Bible Reading: Genesis 48

In the intervening chapters Moses is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, forgotten and finally ends up as Prime Minister of Egypt.  There he meets his brothers and finally reveals himself to them before bringing the whole family to live in Goshen in Egypt, providing for them during the years of famine.

As chapter 48 opens Jacob is ill about to die, he is the head of the family, the one who 3 times has sent his sons to Egypt, the one to whom God has appeared and made the covenant promises. But he is about to die, so what does the future hold? The family has grown but it’s still only 70 or so and they are in Egypt not the promise land, the future seems very uncertain, how do they face it?

Jacob calls Joseph and begins preparing the family for the future by giving him a history lesson. In fact chapter 48 is Jacob’s testimony to the character and faithfulness of God in his life.

Jacob looks back to the incident in Gen 28 when God appeared to him after he had fled from Esau. (3)He describes God as “God Almighty” or ‘El Shaddai’, it means God the mighty one majestic and glorious. It pictures the sovereignty of God, and it is this God who promised Jacob (v4) “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.”

What follows as Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons is his testimony to God’s goodness. (11)"I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too." As he blesses them God’s character and faithfulness are the bedrock of the blessing. His blessing asks that they would know God(v15-16) and be partakers in the covenant with his family.

It’s a blessing which includes them, sons of Joseph and his Egyptian wife, in the covenant family and gives them the inheritance rights of full children and in which Jacob prays that they would know his God. The God who guided his fathers, who has been his shepherd, guide, provider and protector.

Jacob’s life hadn’t been easy, he described it to Pharaoh as “My years have been few and difficult.” He had fled Esau’s murderous rage, was tricked by Laban into marrying the wrong sister after 7 years of hard labour, then worked 7 more years for Rachel, then had to face Esau, live through the jealous manipulations of his wives, Rachel's death, his daughter's rape, his sons butchering a town in vengeful anger endangering the family.  Then he is told Joseph is dead, then there is the famine which forces him to send Benjamin to Egypt.  But now at the end of his life as he looks back and gives his testimony he can say “God has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm.” It does not mean he has not seen hardship but that God has fulfilled his purposes and plans, God has proven faithful and kept his promises.

As Jacob prepares to die he mediates God’s blessing to his sons because God is faithful and keeps his promises. His testimony is not to an easy life but to God’s faithfulness through life’s ups and downs, high and lows, joys and grief’s. What he wants his family to know above all is God’s presence with them(21) because he is almighty and sovereign, he protects his people and is faithful and keeps his promises.

Jacob trusts God for the future because God has been faithful and that is his character. God’s people must not judge God’s faithfulness by circumstances but by God’s character. We can trust God to bring us through hardship and trouble, through grief and joy. It is because of God’s faithfulness we see in scripture that we can face the future confidently. As you survey the future is it with God in mind, the God who is faithful and keeps his promises to his people?

Jacob’s prayer is that the next generation and the one after will be counted among the covenant people and that they will know God. Is that what we pray for our children? Is it the highest priority we have for them, is that what we are convinced will secure their future? Is it reflected in the time we spend praying, teaching the bible and talking about God with them? Or would they conclude from our living and the things we encourage them to do that being academic, sporty, popular, good looking, married, rich, or something else is the key to a secure future?

As Stephen preaches to the council he is calling them to see the faithfulness of God that ultimately leads to the promised coming of Jesus.  The ultimate expression of God's love and faithfulness and sovereignty in working all things for his purposes and to bring blessing for his people and the world by faith in him.

Bible Reading: Genesis 37

Stephen continues his historical salvation overview as he focuses on the events of Joseph's life.  Here we see God working through the sin and slop of a dysfunctional family to keep his promises to Abraham.  The most repeated word in the chapter is “Brother/s”, it appears 20 times. But there is an irony in its use here, these are brothers divided, brothers who tell tales, brothers who hate, brothers who are jealous, brothers who plot, and brothers who deceive.  And it isn’t just this generation, they just like their Father, Jacob, and Esau.

