Passing On the Promises

Transcript

GR 1714
02/23/2014
Passing on the Promises
Hebrews 11:17-22
Gil Rugh

Hebrews 11 and the surety of the promises of God. When God speaks it is as good as already accomplished. What He had promised thousands of years ago is just as sure and settled as past history. We look forward to and anticipate what He will do in the future. It’s very important that we take literally the truths and promises of God and His Word. And there are various ways that people turn away from taking the Word of God at face value. Obviously we have figures of speech and so on, but we take it in the normal way. When Jesus says, I am the door, we don't think He became a piece of wood on a hinge. That's not what literal interpretation is. But He was signifying something literal—He is the only way of access, you must come through Him to the Father. And all the promises of God are settled and sure.

And that's what the writer to the Hebrews is reminding his readers of in Hebrews 11. He has spent the first ten chapters reminding them of what God has accomplished on their behalf in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And that work of Christ, both His person and His work are far superior to anything that had been provided in Judaism. That just anticipated the coming of the One who could be the ultimate high priest, the ultimate sacrifice for sins. But the trials and pressures of life press in upon all of us, and they were pressing in on these Jewish believers. You have a local church comprised primarily of Jewish believers that have been battered with persecutions and opposition and it doesn't look like it is going to get any better. They are contemplating turning back, away from their faith and faithfulness to Christ.

The point being made is, there is no turning back. When you place your faith in Christ and the promises God has given in Him, that is not just a point in time that we identify, I trusted Christ. I'm glad I have that taken care of, now I get on with my life. No, that is the beginning of new life, a life of faith, a life lived believing the promises of God, a life lived in light of what God has promised.

In Hebrews 11 we have a series of examples drawn from the Old Testament. We have been focusing on Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are the patriarchs of Israel, the founding fathers of the nation. Abraham was the one to whom the original promises in the Abrahamic Covenant were given. Then they were passed on to his son Isaac and his son Jacob. The point being in these examples is these men never received the fulfillment of what God promised. They lived their entire lives believing God would do what He promised, but never having the opportunity to personally realize it. He used Abraham as an example in verses 8-12, and in that example of Abraham he also mentioned Isaac and Jacob, the son and grandson of Abraham. And Abraham is the example of faith. He is going to pick him up again in verse 17, then he'll move on to Isaac and Jacob, climaxing with Joseph, and we'll talk about him shortly.

In the middle of this discussion which we looked at last time in verses 13-16 he broke off on talking about the individual expressions of faith to talk about their overall focus as men who had their faith in the promises of God. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived their lives believing that God would fulfill and accomplish all that He promised. But you understand they all died with nothing more to hold onto than what God promised. So as verse 13 said, all these died in faith without receiving the promises. All they had was God's promise and their faith that God would do what He promised. They saw the promises in verse 13, what he means having seen them, they saw them because God said here is what I am going to do. They saw like we have seen the glory that will be ours when we are called into His presence. I've seen it because God has unfolded it. I've seen it in His Word and His promise but I haven't seen it with my physical eyes. They have seen the promises. They welcomed them from a distance. They are still looking into the future. Down the road I see what God has promised. I'm looking forward to entering into all that He has promised.

Verse 16 said as it is they “desire a better country.” We noted that's a better homeland, a heavenly one. We're not talking about the promises no longer focused on an earthly land, a physical land with a physical city. A heavenly country is a country established by the God of heaven. In the Gospels there are two parallel expressions. They are used interchangeably—the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. They are referring to the same thing, the kingdom that God will establish, the kingdom that will be established by heaven. We use similar expressions today. We talk about what is coming out of Washington, often referring to the decisions of the President who is identified with Washington. We sometimes talk about the White House, again talking about the one who resides there. So when we talk about a country that is a heavenly one, some mistakenly think this means Israel has no future promise in a physical, earthly land. No. What these patriarchs were willing to wait on was when God provided them the homeland and, the end of verse 16, “the city that He prepared for them.” And they would know. They are living in tents, but when they have the city that God builds for them as it said in verse 10, “the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God,” this is not just some picture of a spiritual heaven. This is talking about a literal city in an earthly land. But this promise will not be fulfilled until God Himself builds it and establishes it. So be sure you are clear on that.

