens and a wife change. We get something. Receive a child. But what is so wonderful that when believed, it completely revives your spirit? What is so wonderful that causes a resurrection of the soul? What is? Jacob looks around and he sees the chariots and the rags turned into glory and there's one conclusion that fills his mind. There's one grand conclusion that fills his mind. My son's a lie. He's a lie. And the next thing we read is his spirit revived. I love that. What does that tell you? People carry a lot of anguish. People carry a lot of anguish. Before death, you think about the anguish that he carried around. How many of you have lost sons or daughters? They say that's the worst grief you can ever face. 22 years he carried it. And before death, in one moment, God. Do you notice the name change here? Jacob has been used, and we know that God had changed his name and emphasized that again. And as soon as his spirit revived the next word, then Israel said. And now he's determined to get up and go on one last pilgrimage. This aged old patriarch's going on one last pilgrimage. Before he dies, he's going to gaze his eyes on this son. So chapter 46 begins this great pilgrimage of Jacob to Egypt and all of his family. Now the turn of events is not done. As chapter 46 begins, God didn't just revive his spirit. So you have the revival of his spirit, but something else here begins to happen. We read that Israel takes his journey with all that he had, and he comes to Beersheba. And he offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. Beersheba was 25 miles from where Jacob was in Hebron. It's the southernmost border of the land, and it begins this long stretch of desert that takes you to Egypt. Picture the scene. He's leaving. End of his life. Sons and daughters and livestock are with him, this pilgrim. And he comes and he stops at the border of the land. And can you imagine the emotion of this? You know why that's so emotional? This was a key spot of worship for Abraham and Isaac. Abraham had worshiped here years ago and planted a tree. And right now that tree is standing tall. Well of the oath or well of the seven is what it was called. Full of significance. It was Abraham's key place of worship after he had made the covenant with Abimelech. We read that Abraham worshiped there, Genesis 21. Then Abraham planted a tamarask tree in Beersheba and there called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. Later, his own father would go there, Isaac. Genesis 26, he would dig a well. And the Lord appeared to Isaac that same night and said, I am the God of your father, Abraham. Do not fear for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham's sake. So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there and there Isaac's servants dug a well. What a spot to come. There was something about Beersheba. His father's pitched tents, monuments there. It was a place where the saints had gathered to worship. It was a place where they called on the name of the Lord. He's going to Beersheba for a reason and the text emphasizes it. I can't imagine the fear in leaving the land again. He's been through this. He's old. And the questions of what does this all mean? He doesn't understand this whole picture yet. We have the vantage point of understanding the whole picture. He doesn't get it. He has to process all this. He has to trust. He has to go. You have to be thinking, what is the Lord doing here? Why the revealing now of my son? Why is this son preserved at this point? And your mind's thinking a lot about what the Lord is doing and the only place you get answers is to come into worship. He has to worship. And the text emphasizes that's the thing that's on his mind. First and foremost, he arises and he goes to Beersheba. And I can't imagine the emotions of this. There, his son is in Egypt. Abraham and Isaac stood here and here is his God. The contrast of a life of folly and bad choices with the monuments your fathers have left of faith. All of these fears gripped him, the uncertainties. And as soon as this is all on his mind and he worships, all of a sudden, God speaks. We haven't heard from God a long time in Genesis, have we? Have you thought about the last time God spoke? It's been a long spell of silence. What would you think God would say after all this? Last time he spoke was back in chapter 35 when Jacob was returning from the land of Haran. 22 years of silence in this whole spell. Nothing. And now God speaks. Jacob. Jacob. Every time I find God addressing people like that in the Bible, It's in the midst of the greatest crisis. Samuel, Samuel, Saul, Saul, Abraham, Abraham. In all these circumstances, it was a recognition of the Lord's great power and sovereignty to uphold His sheep and to deliver in the tiniest details of life that calmed the hearts of His sheep. Then God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said Jacob Jacob he said here I am so he said I am God the God of your father do not fear to go down to Egypt for I will make you a great nation there I will go down to Egypt with you and I will surely bring you up again and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes why is that so beautiful after years of suffering at the end of his life what does he do for Jacob he speaks tenderly and he encourages him and he tells him my plan never changed do you ever stop and think about that his plan never changes no matter when it goes this way and that way never changed and even though i understand for you it makes no sense for you to leave the land right now and to go down to egypt you go i'm with you i'll bless you and i'm bringing you back i'll fulfill the word that i spoke to abraham that what a word that requires faith god just reaffirmed everything of the abrahamic promise god just restated it he affirmed the covenant of grace to him that day at the end of his life and said i'm the god of your fathers i led abraham i led abraham out of ur of the chaldean years of threats god preserved that man when he went down to egypt god brought him back i did the same with your father isaac i kept him i'll keep you don't fear i'll be with you that's exactly what god said years ago to jacob at bethel before he began his mess when he was running from the lord and all of the failure along the way didn't annul one thing god had planned to do do you look at life that way do you believe that promise what grace i'll fulfill it he just revived his heart in a moment and he reassured him of the covenant promise what a god what a god and then he gives him the great benefit and highlight of his life a great gift then jacob arose from beersheba verse 5 of chapter 46. Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They took their livestock and their goods which they had gained in the land of Canaan. And they came into Egypt and all of his offspring with him, his sons and his sons' sons. Notice this language here. With him, his daughters and his sons' daughters and all their offspring he brought with him into egypt notice the emphasis on all the scriptures are speaking here to emphasize especially with the number 70 the all all the people that came from his body 70 persons possessions what is being pictured here what is the lord telling us here what's he doing here think about it why is he even having to go down here because the whole things in threat right now the promise and the imagery that we have is god is encapsulating this people who has right now the threat upon them of famine to extinguish them and the iniquity of the amorites which is not yet complete that's another issue he's sheltering jacob and he's carrying them down to egypt and tucking them away in goshen until the time is over and he's going to bring them back with a mighty deliverance and from that body will come they say two million so what do you have here god revives god reassures and then he reunites the grand reunion now comes then he sent judah before him to joseph verse 28 verse 28 and he sent judah ahead of him to joseph to show the way before him in Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel, his father in Goshen. And he presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. Judah leads the way. And who comes out to meet him? Joseph comes in all of his royal splendor and Jacob looks up and here comes this mighty governor, this mighty king of Egypt, riding on the cherry, hosts with him. All of Egypt bowing down to this one. Can you feel the heart beating? Can you feel the anxiety of this meeting? In a moment of utter emotion and joy, Jacob gazes for the first time upon his resurrected son. What a moment. They weep. They fall on each other. They embrace. They talk. And then all the sons are gathered and Joseph settles them into Goshen, giving the best of the land of Ramses, cared for, and provided for. God at the end of Genesis has worked one of the most splendid and glorious deliverances in just the first book. I love stories like this. The affection. You know what my favorite statement is here tonight? It's verse 30. Now let me die since I've seen your face because you're alive. Where do you think I'm going with that? This is not just a nice story that warms hearts. Oh, it's much more than that. I don't know where you are today, but I know this. Every feeling of being displaced in this sad world that Jacob felt, every feeling of sorrow, everything that he saw that happened to him, often by his own choices, and happened in this sad world, the death that he saw of his wife, Rachel, which was one of the greatest griefs of his life, The burdens the man carrying. Many of us have heard the gospel promises all our lives. You've heard them announced to you all your lives. But along the way, depending on what you face, depending on what you've done, depending on just living in this sad world, you grow incredibly cold to them. Maybe your sin discourages, maybe the things that are happening with children, And you think the sorry state of Jacob and his afflictions is so much paralleled to our situation today. We get bitter. We question, where's the promise of God? This seems to be going nowhere. There's no fruit. I don't see how any of this is working out. What did God show you today as a whole? What did God set before you today as a whole? In one moment, in one moment, He turned years of sorrow into absolute joy. and all that former sorrow was forgotten. And he does that for his sheep. Right now, what do I mean? In the midst of discouragements of our sins, what did he do for you today? Well, you came to Beersheba, didn't you? You came to worship. And in this worship service, he displayed for you, and he explained to you, this is why I asked for clarity, the grand plan of his redemption, that you've lost sight of in your lives as you go through constantly. And he's told you in all of the twists and turns, I mean it for good. I promise you that. And he opened up a table this morning. What does the psalm say? Psalm 23, you prepare a table before me in the presence of your enemies and your distresses. And he gives you spiritual food. And he revives your hearts. Well, you should leave here tonight revive. revived in his love revived in his faithfulness but what is the ultimate reason for your revival what was the ultimate reason for jacob's revival the larger story i see your face and i'm ready to die that happened elsewhere didn't it there was an aged old patriarch in israel an old man waiting for the consolation of? And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he saw the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God saying, Lord, now you're letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. Why? for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you've prepared today before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel or Jacob. Now let me die. My joy is fulfilled. I've seen them. Jacob met the Savior foreshadowed that day. A shadow of what is to come, a son from his own body to save him. And it's no coincidence that Judah led the way. His joy is complete. And that's what he does for Jacob at the end of his life. From the beginning, he chose him. At the end, look at the magnitude of blessing to see and gaze upon the eyes of the foreshadowed Savior. And that's what the Lord desires to do for you. this day he revived you by telling you if you heard and believed that even though you crucified the lord of glory god intended all of that for good and he raised him up he's alive so that your then spirit should be raised up and alive anticipating the ultimate resurrection of the body and the life everlasting you should come to him then in worship you should come and sing and bow down and praise him, because he's promised to be with you wherever you go, and wherever he sends you, he's remaining and will ever be your God, and does not change, and he's told you that he's prepared a good land for you. I have gone to prepare a land for you, said Jesus, and I'm coming to take you there, and I'll tuck you away there next to me forever, so that you can gaze upon my face well if you have that and all along the way he's told you i'm with you and i'll protect you and i'll provide for you what do you have to fear fix your eyes on him you've seen him today in the preaching of the gospel and he's called you by name according to his promise he will preserve you to the end and i assure you all of your sorrow will be turned to joy in a moment the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet will all be changed understanding that love and that goodness makes you ready to die by the way it makes you ready to die and because he lives and you know his promise is true, you also know and believe that even though you die, you shall live. I pray you have that kind of faith tonight, and your eyes are fixed upon the Savior. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we realize how weak and worldly we are, and that often the discouragements that we face are due to us not listening, but you come and you speak tenderly to us, and you remind us that You're with us. And that all of the same promises made to Father Abraham that extended to Isaac and Jacob are ours. And that we get to behold the Savior. One day that too will be face to face. Thank You for showing us this. Thank You for encouraging us with this. Revive our spirits, O Lord. Give them life. And would we go forward this week in joy. knowing who we belong to, what we're set apart to, and enjoying you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.