SOVEREIGN GRACE PLANS THE FUTURE I

Genesis 49: 1-15

INTRODUCTION

This last week, Martha Stewart, the maven of home decorating and creative cooking was indicted on federal charges of insider trading. She is accused of selling all of her stock holdings in a pharmaceutical company, Imclone, the day before the FDA announced that it was not going to approve a new drug it manufactured. The announcement caused the value of Imclone’s stock to plummet. She is accused of selling her stocks because her stock broker tipped her off the day before the announcement was made by the FDA. This is illegal, it is called “insider trading”. She knew that when the FDA made their announcement the value of the stock would decrease dramatically and so she was able to avoid a huge loss of money because she knew what was going to happen in the future. In other words, Martha Stewart is in trouble because she received information about the future that she then acted upon.

Have you ever wished to know what the future holds? Probably all of us have said something like this, “If only I would have known I wouldn’t have done this or I would have done that…” There are times in all of our lives when we wish we could know the future so we could be certain of what would be the best thing to do. Millions of people spend millions of dollars every year asking psychics, palm readers, astrologers to give them an advantage by telling them what the future holds. Part of the attraction of the best-selling “Left-Behind” series is that it purports to be a description of what the future holds. We are fascinated by the future because we know that if we understand the future we can do things in the present to prepare for it.

God, through his word has told us a lot about the future. He has done this so that we will act in the present in order to prepare for the future. In Genesis 49:1-2 we are told that Israel, on his deathbed calls together his 14 living sons and commands them to pay attention to what he is about to say. He says, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.” He tells his sons that he is going to act as God’s prophet and inform them of what the future is going to be like for them. He then proceeds to name each of his sons and to tell them something about their future.

Why does Jacob do this and why does Moses record what he says for us? He tells his sons these things and then Moses records his declaration for us so that they and we will act in the present to prepare for the future. We are going to examine this morning what kinds of preparations we should make in light of what Jacob tells his sons about the future.

MAIN POINT

God reveals the future to us so that…

I. We will repent of our sins (vv. 3-7)

 

Imagine this scene with me for a moment. Jacob is 147 years old and is seated upon his bed in his tent. He is propped up with ornate pillows and covered with richly ornamented blankets. Gathered around him are his twelve sons born of his four wives and his two grandsons, Josephs oldest boys, whom he just adopted as his own. The men gathered around Joseph range in age from the twenty-something adopted sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to Reuben who is probably in his seventies. Except for the adopted sons all of these men are married and the heads of growing extended families that will soon become the tribes of the nation Israel. Jacob calls them to himself, commanding them to gather around and to listen to what he has to say.

The language he uses is the language of the prophets. He is not simply settling his domestic affairs and saying his last goodbyes. He is speaking the very words of God to these men. We know this for three reasons. First, the form of his speech is Hebrew poetry, which is the usual form of prophetic speech in the OT. You have probably noticed this in your Bibles that the text is set up different here than in most of the rest of Genesis. (It is one of the helpful features of our English Bibles that they indicate poetry by setting the text in this format.) If you’ll look over at the prophetic books, starting with Isaiah you will see that most of them are written in the form of Hebrew poetry. A second reason we know that Jacob is speaking as God’s prophet is because of the language he uses to gather the sons together. It is the language of the prophets who continually call the nation Israel to gather together and to listen to what they have to say. The prophets regularly tell Israel what is going to happen in “days to come”. Finally, we know these are God’s words because of statements like the second half of v. 7, “I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.” Obviously this is not something that Jacob can do but is God speaking directly.

He addresses his sons in the order of their birth, with a couple of exceptions, and according to their birth mother. The first six sons he addresses are all the sons of Leah, the spurned wife who is Laban’s oldest daughter and the older sister of Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel. He begins with Reuben his firstborn son. The first thing he says to Reuben sounds good. He affirms that he is his firstborn and then he recounts the privileged status of the firstborn son. The firstborn son is the glory of the father. He represents Jacob’s strength and has by right the place of highest honor and prestige in the family. However, Jacob quickly informs Reuben that the position of honor and power that ought to be his has been taken away from him because over forty years prior to this he had sexual relations with Jacob’s wife and Rachel’s maidservant, Bilhah. Reuben did not act like a firstborn son ought to act, preserving the honor of his father but rather he sinned against his father and defiled his father’s bed. The word defile is the word that is used to describe all kinds of detestable behaviors.