I was reading an article here recently and the man does not believe in the literal interpretation of the promises of God, and claims to be a believing Christian. He said, God made a covenant with Abraham. The main promise clearly is not the giving of the land for he, referring to Abraham, waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Rather the main promise is to be God to you and your descendants after you. In other words we wipe out everything but the fact God said, I will be your God. And he quotes Hebrews 11:10, “he is looking for a city which had foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Of course, who is going to build the New Jerusalem? Who is going to establish the kingdom of God on the earth? I mean, they are looking for a heavenly country for their homeland, they're looking for the city that God has constructed for them, and as we'll see in Hebrews 12, comes down out of heaven and resides on the earth. It is the capital of the world and the center of God's reign.

That's their focus. Now he is ready to turn back to individual specific examples of their faith and he picks up again with Abraham. “By faith Abraham,” verse 17. So in verse 8 we had “by faith Abraham left his homeland, his country in Ur of the Chaldeans and went out, not knowing where he was going.” God was going to bring him into the land of Canaan. Verse 9, by faith he lived in that land that God had promised him without ever owning anything but a gravesite. But he still believed that God would do what He promised. And by faith, verse 11, and we noted there is a little change here. “It was by faith Abraham received power to lay down seed and conceive a son, even with barren Sarah.”

Now we come to perhaps the greatest example of all. No wonder Abraham is known as the man of faith. Any of these examples of living his life having nothing but trusting in what God had promised is significant. But I think without doubt the greatest example of Abraham's faith was when he was tested by God to see if he put God above his most precious son, Isaac. So verse 17 says, “by faith Abraham when he was tested,” and this is the only example in the examples of Hebrews 11 who specifically says he was being tested by God. “By faith Abraham when he was tested, offered up Isaac.” And he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten. It was he to whom it was said, in Isaac your descendants will be called. So we're going to have Abraham in verses 17-19 as the example of faith. And then in verse 20 we'll have Isaac; then in verse 21 we'll have the son of Isaac, Jacob; and then in verse 22 we'll have one of the sons of Jacob, Joseph. And you'll note we had verses 8-12 focusing on Abraham and we have verses 17-19 focusing on Abraham. And then in just summary fashion we have Isaac and an example of his life, in verse 21 Jacob and then Joseph. Because the basic person is Abraham, he's the one to whom the promises were given. They will be passed on to his descendants. But key to passing this blessing on and seeing the fulfillment of the promise is Isaac.

“By faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac.” And Isaac is so important so he said, “he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten.” He connects the two. Abraham had received the promises but now he has to offer up as a sacrifice his only begotten. That word does not mean the only one born to him. Isaac was not the only son that Abraham had. He is not even the first son or oldest son that Abraham had. Monogenes, only begotten, he is the only one of his kind. He is unique. He's the only one in whom the promises can be fulfilled. Abraham had a son Ishmael, but Ishmael could not be the one through whom the promises would come. It had to be Isaac. So the stress here is the greatness of the test of Abraham's faith. And it is stressed again in verse 18, he is the one, Isaac, “in Isaac your descendants shall be called.”

Come back to Genesis 22 where this account is recorded. Before we look into this account, I want you to back up into Genesis 21. Here is where Abraham had fathered a son, Ishmael, with Hagar, a servant of his wife. And then he fathered Isaac, the son of promise with his wife Sarah. Then there is conflict and so Ishmael is going to have to leave the home and be sent away. And God tells him, that's okay, look at Genesis 21:12 for a moment. And God said to Abraham, “do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid, having to send Ishmael and Hagar away. Whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her.” Some wives have taken this verse to be ongoing and there is good reason for us as husbands to pay attention. There are times it would be serious error not to listen, but that's not what this is about. The last statement is what we are looking for—“for through Isaac your descendants shall be called.” There is only one way that the promises that I have given you, Abraham, will realize fulfillment, and that will be through the line of Isaac. You are passing on through Isaac.

