I am Pastor Nathan, and this morning we're going
to be talking about the blessing that outlives
us. If you're a baseball fan, you might be familiar
with this story, but several years ago, a man
named Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's record for career
hits in baseball. And after the game, there was
a reporter that he was talking to, and the reporter
said, what were you thinking when you got to
first base and you were just standing there and
the whole stadium was roaring in applause and
cheer? And Pete's response was, quote, my dad
is probably looking down from heaven and is proud
of me. It's just really interesting, right? Here's
this grown man, successful in his career. right
at this moment, at the very pinnacle of his success.
And what he is still thinking about is his father's
approval. You know, this tells us something about
the human heart. And, you know, some of us, we're
familiar with this. You know, kids long for the
blessings of a father. Kids long for blessing
from their father. Adults still carry the echo
of that blessing, or in some cases, the echo
of the absence of that blessing in their lives.
Words spoken by parents, and we've mentioned
this a few times, but it bears repeating. The
words that are spoken by parents can shape a
kid's life for decades. Could shape the entire
trajectory and history of their life. Genesis
41 is one of these moments of a father. giving
his blessing, his final blessing to his children.
This is one of the most powerful scenes in the
entire book of Genesis because it is that deathbed
scene of a dying father gathering his sons together
to speak what are his final words to them. The
last words that he can impart to them. And these
aren't casual words. These aren't flippant words.
These are prophetic words. These are words from
God through Jacob to his kids. And these are
going to be words that are not only going to
shape these men, but they're going to shape history.
History for the nation of Israel, history for
these tribes, and history all the way down through
to the Messiah. These are words of covenant.
These are words of God's promise. But in the
moment that we're going to be walking through
here in Genesis 49 this morning, it's more than
just a father blessing his kids. What it is is
a picture of the Father, our Father. ensuring
that his blessing for you and me today moved
forward through history, that we would all be
able to benefit from the blessing of God. And
it reminds us all that regardless of the situations
we've had on this earth with our dads, some of
us had really great earthly fathers, some of
us not so much. Some of us have had bad fathers
and then great stepfathers. There's so many different
layers and situations. It reminds us all that
regardless of all of that, we do have in Christ
and will always have a heavenly Father who does
bless us and is blessing us and will continue
to bless us until we are in his presence. So
let's open up in worship and just to praise him
for the blessings that he's given us. There's
so much. And I know when we get self -focused
and look inward and we start comparing ourselves
to outward, we can be like, oh, I'm not blessed.
But as Pastor Gary shared once years ago, he's
like, if you start thinking about what people
don't have, people that are in worse situations
than yourself, it's far easier to start realizing
that we're blessed. and we're going to be talking
about that today, so let's praise him for that.
Father, we love you, and we thank you, God, and
Lord, we are blessed people. Lord, in the picture
of our world today, God, we live in a country
where we could still gather and worship you openly
and publicly, and Lord, we don't have to worry
about police breaking down the door or anything
of that nature, Lord, and we pray for our brothers
around the world that do have to worry about
those types of things. our brothers and sisters
that have to meet in secret, Lord. God, we thank
you for just everything we have in our lives,
Lord, the jobs you've given us, the gifts you've
given us, the friends and the family you've given
us, Lord. And God, we even step back and humbly
thank you for the trials that you've given us,
Lord, because all of these things mold us and
shape us according to your will. And God, I pray,
Lord, today as we look into your word and we
see the words, God, that you had Jacob speak
to his sons, Lord, that we would glean the lessons
from these words, Lord. Some of them are quite
lengthy and some of them are really short, God,
but you speak and you spoke. And Lord, let us
apply these things in our lives that we would
be able to not only walk in the blessing that
you've given us in our lives now, but we'd walk
in eager anticipation of the ultimate blessing
of heaven, God. always walking in gratitude of
the blessing you gave us through Jesus Christ.
