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Destiny’s Children, Part 2
Sermon 18
March 14th, 2010
Two brothers were well known all about town for being as crooked in their business dealings as they could possibly be, that notwithstanding, they continued to progress from wealth to greater wealth until suddenly one of the brothers died. The surviving brother found himself in search of a minister who would be willing to preach the funeral for his crook of a brother. He finally made an offer to a minister that was hard for the pastor to refuse. “I will pay you a great sum,” he said, “if you will just do me one favor. In eulogizing my brother, I want you to call him a ‘saint,’ and if you do, I will give you a handsome reward.”
The minister, a bit of a shrewd pragmatist, agreed to comply. Why not? The money could help put a new roof on the church.
When the funeral service began, the sanctuary was filled by all the important business associates who’d been swindled through the years by these two brothers. Unaware of the deal that had been made for the eulogy they were expecting to be vindicated by the public exposure of the evil man’s character. At last the much-awaited moment arrived, and the minister spoke. “The man you see in the coffin was a vile and debauched individual. He was a liar, a thief, a deceiver, a manipulator, a reprobate, and a hedonist. He destroyed the fortunes, careers, and lives of countless people in this city, some of whom are here today. This man did every dirty, rotten, unconscionable thing you can think of. But compared to his brother here, he was a saint.”
Last week we began unpacking Jacob’s Last Will and Testament recorded in Genesis 49. We worked our way through Jacob’s prophetic words about Reuben, Simeon and Levi. Daddy Jacob is working his way down the line, from son to son. Reuben is deprived of his right as firstborn because of his adultery. Simeon and Levi are denounced for their violence and anger.
Guess who is next? Judah! All the brothers knew the skeletons in Judah's closet. He’s about as bad as they come. He’d been involved in the shameful incident with his own daughter in-law, Tamar (Gen. 38). It was Judah who’d originally suggested selling Joseph into slavery, to make a buck and to salve their consciences because they didn't kill him. Everyone is waiting for the second shoe to fall. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi were probably thinking, “We got what we deserved. Now Judah is going to really get his!" And Judah was probably thinking, "Oh, no! Here it comes!"
But what happened? Jacob pronounced the greatest blessing of all on Judah! Only Joseph's blessing was of equal length, but even it didn't rival the extent of Judah's blessing. Turn again to Genesis 49 (p. 38). Today we’re picking up this passage at verse 8.
For those who missed last Sunday, let me bring you up to speed. In Genesis 49 we have one of the last great sayings in Genesis. Jacob, by faith and under divine inspiration, looks forward to the ultimate conquest by his family of the land of Canaan, and then beyond to a more glorious age, as he distributes blessings to his sons.
The material here is on the difficult side of interpretation. We must be careful to speak clearly when God’s Word is clear, yet honestly admit there are parts where the best that we can do is speculate. What Jacob says about five of his sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, and Joseph is fairly clear. Because this is so extensive and there are great spiritual nuggets here, last Sunday we focused on the first half of Jacob’s prophecy. We’re primarily focusing on the major characters, mentioning the others in passing. What we have here is the destiny of Jacob’s sons as given to him by the inspiration of the Spirit. Last Sunday we pointed out that: Only God knows and can reveal the future. Sinful choices are costly and may remove people from potential positions of leadership. And uncontrolled anger is incompatible with spiritual leadership. This morning we’re picking up with Jacob’s prophecy about Judah. If you are taking notes, let me suggest that…
1. God entrusts leadership to those who repent and are responsible. Look at verse 8, “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. You are a lion’s cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk” (vss. 8-12).
After listening to Jacob’s words to his three older brothers, Judah expects the hammer of God’s judgment to fall on him as well. I think that he was the most surprised at the mercy and grace directed toward him. But unlike his brothers, Judah had repented and taken responsibility for his sins. He’d acknowledged that Tamar was more righteous than he was (Gen. 38:26). While Reuben’s response to their distress in Egypt was to pass the buck by telling his brothers in effect, “I told you so” (42:22), Judah takes full responsibility for Benjamin’s safety and even offers himself as a hostage in place of his youngest brother. God always rewards true repentance!
