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[0:00] now then as we come to this final chapter in Genesis it is of course a month since we were able to deal with chapter 49 just the way circumstances and communion seasons have worked out and so on so it's a month ago we looked at chapter 49 of the death of Jacob and now in this final chapter 50 we read Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him and kissed him we may trust presumably that he also undertook the the duty of the nearest and dearest son of closing his eyes physically closing his eyes in death remember how the Lord had promised to Jacob as he was on his way south into Egypt and he said in chapter 46 verse 4 I will go down with thee into Egypt and I will also surely bring thee up again and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes and that is almost certainly what it's meant the closing of the eyes in death you will see Joseph before you die he will be the one that is beside you as your eyes close to death so we see here in this first section we'll take the first section three verses 1 to 14 we see the duty of faithfulness the duty of faithfulness required of us by a God who is himself faithful in every detail we see first of all the faithfulness of God in keeping his promise to Jacob we just made mention of that and the Lord had promised to Jacob that he would see

[1:29] Joseph Joseph would put his eyes his hand upon his eyes in other words close his eyes in death and God keeps that promise he was with Jacob when he came down into Egypt and the last 17 years of Jacob's life were probably the most comfortable and the most blessed and the most rich of all the lives of the years of his pilgrimage so the faithfulness of God first of all secondly we see the faithfulness of Joseph in obeying his father's command now this command has a threefold strength first of all it is the command of a father to a son so Joseph is duty bound to obey it secondly it is administered with an oath remember how Joseph says to the Egyptians my father made me swear verse 5 saying lo I die in my grave which I have made for me in the land of Canaan there shall thou bury me so he took an oath of him so that's the second thing there's the solemnity of the oath thirdly there is the will of the dead and the Egyptians would certainly recognize this that if this is something that somebody's dying wish then there's an additional obligation to fulfill it so it's a father's command it is the solemnity of the oath and thirdly the will of the dead so Jacob has required this of Joseph so he has to discharge it with faithfulness and he does so but in doing so he doesn't just say well I'm off to the land of Canaan

[2:56] I'm taking my father's remains and we're going off to bury him and forget about everybody else remember that by this time Joseph is what he's about 54 or thereabouts he has he's lived a good 30 years no I beg your pardon yes he's lived a good 20-30 years in the land of Egypt he's been blessed by this by his time there he's he's got another 54 years 56 now or thereabouts and he is well and truly Egyptianized he knows the protocols and one reason why we read here that he goes to the servants of Pharaoh and he says speak I pray you in the ears of Pharaoh saying my father made me swear why doesn't he just go direct after all he's the supreme governor of Egypt there's the possibility that his star has waned a little bit in the intervening years now the crisis has passed there's the possibility it's another Pharaoh since the old Pharaoh may have died it's possible now it's not the same one most likely why he doesn't go in himself personally is that in many of the ancient pagan kingdoms of the east it was considered inappropriate it was bad form or it was forbidden to enter into the presence of the monarch of the king mourning or sad now this was either because the king was considered to be divine and joyfully holy how could anyone be in any sense anything other than deliriously happy to be in the privileged presence of such a king or it may and or it may have been considered a bad omen to these superstitious pagans that if somebody comes in in mourning or sackcloth or ashes then it's going to bring bad providence on the king's court we've got examples of this of course in Esther in chapter 4 verse 2 remember when

[5:02] Mordecai clothed with sackcloth cannot now enter into the king's gate we read it chapter 4 verse 2 he came even before the king's gate for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth it was forbidden to be in the king's presence in a state of mourning and we have something similar to that in Nehemiah chapter 2 at verse 2 when he's bringing the king's cup there he's bringing the cup to the king I took up the wine gave it to the king now I had not been before time sad in his presence wherefore the king said unto me why is thy confidence being sad seeing thou art not sick this is nothing else but sorrow of heart then was I very so afraid now you might think well why is he afraid the king's just being nice he's just saying you know why are you sad you're not ill you're not sick something's troubling you would think oh isn't that nice he's showing compassion but Nehemiah understands a challenge you are sad in my presence why are you being sad in the king's presence you're not ill something's wrong with you and he's afraid implication because you're not allowed to be downcast or sorrowful or mourning in the king's presence either because it's a bad omen and it brings bad providence on the court or the monarch or because the king is considered to be so brilliant how could anybody not be joyfully be loyally happy in his presence either way it was for good he is afraid so I said unto the king let the king live forever why should not my countenance be sad when the city the place of my father's sepulchers laid waste and the gates that are consumed with fire and the king says but what dost thou make the quest so I pray to the God of heaven he is sad in the presence of the king and it is remarked upon you're not allowed to be in mourning in the courts of some of these ancient kings so this is probably the reason why