This act of Reuben was mentioned in one verse back in chapter 35. No comment has been made about it since then. For over 40 years no mention has been made of this act of Reuben’s. It would have appeared that he got away with this vile act without any consequence. It has appeared for 40 years as if God did not notice, nor did he care. However, we discover here that God did notice and that God is going to make Reuben pay for what he has done. We’ve already seen part of his loss of excellence in that Joseph’s two boys received the blessing of the firstborn. Reuben’s future among the tribes of Israel will be a future of dishonor and insignificance. In fact, after Israel conquers the land of Canaan, Reuben is barely mentioned again. The tribe Reuben fades from the scene of Israel’s history.

He then immediately turns his attention to Leah’s next two sons, Simeon and Levi. He condemns these men just as he condemned Reuben, but for a different reason. He condemns them for their anger and their violence. Their violence was expressed most clearly when they deceived and then murdered all the men of the city of Shechem because the son of the king of Shechem seduced and raped their sister. Do you remember Genesis 34? It is an X-rated story easily as violent as any movie made by Hollywood. Again, for over 40 years it has appeared that these two brothers have gotten away with murder. Apart from a one sentence, self-pitying protest from their father at the time, their angry violence has gone unnoticed. It appeared as though God were not paying attention, that they were not going to have to suffer any consequence for their deed. But here Jacob says they are under God’s curse for their action. He says they will be scattered in Israel. Again, after Israel conquers the land of Canaan, Simeon is given land in the midst of Judah and is dispersed as a distinct tribe. They become a part of Judah and cease to exist as an independent tribe. Levi, on the other hand, is scattered throughout the nation of Israel in 22 cities. In other words, while every other tribe is given a region to live in, the Levites are given no land but instead live in 22 cities that are scattered throughout the nation Israel. The Levites are the priests and teachers of the Law in Israel. Moses is a Levite. Aaron and all the priests that serve in the temple are Levites. We are going to come back to this in the third point but for now it is sufficient that you know that God did take note of what Simeon and Levi did when they murdered the Shechemites and is going to make them pay for it.

What affect would these statements have on the sons as they stand before their dying father listening to this? These three men have lived free and unburdened by their sins. They and the rest of their brothers have presumed that God did not notice or care. Now they are discovering that God has noticed and that God does care. Throughout the Scriptures one of the characteristics of the wicked is their indifference to the consequences of their sins. The wicked act as though God does not see or care. In Psalm 73:11 the wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?” 2 Peter 3:3-4 says, “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

The fact is that most people appear to get away with their sins. Sure, some people go to jail and some people suffer some harm for what they do but most people do not suffer anything due to their sins. I’m quite confident that there are people here today who are engaging in secret sins and who presume that they will never have to give an account for what they are doing. No one seems to have noticed. You are suffering no ill consequences due to your sins. What you need to know is that even though no one may notice for over forty years, even for a lifetime, yet God knows. He sees. One day you will have to give an account for what you have done. Right now God is warning you, letting you know that there is a day of accounting on the way when you will be gathered not before a wizened old shepherd but before the glorious King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. Nothing is hidden from his sight but all things are open and laid bare before him. On that day everything you whispered in the inner room will be shouted from the housetops, everything hidden will be revealed, including the motives of every man’s heart. God is telling you this so that you will repent before it is too late. Confess your sins to God. Tell a trusted friend who can help you fight. Turn from them and flee to Christ who will receive every sinner who comes to him. Don’t delay. Don’t think that you are going to get away with it for you will not. No one is going to get away with anything. Please heed this warning from God and turn, why will you die?

 

God reveals the future to us so that…

•  We will repent of our sins

•  And so that…

II. We will trust in and submit to Christ, the Lion of Judah (vv. 8-12)

Now Jacob comes to his fourth born son, Judah. Judah’s life has also been full of sin. He is the cynical brother who proposed making a profit off Joseph’s demise. Rather than merely killing him, he is the one who suggested they sell him into slavery. Then he is the brother who left his father’s family to go live among the Canaanites, the enemies of God and married a Canaanite woman. He is the one whose two oldest sons were wicked and God killed. He is the one who betrayed the widow of his son and refused to take care of her. He is the one who slept with a prostitute who turned out to be his daughter-in-law. He is the hypocrite who was going to have his pregnant daughter-in-law killed for adultery until he discovered that she was pregnant with his baby. Judah is as much of a sinner as Reuben, Simeon and Levi. However, none of his sins are mentioned. There will be no negative consequences for Judah or his descendants. Rather, Judah’s future is glorious.