We praise you, God. We worship you. We love you.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. With that,
we are in Genesis chapter 49. We are going to
be looking at the second half of Jacob's words
to his sons, but to really kind of understand
the big picture here, we kind of have to... Look
back at the whole story of Genesis, right? The
very beginning of the book of Genesis starts
with blessing. In chapter one, verse 28, after
God created man and woman, it says, God blessed
them and said to them, be fruitful, multiply,
fill the earth and subdue it. Rule the fish of
the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature
that crawls on the earth. You see, the intention,
when God created the heavens and the earth, When
God created us, when he filled the earth with
all the stuff, the intention was for us to live
in eternal blessing in the presence of our God.
Adam walked with the Lord in the garden. It was
a beautiful situation, right? Walking with God
was blessed. Marriage was blessed. Work was blessed.
Recreation was blessed. Life was blessed. And
then we messed it all up. We disobeyed God. There
was the fall. And the fall destroyed that blessing.
The fall is when mankind was separated from God
by sin. And then Genesis 3, as God is inspiring
Moses to write here, gives us this picture of
the downward spiral of man, right? Cain kills
Abel. Violence multiplies across the earth. Wickedness
fills humanity. The flood wipes out all of it
except Noah and his family to start over. Even
after the flood, humanity is like, no, we don't
need God and tries to build the Tower of Babel.
I mean, Genesis describes the tragic reality
of mankind and mankind as sinners this way. In
chapter six, verse five, it said, the Lord saw
that human wickedness was widespread on the earth
and that every inclination of the human mind
was nothing but evil all the time. That's bleak.
And the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis
are all about going from this perfect relationship
of blessing. to disobedience and sin and the
results of sin, the depth of depravity mankind
could go to, and it really is a picture of this
is the perfection we were meant to live in, and
this is where sin brought us, the depth of our
wickedness and the desperate, desperate need
for redemption. The first 11 chapters of Genesis
are a picture of this is man without God. And
look how bad it is. And then in Genesis 12, God
then begins the story of how he's gonna fix it,
right? In Genesis 12, verse one, it says, the
Lord said to Abram, go from your land, your relatives,
and your father's house to the land that I will
show you. I will make you into a great nation.
I will bless you. I will make your name great,
and you will be a... Blessing, I will bless those
who bless you. I will curse anyone who treats
you with contempt, and all the peoples on the
earth will be blessed through you. Do you get
what God is trying to bring mankind back to?
Blessing, right? And so from that moment on,
the book of Genesis has been the story of how
God's blessing is coming back to mankind through
one man's family. And so we get the story of
Abraham, and then Isaac, and then Jacob. And
then as we're closing out Genesis, we're having
the transition to the tribes of Israel. This
is where the story is reaching a turning point
here. A dying patriarch speaking final words
of blessing over his son. And so Jacob had gathered
his 12 sons together. He's speaking over them
according to their character and their destiny.
And this chapter, towards the end of this chapter
in verse 28, it says, he blessed them and he
blessed each one with a suitable blessing. The
words that Jacob is sharing, we started last
week as we looked at the first four sons. These
are words of prophecy. These are words of warning
and affirmation, but they are also personal words
from Jacob's heart as a father because he had
spent a lifetime observing his sons, right? He
had seen their strengths and their weaknesses
and their ups and their downs and their tendencies,
and so his words to him are both affirming and
warning because he knows his kids, right? We
need to remember that words have power. Scripture
tells us this over and over again. Scripture
says words can either build up or tear down.
We've all been on both sides of that equation,
haven't we? We've all spoken words that either
built someone up or tore them down. We've all
been spoken to by someone with words that either
built us up or tore us down. Someone said this
quote, and I couldn't find who it was attributed
to, but they said, mere words is like speaking
of mere dynamite. It's like, no, words matter.
There's power in words. And, you know, Jacob's
words go on to shape the destiny of the tribes
of Israel for centuries to come. And we just
always have to remember that our words, especially
the words that we share to those under our care,
are powerful, are powerful. And so, Like I said,
last week we looked at the first four sons, Reuben,
Simeon, Levi, and Judah. And we saw where Reuben
was affirmed for being a man of good reputation
and a man of his word, but because he was reckless
in his actions, he lost the blessing. We looked
at how Simeon and Levi were seen as just cruel
and vicious and mean people, and yet in the blessing
on their lives, there was opportunity for redemption.
