To Those Who Believe

“And He said, I am God, the God of your fathers. Do not fear to go down into Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again. And Joseph shall put his hand on your eyes.” (Genesis 46:3-4)

Joseph had made himself known to his brothers and sent for Jacob, his father, to go him in Egypt where he would provide his father and all his family and the families of his brothers with food from the supply he had wisely stored for Egypt. Although Scripture doesn’t tell us, but it seems Jacob was a little fearful of going to Egypt. We can deduce this because God speaks to him assuring him to go to Egypt. And although he feared, he was already on the way, probably because he wanted to see Joseph who he had mourned for so many years, thinking he had been dead.

God identifies Himself as the God of your fathers. He was speaking about Abraham and Isaac, who had worshipped Him and obeyed Him, Elohim, Yahweh, the only true God. Mentioning that He is the God of his fathers reminds Jacob that God remembers the obedience and faith of his fathers, His promises to them and that these promises were for him also and for his descendants after him. God reminds Jacob that He is with him like He was with Abraham and Isaac and that He will bring them out of Egypt. “And the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.” (Exodus 12:40) God knew it’d be many generations. It was no surprise to Him, although Abraham had no idea, it was promised with the words, “...and I will also surely bring you up again.” When God said “you” He meant him in his descendants. Joseph knew this and had commanded them to take his bones out of Egypt when that time came. “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. For he had strictly sworn the sons of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry my bones away from here with you.” (Exodus 13:19)

What does this say to us? We pray and immediately want a response. Can you imagine that some of our prayers will be answered in God’s time, which may be several generations later? God hears our prayers. “And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (1John 5:14) And if He hears us then we have what we have prayed. “And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” (1John 5:15) But we must also know that God has His perfect time to accomplish His purposes and His will. So, we are to continue praying and believing that God knows the end of all things and that His will and His purposes are perfect. We may not see the answer to our prayers while we are alive, but we can know that we are promised answered prayer. Our petition will be answered in our children or generations later. Why? God knows every man’s heart. “I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:10) We all have free will. And God will wait for the right heart to change the course of our families. We are all given an opportunity to receive God’s promises. He doesn’t force anyone. He wants a willing and loving heart to come to Him. Love is not love if it’s forced.

In His last sentence to Jacob, God says that Joseph will put his hands on his eyes. This means that it will be Joseph who will close his eyes when he dies. This extends the promise that he will not be forsaken in Egypt with strangers, but will be surrounded by his family, he will die in Egypt, and his family will still be in Egypt when he dies. “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. And the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty-seven years.” (Genesis 47:28) The famine was over, but the Israelites stayed in Egypt.

We think of the future in terms of how it just affects us or our family, but God considers the consequences and results of answered prayer on how it will affect not only us, not only our families but those around us and the ripple affect beyond us or our families. Take the enslavement of the Israelites. God spoke to Abraham about it. They would serve in a land that would not be theirs, but God would make them a great nation for the purpose of punishing the Amorites for their wickedness which wasn’t “not yet full,” meaning He was waiting for them to repent or come to the point of no return to righteousness before punishing them. They were destroyed by the Israelites then and their land was given to the Israelites. That is the land of Canaan. “And He said to Abram, You must surely know that your seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs, and shall serve them. And they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also I will judge that nation whom they shall serve. And afterward they shall come out with great substance. And you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” (Genesis 15:13-16) We don’t see things from God’s perspective. He has a wide view of the situation. Our view is narrow.

So concluding, we see the faithfulness of God’s promise to Abraham continuing through Isaac, Jacob and beyond even to today. Where are Abraham’s descendants? And how are they fulfilling God’s will and purposes? It continues in the church. “And to Abraham and to his Seed the promises were spoken. It does not say, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, "And to your Seed," which is Christ. And I say this, A covenant having been ratified by God in Christ, the Law (coming into being four hundred and thirty years after) does not annul the promise, so as to abolish it. For if the inheritance is of Law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by way of promise.” (Galatians 3:16-18) And Paul continues, “But the Scripture shut up all under sin, so that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:22) God’s promise to Abraham continues to all who believe. God is faithful. Abraham’s promises are ours.

Let us pray:

Father God, You are all wisdom, all knowledge and all knowing. I cannot even begin to know the scope of Your might, Your great love and Your great patience with Your created beings. My view is so limited. I only think on the now and on me and what is important to me. But Your great love is for the whole of mankind. My actions and my words affect not only me, not only my family but those around me and beyond. I have no idea the scope of it all. I cannot imagine it and I cannot obtain it here on earth. So, I ask my Lord that I may listen to You through the Holy Spirit and that I may obey so that Your will and purposes be accomplished and fulfilled. I am humbled my Lord because I cannot fully comprehend the scope of Your Goodness.  I love You my Lord and my God. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.