Title: A STAKE IN THE PROMISED LAND

Focus: Just as Jacob staked his life and future in the Promised Land, so we stake our lives and future in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Function: To help the congregation identify with Jacob’s story as family history and as formative and instructive for our Christian pilgrimage today.

Texts: Gen. 47:27-31; 40-50:14; Colossians 3:1-4

Last week Sunday morning, I had a fascinating conversation with an older gentleman who emigrated from the Netherlands years ago. He raised his family in Canada, and he told me about his recent trip back to the Netherlands. This man invited his children and grandchildren to come to his place of birth. They all came, and they all stayed in an old farmhouse that happened to be built and occupied by this man’s great-grandfather in the early 1800’s. And it was in that historic family farmhouse where this gentleman told his kids and grandkids his family’s history. He told me last week: “It was an unforgettable and instructive moment for me and my family.”

I believe him. Sometime in the early 80’s my in-laws made a “pilgrimage” to Friesland, the Netherlands, where the patriarch of the Bierma family had his roots. It was an emotionally moving event for my in-laws to walk the streets and the cemetery grounds of this old town in the Netherlands and realize that their ancestors “lived and had their being.” The Bierma tombstones in that old cemetery near the church told volumes to my in-laws. Family history is important.

I am grateful, for example, that my parents (although they live in the Netherlands) were able to come almost annually for a few weeks to this side of the ocean to visit us and especially our children. I’m convinced that Opa and Oma’s interaction with the kids instilled in them a deep sense of identity and family roots.

The same is true for Christians. We do not live in a “vacuum.” Christians have a history; we have a story that shapes our identity and that informs us in our Christian pilgrimage of faith. Knowing that story and drawing strength and encouragement from that story are very important for us today.

And that’s why I want to start a series of messages on our family history. I want to focus on Jacob and his 12 sons. God used Jacob and his offspring to build his “house,” his family, his church. God has worked out his plan of salvation through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God raised up a Savior—Jesus Christ—from this family. From the family of Jacob, who received a new name, the name of “Israel,” God raised up a Redeemer, in whom we have eternal life. In Jesus Christ, we put our stake of hope for the future.

For our life--our future as Christians is all bundled up in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why the apostle Paul says (Col. 3:3,4) “…your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Thus Christians today stake their future and life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we consider our family history in Scripture we discover that Jacob did the same: Jacob staked his life and future in the Promised Land.

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Think of our Scripture readings in terms of three acts. In the first act, se meet Jacob on his bed; he is dying. And he has called his son, Joseph, to his bedside. Joseph is prince of Egypt. His magnificent story underscores how God saved Jacob and his family from starvation in the Promised Land. Jacob has now been in Egypt for 17 years. That means that Jacob has been away from home a long time. We learn that Jacob has a death wish. He calls Joseph and says to him: “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.”

Now when my sister died in 1960, my parents expressed their wish to be buried someday in the same crypt as their daughter. I do not know exactly why they made such a wish, but I have a hunch. Their faith informs my parents that on the day of the general resurrection—on the day that the Lord Jesus Christ returns to make all things new—they will be reunited with their bodies and receive resurrected, glorified bodies. And I think that my parents were looking forward to experience the resurrection from the dead together with my sister who died so young.

Something similar, but more profound is happening at the bedside of dying Jacob; he wants to be buried with his forebear--Isaac, and Abraham, and Sarah in that cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, (Hebron). Jacob wants to be buried in that plot of land in Canaan that belongs to his family.

Remember! God has promised the land of Canaan to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all their descendants. They received the promise by faith. But they did not actually inherit the land. It was not until Sarah died that Abraham was able to buy a piece of it and claim that piece as his own. By wanting to be buried with his forebears in that piece of land near Mamre, Jacob put a stake into God’s promise.

Jacob identifies with the Promised Land. He does not want to be buried in Egypt. For Egypt is not his home. The promise of God for a future lies with Canaan. There Jacob wants to wait for the promise to come true. There, Jacob wants to rest with his forebears and wait for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Jacob’s wish, then, is an act of faith. “Bury me where my fathers are buried,” says Jacob.