And we talked about how over time we saw that
Simeon didn't respond to blessing and faded away
into obscurity where the tribe of Levi ended
up redirecting their zealous, righteous fury
towards holiness and ended up becoming the tribe
of priests who led Israel in their worship of
God. Then we saw the words to Judah. where Judah
was really given the authority in the family,
and the prophecy was spoken that through his
line would come the King of kings and the Lord
of lords and the ultimate blessing and salvation
for the world. And so now we get to the rest
of the family here. These words are being addressed
to each son in order, in birth order, as Jacob
is speaking, and they all reveal something about
the future of Israel. They all reveal lessons
to us about God's people, Israel, and then God's
people, us, the church today. And so let's dive
into it. Verse 13, we pick it up here as Jacob
is speaking to his son Zebulun. He says, Zebulun
will live by the seashore and will be a harbor
for ships and his territory will be next to Sidon.
That's it. That's all he says to Zebulun. Like,
hey, when you... move forward in the future of
your tribe, you guys are gonna live by the seashore
and you're gonna be a harbor for ships, right?
The idea here is that the future of Zebulun is
that he's gonna be a people who trade, who are
seafarers and really are kind of a crossroads
of intersection with the rest of the world. As
we move forward through the Bible, we'll see
that Zebulun's territory didn't initially stretch
all the way to the Mediterranean, but eventually,
if you picture the map in your mind, there's
the Sea of Galilee, and then the territory all
the way to the Mediterranean Sea kind of ended
up becoming the land of Zebulun. That's what
they received in the inheritance of the Promised
Land, and they really did prosper through trade.
Being a harbor for ships meant that they were
interacting with the world in a lot of different
ways. ways. They were deeply connected to commerce,
and they were deeply connected to the nations.
And if you remember, part of the blessing given
to Abraham is that you will be a blessing to
the nations. But Zebulun's prophecy to hear for
him, I think, is a reminder for us that God's
people, we as God's people, we're in the world.
We're not of the world, but we're in the world.
And that means that we are to interact with the
world around us. I think it's an important thing
because, you know, there have been seasons in
history where Christians went, you know what,
the world is terrible. The world is all messed
up. I don't want to interact with them. And so
a bunch of dudes would say, hey guys, let's go
up onto a mountaintop and build a monastery and
just live as monks for the rest of our life.
That's not God's intention for God's people.
We're to be separate from the world in our behavior
and our decision -making and our ethics and our
godliness. But we're to be in the world as lights
on a hill. We are to interact with the world.
And this prophecy to Zebulun is simply a prophecy
that you're going to interact with the world.
That's a part of what you're supposed to do.
And then, of course, as God's people, we are
meant to be a blessing to the nations. We are
meant to be a blessing to the people around us
through our interaction with them. And so, moving
on to verse 14, he now speaks to Issachar, his
next son, and he says, Issachar is a strong donkey
lying down between the saddlebags. He saw that
his resting place was good and that the land
was pleasant, so he leaned his shoulder to bear
a load and became a forced laborer. Now, these
words to Issachar, they... are very descriptive
of the tribe. Issachar is a man, he was very
strong, very physically strong individual, but
he lacked ambition. And what that meant in this
prophecy here is that when the tribe of Issachar
got to the promised land, the allotment of land
that was given to them was already occupied by
Canaanites, as the entire promised land was,
right? And when Joshua led Israel into the promised
land, God had told them, Go conquer, right? Get
all the pagans out of the land, you know, conquer
them and everything. But Issachar, when Issachar
got to their part of the land, they went, well,
hey, there's already these very powerful Canaanites
here and they already have, you know, a lot of
government and stuff set up and, you know, the
land is really, really good and we don't want
to mess up the land. And so what we're going
to do is submit to the worldly rulers that are
already here. We're going to lean our shoulder
to bear a load, if you will. We're going to kind
of say, hey guys, we don't really want to get
into conflict with you. So you do your thing.
We'll do our thing. Just let us be godly people.
The problem was, is all that did was cause them
to end up in forced servitude to the Canaanites
that were in the land. Instead of enjoying the
blessing of their freedom, They ended up being
yoked, in a sense, to those who didn't worship
the Lord. They submitted. They wanted to avoid
conflict so much that they didn't do what God
wanted them to do. Does that sound familiar to
anybody? Like, I don't like conflict. I really
don't. Some people love conflict. God bless you.