[6:56] Joseph goes through intermediaries through the servants of Pharaoh he speaks to the household of Pharaoh and saying if now I have found grace in your eyes speak I pray you in the ears of Pharaoh so he's got faithfulness in observing propriety to the Egyptians amongst whom he lives and whom he serves as their minister of state their prime minister as it were he's got faithfulness in carrying through all Jacob's wishes and as we see he goes into the land of Canaan he goes to the field of Makla and Jacob likewise is honoured by the Egyptians with whom went up verse 7 all the servants of Pharaoh now it doesn't mean literally every last one this is the use of what is called synecdoche which is a literary device just as you find in for example in the New Testament John the Baptist where it says there went out unto him all the land of Judea and Tyre and Sidon and so on it doesn't mean literally every last person in those countries it means a huge number of people a number which is taken as representative of the whole and so likewise we have here a significant number went up the servants of Pharaoh the elders of the house and all the elders of the land of Egypt and the house of Joseph and his brother and his father's house and went up with him chariots and horsemen it was a stable kingdom a very great company why are the Egyptians concerned about the death of a 147 year old shepherd why are they concerned with him why are they honouring this ancient visitor this immigrant in this way why they are honouring the father because they honour the son and let me say you could preach a whole sermon on that you know if you really want to show honour to the son you honour the father and vice versa if you want to honour the father you honour the son you know 1 John speaks about this as well you know you can't have the son without the father nor the father without the son some people try to do that they try to sort of chop up the trinity and say oh of course we believe in God but we don't believe that Jesus Christ is God we think he's less than God we think he's God's son but we don't believe he's God the son and we think he's less than God and they would chop up the trinity you cannot honour God by chopping up his person you cannot honour God by dividing his very being his very existence and chopping it up in this way

[9:25] God is one God Father Son and Holy Ghost three persons if you would honour the father honour the son if you would honour the son honour the father and the spirit likewise and it is because the Egyptians have an honour for Joseph the son that they are prepared to honour his father because of his relation to him now if we would seek the protection of God's mercy and grace then we likewise must be as it were plugged in united to the son we must become one with Christ we must become part as it were of his body so that the father who cannot do other than honour his own son will of necessity honour and receive all who are part of his son you cannot separate out the two so we find the Egyptians honouring the father because they honour the son finally we also see this verse 14

[10:30] Joseph returned into Egypt he and his brethren all that went up with him to bury his father he returns again to his post as we mentioned Joseph is now about 56 years old he has been all this time in Egypt since he was 17 so nearly 40 years 39 years he will live as we see at the end of the chapter another 54 years he's about half way through his life at this stage he is a great statesman of Egypt but he's not just saying oh I remember it from when I was a boy wouldn't it be great if I could just stay there wouldn't it be great if I could just visit the old places where I used to take the flocks and the herds oh here's where my father's camp used to be and so on no he fulfills his duty and he returns to his post the yearnings for home must have been great for his native land but everything he holds dear is now somewhere else he has duty he has obligation and he shows faithfulness in returning again to his post if we would follow simply the whims and desires of our hearts and neglect that which the lord may require of us sometimes to be in places and amongst people where we might have preference to be somewhere else but the lord calls us to where he would have us to be faithfulness to our post faithfulness to our calling is that which god himself will honour there is faithfulness in returning again to his post so the duty of faithfulness we see throughout these opening 14 chapters 14 verses of Abraham and secondly then we see in the next verses from say verse 15 through to verse 21 we see the mercy of forgiveness and an example of the covenant of grace the mercy of forgiveness because when

[12:22] Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead they said Joseph will perish or hate us and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him and they sent a messenger unto Joseph saying thy father did command before he died saying so shall he say unto Joseph forgive I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin for they did the evil and now we pray thee forgive the trespass of the servants of the god of thy father notice the way that they're putting it now we don't know for certain that this is not the truth we have no record in scripture of Jacob saying to his other son make sure you say to Joseph we're sorry and that your father Jacob begged you to forgive them you know you would have thought that at some point in the 17 years that he was there Jacob might have mentioned to Joseph look I know your brothers did you wrong but you know you've really got to forgive them or maybe he assumed that he'd already forgiven them they may be telling the truth that this may have been one of the last things their father said to them before he died but we have no record of it but let's let's pick the best let's be charitable and assume that they are telling the truth notice the way they put it the servants of the