Then you come to Genesis 22. “Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham.” And that's what we had in Hebrews 11, “by faith Abraham when he was tested by God did this.” So God tested Abraham and called his name, Abraham. He said, here I am. He said, “take now your son,” and note how this is emphasized—“take now your son, your only son.” He's the monogenes, he's the only one of his kind, he's unique, he's the only one through whom the promises can be fulfilled. “So take your son, your only son whom you love.” He's not only unique in the sense that the promises can only be fulfilled through him, he's the son of your greatest love. And now, who do I mean? Isaac, you take him. “You go to the land of Moriah and you offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you.” Unbelievable. I mean, can God be serious? Maybe I'm having a nightmare. Can this really be God speaking? Is He serious? Did He read Genesis 21, what He told me earlier? Through Isaac your descendants shall be named. He's the son of promise, Sarah and I waited so long and now you want me to take him to the place you tell me and offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you. You know there is no fill-in between verses 2 and 3. So for months Abraham pleaded with God not to do this, for months Abraham argued with God . . . for months . . . No.

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, took two of his young men who would have been the servants, with him, and Isaac his son. He split wood for the burned offering. He is serious about this. God spoke, there is no need for discussion here. He said a burnt offering, we'll need wood. We won't say, drag it out, maybe when we get there we won't be able to find enough wood and we'll have a problem. I'm taking the wood with me, I'm taking the fire with me. He split wood for the burnt offering, rose and went to the place which God had told him. On the third day, three days. I mean, what kind of conversation do you have with your son here? What do you talk about? What's on your mind? Maybe I won't be able to find the place, maybe God will change His mind. It's hanging over Abraham.

“On the third day Abraham raised his eyes, saw the place that God had appointed from a distance. Abraham said to the young men, you stay here with the donkey; I and the lad will go over there and we will worship and return to you.” Here you get a glimpse of Abraham's faith. Abraham knew what God had said, God keeps His Word, His promises center in Isaac. So he doesn't say to the young servants, you remain here; I and the lad will go over there and we will worship and I will return to you. No, he said, we will return to you. Abraham never wavers in the promise of God and the promise of God centers in the son of promise, Isaac. But that doesn't mean he thinks God is going to change His mind.

Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and took in his hand the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on. I mean, you didn't have matches and lighters so you took the coals and that with you and kept them stirred up. He is ready to do this. He not only has to put the knife into his son, he has to then put the wood and have the wood arranged under him and light it and watch his son be burned…the body of his son. You think, oops, I forgot the fire, I'll have to go back. No, I'm ready. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, laid his son on it, took in hand the fire and the knife and the two of them walked on together.

Then Isaac has a question. So he hasn't explained to Isaac where we are going and what we're going to do. To Isaac this may be just a bonding time for Dad and son. But he has a question. We came out here together, 3-day journey to make a special offering to the Lord. Interesting, the home life of Isaac, evidently this doesn't strike him as strange, that we would go off with a special purpose of honoring God with a sacrificial worship. So he has a question and Abraham responds. He said, “my father;” Abraham said, “here I am, my son.” He said, “we have the fire, we have the wood, we forgot the lamb. We don't have something to sacrifice.” Abraham has a great answer. Verse 8, his faith permeates everything. “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” But in his heart he knows Isaac is supposed to be that lamb, the provision of God. But it is in God's hands, assuming that it is going to be Isaac. All Isaac needs to know is what God provides will be the sacrifice.

They get to the place which God had told them. Abraham built the altar, arranged the wood. It was all ready so when you kill the sacrifice you can light the wood. He built the altar, arranged the wood, bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on the wood. No discussion here. You know, God tells us what we need to know, not all the details. What kind of conversation when Abraham is tying Isaac up and binding him and laying him on the altar that they have built together. What are they talking about? He has to tell him, you are the lamb God has provided, Isaac.

“Then Abraham stretched out his hand, took the knife to slay his son and the angel of the Lord said, Abraham, Abraham. Here I am.” Same thing he said when God called the first time, I'm listening. And note what he says here, crucial. “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, do nothing to him,” note the last part of verse 12, “for now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, the only one like him, from Me.”

Come down to verse 16, again the angel of the Lord will speak. “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord,” and you are aware the angel of the Lord is the preincarnate Christ. “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and not withheld your son, your only son. Indeed I will bless you,” and He reiterates the promise to Abraham in the covenant. What was the test here? We say, this is a cruel thing. I mean, how do you get over this? We were talking at the retreat, did Isaac have nightmares for months? Every time he closed his eyes to go to sleep he saw his father ready to come down with the knife. I mean, we read all kinds of things in this. God trying to create turmoil in this family? No, there need be no turmoil; you just do what I tell you and trust Me. Isaac is getting a good lesson here. You trust God and do what He tells you, you obey Him, you don't question Him, you don't point out that He is making a mistake. You just do what He says and let Him solve His own problems, so to speak, because it's not a problem for Him. It's a problem for us. How is God going to deal with this? It's not a problem. But Abraham has to demonstrate that as precious as Isaac is to him, God has to be more important, God has to take precedence over everyone and everything.

