How to Die in Peace

So thankful to the Lord for this morning, when we are able to come and sing the praises of our God and worship His holy name. A warm welcome to all of you, so good to see all of you, especially if you are visiting us for the first time, we welcome you to our church. We are grateful that you have joined us together in worship. We have come to the final stages of our series on the life of Jacob from deception to dependence. In fact, Lord willing, we will finish this series next week. And we find ourselves in Genesis chapter 49 this morning.

The Bible is often referred to as a book of life, and rightfully so. From Genesis to Revelation, even though death is reigning over all of humanity, because of sin entering into this world, the message of the Bible is that God gives life. God gives eternal life, and there is life to be had, not only in this world as eternal life, but more importantly in the world to come. So when we go through the Old Testament, we actually see very little mention of the dying words of dying men in God’s word. As great as Abraham was, only seven verses in God’s word is dedicated to the death of Abraham. And we don’t even have much detail on all that Abraham said as he died.

Only three verses are devoted to the death of Isaac in God’s word. Joseph was a great man of God. Five verses are given in God’s word to the death of Joseph. Majority of the people in the Old Testament, the Bible just says they lived so many years and they died. The focus of God’s word is all about their life on earth. Death is not given much importance even in Old Testament scriptures. You come into the New Testament, and it gets even more vivid as to how much death is ignored by God’s word.

There are only three deaths mentioned in the entire New Testament. The death of our Lord, and we know why that is, because that is what earned our salvation. The death of Judas, the betrayer, to show what happened to the man who betrayed the author of life. And then the death of Stephen, who was the first Christian martyr who was killed for his faith. The death of the Apostle Paul is not mentioned in scriptures. The death of Peter is not mentioned in scriptures. The death of Timothy, the death of other great men that walked alongside Jesus, the disciples of the Lord. We have to go to extra biblical literature and Christian history to find out how they died or took their final breath on the face of the earth.

So death is often completely ignored, the death of people in the New Testament. In contrast to all of these, the death of Jacob gets the longest account that is recorded in scriptures. 73 verses are given to the end of Jacob’s life on earth. Remarkable when we think about it. When we think about the fact that Abraham only got seven verses, Isaac only got three verses, and Joseph only got five verses. And by all accounts, these three men were greater men of God than Jacob was. They lived faithful lives unto the Lord. Whereas Jacob was a man who only in the latter days of his life came to the Lord fully and gave his heart fully devoted to the Lord.

Yet the Holy Spirit devotes 73 verses in the precious God’s word to tell us about the final moments of Jacob’s life. So then we have to ask the question, why did God, the Holy Spirit, go to such great lengths to give us the end of the life of Jacob? In fact, I’m spending almost three Sundays talking about the death of Jacob. Why is that? There are a lot of lessons that we can learn from the way Jacob breathed his last on the face of the earth. We all have these thoughts, especially as you get older and older, about what we want our end of life to be. But one thing that we don’t get to choose is how we end our life.

We may get a few moments with our loved ones. We may get many years with our loved ones where we know that our life is coming to an end. We may get a few minutes, we may not even get to say goodbye to everyone. Life can end in different ways for all of us. But we all need to think about the ways in which we want to leave this earth, and the legacy, and the words that we want to speak for our loved ones. Because those words will be remembered as long as they live on the face of the earth. Those words are very, very important. Last week we talked about how Jacob, knowing the end of his life was near, would summon Joseph to bring his two grandchildren to him.

And he would bless them and remind them of the faithfulness of a loving God, who has been his shepherd all the days of his life. And reminded him also about the grace of God that has sustained him all the days of his life. Those are powerful words we read in Genesis chapter 47. And then we come to Genesis chapter 49, where we see the third face. It’s almost like there are four faces to the death of Jacob. One is him reminding Joseph that he should not be buried in the land of Egypt, and that his remains should be taken back to the promised land. Reminding him of the promises of God. Secondly was the blessing of the grandchildren.