When someone turns to the Lord in repentance, the Lord will bless them. Judah had truly repented of his sin. He confessed before Joseph, “What can we say to my lord? What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup” (44:16).
His heartfelt appeal to Joseph, asking that he be substituted for Benjamin, revealed the depth of Judah's repentance. Moses wanted his readers to know that no matter how great their past sin, if they’d now turn to the Lord in repentance, the Lord would bless them greatly by His grace.
How we need that message today! We who have known such great forgiveness are often some of the worst at forgiving. We’re encouraging you to read a missionary biography this month. Let me share a wonderful story that comes right out of the pages of missionary history here in North America. When the first missionaries came to Alberta, Canada, they were savagely opposed by a young chief of the Cree Indians named Maskepetoon. But he finally responded to the gospel and accepted Christ. Shortly afterward, a member of the Blackfoot tribe killed his father. Maskepetoon rode into the village where the murderer lived, demanding that he be brought before him. Confronting the guilty man, he said, "You have killed my father, so now you must be my father. You shall ride my best horse and wear my best clothes." In utter amazement and remorse his enemy exclaimed, "My son, now you have killed me!" What he meant, of course, was that the hate in his own heart had been completely erased by the forgiveness and kindness of the Indian chief.
Anyone who has difficulty forgiving a repentant sinner has two issues: First, they don’t see their own sin as repugnant to a holy God and don’t comprehend how much they themselves have been forgiven. Second, they don’t know God. I’m not necessarily questioning their salvation, though that’s a concern. Instead of having God’s heart, they have the heart of the elder brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son. In their unforgiving spirit, they are further away from God than the prodigal ever was.
It is impossible to overlook too that this prophecy will ultimately be fulfilled by Judah’s greatest son, Jesus Christ. In the book of the Revelation Jesus is portrayed as “the lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev. 5:5). Jacob referred to Him explicitly when he declared that “the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs” (vs. 10).
Jacob told Judah that he would be the object of his brothers’ praise, but isn’t that true in an even more exalted sense of the Lord Jesus? He’s been given “the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9) and to Him “every knee shall bow” (Phil. 2:10). Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of even Joseph’s dreams, for the sun and moon and stars bow to Him and to no mere mortal.
While Jacob prophesied preeminence for Judah, whatever preeminence Judah rightly had has been eclipsed by Jesus Christ. Jacob spoke of his fourth son as a lion, tearing his enemies apart and dominating his kingdom. Jesus has done this.
In the spiritual sense there are two lions in this world. There is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who is Jesus, and there is our Enemy, the Devil, a “roaring lion” who prowls about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). But Jesus has defeated that old lion, wrestling his kingdom from him and freeing those who throughout their lives were in bondage to him.
While that struggle, as we celebrate during the Easter season, took Jesus into the depths of the pit, but from that pit He has risen up to assume the highest place. Today Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He’s our King and our Lord and must be preeminent in our lives.
2. God gives great blessings to those who persevere through great persecution, “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb. Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers” (vss. 22-26). A. Parnell Bailey tells of visiting an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry. Some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. "These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," the orange grower said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth." That’s how Jacob described Joseph. What a contrast! Reuben, the oldest is the epitome of instability, whereas Joseph is the model of depth, stability and perseverance.
Derek Kidner, in his commentary on Genesis, observes that the thought here “moves from the present, the summer of Joseph's days, back to the stresses of the past, and behind both to God, whose array of titles forms the rich centrepiece of the oracle. Then His profusion of blessings is called down on Joseph, carrying the thought on into the future.”
Jacob uses the metaphor of a fruitful vine planted by a spring to describe Joseph's present situation. As we look at Joseph’s life of faith, obedience and kindness, we know that he had some special roots. Unfortunately, most of us think of Joseph as some super saint, so holy, that we despair of being like him. But he wasn’t. Joseph had the same weaknesses and temptations that we have. The primary difference between Joseph and us is his dependence upon God. Too often we don’t want to surrender areas or want to make it on our own, Joseph, though was totally dependent on God.