Jacob's blatant favouritism for Joseph, he even provides a permanent reminder of it in the form of the robe, provokes hatred (v4, 8), and jealousy(v11) in his others sons.  They are brothers but they are divided. Just like Jacob and his brother Esau, and just as Esau plans to kill Jacob so they plot to murder Joseph.

Favouritism and hatred flow from one generation to another, and that’s not all. (31-33)The brothers decide to make a little money selling Joseph instead of killing him and then they set up an elaborate deception. These verses are loaded with irony as Jacob whose name means deceiver is deceived by his sons. It’s heightened by the means his sons use to deceive him, Joseph’s robe and a goat - an echo of Jacob's deceit of Isaac (Gen 27v15-16).  We see the pervasive nature of sin in our nature but also passed from parent to child to grandchild, even in the family of promise.

Sometimes in a film there aren’t any likeable characters, no matter how hard you try you just can’t feel anything for any of them. Genesis 37 is like that. Jacob is insensitive to his sons, shows blatant favouritism, and fails to discipline his children. Reuben the first born is weak, he wants to do what is right but lacks the guts to challenge his brothers. Judah is the natural leader but plots to sell Joseph not save him because (v26)we might as well make some money out of this – and if he’s sold as a slave he is as good as dead(v26).  And even Joseph who is the best of a bad lot is a tale tell; (v2)rushing back to bring an embellished bad report about his brothers to his dad, at best insensitive and a little foolish in revealing his dream to his brothers not once but twice.

How on earth can these be the descendants of Abraham? How can this be the seed from which the holy nation, a people to please God will spring? They are divided and sinful, and God has not once been on their lips or seemingly in their thoughts in the chapter. How can this be the line through which the seed will come?

But God is a God of grace and he is at work in this family, overruling their sinful plans and working them to his ends, revealing his purposes and plans in his dreams to Joseph. Ensuring that Joseph is delayed long enough that the brothers will sit down for lunch before killing him, and ensuring that the Ishmaelites will save Joseph from death and carry him to Egypt.

(Gen 50:20) “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives”. God is sovereignly working out his plan through the sinful actions of this family, it doesn't justify them or ease the pain of loss but simply magnifies God’s sovereignty and his faithfulness to his word and to his promises.

God works evil to his will, just think about Jesus death. God uses the evil actions of Judas, the hatred, jealousy and plotting of the Jewish leaders to bring about salvation in Jesus Christ on a far greater scale than he is doing here with Joseph.

But God is not just working on the large scale God is working on individuals, God is teaching and training Joseph, he is changing Judah so that they become very different individuals. The family of faith are fractured and fighting and failing but God is at work he is faithful and sovereign.

It may not look like it as chapter 37 closes, as Jacob wails inconsolably, Judah and his brothers look to have got away with it, and Joseph is sold to Potiphar in Egypt. But, God is worth trusting in, he is faithful to his word – even when circumstances indicate otherwise God is worth trusting, he works even evil for his will.

How do we judge the faithfulness of God? We have to be honest, often it is by our circumstances, we equate things going well with enjoying God’s favour. And things going badly as if it is out of his control. But it is not by circumstances. God keeps his promises even though they look fragile in Genesis 37. Joseph learns that God is working for good for those that love him, through evil and the pain of loneliness, separation and fear.

Trust God, he will keep his promises and he is working for the good of his people even through trying, painful and messy circumstances. God is faithful to his people, working through the imperfect changing them to be what he would have them be.

Do you ever feel like God could never work through you? There is great encouragement here as we see Joseph is a flawed hero. Yet God uses his flawed people so that he gets the glory. Our response must be to stay what a great and gracious God. Previous sin does not mortgage our serving God, but God in his sovereignty and grace works through flawed people. That is the great news of the gospel – the whole message of the bible – God chooses undesirable people and changes them through faith in Jesus. We are just like this dysfunctional family but God works with this kind of material through grace, teaching us and training us through circumstances as he works even what was intended for evil to shape his people to live for his glory.