As we shift our attention to the second act of Scripture reading, we observe Jacob’s death. Listen (49:33) “When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.” I find this a fascinating description of the death of our ancestor in the faith. Here we have a description of the death of a covenant child of God in the O.T.

Note that Jacob is “gathered to his people.” Who does that gathering? Where does Jacob go in his disembodied state? He is gathered (is that the work of angels?) and he ends up with his “people.” Where are these people? From other passages in the O.T., we learn that they are in Sheol, the realm of the dead. They are disembodied, yet they are “alive,” that is, they are “resting” or waiting for the great day, when God will make all things new, when they will inherit the promised future, which they claimed by faith.

Like the poor man Lazarus, gathered in the bosom of Abraham (as told by Jesus in that story), so Jacob is gathered in the bosom of Abraham and Isaac—in the bosom of God’s covenant promise. Jacob’s death leads to Jacob putting a stake in the Promised Land.

In the third act of our Scripture reading, we move away from Jacob’s wish and death to Jacob’s funeral. The first thing we notice is that Jacob’s funeral is a royal funeral. For the Egyptians accord Jacob the honor of royalty by embalming his body. Embalmment is a sign of royalty. The house of Egypt, represented by Pharaoh, its king, shows respect to the father of Joseph. They recognize Jacob as a king of his house. How’s that for family history? Through faith in Christ Jesus, you and I are grafted into the family tree of Jacob. And low and behold. Our father Jacob has the status of royalty. The pagans, represented by Egypt, embalmed Jacob and bestow on him the honor of a king.

The second thing we notice is that Jacob’s funeral is a state funeral. The dignitaries of Pharaoh’s court join Joseph and his brothers in the funeral procession to the Promised Land. The Scripture says: (50:7-9)“All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied Joseph—the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt—besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household…Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.” How striking!

ll Egypt’s eyes are on Jacob staking his future into the Promised Land. The Gentiles are asking questions: “What’s going on? Who’s Jacob? What’s this about? Why this royal ruckus? Note that the Egyptians “lamented loudly and bitterly” when they approached the land of Canaan. And Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father, right there at the border by the River Jordan, as they are about to enter the Promised Land.

How striking! Not only the Egyptians but now also the Canaanites observe Jacob putting a stake in their land. Through this royal, state funeral, God drew the Gentiles’ attention to Jacob, to God’s promise to Jacob, to God’s Words to the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, when God said: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

How striking! As Jacob puts his stake into the Promised Land—thus claiming God’s promises—Jacob is drawing the nations to God’s promises. Jacob is declaring good news to all the nations of the world. In his death, Jacob glorifies God, and Jacob instructs us to do likewise—to put our stake of hope in God’s promise of a glorious future, of eternal life on the restored, renewed creation.

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It is important to tell the story of our families to the next generation. The stories give our children identity and a sense of belonging. The story of the Christian faith is rich, and deep, and long, and goes way, way back. Today, we draw faith and encouragement from Jacob’s act of faith—his wish, his death, and his funeral.

We are Gentiles. We live by the same covenant promise as Jacob did. We, however, are the recipients of a lot more history and revelation from God. We have greater hindsight than Jacob did: We have the stories of Moses and the O.T. people of God; We have the Law; we have the prophets; we have the Lord Jesus Christ, who has revealed himself as the Messiah, the Savior of the word.

Jacob pursued the shadow of God’s promise. The shadow is the land of Canaan; the reality is the new heavens and new earth. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob staked their future in God’s promise; and God’s promise culminates in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the hope and the life of the world. All Jews and all Gentiles who place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ shall receive the blessing of a restored, renewed creation. So, then, just as Jacob stakes his life and future in the promises of God, so we stake our lives and future in the One who fulfills all God’s promises—the Lord Jesus Christ. And it’s in that light, that we hear anew these words of the Apostle Paul: “Set your minds on things, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Thank God for sharing with us our family history! Thank God for Jesus Christ. In him we stake our future, our hope, our life.

Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.