[13:43] God of thy father Joseph wept when they spake unto him now they may be they may they may be men who are at least outwardly acknowledging the God of Israel but certainly it is a certain gracelessness which expects there to be no forgiveness the guilty recognize you know the guilty because they expect nothing perhaps because they would give nothing themselves the guilty recognize that the passage of time will in no way eradicate the sins of the past I'll say that again the guilty recognize that the passage of time will in no way eradicate the sins of the past and sometimes people think it will they think oh well I'm going to live another 50 60 years even if I I'm never sorry for the things I've done about ages ago there's nobody left around who's affected by it it was you know that was then this is now for goodness sake it's water under the bridge what harm can it do

[14:49] God remembers all the harm that was done he values he remembers he reckons up the hurt that is done by us the damage that is done by us the sin that is committed when the books are opened every little detail will be found written in whether it was from 40 years ago whether it was from 100 years ago God remembers it all the only way to eliminate to eradicate the sins of the past is not by pretending oh it was a long time ago nothing is going to matter now but rather to seek forgiveness and this is what they are doing now they seek forgiveness from Joseph your father said while he was alive forgive the evil that they have done and this is what the Lord promises likewise in his word that there would be the grace of their forgiveness for the sins that are past that the Lord in his gospel would likewise take away and forgive our sins we read in

[16:00] Romans chapter 3 for example being justified freely by his grace that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God for being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God had set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be the just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus that's the only way to be forgiven forgiveness grace and the price that has been paid through the Lord Jesus Christ for sins that are past length of time will not undo the sins length of time number of years will not eradicate from the books of God that which is written indelibly therein remember that God is eternal to him everything is the same yesterday today forever that which is a hundred years ago as if it was happening right now five hundred years ago as if it was happening right now all the future is there in the palm of his hand so what is written before him it is written as though right now he sees it right in front of his eyes there is no way of being able to say oh it was ages ago to an eternal

[17:19] God a thousand years of us are watching the night the only solution is forgiveness and this is what they say now we pray thee forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father and Joseph wept when they spake unto him and his brethren also went and fell down before his face and they said behold we be thy servants now in all fairness to the brothers they are doing the right thing they are seeking his forgiveness they are expressing sorrow and remorse they are declaring themselves his servants and forever in his death they're not saying come on little brother you owe us we've been nice to you all the years we've been down here in Egypt we haven't tried to trick you we haven't tried to unseat you from your power and wealth and state in which you dwell we've kept ourselves in Goshen we've been good so come on you owe us they didn't think that they knew that they owed him they knew that they had sold him into slavery they knew that they were the ones on the back foot they thought that perhaps the only reason that he might have been holding back from his own vengeance is because of the love of their mutual father and now their father was gone and now what they saw as perhaps their last shield and safety net was taken away they throw themselves on Joseph's mercy it's the right thing to do if we would seek the forgiveness of God we can't do it from a place of pride we can't do it from a place of bullshit kind of God owes me forgiveness we must throw ourselves in his mercy acknowledge our wrongdoing and declare ourselves completely his servants just as we're looking at this morning you are his servants whom you yield yourselves servants to obey we yield ourselves servants to obey the Lord and we seek his forgiveness behold we be thy servants so we have the mercy of forgiveness which Joseph is about to bestow is fear not for am I in the place of God he is illustrating the work of God you know he's illustrating the mercy of God

[19:30] I mean he knows himself that vengeance belongs to God alone Deuteronomy 32 verse 35 to me belong with vengeance and recompense their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand the things that shall come upon them make his God alone has vengeance as it says in the New Testament vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord it's God's it isn't Joseph's and he says am I in the place of God he says you know I can't visit vengeance only if God has not done so if God has spared you and been marched up with you who am I to do any different am I in the place of God but as for you ye thought evil against me yes but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive and here we see the sovereign grace of God overruling all things even the wickedness of the wicked he overrules and he turns around and he makes to triumph for his sovereign purposes you thought it evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive that is God's purpose to save you know that's what