As New Testament Christians, our spiritual privileges are actually greater than Joseph’s. We can look to him then as a model for us and learn from his experiences. The same things that made him so spiritually fruitful can make us spiritually fruitful as well. Let me suggest some conditions that make his life a model for us of spiritual fruitfulness.
a) We must be planted in the right place. His father said, “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring” (vs. 22). Vines do not grow in a desert unless the roots run into a stream. Joseph knew the value of hidden resources.
Remember that Joseph, like so many of us, could not look to his family for spiritual nourishment or encouragement. He didn’t have any close friends who walked close to God. He didn’t even have a church family.
When he was sold into slavery, Joseph was immersed in a culture that was actively hostile to his personal faith in God. Yet, in spite of all of this, Joseph stood firm, believing in the God of his father. He came through this fiery crucible without compromising his faith. He knew that although he had left his family in Canaan, God had crossed the border into Egypt with him. Joseph had learned the importance of having independent spiritual supply lines that would not be affected by the failures of his family or the overt paganism around him. He was planted in the right place.
Centuries later the Prophet Jeremiah contrasted the lives of those who depend on man for their help and those who turn to God for personal strength. Listen to his description of two kinds of trees: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit’” (Jer. 17:5-8). A bush in the desert is barren, unfruitful and of little value. It’s totally dependent upon the rainfall or its circumstances to thrive, and so it is with those who trust in themselves, they fluctuate with the circumstances of life.
A healthy tree though has a strong root system that goes down deep. It can withstand the times of drought or storms that come its way. It is unaffected by external circumstances. That was Joseph and that’s what God desires for us. We are to have an inner relationship with God that thrives in good times or bad. Reversals bent Joseph but they did not break him.
You and I know too many Christians who live under their circumstances. God brings trials in our lives to make us better, not bitter. When we’re dependent upon situation and circumstances to thrive spiritually, we will rarely ever be fruitful because this world is no friend of grace or God.
b) We must be planted in the right climate. Though plants differ in the kind of atmosphere needed for maximum growth, the basics are needed for all vegetation.
First, there must be sunshine that gives plants the ability to manufacture food. The leaves of trees and plants have chlorophyll which, when combined with sunlight, forms starches and sugars. All of this must be combined with water from the roots and carbon dioxide from the air. This process known as photosynthesis causes the growth that produces fruit.
But darkness is also necessary. While plants do not grow during the night, they rest and assimilate the food they’ve acquired during the day. Without darkness the delicate process of photosynthesis would be upset and the plant’s growth thwarted.
Second, there must be wind to make the plants sturdy and fully developed. You can taste the difference in a tomato that’s grown out in the elements and one grown in a hothouse. Think back on Joseph’s life. He faced a mixture of sunshine, darkness and storms. In Egypt he experienced both exaltation and humiliation. He’s both understood and misunderstood. He’s encouraged and discouraged. He’s affirmed and accused. But in all of this, God’s plant was growing, developing into a vine that would bear the precious fruit of God on earth and eventually in heaven.
God does the same with us. He brings both sunshine and storms in our lives. He’s got a purpose that we may not understand until we get Home.
c) We must produce fruit in the right season. David wrote that the person who meditates on God’s Word “is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season” (Ps. 1:3). At different periods of our lives we produce different kinds of spiritual fruit. Sometimes we bear the fruit of joy or peacefulness. At other times we produce purity or perseverance. There are as many different kinds of fruit as there are challenges of life.
When Joseph was first sold into Egypt he needed the fruit of faith and trust in spite of his circumstances. Later, he’d need purity and self-control when Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce him. Perseverance got him through those years in prison. He needed humility and gratitude when he was elevated to second over all of Egypt. Whether in the pit, the prison or the palace, Joseph accepted his situation as the will of the God he loved and trusted. “Character,” said D. L. Moody “is what a man is in the dark.” Joseph was a man of godly character.