But I don't like conflict, right? I like peace.
And Jesus Christ himself said that the world's
going to hate you because of me. Which, that's
conflict. They don't like our message. They don't
like what we stand for. And so what happens is,
like Issachar, we can find ourselves, because
we're in the world, going into our workplaces,
going into just... wherever God leads us in this
life, and instead of standing for righteousness,
instead of doing what God has told us to do,
saying what God has told us to say, we kind of
back off a little bit. Even though we have the
strength and the power of the Holy Spirit within
us and the promises of God, we're like, whoa,
whoa, whoa, let's just get along. And this is
what Issachar ended up doing. Issachar did not
use his gifts to take hold of what was his. to
take hold of what God had given him. And it just
reminds us, you know, if God has given you gifts,
Issachar, it was physical strength, right? They
could have easily conquered the land. But if
you try and use your gifts to just, you know,
kind of get along with the world instead of using
them to take hold of what God has called you
to take hold of, you're going to end up serving
the needs of the world instead of the will of
God. This is what happened to Issachar. This
is the prophecy here when he leaned his shoulders
to bear load and became a forced laborer. Now,
there are times, and the Bible does say we're
called to be peaceable with all men and things,
but that doesn't mean we back down from... Godliness.
That doesn't mean we back down from what is right.
That doesn't mean we back down from righteousness,
right? Sometimes we confuse being peaceable with
being weak and timid and lacking in our zealousness.
Being peaceable means peaceable, but it doesn't
mean... giving way to sin. There are churches
in this world today, many of them, who have followed
that track. Oh, we don't want to be in conflict.
We don't want to be in conflict. And so what
they do is they say, we're not going to speak
against the worldly agendas. We're not going
to talk about sin. And then what happens is they
go, you know what? As a matter of fact, we're
an affirming church now. And then now instead
of being a place that is supposed to be a beacon
of the truth in the gospel of Jesus Christ, they
are now serving the will of the world, the agenda
of the world. And this is what Issachar's prophecy
is a warning to us about. God's given you strengths.
God has called us to be a light on the hill.
Shine brightly. Do it in love. Do it peaceably.
But don't back down from doing what God has called
us to do and who God has called you to be. Verse
16, he moves on to Dan. Dan will judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a
snake by the road, a viper beside the path that
bites the horse's heels so that its rider falls
backwards. Now this one seems good and then turns
out bad, right? Dan will judge his peoples as
one of the tribes of Israel. The intent there
was that Dan was to be a tribe and Dan himself
was characteristic of going, hey guys, we need
to do this. We need to do what's right. He was
also meant to be a defender that when people
would come in to attack the nations, that Dan
was the one who would go and fight to protect
his family. That's what it means when it says
he will judge his people. You see, that's prophetic
towards the time of the judges. That they would
be risen up by God because oppression had come
in, the Philistines, whoever, and then this judge
would be raised up to go, you know, beat up all
the bad guys and redeem Israel and call Israel
back to holiness. Samson is a guy, a judge, who
came from the tribe of Dan. And you guys all
know the story of Samson, right? Samson and Delilah.
Right? The story that says guys should not have
long hair. Nope, that's not what the story teaches.
I had someone tell me that once when I had long
hair. I was like. So anyways. What is Samson's
story? He was risen up by God, gifted with great
strength. He was supposed to be a deliverer of
the people of Israel. But what did he use his
gifts for instead? To serve himself. To serve
his own pleasures. He wavered back and forth
on, well, I'm going to obey God. No, I'm not.
And he got into trouble. And Dan, as a tribe,
that's what they were known for. You see, although
they were supposed to be judges, they ended up
being the very first tribe of Israel that introduced
idolatry into Israeli worship. If you ever have
a chance to go to Israel, I've been there twice,
and you can actually visit what is believed to
be the capital city of the tribe of Dan in northern
Israel. And they've done many excavations in
this place, and it's just really cool to see
all this stuff. But what they have found there
is these sacrificial pits that were used for
worship. And what they have found in these pits
are human remains, not just animal remains. meaning
that this tribe that was supposed to be defenders
of Israel and defenders of holiness were doing
human sacrifice at some point, and we're going
to see that throughout Scripture. The tribe that
was capable of great deliverance ended up being
a great stumbling block, and the reminder for
us in this prophecy is God's people, is that
gifts, abilities, calling that God has given
us without faithfulness, to use it for God leads
us into self -seeking. It leads us into self
-pleasure. It leads us into self -will, right?