We come to the third face today in Genesis chapter 49 verses 1 onwards. The Bible says, Jacob called for his sons and said, Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. Jacob, by the Holy Spirit, is given a ministry that he kind of didn’t have all of his life. Prophetic ministry. But I am so glad that even in the final moments of his life, God would make him to be a prophet unto the Lord. But Jacob unknowingly was kind of a prophet all the days of his life. You know how we know that? Many of the things that he mentioned in Genesis chapter 49 has to do with the names of the children, which were given many, many years ago.

So God, even in ordaining the names that are given to these children, already kind of knew what kind of a life they would have on the face of the earth. For example, Judah, praise. And the Bible says over here, the obedience of the nations, the praise of the nations will come to you. Zebulun literally means someone who is dwelling. And the Bible would say, he will dwell by the seashore. And so there are, Dan is a name for a warrior, and he would be a great mighty warrior, his descendants for the Lord. So these names were given much long ago, but they were all names were inspired by the Holy Spirit to be given to these men who would become the fathers of the tribes of Israel. And Jacob has a word for them. I’m going to tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

In the order of their birth, they come before him. Verse three tells us, Reuben, you are my firstborn and my might, the first sign of my strength. Verse three, excelling in honor, excelling in power. All of these are very, very true of the life of Reuben. He is the firstborn. He is supposed to get double the portion of the inheritance of his father. There is a tremendous deal of great blessings that should come in the life of Reuben. As he’s mentioned over here, he is the first sign of his strength. He is supposed to excel in honor and excelling in power. But remember what I preached to you a few weeks ago. Something that he did many years ago has not been forgotten by the Lord, nor forgotten by his father either.

Look at verse four, turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel. You are supposed to excel, but you will no longer excel. For you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and you defiled it by sleeping with my concubine. And because of that, guess what? Even though power and excellency should be yours, you will not excel in your life. So the first one, rejected by the Lord. No pronouncements of blessings that came upon the firstborn Reuben. Then comes the next two ones, Simeon and Levi. Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence. God hasn’t forgotten what happened in the land of Shechem. When they went and slaughtered the entire town to avenge the shame that came upon their sister.

And years later, God’s word comes to them and says, you are men of violence. When the birthright is taken away from Simeon and Levi, the one that should rightfully, Reuben, one should rightfully get it is Simeon and Levi, but they are men of violence. Look what God’s word says to them. Verse six, let me not enter their council. Let me not join their assembly. For they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Because they did not control the passions of their life. Reuben did not control his lust. Simeon and Levi did not control their anger.

Because of that, judgment of God is coming upon them. Rather than getting blessings from their father, the words that come to them on that day and their descendants are not words of blessings. They’re words of turbulent waters and a life that be filled with the violence because they were men who had killed others in anger and God hasn’t forgotten it, nor has their father as he speaks to them under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So what does God’s word say? Verse seven, cursed be their anger so fierce and their fury so cruel. I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel. A lot of times when we get angry, we don’t think about it. We just get angry and then we get calm. We get angry again, we get calm.

Even in the era of grace that we are living in New Testament, your anger has consequences. Words that are spoken in uncontrolled anger has consequences. We need to learn to control our tongues, our passions and our emotions in our life. The words that we speak in our families matter. The anger that you show towards your wife matters. The anger that you show towards your husband matters. Be people given to gentleness and humility before the Lord. The anger within the walls of your home may not be seen by anyone, but there’s a God in heaven who sees your uncontrolled passions of your life.

These can be things that cause harm, not only to you, but even to your descendants for generations to come. It is important that we control the passions of our life. Verse 8, now Ruben, Simeon and Levi heard words that were not very favorable and they’re looking at the next one and saying, Judah, oh, you better go in there. We can’t even stand what was said. You have it coming. Judah is not any better. Judah was involved in that unfortunate incident in Genesis chapter 30 with Tamar. Judah is the one that said, let us sell him to slavery and sold Joseph into slavery so that his blood will not be upon our consciousness. There’s plenty of checkered past with Judah as well. But surprisingly, look at the words, the Holy Spirit would speak to Judah on that day.