When Jacob said that Joseph’s vine had branches that “climb over a wall” (vs. 22), I think he meant that Joseph was a blessing to more than just his immediate family. All of Egypt was blessed because of his counsel and planning.
You and I need to be a source of blessing, not just for our family, but for our world. Too many of us are so focused on our immediate family that we often miss God’s bigger picture.
d) We must be periodically pruned in the right way. Every horticulturist will tell you that fruit needs to be pruned. When Jesus exhorted us to bear fruit, He said, “every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2). Like all pruners, God, at times, seemed to be merciless in His dealings with Joseph, but the only way to produce more fruit is to take the sharp knife and prune.
F.B. Meyer said that the Lord uses a knife which cuts deep into our nature, and the process will leave scars that will take years to heal or even to conceal. So great are the prunings that more branches are taken out than are left in, and the ground is littered with all the worthless cuttings.
Fruit is a product that only God can produce and not something that you and I can manufacture. It’s for that reason that God must cut away those things that are a hindrance to His work in our lives.
Joseph’s life defies human explanation. With all that he went through, he should have either been crazy or some kind of substance abuser. Instead, he’s a model of godliness and a trophy of God’s grace. That’s what God wants from each of us – He wants our lives to defy human nature. There should be no easy explanation for our godly behavior in the midst of adversity. As someone has said that when you have nothing left but God, you then realize that God is more than enough.
The fruit of trees perishes quickly. The fruit of the heart lasts forever. And that’s what God desires for us – fruit that lasts forever and ever.
You and I need to be models of this truth that while following God has its benefits; it also has its trials. We don't follow the Lord just because of what we get out of it. We follow the Lord because He’s the living God and His Word is the truth and we communicate this through our example, just like Joseph did.
Are we committed to the Lord as long as everything is going well, but we fall away when problems hit? Do we complain about people who have wronged us and gripe about the trials we encounter? If so, we are not models for our children and those around us to learn to trust in our sovereign, loving God – whatever may come! To be a blessing to those around us, we must help them to interpret all of life, including life's trials, from God's perspective.
3. God has a destiny for everyone. Much of what Jacob says of the other seven sons is vague at best. It’s not overly clear what it means. In the remainder of this chapter though, Jacob shares brief words about the other seven of his sons. True to the poetic qualities of the text, the images of the destiny of the remaining sons are, in most cases, based on a word play of the son’s name. The central theme uniting each image is that of prosperity.
Though we don’t have many details as we do with Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah and Joseph – all the sons of Jacob are blessed in that they were to be a part of the nation Israel. All of them would enter into the land of Canaan and have an inheritance there. It’s true that some would certainly receive a greater blessing than others. Even those who were rebuked by Jacob and whose future was portrayed as dismal were still blessed.
The future which is foretold is not independent of the past, but an extension of it. Moses told us that every one of the sons was given “the blessing appropriate to him” (verse 28).
Just like these sons of Jacob, God has a plan and destiny for each of our lives. He created you. He created your characteristics, the attributes of your life, the gifts you have, the way you are. Everything about you comes from God, and everything created by God is good and not to be despised. Perhaps you don’t like yourself too well, and you wish things were a bit different. My friend, God is the One who made you that way and it’s good. Not one of us has any right to look at ourselves and say it’s “bad.” You cannot call bad what God has called “good.” And it is to be received with thanksgiving.
To find God’s destiny for us is where we all must begin: “God, thank you that you have made me the way I am, with my strong passions which get out of hand, which I can't bridle--thank you, God; they came from you. Or, my lowly estate; or the crises which come into my life. God, thank you; it is good; it has been created for me.” That’s what Paul admonishes us to do in 1 Timothy 4:4-5, “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
God has a plan for your life. So take each characteristic, whatever it is, that personality trait, and submit it to the Word of God. Find out how God wants you to use it; that’s the first step. This is where we have to begin, by putting ourselves under the authority of that Word. "Lord, you show me from the Word how it is to be employed."