The gifts God has given us are not for us. They're
to be used to bless others. The things that God
has called us to are meant to then bless the
world around us. They're not for ourselves, and
when we spend them on ourselves, we end up going
off in all kinds of weird directions. Now right
here in verse 18, in the middle of all these
blessings, he's gone through Reuben and Simeon
and Levi and Judah and Zebulun and Issachar and
Dan, and then he just stops and he goes, I wait
for your salvation, Lord. Possibly as he was
speaking these prophetic words to his kids, he
just kind of overwhelmed. I don't know if these
words were spoken to him before, if they were
being spoken to him through the Holy Spirit in
the moment, but it might have been just as he's
talking about Dan is gonna turn into this snake
by the road, right? Sneaking this stuff in, he's
gonna bite the heels of the horse so the rider
falls and just this imagery of the weakness of
mankind that, hey, we're supposed to be the godly
family and I'm Jacob passing on the blessing
that I got from my dad and his dad and just realizing,
man, There's just so much sin in mankind he calls
out. Now, it's very interesting, that word salvation.
He says, I wait for your salvation, Lord. That
word salvation in the Hebrew is Yeshua. And that
should be familiar to you guys, right? Because
Yeshua in Greek is Jesus. And then he says, Lord,
and that's that word Yahweh. That's that personal
covenant name of God, right? So it's like this
is what Jacob is saying here as he's prophesying
about his sons. And then even Judah, he's like,
Judah, you've done good things and everything,
but there's gonna be one who comes one day whose
right it is to hold the scepter, and the nation's
gonna obey him, and then he's going on to these
other guys, and then he's just like, I wait for
you, Yeshua, Yahweh. Isn't that beautiful? It's
just... My personal salvation. That's Yeshua
Yahweh. I'm just, oh, I'm waiting for you. My
personal salvation. The ultimate salvation. Even
here in this ancient moment, Jacob's heart is
longing for God's ultimate salvation. And that's
what the entire book of Genesis is looking towards
and pointing to, is the ultimate salvation, the
blessing that God gave to Abraham that would
ultimately come through the Messiah, Savior.
What is that blessing? Reconnection. to our Lord
and God. A restored relationship to our creator.
Genesis 49 .10, remember it said this to Judah,
the scepter will not depart from Judah or the
staff from between his feet until he whose right
it is comes and the obedience of the peoples
belongs to him. And so again, he's just looking
forward to the king of kings, the Lord of lords,
the ultimate savior. The one who would come from
the tribe of Judah, the lion of the tribe of
Judah, our personal salvation, Jesus Christ.
Verse 19, he moves on. Gad will be attacked by
raiders, but he will attack their heels. Gad's
territory was on the eastern frontier of Israel
and it was like an exposed eastern frontier because
beyond that was... you know the mesopotamia and
all the ancient nations in that in that regard
and they were constantly attacked throughout
their history they were attacked relentlessly
because anybody coming to get israel gad was
the first territory they would run into but gad
also constantly fought back and so the prophecy
of gad as god's people reminds us that we are
always constantly going to be under attack by
the enemy the enemy never stops he may switch
tactics But he never stops. Spiritual warfare
is an ever -present reality for the children
of God. Some of us, you know, we go through times
where we're like, will this ever stop? No. Until
you're in heaven with the Lord. You're in battle
and you will be in battle. And kind of the truth
is, accept it. I'm in battle. Satan is never
going to stop attacking me, but the reality is
that you've already won. And you will ultimately
win in the end. You have victory. It's like knowing,
like, how many of you have ever re -watched a
movie? Right? You re -watch, I don't know. I'm
a Marvel fan. Infinity War. I know Thanos loses.
