24th February 2023
Pray (ACts) Read - Genesis 50:22-26, Exodus 13:19 & Hebrews 11:22 Message Alan Burke Jospeh was a man of faith, Hebrews tells us that “By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones” (Heb 11:22). It’s one of those things that we might scratch our heads about and wonder why it was by faith he gave this instruction but Jospeh was looking forward to the hope in Christ Jesus. After he died at the age of 110 we learn that his body was embalmed and put in a coffin in Egypt, his coffin would have been a stone sarcophagus, that would have been a testimony throughout the years of the faith that Jospeh had. Years later, when the even the bones of Joseph were on there way to returning to the dust that they were made of, God indeed redeem his people from Egypt. They as he had promised to Abraham did plunder the nation of Egypt, he fulfilled the promise that He had given to Jospeh’s father, his grandfather and his great grandfather, those promises that Joseph had been looking to with hope, for Joseph was one who lived by faith. While Joseph’s brothers had intended to harm him, God in all of this had intended it for good, and in Exodus 13 we learn how indeed the people left Egypt and there were are told; “19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place. (Ex 13:19.) Nearly 400 years after the request was made by Faith the people of God left Egypt, Jospeh’s bones were taken by Moses, “ And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. (Ex 13:21–22). Joseph one of the most powerful men of his generation, if not in the entire known world, who had much more than we can imagine, was focused not on this life, on collecting wealth, on having his best life now, he was looking to his future home, his eternal hope, where he would dwell with his God, success did not distract Joseph from the hope that he had ever before him, it did not make him blind to the promises of God to His people. His hope was not just of a somewhere where his bones could lie that was close to home, buried in Canaan rather, his hope was to dwell in the very presence of God in the new heavens and new earth just like it was for Abraham. For when we die our souls are made perfect in holiness, (Heb. 12:23) and do immediately pass into glory; (2 Cor. 5:1,6,8, Phil. 1:23, Luke 23:43) and our bodies, being still united to Christ, (1 Thess. 4:14) do rest in their graves, (Isa. 57:2) till the resurrection. (Job 19:26–27), (WSC 37), but when Christ returns at the resurrection we will be raised raised up in glory, (1 Cor. 15:43) shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, (Matt. 25:23, Matt. 10:32) and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God, (1 John 3:2, 1 Cor. 13:12) to all eternity. (1 Thess. 4:17–18). (WSC 38). That is the hope that Jospeh had, today we still wait on the final resurrection, but we know that it is sure through the one who gave these promises is trustworthy and true. Consider this, what does your life say about you, what will your funeral say about you and what will your legacy say about you? Does your life speak louder about yourself than your hope in Christ and will your funeral and legacy do just the same? Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q85 What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and cursedue to us for sin? To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, (Acts 20:21) with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption. (Prov. 2:1–5, Prov. 8:33–36, Isa. 55:3)
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