Judah, your brothers will praise you. Probably more amazed than anyone else standing there, but Judah himself, when he heard the words that were spoken to him that day, are you sure you’re speaking to me? Maybe it is to Joseph you’re meant to say these words. No, Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down to you. Now, with all of this prophetic word, the interesting thing is that these are words that are written by Moses many, many years later to the people of Israel. So these words have a meaning and purpose to the immediate context to the people who are listening, but most importantly to the people to whom Moses is writing this to, the people of Israel that are about to enter into the land of Canaan.

He’s reminding them as to why the tribes are the way they are. This is not by any accident that Judah is like this. It is not by accident that Reuben is like this. It is not by accident that Simeon and Levi are the way they are. It is all because a God who has planned all these things is putting his plan into practice in the life of these people. So when we go into the promised land, don’t quarrel. The land that God would give to them is all based upon the promises of God. It is not based upon what you want or what he wants. God is the one who determines what tribe will get each land and what kind of blessings they would have.

But the promise that came to Judah was phenomenal. Look at the next verse, verse 10. Most important verse probably in all of this chapter. The setter will not depart from Judah. The only way the setter will not depart from Judah is to make sure that there’s a king who will reign on the throne who comes from the tribe of Judah who will reign forever. We know who that king is. The one who came in the tribe of Judah. The Lion of Judah who would reign sitting on the throne of David forever and make sure the setter will not depart from Judah forever. Not only that, ruler staff from between his feet until he to whom it belongs. Who is the he to whom it belongs? Our Lord, he shall come and the obedience of the nation shall be his.

In the midst of all of these words, I don’t even think Jacob fully understood what he was saying on that day. He is he prophetically prophesying the coming of the Messiah. The coming of the one who would sit on the throne of David, rule forever and he will one day reign this world forever. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom and not only that, the obedience of the nations will be his and he will be born in the tribe of Judah. What great blessing came to him on that day. Then continuing on, he will talk about several one of them. He will talk about Zebulun. He will talk about Dan. And when you come to verse 16, we see the beauty of God’s grace.

Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Why is it mentioned here in verse 16 that Dan will provide justice as one of the tribes of Israel? This is not mentioned of anyone else that they will be one of the tribes of Israel. You know why? Up until now, Jacob has been speaking to the sons of Leah. This is the first word spoken to Dan who is born to a concubine and a concubine does not have the same authority as a wife. Nor does the children of a concubine has the same authority to the inheritance of a father as the children born to a wife. In fact, sometimes they only have half the inheritance or none at all.

Here shows the grace of God by Dan who was born to a concubine is given the same inheritance as other tribes of Israel. The grace of God redeemed Dan who was born to a concubine. Continuing on, they will continue on talking about Zebulun who will dwell among the seashore. Asher will provide crops for kings. And finally we come to Joseph. Joseph is a fruitful wine. A fruitful wine near a spring whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness, archers will attack him. They shot at him with hostility. But look what happens to Joseph. Verse 24, but his bow will remain steady. His strong arms will remain limber because of the hand of the mighty one of Jacob.

Because of the shepherd, the rock of Israel who would watch over him. Yes, Joseph would be attacked as a fruitful wine on a wall. But guess what? Because of the fact that the mighty one of Jacob and the God of Israel, their shepherd, the one, the rock of Israel was with them. Joseph will be protected by the Lord. Verse 25, because of your father’s God who helps you. Because of the almighty who blesses you with blessings of the skies above. Blessings of the deep springs below. Blessings of the breast and the womb. We all in our lives should strive to get blessings like this from our parents. We all should live our lives in such a way so that our parents, our dad, our mom are able to speak words of blessings like this over our lives.

That my God will protect you. My God will watch over you. My God will provide for you. Oh, the blessings of the skies will be yours. The blessings of the deep springs will be yours. The blessings of the breast and the womb will be yours. God will bless you because the one that you follow is the same God that I follow. And the mighty one of Jacob will watch over you. And then in verse 28, Jacob, the Holy Spirit gives summary of why Jacob did this. All these are the 12 tribes of Israel. And this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. Giving each the blessing appropriate for him. Don’t miss that last sentence. The blessing, everyone is appropriate.