But there’s a further step. It is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer. Prayer is the attitude of dependence upon God, and reliance upon His power, which makes possible obedience to what the Word directs. So wherever you find yourself in God’s plan, just as Jacob’s son did, submit yourself to the Word of God, and expect God to begin to change you and bring you into conformity to His Word. It won’t be completed immediately; it’s a process. God’s Word tells us clearly that the process will go on until we stand before Jesus Christ. He’s committed to perfecting us, but that perfecting and maturing will take time.
That's what we see tucked away in these last words Jacob directs toward his sons. In verse 18 there’s a little statement, "I look for your deliverance, O LORD" or as the NASV translates it "For Your salvation I wait, O LORD." You and I are waiting until God has finished the purging and pruning and growing in our lives and takes us Home to our inheritance and our “Promised Land.”
Conclusion: So what’s the point? What can we learn from these blessings, these prophecies, even the ones that seem obscure?
God has a plan for history. These prophecies of Jacob remind us that while we may not understand all the details of the plan, God does have a plan. He is moving history ahead right on schedule toward the grand climax when Jesus Christ will reign supreme. We are to live each day in light of God's great plan for history.
God has a plan for us within His plan for history. Each brother was unique. Each had a unique contribution to make to Israel's history. While not all would be as Judah or Joseph, all were essential to God's plan for Israel. They needed to see their roles as complementary, not competitive.
This same truth applies to each of us in the body of Christ. Some have one role, some another. Some have one measure of blessing on their lives, some another. But none is without a purpose. Each one complements the other, so that every member is essential for the outworking of God's program. We don't have to be just like each other or do the same thing. It's not more spiritual to be in "full time" ministry as opposed to having a "secular" job. What matters is that you are doing what God wants you to do, in line with His plan for history. Keep your eyes off of others and on the Lord. That leads to the next application…
God's plan centers on the person of Jesus Christ. God's plan is not a religious system, His plan centers on a Person and on our being rightly related to that Person. We’re to follow Christ. Jacob's prophecy to Judah points to the Savior, the Lord Jesus, Who descends from the tribe of Judah.
Jacob predicts preeminence and power for the tribe of Judah, comparing him to a lion. Then he predicts, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until He comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is His” (vs. 10). Almost all commentators, Jewish and Christian, recognize this as a reference to the Messiah. It looks forward to Jesus as the Prince of Peace, the only one who can bring peace to our troubled world and rest to our souls, because He alone can reconcile us to God, having made peace through the cross. It’s only when we’re in obedience to Him that we have rest in our souls. The important thing is that we recognize that God's plan involves a Person who is coming to reign. That Person must be descended from the tribe of Judah. Over 300 other prophecies in the Old Testament show that Jesus Christ alone meets the qualifications of being the promised Savior and each of us must be rightly related to Him. That leads to the final point…
God's plan requires our response if we want to share in His blessings. In God's time and way, these prophecies about Jacob's sons would be fulfilled, but the individuals within the tribes had a choice about whether they would help to fulfill them through obedience to God or fight against their fulfillment through disobedience.
We have the same choice to make. God's plan for the ages will be accomplished, but we have to decide whether we will be involved in fulfilling God’s plan or if we’ll resist it.
The personal history of Judah ought to encourage us. He was a man who had a dismal beginning, yet he repented of his sin and inherited a great future. God offers that same blessing to each of us. If we will turn from our sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, sent from God in fulfillment of this prophecy uttered by Jacob, God will bless us beyond measure.
My friend, even if you don't understand some of the details of Bible prophecy, such as these words of Jacob, you can clearly understand the big picture: Jesus is Lord, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), and when He comes, you'd better be on His side! He is gracious toward every sinner who repents and trusts in Him, but He will be fierce in wrath and judgment toward all who have ignored Him or opposed Him. You can either bow before Him someday in awful judgment or bow before Him willingly now as your Savior and Lord. That choice is yours!