Come over to Matthew 10, just as an example. We say, I'm glad God never asks of me, requires of me such a thing. But He does. In fact He says if we don't have the same attitude as Abraham demonstrated we cannot be His followers. Matthew 10:37, Jesus is speaking, “he who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.” Remember who spoke to Abraham back in Genesis 22—the angel of the Lord. Do you know who the angel of the Lord is? He is the pre-incarnate Christ in the Old Testament. And now we have the incarnate Christ speaking basically the same thing. If you love your son or daughter more than Me, you cannot be My disciple, you cannot be My follower. Abraham, you were tested to see if you love Me more than you love your beloved son. So understand the demands placed upon us. We are not saved by our works, but you must understand if you come to God for His salvation, you must let go of everyone and everything else. He must have absolute, total priority. You are placing your faith in Him and Him alone, no conditions, no qualifications. I'm letting go of everyone and everything. My faith is in the person of Jesus Christ and the work He has accomplished for me on the cross. And it's not a matter now, I'm glad I've done that, I can get on. Now that is the course of my life from that point on. I live in total trust in Him and the truth of His Word, no matter if it costs me every family member, my parents, my children, my reputation. My faith is in Him and my obedience and loyalty is to Him. And my love is demonstrated by my faithful obedience to Him. This is serious business. We look at Abraham and say, I'm glad God wouldn't require that of me. But He does. Abraham was not required to go through with the sacrifice, but he had to demonstrate, God, you are more precious to me than my own son, the son that I love, the unique son. If you say you must give him up, I'll give him up. It's in your hands.

Come over to James 2. There is one other time in the New Testament besides our passage in Hebrews 11 where this action of Abraham with his son is mentioned, we're going to James 2. And the context here is you are saved by faith but genuine saving faith always produces works. In other words saving faith is the beginning of a life of faith. So your faith and trust in God is manifested in the way you live your life. Verse 17, “so faith if it has no works is dead, being by itself.” You are not saved by your works, but if you have saving faith, “if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, a new creation. The old things have gone away, new things have come.” I have a new life, “the life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me,” Paul wrote to the Galatians. We are saved by faith, faith alone. And now we live by that faith in the promises and commands of God.

Someone may say, verse 18, “you have faith, I have works. Show me your faith without the works, I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one. Good for you, the demons believe that.” But they have no life of faith. They are not trusting in Him for salvation. They just recognize the reality, they knew who Jesus Christ was, they confronted Him in His earthly ministry and said, “we know who you are, the Holy One of God. Have you come to torment us before the time?” But they weren't saved. Having factual knowledge about something does not bring you salvation. Saving faith is when you let go of everything and place your trust in Him, believing what He has said and submitting to it.

Verse 20, “are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, faith without works is useless?” Here is our example. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?” You see that faith was working with his works and as a result of the works, faith was perfected and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. You have to understand that in the context. Abraham was declared righteous by God, the quote in verse 23 is from Genesis 15 and that before Isaac was ever born. But years and years later Abraham is still walking, believing God and obeying God because he believes Him. And if you believe He is God and you are His slave, you do what He tells you.

So when it says “the Scripture was fulfilled,” it's just a demonstration of what God had said many years earlier, when He declared Abraham righteous because Abraham believed in Him. Didn't change. Years later when God tells Abraham something, Abraham believes God. Just demonstrating God's original declaration was correct because someone who truly believes in God and His Word and His provision is declared righteous. Fifty years later, he’s still believing. We're going to find Abraham 100 years after God's original promise to him, and do you know what? He is still believing God, and doing what God says. Here he is before that time, doing the same thing.