Bible Reading: Genesis 22

As we do a quick survey of Abraham's life and faith we come to Genesis 22.  If Genesis 12 is one of the highlights - full of promises and grace, then chapter 22 is one of the nasties. It’s an incident that horrifies and challenges us, but the question is what does it have to teach us?  In Genesis 21:1-4 we see Isaac born, at last the son of promise is here, the son of the covenant, the one God has said he will keep his promises through. But then you read 22:1-2 and God’s second call to Abraham, a call this time not to leave everything, but to give his son. “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac - and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on the mountain that I will show you.” It is an astonishing thing to ask.

(1)“God tested Abraham”. The big question is; does Abraham believe God’s promises? Will he have faith in God’s word and live in the light of it?  It is not when everything is easy that we see the reality of faith and trust in God but in hardship and difficulty. In hardship we see what is really in Abraham’s heart.  That is so often the way for us as well as Abraham, it is when we are threatened with something loss that we see our true attachment to it.

There is a tension in this chapter that we are meant to feel as we read it, it is there at the end of verse 2 as we ask will Abraham do it? Will he entrust himself and his son to God’s word?  It is there in verse 3 as he saddles up the donkey and sets off – will he do it?  In verse 5 as they leave the servants with the words “We will worship and then we will come back.” Will they?  As Abraham and Isaac head up the mountain alone and Isaac speaks “Father… The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Will Abraham turn back? Will he trust God, will he worship by following his word? “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”  It builds to a crescendo as he ties Isaac's hands lays him on top of the wood and lifts the knife in his hands.

Abraham will worship God, he will listen to and obey his word, as the angel of the LORD calls out urgently “Abraham! Abraham!...Do not lay a hand on the boy… Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”  There is nothing that rivals God in Abraham’s heart, and he trusts God’s promises totally.  Hebrews 11:17-19 highlights this, telling us Abraham believed that God could even raise Isaac from the dead. His faith resulted in action, in obedience to God’s word and that is worship.

Listening to God’s word and responding by faith is the mark of the true worshipper. Worship draws on the revealed character and word of God and rubs it into every day circumstances.  Abraham believes the promises of chapter 12, the covenant ceremony of chapter 15 and the circumcision sign of chapter 17.  Our worship must be like Abraham’s it is faith in action seen by living in the light of God’s promises. Am I being obedient to God even when it will be costly, even when it will cost me?

But there is also here a Picture of the cost of redeeming worshippers  God’s people worship him in response to grace and by obeying his word, that worship is faith in action.  But this story is also a signpost pointing forward to how God will fulfil his plan.

Places matter in the Bible. Moriah becomes the site of the temple, it is as Abraham calls it The LORD will provide. It becomes the site on which offerings for sin are made again and again. How is Isaac’s sacrifice described? A burnt sacrifice, in Hebrew an ‘Olah’. It’s the same word used to describe the burnt offering of atonement that became a central feature of the substitutionary sacrifice that was foundational to Israel’s worship. The Jews looked back on this incident as the foundation of the sacrifice, God provided the lamb as a substitute for Isaac, as happened again and again in the temple.

In John 1:29 John the Baptist sees Jesus and says “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”  John 3:16 tells us that God gave his one and only son – echoing the words God says to Abraham.  And at the end of the gospels God’s only son whom he loved climbs a hill near Moriah with wood on his back to be the substitute, to be the lamb who would die for the sins of others, to be the one the LORD would provide. Who died, the perfect worshipper, in place of the imperfect to enable us to worship God by grace. And whom God received back from the dead.

It’s only when we understand this – that we know God held nothing back for us at Calvary that we will be able to live by faith. That we will be able to trust that whatever God calls us to do is for our good, though it may not be comfortable or easy.

Do you notice how this chapter ends? God renews his covenant with Abraham, all the promises are Abraham's by grace.

