Category: Devotional

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Hebrews 11:22

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

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Hebrews 11:22

22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.

Explanation

In Genesis 50:22-26, we find the narrative about the death of Joseph which is alluded to by the preacher here in verse 22.

Genesis 50:22-26

22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.  23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees.

24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.  25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Joseph spent most of his life in Egypt although he had been raised by his father in the land of Canaan.  He lived a long time, and therefore saw God bless his family generationally.  Verse 22 mentions that he saw children from multiple generations beyond the lines of both Ephraim and Mannasseh.

Even though He had been in Egypt, lead Egypt, and even adapted to the culture of Egypt, Egypt never got too deeply into Joseph.  This is what is being pointed out in the verse.  He still believed the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  He trusted God.  How so?  He didn’t want to be buried in Egypt.  He made his brethren promise to take his bones back to Canaan when they went back. 

Now, Joseph knew that God had used Him for a great purpose in Egypt.  We can see that in his response to his brothers after their father had died.  They were worried that Joseph was just waiting to execute vengeance once Jacob passed away.  When they confronted Joseph saying that Jacob would want him to forgive them, this was his response:

Genesis 50:17b-20

17b And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Joseph knew that God’s plan and purpose was to use Him in Egypt, yet he still believed that God’s greater promise to His family was something to be recognized and trusted.  He told them that they would not be staying in Egypt.  It wasn’t if they were going back.  For him it was a when- and his command was this- “When you go back, take my bones with you!”

Application:

Joseph certainly stood out in the culture of Egypt.  He learned their language, adapted to their culture in some ways.  When his brothers got to Egypt they saw him as an Egyptian and did not recognize him as their brother.  Yet, we know that God used him because though he was in Egypt, he did not compromise his integrity.  He was in Egypt, but he was not of it.

Worldliness can certainly be an issue for believers.  The New Testament gives us some insight on what “worldliness” is.

1 John 2:15-17

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

We are in the world, but not of the world.  We are not to be conformed to the patterns of this world- the lust of the flesh, eyes, and the pride of life.  Romans 12:2 tells us how.  

Romans 12:2

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Having our minds renewed happens when we trust God enough to look to what He has said, and let His Word get into us.  We believe His Word when we hear it and act upon it.  This is exactly what Joseph did by faith.  He believed the promises of God.  When it was time to do so, he made one of his last actions to make sure his family would get his remains out of Egypt and into the promised land.  

Do I have the kind of faith to trust God with that kind of obedience?

Will my legacy be that I trusted the Word of God?

Will my legacy point people to obedient faith?

Response:

God help me to be bold today as I witness for you.  Help me to trust you!

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Hebrews 11:21

On By Ben JenningsIn Devotional2 Comments

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“By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.”

Hebrews 11:21

Explanation:

“By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; …”

Jacob sure did do many things that lived up to his first name- supplanter or deceiver.  Yet, one of the great things to read in his life is a growing maturity and spiritual sight with age.  As his physical sight dimmed, we see that his spiritual sight and his character grew more and more clear.  Though the outward man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day.  This is certainly seen in the life of Jacob.  One writer put it this way, 

The close of Jacob’s career stands in most pleasing contrast with all the previous scenes of his eventful history. It reminds one of a serene evening after a tempestuous day: the sun, which during the day had been hidden from view by clouds, mists, and fogs, sets in majesty and brightness, gilding with his beams the western sky, and holding out the cheering prospect of a bright tomorrow. Thus it is with our aged patriarch. The supplanting, the bargain-making, the cunning, the management, the shifting, the shuffling, the unbelieving selfish fears,—all those dark clouds of nature and of earth seem to have passed away, and he comes forth, in all the calm elevation of faith, to bestow blessings, and impart dignities, in that holy skillfulness which communion with God can alone impart.  (C.H. Mackintosh, from the Believers Bible Commentary).

At the end of his life we read the account in Genesis 48 where he was blind, sick, and on his deathbead.  He called for Joseph to see him.  Joseph brought his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to see their grandfather.

Both Ephraim, the younger, and Manasseh, the older, were born to Joseph in Egypt.  At one point in the conversation between Jacob and Joseph, Jacob states wonder at the grace of God in seeing the boys.  The scripture records it by saying, 

Genesis 48:11

11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.

Jacob first tells Joseph about the Abrahamic Covenant that God had promised to him at a point in his life.  He would be part of the line of many nations, and would have the land of promise for his seed.  Jacob tells Joseph something incredible about the future of his sons.

Genesis 48:5

5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

This was a formal proclamation of the adoption of Jospeh’s two sons as equivalent to their uncles in the inheritance.