Come back to Hebrews 11:19, “he considered that God.” What was Abraham thinking? Now the Spirit of God tells us what was in the mind of Abraham in all this. “He considered that God is able to raise people from the dead, from which also he received him back as a type.” You know what Abraham is thinking in all this—I believe God and I do what God says. He has given me promises, I believe He'll fulfill the promises, I believe both. Now it seems they are contradictory. I have given you great promises. They must be fulfilled in and through Isaac. Now go sacrifice Isaac and burn his body on the altar. What do I do? Both—keep believing the promise and go sacrifice Isaac. And Abraham is thinking, the only solution I have is not the solution God will use, but you see the faith of Abraham. He knows God is going to do everything He promised. “So he considered that God is able to raise even from the dead.” Now that's faith. He not only has the knife ready, he has the wood ready. He thinks he is going to execute his son with that knife, light the fire under the body, watch it burn in the flames and then God is going to raise the dead and we're going to walk back together, meet the servants and go back home to Sarah. I mean, that's faith. This is not the way God is going to do it. His faith is that God will do what He promised and I'm going to do everything God tells me even though I don't know how it is going to be resolved because it seems there are two opposing things. I can think of one possible way. The only way I can think of is God will raise him from the dead. God didn't need Abraham to come up with a solution. But you see the greatness of Abraham's faith.

The solution is God will intervene because the point has been made. And Abraham has demonstrated his unreserved commitment to God and faith in what God has said. So he received him back, Isaac back as a type. The literal word is literally parable, the Greek word is parabole, we just get the English word parable. As far as Abraham is concerned, it was just like he had gone through the process and Abraham now loosens the ropes, takes him back off the altar and they are going to walk back after sacrificing the ram and go home. So for Abraham it was just like he had been raised from the dead. Either way it was never questioned that God was going to resolve his problem. I thought He was going to raise him from the dead after I burned him on the altar. No, God just intervened and I didn't have to do that. Isaac and I are going back home. What great faith. What troubles we create for ourselves because we say, “I don't think God would want me to do that.” Well, does He say that? Now be careful, it's not faith in your faith or faith in what somebody else thinks you should do. This is faith in what God says. We want to be sure our faith is in the Word of God, not some feeling or some misinterpretation of God's Word. We read in the Bible, “if your hand offends you, cut off your hand; it's better to enter eternal life missing a limb.” So you read in the paper somebody read that verse and cut off their hand. The nicest thing I can say is they are fools. That has nothing to do, it is irrelevant.

So be sure you are believing what God has said. But once it is clear what God has said, don't be afraid to do it. Let God solve His own problems, if I can put it that way with full respect, resolve the unresolvable because He has never put Himself in a box. Now I don't have to help Him out. This is the love of my life, I don't think He would want me to . . . What does the Word say? How many professing believing young people get into trouble. “Be not unequally yoked” with unbelievers, but I'm going to marry this unbeliever and that will be all right. I know God and I love them but . . . Do you believe the promise of God, or do you believe your feelings? They are not the same thing. God doesn't want you to do what He tells you not to do. He doesn't want me to do what He tells me not to do. And He does want me to do what He tells me to do. So the examples are clear, as hard as they may be, if it weren't heard, it wouldn't be an issue.

So that's the example of Abraham. Now let's pick up with Isaac. Isaac comes through the ordeal, we leave Abraham there. He is going to go on and he'll die in Genesis 25, 175 years old. He passed the promise on to Isaac. He lived 100 years in the land God promised him and when he dies he only owns a gravesite. But he still believed the promise. It's passed on to Isaac. We come in verse 20, “by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.” The point here is the son of Abraham is operating with the same faith that Abraham had. He is believing, even regarding things to come, the promised blessings and all that they contained. So he blessed Jacob and Esau. The point is the blessing is being passed on. That was done officially, that was an irrevocable act. What does Isaac indicate? I'm not going to see the fulfillment of this promise, I'm going to die. We'll see it in the future, but he is going to die without realizing what God has promised. But I believe it. So I'm passing it on to my sons. And the writer in Hebrews leaves the details to his readers. They know about these accounts.

Come back to Genesis 26, we'll just look in here quickly. In Genesis 26, Abraham died in Genesis 25, and we'll pick up with Isaac and you have the detail of Esau despising his birthright and it is passed to Jacob, the younger son. Come into Genesis 26, and there is a famine in the land and Isaac is thinking about going over to the land of the Philistines. Verse 2, “the Lord appeared to him and said, do not go down to Egypt. Stay in the land of which I shall tell you, sojourn in this land. I will be with you and bless you, for to you and your descendants I will give these lands.” Isn't it amazing, I read you an account which said the land promises are not important. Everything God promises is important. There is not one jot or one tittle, we might say one comma, one dot over an “i”. The smallest portion of what God has said, Jesus said, has to be fulfilled. I am greatly offended, somebody who professes to be a believer says, the land promises are not that important, they weren't central anyway and you are never going to see those realized. What an attack on the character of God. Abraham didn't believe that way, neither did Isaac.