We can trust the promises of God.  We can worship God as we live by faith, acting on the word of God.  We can do so because we look again at the cross – God sent his son and raised him to life again so that we live by faith – so that we worship him who gave everything for us.

It is no wonder Stephen can stand and trace his faith back to Abraham and through to Jesus.

Bible Reading: Genesis 15

Stephen, in Acts 7, is taking the religious leaders of the council, before whom he is on trial, through the history of Israel to prove that he is not a blasphemer but is simply following the trajectory of their faith.  That his belief is in the same God and his plans and promises made to Abraham and the Patriarchs and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

In Genesis 12 you see the great Quad Promise: People, Place, Protection and Plan.  In Genesis 15 we see it reiterated and expanded.  It is not that these are the two times that God appears to Abram, rather as we saw in chapter 12 Abram takes this journey with God, he enjoys an ongoing relationship with God.  Chapter 15 zeroes in initially on the people promise, the promise of a son(1-6), and ends with this verse "And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteous."  Abram wasn't righteous by default, he was righteous by grace.  He wasn't righteous by his actions he was righteous by faith in the promise God made.  Abram's faith is just like Stephen's, just like ours, not earned but credited.

In verses 7 and 8 the focus shifts on to the promise of land.  How can Abram be certain that his descendants will inherit the land?  God does something amazing, certainly it would have astounded the Israelites as they read of Yahweh's actions here in the years post Exodus.  Yahweh is a God unlike any other.  Yahweh makes a covenant with Abram, but it isn't a covenant that bilateral.  God alone is the one who passes through the corridor of carcases all so that Abram can "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there... And they welcome back here in the fourth generation..."  God provides staggering detail of events in the future, some four generations away, showing Abram how he will act in history.  And (17-21) as the sun sets God seals the covenant as the smoking firepot and flaming torch pass between the offerings.  God solemnly swears to do what he has promised.  And God keeps his word, he is faithful.  And faith banks God's promise certain that he will do what he has said.

God holds history in his hands, he is sovereign and rules and reigns, he can be trusted to keep his word.  To Israel post exodus as they journey to that promised land what an encouragement.  To Stephen it is an encouragement that God kept his promises to Abraham, and to the people, and that has led him to faith in Jesus the end point of those promises.  Faith banks God's promises and lives in the light of them.  As God's people we similarly can trust God and the promises he has made to us because they sealed once for all not in his passing through a corridor of carcases but in the far greater covenant sealed with the blood of his Son.

Seeing the unexpected

When we think about Genesis 37-50 which characters automatically stand out? Joseph is the obvious answer after all he is the only one with a musical based on him. Jacob stands out as the one whose chronology it is. But I think I've always been a bit blinded to Judah's role in the story and of his transformation throughout the story, from the one who plots the sale of Joseph, who leaves his brothers so he can live like a Canaanite - by his appetites, to the one who offers himself in Benjamin's place and ultimate established the line which through David will lead to Christ. Judah is a real testament to God's grace and its transformational power, and a reminder of what we were and are now and why we have no room for boasting except in the cross of Christ.

Interesting patterns in Genesis

Sometimes when you read things through you miss repeated patterns that flow from chapter to chapter or even generation to generation. In studying Genesis 37-38 I've been amazed at how many there are.

Deceit - Jacob is a well known deceiver, but he himself is then deceived by his sons into believeing Joseph is dead. But the pattern continues as Tamar then deceives Judah.

Robe - contrary to Lloyd Webber it is not of many colours, but robe does feature a lot. Jospeh is given a robe, is disrobed and then his robe is used in the elaborate deceit of his father. Jacob himsefl deceived his dad using on of Esau's robes.

Goat - In Jacob's great deceit of his father he uses a goat to cover his smooth skin. His sons use the blood of the goat to convince him Joseph is dead, and in chapter 38 a goat is what is promised the disguised Tamar for allowing Judah to sleep with her.

That is to name just three. Its fascinating to watch the skillful way the bible is crafted chapter by chapter.