His brothers will praise him. The verb for praise that is used here is used hundreds of times in the OT and except for here and two other places, it always is used of men praising God. Judah is going to become the chief tribe among the tribes of Israel. He is going to be treated like God by the other tribes of Israel. He is going to subdue all of his enemies. He is compared to a lion who captures his prey, eats his fill and lays down and no one and nothing dare challenge his power. In verse ten Jacob tells his sons that there is going to be a succession of kings from the tribe of Judah that will terminate in one final king. The king of Israel, the king of the Jews will come from the tribe of Judah. This king will be so powerful that the peoples of the world will obey him. In verses 11-12 is a poetic description of the prosperity that this king will usher in. Grapes and wine are used throughout the poetic literature of the OT and the prophets as a symbol of the abundance of heaven. Vines will be so common they will be used as hitching posts. Wine will be so common that it will be used as wash water. His rule will be complete and he will create a time of unrivaled prosperity, peace and abundance for the people of God.

If you are using one of the “read through the Bible” in a year programs as I am, then you are in the midst of reading about King Solomon the third king of the Jews. If you will remember, the first king of Israel was Saul who was from the tribe of Benjamin. However, God rejected him as king because of his disobedience and then he called a young shepherd boy who killed a giant Philistine warrior with his sling shot, David, the son of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah. David subdued all his enemies. He was the warrior king who conquered all the enemies of Israel and finally brought peace to the land. However it was his son Solomon who brought in a period of peace and prosperity that was unrivaled either before or after him. In 1 Kings 10 the Queen of Sheba comes to visit King Solomon because she has heard of his wisdom and of the glory of his kingdom. Listen to what she saw and her response to it, “And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her. And she said to the king, ‘The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!’”

Jacob is describing the reign of King Solomon over 800 years before it happens. However, while King Solomon’s reign is a fulfillment of this prophecy it is an incomplete prophecy because the rule of Judah will not end while King Solomon’s rule came to an end when he died. Then, shortly after his son, Rehoboam became king the scepter did depart from Judah. There was a civil war and the northern ten tribes, led by Ephraim rebelled against Judah and the kingdom was never united again. Judah’s brothers never again praised him and never again did all the peoples of the earth come to obey him. In other words the kings of Judah, including Solomon while partially fulfilling this prophecy, did not completely fulfill it. The “one to whom the scepter belongs” is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of David, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. His kingdom will not end. He is the chief of the all the sons of Israel and all of his brothers will praise him. He is the one who will put his hand on the necks of all his enemies. All the nations of the world will obey him.

In Revelation 5 we are given a glimpse into heaven. In John’s vision God is seated on his throne and in his right hand is a scroll that is sealed with seven seals. This scroll is God’s plan for the history of the world. It is his plan to punish his enemies and to vindicate his people. It is his plan to bring an end to this world and to create a new heavens and a new earth. However, in the vision a mighty angel cries out, “who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” In other words, who has the right and the power to implement God’s plan for the salvation of the world? Who will be the agent of his wrath and of his mercy? There is no one found worthy in all heaven and earth. John begins to weep, as it appears that God’s purposes are going to be thwarted. Then one of the elders says to him, “Do not weep! See the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then Jesus appears in John’s vision as a lamb, looking as if it had been slain. He takes the scroll from the hand of God. When he takes the scroll, the plan of God for the vindication of his glory into his hand all of heaven falls before the lamb and they sing a new song. “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

I want you to think back to the deathbed of Jacob. Can you hold these two images in your mind? Here is this wizened old shepherd with his 14 sons, one of whom is the second most powerful man in the world at the time. He is describing a king who will come from Judah who will be obeyed by all the nations of the world. He is describing the scene in Revelation 5. Can you imagine the surprise on all the faces of these sons? Why Judah and not Joseph? This is completely unexpected. If there were going to be a king, you would have expected him to come from Joseph. Why not Ephraim, most recently given the firstborn’s blessing and one of the noble princes of Egypt? He would seem to be the perfect candidate. A son of Jacob and a ruler of the Gentiles.

This is how God always works. He chooses the despised things of the world to shame the powerful. It is a crucified man who is the Savior of the world. It is a man despised and rejected, scorned and tortured who is the agent of God’s rule in the world. There is no one like our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the focal point of all history. He is the king of the world. You will either be one of his enemies whose neck he will place his hand around and force you to the ground or you will be one of the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who will freely bow before him in worship. Everyone will eventually submit to him either by force or by glad submission. He alone has the power to bring you into eternal joy. He is a willing Savior for every sinner who will humbly bow before him and come to him. Come to him, bow before him. God is telling you now about this future reign of Christ so you will face him as your Savior and not as your judge.