So God reiterates the promise and He goes on here, passed on to Isaac and what we were reading about in Hebrews. Come over to Genesis 27 and here you have the promises passed on—Isaac to Jacob. You are familiar, Isaac is old, his eyesight is dim so Esau has already sold his birthright but he doesn't want to give it up. He is the oldest, the blessings of the promises should be passed to the oldest but Esau has given that up. But Jacob deceives his father, all of that is irrelevant to the point in Hebrews, but just to familiarize how God is sovereign. And so the fullness of the blessing is passed on to Jacob. Esau gets blessing but the fullness of the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant will come through Jacob. The point is what? Isaac's faith is intact. I lived my whole life and I'm going to die without seeing these blessing realized. I'm passing them on to my son.

Come back to Hebrews. And you can read those chapters. If you haven't done so recently, take time this afternoon or this week to read through them to familiarize yourself with the details. Keep in mind the point that is being made in Hebrews. Verse 21, remember Isaac passed on the blessing to Jacob, he is off the scene. Now we have the grandson of Abraham, Jacob. And “as he was dying he blessed each of the sons of Joseph.” Wait a minute, he is dying and do you know where Jacob is? He is in Egypt. He's not even in the land right now because that 400 years that God had told Abraham, your descendants will spend 400 years in a foreign land and then they'll come back out and come into the land. Jacob is in Egypt and he is dying, but he passes the blessing on to his grandsons. Really, Joseph is getting the double portion of blessing here because two of his kids get a portion and not just Joseph. But the point is Jacob is dying, he passes the blessing on to the sons of Joseph. And he is “leaning on his staff worshiping.” You know the pictures of an old man leaning over his staff, holding onto it like his cane, then even sitting on the bed bowed over with his staff there, cane. I have a cane in my office in case I have back trouble. I never need to use it but my grandkids love it. It's the most attention getting thing. I came in one day and one of my grandkids said, “look at me, I'm an old grandpa.” What's the point? He is worshiping. He hasn't lost faith. Wait a minute, Abraham got the promise, he didn't get it; Isaac got it passed on to him, he didn't get it; now here I am dying in a foreign land. The promise of God is just as sure as if it had been fulfilled while Abraham was alive. Believe it, I'm passing it on to my sons. Do you think my sons are supposed to say, we're getting tired of this. Great-grandpa didn't get it, grandpa didn't get it, dad didn't get it. What future is there? Because God promised, that's the point.

Look at Hebrews 11:22, “by faith Joseph.” So Joseph mentioned his two sons and that account, the oldest is replaced by the youngest again. And Jacob crossed his hands over, remember, because the one under the right hand gets the blessing. There is blessing for the other but the Abrahamic Covenantal blessings come through a certain line and a certain fullness that the others won't experience. Now Joseph has been mentioned. What about Joseph? “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones.” This is where the book of Genesis ends.

Come back to Genesis, and you can see what has happened. We picked up early in Genesis, we started out with the creation which would be in the opening chapters of Genesis. Then we came to Enoch, then we come to Noah and we move along, then we come to Abraham and we are in Genesis 12. Now we are closing out with Genesis 50, the close of the book of Genesis and he has just highlighted men of faith, but he is focused on those who received the special promise and all it contains in its promises, plural.

Joseph's father, Jacob, dies in the first part of Genesis 50, and some of the blessings that were reiterated. You go back to Genesis 48, that's where the blessing on Joseph's children was given. We come to Genesis 50 and we have the death of Joseph. Now we're going back, but when Joseph went down, was sold into slavery by his brothers, was taken into Egypt, he was 17 years old. Now he is on the point of dying, he is 110 years old, so he has lived about 93 years of his life in Egypt, from the time he was 17. Yet he hasn't wavered in believing God will do what He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and now to the 12 sons of Jacob, which Joseph is one.