[20:49] Jesus the name means it's the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua Jehoshua Jehovah is salvation the one who saves Hebrews tells us that Jesus has come chapter 7 verse 25 to save and to save to the uttermost them that put their faith in heaven to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive now therefore fear he not I will nourish you and your little ones and he comforted them and spake kindly unto them here we see the covenant of grace the great mercy of faith and action it is not just themselves seeking and receiving his forgiveness I will nourish you and your little ones remember what Peter says on the day of Pentecost you know the promises unto you and to your children and to all that are far off this mercy is because of the grace of faith we read in Hebrews 11 verse 22 by faith Joseph when he died made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones he has faith and because he has faith he is a man of mercy and forgiveness and so we see the covenant of grace and action they are forgiven as I will nourish you and your little ones when we put our trust in the Lord when we throw ourselves at his mercy it is not only we who benefit but all those connected with us likewise benefit from that mercy think of Rehab the harlot in Jericho and because she had delivered the spies who came to spy out the land she was herself spared and all who would gather within the house all her father's household all her family in the house that was marked with the scarlet thread they were all saved they were all spared what had they done nothing but they were connected with her they were part of her family in the covenant of grace mercy is extended in the first instance to all connected with those those who are under the help the shelter the headship of those who put their trust in the Lord it is why

[23:07] Joseph is able to say I will nourish you and your little ones they are family they're not only his brother's family they are his family and if we're putting our trust in Christ it's not just that we have become his brother but in becoming his brother we have become sons honorary sons whether we're male or female whatever sons or daughters in practice we become sons of God he cannot cast out his own now therefore fear ye not I will nourish you and your little ones and he comforted them and spake kindly unto them it's not just that you will be free from slavery it's not just that I won't visit vengeance on you I'll look after you I'll bless you I'll do you good and this is the offer that the Lord makes for us it's not just a case of put your trust in me and I'll make sure you don't go to hell at the end of the day but for the next 50-60 years of your life you're on your own when it comes to eternity I'll see you right but for now you're on your own

[24:08] God isn't like that when we come to him and beg for his mercy and seek his forgiveness he doesn't just say I'll look after your eternity but rather I will care for you I will nourish you and your little ones I'll look after you I'll look after your family I will provide for you I will care for you and this is the trust the covenant into which of course Jacob himself had entered after he saw the vision at Bethel the vision of the angels if we turn back to chapter 28 where we read how the Lord had spoken to him and how he said behold I am with thee verse 15 of chapter 28 behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all places where thou boast and will bring thee again into this land for I will not leave thee and he said Jacob bowed about saying if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my father's house in peace then shall the Lord be my

[25:11] God and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and of all that thou give me I will give the tenth unto thee it is this covenant whereby God ordains not only to deliver us for eternity but to care for us also in time I will nourish you and your little ones and he comforted them and spake kindly unto them so we have the mercy of forgiveness and we have the covenant of grace also we see then in the remaining years of Joseph's life in verse 22 we see earthly blessing and this is what the Lord desires to give us earthly blessing as well as heavenly redemption Joseph dwelt in Egypt here in his father's house and Joseph lived 110 years Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation the children also of Macha the son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph's knees all this domestic happiness he sees the years of his life his children his children's children and so on now

[26:14] Joseph remember was 30 years old when he stood before fail and he had been 17 when he was sold into slavery and from that day when he stood before fail he was almost instantaneously made the chief governor of all the land of Egypt so he has had 13 years of affliction as a slave in Potiphar's house and in prison and so on 13 years as a slave 13 years of affliction by the time he dies he has lived 80 years as the supreme governor of Egypt 80 years as the prince and prime minister of Egypt even if you were a Sadducee who didn't believe in the resurrection who didn't believe in any life after death this is a pretty good equation this is a pretty good deal 80 years of supreme stately blessing wealth riches and power over against 13 years of affliction as a slave it's a pretty good deal the Lord gives you so the

[27:21] Lord has given earthly blessing to Joseph here after all that he had endured another small point before we move on to the final point which would be heavenly hope after earthly blessing just like us to notice that it says that Joseph was 110 when he died because we know the age that Joseph was when he died we know we have been able to calculate because of the age that he was when he stood before Pharaoh how many years passed before Jacob came down into Egypt and so on we can compute from all the figures of Genesis what length of time after the fall each of the patriarchs each of the those of the genealogy if you like from Adam all the way down to Joseph how many years they lived and when the next one was born and so on and we can calculate that Joseph dies and this is the final one of the final years we can pinpoint with arithmetic accuracy 2,309 years after the fall because if you go back if you're taking all the genealogies you can calculate the age of each of the patriarchs when the next one in the covenant line is born you can work it out you can compute it and so we can say with absolute anathmetical certainty that when