 

God reveals the future to us so that…

•  We will repent of our sins

•  We will trust in and submit to Christ, the Lion of Judah

•  And so that…

 

III. We will live in hope (vv. 3-15)

When we consider this scene and these words from Jacob to his sons, what is the ultimate effect they would have upon them? What is it that he wants to give to his sons at the end of his life? It seems to me that he is fortifying his sons with knowledge of future so they will have hope. They need what he is promising them because he knows that they are going to die in Egypt, far from the Promised Land. He knows that his descendants are going to suffer for 400 years as slaves of the Egyptians. Consider the first readers of the book of Genesis which were the two million Israelites wandering in the wilderness for forty years, waiting for the generation who rejected God’s command to enter Canaan to die. Why would Moses want them to know about this deathbed scene? To inspire hope in them. They are going to enter the land of Canaan. Each of the tribes will inherit land. Yes, Reuben, Simeon and Levi will not gain the notoriety of the other tribes but all of them will enter the land and gain the inheritance. The reason they can have hope is because these promises are not based upon their performance but upon God’s grace.

The thing that is most striking about these prophecies is that the men to whom these promises are being made are such sinners. When you consider these four oldest sons and what they’ve done, why are they even alive? Why does Moses record the wickedness of the fathers of the tribes of Israel? He’s hanging out all the dirty laundry from the family for the entire world to see. This is one of the things that makes the Bible absolutely unique among the religious writings of the world. It is one of the main reasons I believe the Bible. The founders of God’s holy people are not holy. They are not heroes. They are a bunch of evil bums. You will not find anything like this in the Koran, in the Hindu scriptures, in any religious writings. Without exception the founders of the other religions of the world are portrayed as noble and good men and women. Not so in the Bible.

Let’s just consider what is being said here about Levi. Moses is a Levite. He holds up the shame of his ancestors for all to see. If your dad was Jeffry Dahmer, or some other notorious criminal, would you tell anyone? We all, instinctively cover up our shameful relatives. We don’t like to hear about the atrocities that our soldiers have committed. Moses announces God’s judgment upon himself and all other Levites. Why does he do this? If you have read Exodus through Deuteronomy, you know that the Levites are the tribe of Israel given the responsibility and the privilege of serving God as priests and caretakers of the tabernacle. They are not given an inheritance of land among the nation of Israel because they are told, “God is their portion.” They are scattered among the nation in 22 cities so that they can instruct the people of Israel in the law of God. Moses, a Levite, is the one who gets to come into the very presence of God on Mt. Sinai and receive the law. Aaron, his brother and then his sons after him, get to offer the sacrifices in the temple and to enter the Most Holy Place, into the very presence of God. The primary point of all these promises is that God is giving them a glorious future not because of who they are but in spite of who they are. God’s judgment—I will scatter them in Israel—is at the same time God’s grace—they will have him as their portion, rather than a piece of property.

Just go down the list. I’ve already recounted Judah’s sins and yet the Messiah will come from him. Zebulun and Issachar both participated in the sale of Joseph and the cover up and yet they are going to inherit land and prosperity in Canaan. All of the descendants of Israel, the people of God who bow before the Lion of Judah, are going to gain an eternal heaven. We have a future hope based upon the gracious promise of God, not based upon our having done something to earn it or deserve it. We are going to heaven because of what Jesus has done for us, not because of what we have done for Jesus.

We need to know this because the journey to heaven is full of suffering. We need endurance if we are going to make it safely home. Endurance only comes when there is a solid hope that there is a good end to the suffering. The only way we can have a solid hope is when we understand that our future is guaranteed not by our obedience but by God’s gracious promise. What will enable a person to persevere in a difficult marriage? What will strengthen a single person to remain sexually pure in the face of unrelenting pressure to fulfill their sexual desires? What will inspire a parent to persist in training their children? What will encourage a person with chronic pain to not abandon Christ? What will enable you to hold fast to Christ even though your son has suffered a horrible accident? In short what enables us to live in hope in the midst of the most profound suffering? What keeps us loving others even when there appears to be no payoff? What inspires such hope is the knowledge that even though I am such a wicked sinner, yet God has guaranteed me a glorious future through what Jesus Christ has done for me in his death and resurrection. What I believe these sons understand in this prophetic word is that these promises are being given to us, not because of what we have done but because of God’s unmerited, unearned, undeserved kindness. We have such a hope made more sure by the suffering our dear Lord Jesus. Let’s live in hope and so persevere in a life of suffering love because we are so overcome with the enormity of what has been promised us in Jesus.

 

God reveals the future to us so that…

•  We will repent of our sins

•  We will trust in and submit to Christ, the Lion of Judah

•  We will live in hope

Romans 15:13