You know why? Our God is a righteous judge. Joseph got what he deserved. Simeon and Levi got what he deserved. Reuben got what he deserved. Many got more than what they deserved. But everyone got what was appropriate to him. God is the one who is in control. There are several lessons we can learn from this beautiful passage in God’s word. First one is this. Our choices have consequences in our lifetime and for generations to come. Don’t ever forget this. In fact, one of the themes of the life of Jacob is just that. That our choices matter. That they have consequences. And the question to all of us is whether we want to bring blessings upon generations to come or bring curses upon generations to come.

Our lives on earth matters even in the New Testament era. We do pass on blessings from generation to generation by our righteous living and faithful living unto the Lord. All of us sitting here probably, majority of you, all have the blessings that you have in your life because blessings have been passed on from generation to generation. Where your forefathers faithfully served a faithful God and our God does not forget any of that faithfulness. Our God is not a debtor to anyone. Our God remembers His covenant and His faithfulness to generations to come. I pray that what we leave behind, as we heard even last week, is a godly legacy that brings blessings to our children.

Secondly, God’s greatest blessings are reserved for those who turn to Him in repentance. God’s greatest blessings are reserved for those who turn to Him in repentance. Remember what I said. Simeon, Levi, and Reuben, and Judah all had a bad past. But you know the only one who had truly repented unto the Lord before this time? It was Judah. If you remember in the encounter with Joseph, it was Judah who said, It is because of our sins, what is happening to us is because of our iniquity. And when it came to saving the life of Benjamin, it was Judah who stepped forward and said, I will trade my life for Him, spare the life of Benjamin. See, when Judah was given the name Judah, God called him praise.

You know why? Because God knew that His tribe would one day become praiseworthy. The checkered past of Judah was real. But also the repentance of Judah was also real in the sight of God. This is a warning to all of us and a reminder to all of us. No matter how sordid of a past that you have, no matter how checkered of a past that you have, it can all be redeemed if you turn to the Lord in true repentance and turn to the living God for the forgiveness that you need in your life. Many of you may have a past that nobody knows about, but God does. But guess what? You need to turn to the Lord in repentance to change the trajectory of the future of your life.

God does not reject broken hearts. God does not reject contrite hearts. Those who come to Him in true repentance receive the blessings of the Lord and that is a great message of the life of Judah. Look at the words that came to Levi. You will be scattered all over Israel. Fast forward many, many, many years. Come to Exodus chapter 32. There is a great battle that is going on. Battle between good and evil. Moses is on top of Mount Sinai receiving the revelation of God, the commandments of God. That very commandment has been broken by an idolatrous generation right down in the valley of that mountain. Moses comes down with the tablets of stone containing engraving of the living God and the commandments of the God’s people.

What he sees are people who have gone to give in to idolatry as they raised a golden calf and worshipping before them. The anger of Moses burned against the people of God just as God’s anger burned against them. Then a question is asked on that day. Whoever is for the Lord, come to me. Whoever is for the Lord, come to me. Levi was not a man of God. Levi was given to uncontrolled passions and anger in his life. But on that day the descendants of Levi stepped forward and stood on the side of Moses and the living God and the trajectory of their entire tribe was changed by the grace of God.

You sitting here could have a dad or a mom or a grandfather who was not a believer, who did not follow after the Lord. But you can change the story of your tribe. You can change the story of the generations to come. When the question is asked, who will stand with the Lord? Who will come to the Lord? Will you say, as for me, we will serve the Lord and stand by the side of God’s people and God alone and God would change your curse into a blessing. Look what happened. God told them, Levi, you will be scattered over all the land. But then you know what God did? God made them to be priest unto the Lord.

Their scattering became a blessing in their life. You know why? As they were scattered across the land, they became the chief people who taught God’s law to the people of God. They became the people who offered the sacrifices in the temple of the Lord. They became the caretakers of the tabernacle of the Lord from generation to generation. This tribe had the privilege, had the blessing to be known as ministers unto the Lord. Why? The generation that came afterwards refused to be identified with the sins of their father and took a stand for God and his name. And because of that, God changed the trajectory and the story of their life. What was a handicap? A scattering became a blessing in their life.