[28:44] Joseph dies aged 110 in his 2,309 years after the fall after Adam and Eve are cast out of the garden and the process of decay you might say begins of aging and decay begins now just by an aside you can also add on a little bit we know that then because we know the age that Jacob was when he died and the age he was when he came into Egypt if we know that Jacob was born for example 2,108 years after the fall we might see the year 21-08 from the beginning of the world and we know that he was aged 130 when he came into Egypt when the Israelites came in with him we know that Israel came into Egypt in what we might call the year 22-38 from the date of the fall we can know that from Genesis 47-9 we also know from Exodus 12 verses 40 and 41 that the children of

[29:45] Israel were in Egypt 430 years to the day 430 years so if we take it from when Jacob and all his children come into Egypt 430 years it means you can also calculate the year in which they came out of Egypt add on 40 years in the wilderness you can calculate the year from the fall when they enter into the promised land you can't calculate with certainty how long Joshua rules over them how long Moses is in charge of them or exactly when he was born or whatever we know the judges ruled for about 450 years but that was up until the days of Samuel we don't know exactly how old Samuel was when he died and so on we can't calculate all these dates in arithmetic with certainty but we can say that the children of Israel enter the promised land 2708 years after the fall that's much for what it's worth it's probably not worth it's a smaller side in detail it's just worth giving us a wee sense of perspective that if we take the fall as sort of very parallel with say the year dot when

[31:03] Jesus was born if we were to take AD the year since Jesus supposed birth because they calculated it wrong so it wasn't the year he was actually born but we take the year dot as being the year in which Jesus was born prior to that it's BC before Christ after that it's the year of our Lord so if you know the year Jesus was born as the year dot we're now in the year 2018 so if we were to take from the fall 2018 years 2018 years where would that find us along the timeline it would find us with Abraham aged about age about 70 and still out of the Chaldees so in other words none of the sort of what we might call the exciting history of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob none of that has even happened yet none of it's even started that's the sort of age and the sort of time frame we're looking at 2000 years have elapsed since you know the since the fall you know the flood itself happened in what would do us be the 1650s

[32:10] AD you know and so many of the old patriarchs are still alive when Abraham is age 70 he doesn't get called out of the Chaldees till he's 75 you know there's so much still yet to happen so much way ahead we think oh it's ages since Jesus birth and we're so modern and so much time has elapsed but if you were to transpose it back to the equivalent from the fall you know things haven't even really begun to get underway yes you've had the flood yes you've had the Tower of Babel and all that but Abraham hasn't really begun to enter on his calling before the Lord all of that is still ahead so as you give us a certain sense of perspective that God's scheme of things is vast compared to our understanding and we might think yes well the Lord must come back soon and maybe he will and we hope and pray that he will and we have to be ready for when he does come but God's scheme of time outworking of his grace is far far greater than anything that we can comprehend but we do look for as we mentioned a few minutes ago a heavenly hope we have this account of

[33:27] Joseph's death Joseph of course is one of the Old Testament figures which points us to Christ and here we have as we mentioned in this verse 20 you know you thought it evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass is this day to save much people alive pointing us to Christ those who put Christ to death thought evil against him but God not only allowed it he ordained it so that much people would be saved alive the only way for us to be saved was through the death of Christ now Joseph isn't put to death but he suffers a lot at his brother's hands God meant it unto good he is a figure who points us to Christ and likewise his faith points us forward to that resurrection that the Lord is going to work for all his people Joseph said unto his brethren I die and God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land and to the land which he swore to Abraham to Isaac and to

[34:28] Jacob although it's hundreds of years away he believes that God will be faithful to his word Joseph took an oath of the children and said God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones from hence so Joseph died being 110 years old they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt so we know that they did in fact carry through this instruction Exodus chapter 13 tells us in verse 19 that Moses did take the bones of Joseph and bring him up out of the land of Egypt we're told at the end of the book of Joshua chapter 24 verse 36 that they buried him and checked him in the plot of ground that pertained to his inheritance so we do know they fulfilled that but this is an earthly illustration of a heavenly hope the Lord has promised that he will surely visit his people he will come amongst them he will come upon them God will surely visit you and bring you up out of this land that for us in the present day the land in which we dwell is not the land of

[35:35] Egypt not physically speaking spiritually speaking perhaps it may be an Egypt to us a place of exile a place that is not our home but the Lord will bring us up out of this place and we read that when the Lord comes back then the dead will be raised incorruptible those who are alive will be changed all of us will be taken up from this place and we will stand before the Lord at the last day the Lord will surely bring you out of this land unto the land which he swore to Abraham Isaac and Jacob now what he has promised them is not simply a physical land of their inheritance but what he has promised them is what he has promised all his true believing children an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled in which fadeth not away not an earthly cain but a heavenly home and that is what he has promised likewise to us god will surely visit you shall carry up my bones from hence now you think oh well that's fine but when it comes to resurrection our bones won't go up there will they