Bible nasties

I preached Genesis 38 this morning and have really enjoyed preparing and exploring one of the Bible's nasties. Here are my notes, though you can find the audio at http://www.graceinthecommunity.org/.

Genesis 38 – Failed Family Values
Just after World War 2 at Portsmouth dockyard a Ministry of Defence policeman stopped a worker walking out of the gates pushing a wheelbarrow with a suspicious package in it. The policeman opened the package but it contained nothing but bits of rubbish, sawdust and floor-sweepings. He let the man go.

The next day he stopped the same worker again pushing a wheelbarrow containing a suspicious package. Once more it contained nothing of any value. The same thing happened several days on the trot, until the policeman finally said, 'OK, I give up. I know you are up to something, but I can't tell what. Please, I promise not to arrest you, but put me out of my misery; tell me what you are stealing." The worker smiled, leaned towards him and whispered: "I'm stealing wheelbarrows."

Sometimes we miss the most obvious things because we’re too focused on the details, that’s true with Genesis.

Offspring is the key to understanding Genesis. The two big promises (Gen 3:15) of one who would crush Satan’s head and (Gen 12)of people, place, protection and a plan to bless all nations both depend on offspring, on the family line continuing. Last week we saw the beginnings of Jacob’s line; 12 sons but as yet that is where the line stops. No offspring means no promises, that is the context of these chapters; it’s what makes the story so important; it’s about salvation history.

1. Fitting in leads to falling down
In Gen 12 God calls Abram to leave his country, people and Father’s house, to separate from them and live differently. From then on when people like Lot fail to separate themselves it doesn’t end well. When Abraham and Sarah want a wife for Isaac they send a servant to find one from their own people not the Canaanites, the same with Jacob whereas Esau marries Canaanite wives who displease his parents.

The Canaanites are under God’s judgement because of their sin, God’s people, the family of promise are called to live separately from them and to be different.

It’s against that backdrop that we read(1-2), what does Judah do? He leaves his brothers, goes down to live with Canaanites, befriends a Canaanite, and marries a Canaanite.

What strikes you as you read is; Judah is no different to those he lives among; he is governed by his passions and appetites. Even the description of his marriage in Hebrew reads “He saw, he took”, lust seems to govern even his marriage. He feels no shame about rashly sleeping with a prostitute, only worry at the embarrassment it may cause if discovered.

But it isn’t just Judah who is no different. We saw last week the sins repeated from generation to generation, and here we see the same again. Judah is no different from those around him and his children are no different. Er is put to death because he is wicked. His brother, Onan, will not carry out his duty by fathering children to continue his brother’s line and deliberately spills his seed, so he too dies for his wickedness.

Judah and his family are no different from the Canaanites they live among, living by their appetites and doing what they want. Judah’s sin is highlighted even more by the account of Joseph’s purity when Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce him.

But before we pass judgement too quickly on Judah we need to beware lest we condemn ourselves. Just as Judah looked no different to the society he lived among, just as he absorbed their values and morals, does the church stand out; have we absorbed society’s morals and values?

Statistics show that 1 in 5 people in church struggle with pornography, divorce rates in the church are little different from those outside the church and increasingly attitudes to who to marry and sex before marriage are moulded by society rather than the bible.

Before we condemn Judah and the family we need to look at how alike we are. Just as Judah soaks in the Canaanite culture so we soak up our culture, just as Judah absorbs and lives by their values so do we, just as Judah fails to stand out and be different do we?

This passage calls us not to pass judgement but to repent, to be different, to live distinctively as God’s people. Where are we absorbing society’s values and morals? It’s in what we watch, what we read, what we listen to and what we absorb unthinkingly from them without thinking through what the bible has to say about this. Fitting in leads to falling down, and it affects our families.