That’s exactly what God did with Paul as well, isn’t he? Saul was a man who was so zealous. God took him and made him to be a Paul and used that zeal for the glory of his name. See, things that are said to be weakness in your life, you give it to the hands of a loving God and he can transform it and make it into the greatest strength of your life. Those of you who are given to anger, repent and give it to the Lord. Your passion and zeal, God will use it for his glory. Those of you who are given to impatience, give that impatience to the Lord, repent. You know what God will do? God will give you a restless heart for the gospel.

See how God is able to take the broken things of our life and restore it for his glory? Exactly what God did in the life of Levi as well. Finally, a chaotic world like what we live in is still a place where the master plan of God and his purposes are unfolding. Don’t ever forget this. Genesis chapter 49 is God’s plan for the history. Genesis chapter 49 is God’s plan for his people, not only in their lifetime, but for thousands of years to come. This is God’s plan for them and God will make sure that every single one of these prophetic words came true in the life of God’s people. You know why? God is in control and there’s a master plan that is unfolding.

Every single day that you turn on the news, every single morning and evening, you can get very depressed, very uncertain, very unsettled in your heart, but always remember behind the chaos of this world is the unseen hand of a loving God who is controlling everything. There’s a master plan that is at work behind the plan of every nations of the world. I love when the United Nations convene together. All these nations come together from different places to have these plans for the Middle East, plans for Africa, plans for India, plans for Europe. All these are great, but they forget that behind their plans is a master plan, a master God who controls every moment of everything that is happening in every nation of the world.

Aren’t you glad that you are in his kingdom and not belonging ultimately to the kingdoms of this world? His is the only unshakable kingdom. His plan is the only one that will never be changed. His ways are the only thing that will remain forever aligned with the plan of a divine God whose plans will never fail. Do not put your trust in horses. Do not put your trust in chariots. Do not put your trust in the prosperity of America. Do not put your trust in the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Do not put your trust in any president or any senator or any ruler. They’re all just tools in the hands of a sovereign loving God who controls every moment of history. History is after all his story and he controls every moment of this life on earth.

What is your trust in? What do you put your future in? Is it in things of this world? Don’t do that. God and God alone is worthy of our trust and complete belief. Verse 29, then he gave them these instructions. Again, repeats again. I’m about to be gathered to my people. I love that word. Gathered to my people. Reunion with Abraham. Reunion with Isaac. The gathering of the saints together in the place God is preparing for them. Bury me with my fathers in the cave, in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

Abraham had bought this land, the cave in the field of Machpelah, which would have seen his burial, Sarah’s burial, Isaac’s burial and Jacob wanted to be buried in the same place as well. Verse 33, when Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. What a blessed way to leave this earth. It was a man who didn’t have a good life, always running. But the last 17 years of his life in Egypt were absolutely blessed years. He took his final breath, surrounded by his loved ones in Egypt, speaking words of prophecy into the generations to come. Blessings of God that would bring about blessings to the nations of the world. Jacob breathed his last.

As you read in chapter 50, it’s amazing. You know what Jacob gets? A state funeral. In fact, when you study Egyptian writings, only a Pharaoh got a funeral like this. Jacob got it. You know how long the Egyptians spent embalming and preparing the body of Jacob? 40 days. 40 days of embalmment that was only given to Pharaohs, that was given to Jacob. You know why it was given? In extra biblical writings it says this. The Egyptians wanted to honor the memory of Jacob so bad. You know why? Because he was the father of Joseph who had literally saved their lives.

So they gave him 40 days of preparation for his physical body. And then they added 30 days of mourning, which is what usually the Israelites did. They mourned for him a total of 70 days before he was taken to be buried in the land of Canaan. Joseph would go to Pharaoh and ask him for all the help and look what he gave to him. Verse 7. Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him. Wow. Only a God can do this. Only a God can take the life of a man who was running away from home and change his story so that all of Egypt’s officials are going for the state funeral of a shepherd from the land of Canaan.