[36:38] I mean they're not going to go into heaven well actually yes they are because if you remember when Jesus appears to his disciples in Luke 24 and they think it's a ghost he says behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have Jesus resurrection body which is the first fruits of all of our resurrection bodies whatever our resurrection body will be like it will be like his it will have resurrection flesh and it will have bones a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have not only will Joseph's bones rise from a grave at the last day as will all of ours that whatsoever may be our state of decay that is a covenant with the dust the Lord will bring back together again from dust itself however scattered all the bodies of those who have ever lived and they will be given bodies which are with new characteristics and yet the same we looked at this at the end of our look at the biblical basis of the confession of faith and the Lord has gone to prepare a true inheritance for us it will be you'll take up my bones you'll bring them into the land of Canaan you'll bring them into that place of inheritance why because God will visit his people and he will do as he has said

[38:05] Jesus said to his disciples remember in my father's house so many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there he may be also by faith Joseph when he died made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones there is earthly blessing that the Lord gives us and there is a heavenly hope there is a resurrection which we await notice that Joseph is put in a coffin in Egypt once he's embalmed he's put in a coffin but he's not buried he's not buried in the land of Egypt that is not his permanent abode there's no permanent for Joseph in Egypt his body is put in a coffin it's embalmed but it awaits being taken to the promised land and when we are ourselves our earthly bodies laid in the ground remember how vital is the soul yes the body will rise but it is the soul which is the life power within the body if you think of it think how quickly you know they talk about embalming the bodies 40 days of embalming 30 days of mourning and so on now remember when Lazarus had died Martha said to Jesus he's been in the grave four days now and he'll be stinking how quickly the body decays and putrefies when the soul has departed from it the minute the soul is gone there's only dead flesh and organs and it begins to decay where there's no life where there's not the soul it is the soul that keeps the body going people nowadays we are so obsessed with you know body image and you know go to the gym or make sure you work hand and tone and all a sort of glamorizing of the super fit and the healthy and the beautiful people and so on and we glorify the body which is going to age and decay and neglect the soul now the soul is what gives life to the body and the minute the soul is departed from the body that body will just decay and pretty soon it will stink because the matter without the soul is just deadness what the

[40:26] Lord promises us is not only will the soul be reunited to the body but the body will be a resurrection body it will be a glorified body the bones will be restored with resurrection flesh where the soul will be united to it and this Joseph believes says God will surely visit you carry my bones up hence all of our bones wherever they are buried whether it's sea whether in the earth whether we are cremated in our ashes scattered all of our bones will be brought back together and restored and brought to heaven and clothed in resurrection flesh and we will stand before the Lord and some will stand before him in his presence simply to be finally condemned and some to be glorified for all eternity it is a resurrection both of the just and the unjust Joseph died being 110 years old he embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in

[41:28] Egypt to do what to await the fulfillment of God's promise and it would be another 420 430 years before they were brought out of Egypt and his remains went with them it would be 40 years that his remains were carried in the wilderness before finally they were settled and buried with all honour and due reverence within the land of Canaan it would be a long time that his bones did not find a resting place it may be a long time in our calculation before the Lord comes and takes our bones out of the grave and brings us to himself but in God's scheme of things his time will be perfect Joseph gave commandment concerning his bones because he had faith because he had faith he had mercy because he had mercy he likewise fulfilled and showed himself trusting in that covenant of grace here we leave

[42:28]  Joseph here we leave Genesis that's a you know and a politician Winston Churchill said about Ben Kirk we cannot say it is the end we can't say it is even the beginning of the end but we can say it is the end of the beginning and that's what we have now with the end of Genesis we have the end of the beginning in our 66 books of the Bible one of them is complete God has so much more to unfold in all the books of the Bible whatever stage your life may be at whatever stage your spiritual relation to the Lord may be at there is time yet to close in with Christ and to seal that grace which he desires to give us all it will mean with all the years that have gone past and we think are too many to be capitalized on now too late for us now never too late whilst the Lord yet has work to do is that it is perhaps the end of the beginning but there is so much more for God to do for God to unfold for God to reveal in his word in his work and in the lives of all who will give ourselves to the heart bless you grace