When Joseph brings the boys up to Jacob’s bed to be blessed, Jacob puts his right hand on the younger lads head, Ephraim, and his left hand on Mannaseh’s head, to Josephs protest.  Joseph explains that both of the boys will be blessed, but that Ephraim, though younger, would receive the blessing of the firstborn.  This seems to be a pattern in Genesis.  Jacob was served by Esau.  Seth was blessed while Cain was cursed.  Isaac was the child or promise, while Ishmael, though blessed, was not.  Ephraim was more influential as seen in the fact that the whole nation was called Ephraim at times.  Similarly in this chapter, the writer uses the name Israel instead of Jacob after he declares the special place Joseph’s sons would enjoy.  

“…and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.”

This phrase is a reference to Genesis 47:31, and is a quote from the Septuagint, a greek translation of the Old Testament.  

Genesis 47:31

31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.

When it says that he bowed himself upon the bed’s head in Genesis 47, why does it say something different in Hebrews.  The two words for bed and staff in Hebrew have exactly the same consonants.  Old Testament Hebrew manuscripts were copied without vowels, and so some interpret it as bed and some as staff.  Either one could be factually true, though the writer of Hebrews seems to use the greek translation of the Hebrew text known as the LXX or the Septuagint which translated the word as staff.  

How was all of this a matter of faith?

  1. Jacob grew to trust God over time by seeing God be faithful and gracious to him.
  2. Jacob prophesied what was revealed to him by God in this blessing even though He knew that Joseph, and his other sons may not like everything that he did.
  3. Jacob worshipped the invisible God that He did not see, but that He heard from and began to know.
  4. Jacob trusted that God would do for his offspring what He had promised to himself, and Abraham and Isaac before him.

Application:

  1. God can be trusted.
  2. God will do what he promises to do.
  3. God deserves worship.  When we do worship Him we are expressing our faith because we believe that He hears us and that He is pleased with the praises of His people.
  4. We ought to bless our kids by declaring to them the promises of God as well.  The heritage of faithfulness is more important than the gifts of substance.

Response:

  • Today, I’m going to try to find a way to pass along some love and faith to my kids when they get home from school.
gati

The Gospel According to Isaiah 53: Predictions about His Life- Prediction #5- His reception will be rejection. (53:3-4)

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

(4)  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:4

Explanation:

Isaiah did write that the Messiah would experience the griefs and sorrows of life. He predicted that those who he would come to would see him as an ordinary person- not particularly physically attractive, subject to everything in life that we endure. And what that would mean is that he would be assessed as someone that endured the punishment of God, and subject to the curse just like everyone else. He was esteemed as “stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” What was the case that the rules of Israel made against Jesus?

(4)  Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. (5)  Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! (6)  When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. (7)  The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

John 19:4-7

They thought He was just another man who was claiming to be God. They thought that His punishment was just and brought about by God through them as God’s servants because they were “keeping the law”. Jesus was not punished by God for claiming to be God. Jesus was punished by God, as we shall see, but not for His own sin. God the Father declared multiple times, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

The resurrection is God’s final answer as to the acceptability of Jesus Christs identity and His sacrifice for sins.

Application:

Jesus told his followers that just like he would be rejected we would be, too.

(18)  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. (19)  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (20)  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

John 15:18-20

(33)  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

We can count it an honor to be rejected for proclaiming the name of Jesus because He was rejected for us.

Respond:

Lord, help me to be willing to be rejected for you. Thank you for being rejected for us. Amen

gati

The Gospel According to Isaiah 53: Predictions about His Life- Prediction #4- His experience will be like ours. (53:4)

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

(4)  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:4

Explanation:

Each one of these predictions could be a sermon in themselves in regard to how Jesus fulfilled them. In the first part of verse 4 we are told that he would bear our griefs, and carry our sorrows. Certainly, this applies to the sin that He would bare on the cross at some level.

It also speaks to His human experience. We see Jesus humbling Himself and experiencing all that we face as humans ourselves. As we already noted he lived in a body. He had relationships. He was betrayed. He felt pain, joy, sickness, and the transcendent. The writer of Hebrews put it this way: 

(15)  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:15

The world was cursed by sin and the effects of sin.  Sin when it is finished brings forth death. Because Jesus lived in a sin cursed world He dealt with all the effects of sin that you and I deal with as well. Do you remember when Jesus went to see Lazarus after he died?  He stood near the tomb knowing He was about to raise him from the dead, and seeing the weeping and wailing of the family and the mourners He wept as well. 

Application:

What a privilege to know that there is nothing that I can take to Jesus in prayer that He hasn’t experienced. He knows what you are going through. He cares about what we go through. He died so that the sin of curse could be broken, and we can be redeemed.

Response:

Lord, thank You for taking our experience and knowing what it means to be us. Thank you for dying for us. Amen