2. Know your God
Sometimes you think you know someone and then they say or do something that surprises you.
Genesis is here to reveal God to Israel and to us, to teach God’s people who he is, what he’s like, his plans and what he wants from his people. There are 4 things about God.

a. God judges Sin
I wonder what your reaction was to(7, 10), was the question ‘What right does God have to put them to death?’ If it was it reveals to us that we don’t know God.
We have the same problem that Judah has, look at(11) who does Judah blame for his sons deaths? Tamar, that’s why he has no intention of giving Shelah to her, it’s as if he thinks she is cursed. He doesn’t think it is because of his son’s wickedness and he has no room in his thinking for a God who judges sin.

God judges sin, that doesn’t means every death is the result of God judging specific individuals sins. But God hates sin and he judges it justly, both Judah’s sons despise and reject God. Sometimes people say well that’s the God of the Old Testament the God of the New is different, yet in Acts Ananias and Sapphira and Herod are put to death because of their sin, and supremely in Christ we see that God judges sin as he bears it in our place.

God is a holy God who hates sin and has every right to judge those who rebel against him.

b. God is Sovereign
God is also sovereign and that sovereignty is magnified by his being at work amidst the sin of this failing family, as God works to keep his promises, securing the family line.

Even as Judah leaves his brothers, marries a Canaanite, breaks his word, beds a prostitute, and hastily and hypocritically condemns his daughter-in-law to death, God is ensuring his promise of a seed who will crush Satan’s head, who will establish a people, place, protection and plan to bless all nations will come to pass.

It doesn’t justify any of the characters actions, the bible reports them it doesn’t recommend them, sin is serious and we see God’s hatred of it and his just judgement of it. But God works sovereignly amid the sin and slop turning it to his ends.

We serve a God so sovereign that his purposes cannot be averted or twisted by his people’s sin and rebellion to them. So sovereign that he can even work sin and evil to his ends, who will keep his word and crush Satan through his promised seed.

Isn’t that a great encouragement. God works for our good and his glory even through sin and wickedness.

c. God of grace
Who does God use? How do you answer that question? We tend to think God uses worthy people, good people. But the bible surprises us because it reveals the sinners God uses.
Abraham is an idol worshipper, Jacob a deceiver, David the least impressive and regal of Jesse’s sons, Jonah a racist who doesn’t understand grace, Matthew a Tax Collector, Paul a persecutor of God’s people.

1 Cor 1:26f “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”

Certainly that’s true here. Tamar is widowed, neglected, isolated, mistreated, betrayed, and yet it is through this Canaanite who risks her life that God ensures the family line continues.

And God uses Judah, Judah goes on to become the head of the tribe from which the serpent crusher will come. God in his grace works to change Judah, (26)is the turning point as he confesses his sin. The later part of ch38 is some 20 years after the events of ch37, and shortly before the brothers go to Egypt to buy food, and God is working to change Judah. A change that we see when Judah this murderous, callous, appetite driven, Canaanite copying man is so changed that he offers his life for Benjamin’s so that Jacob does not lose him and die.
What accounts for such a change in Judah’s character? It is this incident through which God works by grace to bring him to confess his sin and change.

Sometimes we have to be confronted with the depth of our sin and its consequences before we will change. But grace not merit determines God’s people and their fitness to serve, so that we have no grounds for boasting but in the grace of God.

The meal we’ll share in a minute reminds us of that – we are sinners saved by the grace of God, with no reason to boast but every reason to praise God and thank him.

d. God will bless all nations
This chapter closes with what? The birth of twins. God takes the slop and sin, the lust and lies, the deceit and despair and works it to his ends, so that the offspring are born and the line continues. And as Ruth 4 shows it is from Perez’s line that king David comes, and as Matthew 1 shows from Perez’s line that Jesus is born the one through who all nations will be blessed, the one in whom every promise is fulfilled.

What is your God like? Our God is a God who hates sin and will judge it, who is sovereign and even sin and rebellion cannot stay his promises, who treats us according to grace so that we cannot boast, and who will bless all nations.

How ought we to respond to such a God? We ought to live lives that bring him glory not fitting in and falling down but standing out and shouting out his praise, confident that he is sovereign and will bless all nations.