Remember who shepherds are? Shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians. But now the officials of Pharaoh are accompanying the physical remains of a shepherd from Canaan to bury his body in the land of Canaan. Don’t you love our God? Only our God can do things like this. The dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt. When the Bible says all of them, the Bible means all of them. Pharaoh had nobody left back in Egypt. Every single one of them was going for the state funeral in the land of Canaan. This was probably the biggest funeral that Canaan has ever seen. Can you imagine? Chariot after chariot, limousine after limousine. I’m trying to put it in words that you understand today. All the ambassadors, all the prime ministers, all the people. Jacob got a funeral like the Pope gets in the Vatican. Exactly what happened.

Verse 8, besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belong to his father’s household, only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It’s what I said about limousines. Chariots and horsemen went up with him. Look at the Bible says, it was a very large company. Wow, Abraham never got a funeral like this. Isaac never got a funeral like this. Jacob got a funeral amazing. Probably the greatest funeral written in God’s word was given to Jacob. Why did God do all this? We’ll talk more about it in the week ahead as well. Amazingly, Jacob’s story is one of God taking broken pieces and putting it back together and bringing glory to his name. That’s what it’s all about.

I’ll end with this. How God can take our past and use it for his glory. Many of you know the name Beckett Cook. Back around 2009, he was one of the greatest success for fashion in Hollywood. He was a man who was a gay man, a homosexual. He worked with stars and supermodels. He traveled the world designing fashion for them. Had all the money in the world. Had all the fame in the world. Around September of 2009, he was at a party and he suddenly started thinking about his own life and found everything he had in life but still found life to be meaningless.

But six months later, he was at a cafe in LA about to drink a coffee in the morning. Looked across and saw a group of young men sitting there with a Bible open. Walked into them very curiously and said, what are you guys studying? They said, it’s reading the Bible. He had always rejected the Bible because he knew that it was against his lifestyle, against his way of living. And he asked them, what does your Bible say about homosexuality? These young men did not hide the truth. Very boldly told him, we believe it is a sin. We believe that it is against God’s plan for humanity. We believe that those who practice it to repent and allow God to change their life. Amazingly, when these young men invited this very famous person to their church, he agreed to come to church next Sunday and he came.

He said he sat in the back, listened to the worship. And he said for the first time in his life, raised a Catholic, having never heard the gospel, he heard the gospel preached clearly on that Sunday. He said, I got up from my seat and went forward when the call was given to give a heart to the Lord. In that moment, he says, God changed my affection for the same sex. One thing that I had battled all my life, same sex attraction, completely transformed and changed from my life on that very moment when I gave my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. 15 years later, you know what he is today? The biggest advocate for the fact that God can change you from a homosexual lifestyle to believing in the true God and your affections can be changed.

He will write a book, Changing of Affections. How Christ transformed his life from being a gay man to being a born again believer who now knows what God’s true plan for his life is. And he is using the platform that God has given to him to preach to others, to proclaim the life changing power that is contained in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Levi was scattered. The scattering God would use it to redeem God’s people with the law of God as they went and preached. This man’s past was one of sin and running away from the Lord. God redeemed it and is now using it for the glory of his holy name. That’s the way our God works.

So you may not be living in sin like this. You may not have a past like this. You may not have a past like Levi, but we all have a past. Take ye the things that we have done wrong. Repent of it. Give it to the hands of a loving God. God can use even the frailties of your life, the weaknesses of your life for the glory of his holy name and use you for his purpose. I pray that God will enable all of us to do that in the days to come. Remember a broken and a contrite and a repentant heart. He will not reject. Heavenly Father, we thank you God for your word. Help us to remember and inherit the blessings of a loving God in our life and for generations to come.

We thank you for the redemptive work that you alone is able to do in our lives, oh God. Help us to continuously proclaim the grace that is found in you to those who turn to you in contriteness and brokenness. Help us to continue to be in that attitude and brokenness as we come to the table of the Lord. Thank you Lord for hearing our prayer. In the name of the Lord Jesus that we pray, Amen.