Verse 22 says “Joseph stayed in Egypt, he lived 110 years and he saw the coming generations of his sons.” Verse 24, “Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham.” What audacity that someone would say, the promises of the land aren't that important, they don't have to be fulfilled. This is what Joseph is holding on to. The land, the promises in the Abrahamic Covenant, that is a covenant you can't break out this promise and that promise and this promise and that promise and throw this one away and hold onto this one. So He promised to “bring you up from this land, to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob.” You are aware none of them got the promise, I'm not going to get it, either. But I know you are going back to the land that God promised.

“Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear saying, God will surely take care of you. You shall carry my bones up from here. So Joseph died at the age of 110 years and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.” That's what happens to people who believe God's promises. That's not the end of the story, and some day Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, his brothers will inherit with the rest of the nation the promises that God has given in their fullness. He was buried in a coffin in Egypt. Do you know what? When the exodus occurs they take the bones of Joseph with them, for 40 years of wandering they are carrying Joseph's bones around. And really it's a coffin because he has been embalmed. So it's not just a bag with his bones in it. We're familiar with the mummies that are embalmed in Egypt. Joseph was a very, very important man. They are carting Joseph around with them for 40 years of wilderness wandering. Then we're told in Joshua that they buried Joseph's body in the land.

Isn't it amazing? Joseph has risen to great power in Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh, we're told, in that portion of his life. He would have had a magnificent residence. He had the seal of the Pharaoh and what he said was law. He ruled Egypt but he hadn't settled here. This wasn't his home. He is not tied here. He's not thinking, “here I can build for my family, I have wealth I can pass on. If you stay in Egypt, you can be important people and on and on.” At his death he is not looking at Egypt; he is looking to the land God promised, holding onto the promises, holding onto the promises. God promised, I want to go back to the land. Sort of like today, sometimes people want to be taken to their home. We have soldiers who get killed overseas. Usually they don't get buried over there. They want to bring their body back and bury it at home. Home for Joseph is not Egypt. He has only spent 17 years of his life, the first part in the land that God promised, 93 years in Egypt but that's not home because that is not what God promised. He didn't promise us Egypt, He promised us Canaan. Take me with you when you go back. That's the faith.

Come back to Hebrews 10, we'll read three verses and we're done. These just aren't interesting stories. We say, “those men were exceptional, we should have people like that today.” Yes, we should have people like that today. That's why the writer to the Hebrews is writing. Abraham lived and it was 2000+ years before Hebrews is written. What is he telling them? Look at Hebrews 10:23, “let us hold fast the confession of our hope, our hope is what is before us, without wavering for He who promised is faithful.” That's the point. Be like Abraham, be like Isaac, be like Jacob. Don't waver. You hold onto your hope. God promised it, He is faithful to do what He promised, He is the unchanging God.

Look down in verse 35, “therefore do not throw away your confidence which has great reward.” Don't be shaken in your belief in what God has promised. “For you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised.” That's the encouragement to us. Why is this here? Why did God record it in His Word for us from the book of Hebrews? Because what had happened earlier was written for our instruction, that we might learn, have people with the faith like Abraham. I'm not commanded to do exactly the same thing Abraham was, except I am commanded to believe God, trust Him. The way that I manifest that will vary. I haven't been called to sacrifice one of my children literally. No, but the principle—I can't love my children more than I love my God. I can't put obedience to God secondary to my affection for loved ones. The turmoil, the tribulations, the difficulties we go through, none of those change the surety of the promises that we have in Christ. That's the stability. I trust God. Jesus said, “don't worry about tomorrow, each day has enough trouble of its own.” When I am lying in my bed at night and I can't sleep and I have things on my mind, not that that ever happens because I am a man of faith, but if it did happen, lying in my comfortable bed with the covers all pulled up around me, worried about what is going to happen tomorrow. I just need to stop and say, thank you, Lord, for this comfortable bed, thank you that I can live in and sleep in peace. I'm thankful that you are the God of tomorrow and you have all things under control and you will lead me and guide me through whatever comes because I believe what you have said and you have promised and you will work all things together for my good and your glory. And you will bring me into all the promises that you have given to me. “In the world you have tribulation, Jesus said, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of all that we have in Christ. How awesome it is that you are our God, that you have given to us the precious Word so that we might know it and believe it. Thank you for the salvation we have through faith in your Son, Jesus Christ, in His work on the cross and His resurrection and the fact that He is alive today. Thank you, Lord, that we are privileged to live trusting you every day, in every circumstance of every day, knowing you are faithful. We give you praise, in Christ's name, amen.