You know? Did I give spoilers to anybody? Hopefully
you've seen it already. I ruined it. But you're
watching the movie like in the moment, you're
in the moment, but you already know the end.
And God is constantly trying to tell us, hey
guys, you're in scene 32. But the end of the
movie, you win. You win. So here in scene 32,
you don't have to be despondent and going, oh
no, what is gonna happen? You could rest and
trust and say, okay God, I know the end, so.
I may not know the next scene, but I know you
do. So I'm able to rest in that. And this is
what Gad's prophecy is a reminder of for us.
Verse 20, Asher's food will be rich and he will
produce royal delicacies. The region that the
tribe of Asher inherited became one of the most
fertile areas in Israel. And you know that the
people of Israel were shepherds and they were
farmers. They raised crops. They raised livestock.
And that's it. That's the blessing to him. Hey,
your food's gonna be rich and you will produce
royal delicacies. What that says to me and what
I see in that is the prophecy there for God's
people is that blessing will sometimes come in
material provision. And that's okay. Right, you
see, within the church, sometimes, well, not
sometimes, there is, on this side of the equation,
you got the heretical prosperity preachers who
will say the evidence that God is blessing you
and that you're living godly is material prosperity.
And that's bogus. That's a lie. And then ironically,
they always say, so give me all your money. to
prove that you're right. But then on the other
side of the coin, sometimes believers can get
to the point where they think, oh, being successful
and earning and having material success is in
and of itself sinful, and that's also a lie.
Because we see throughout Scripture, God teaches
so much. about wisdom with our finances and wisdom
with our material possessions and stuff. He even
talks about multiplying those things. There's
a parable Jesus told, and he goes, hey, there's
three guys, and the owner gave them money, and
two of them went and invested it, and it grew,
and he came back, and the master said, hey, good
job. And the third one said, oh, I was afraid
of losing it, so I buried it in the ground. You
guys remember what Jesus said in that parable?
That master said, you wicked and lazy servant.
You should have at least put it in the bank so
I could have got 3 .5 % in a money market account.
I don't know if the Greek says that, but modern
translation. So in Asher here, we're just being
seen that Asher's blessing and stuff was material
abundance. Their food was rich. It was quality.
It was good. But the provision and the prosperity
we see in the whole counsel of God is that one,
it has to be stewarded faithfully. And it's not
meant to just be spent on yourself. Asher, your
land is going to have this rich, quality food
and you're going to produce royal delicacies.
Stuff for other people that's just going to be
renowned. Oh my gosh, this is so good and this
is so quality. And that's why God gives us what
he gives us. So that we could be a blessing to
the nations. And it is the church that does things
like builds wells and builds schools and hospitals
and stuff around the world. You don't see the
governments clamoring to go into South Sudan
and say, what? Women are still being sold into
bad marriages and abused and stuff at 12 years
old? Dang it, that is morally wrong. Let us build
a school where we can harbor these kids and keep
them safe. Governments aren't doing that. It's
the church that's doing that. And so, material
blessing. Nothing wrong with it. Don't worship
it. Nothing wrong with investing and being wise
and being successful. But it's not for you. It's
not only for you. It's meant to be a blessing
to others. And so, verse 21, Naphtali is a doe
set free that bears beautiful fawns. I don't
know what Naphtali was thinking here. It's like,
oh man, you guys are going to be rich with stuff
and you're going to be harbor masters and trading
with the world. And you know, and oh, Issachar,
wow, bro, you're so strong, but man, don't do
that. And Naphtali, you're a doe set free that
bears beautiful fawns. Like these are those moments
where I'm like, if I was like, dad, what are
you talking about? What does this even mean?
Now, you know, we dig into the imagery and stuff
and a doe. A doe set free, right? A doe set free
the idea of being, you know, graceful as a doe
and swift and full of life. You guys seen those
movies where there's movies, videos online where
there's like an animal that's been raised in
captivity and been in a cage its whole life and
then they're like, gonna set it free and, you
know, the animal slowly peeks out of the cage
and once it realizes it's free, it just goes
bonkers and bounces all over the place. You ever
seen those videos? You know, and they're like,
oh, hey, how fun, how cute, right? It's that
idea. You're set free. You're no longer captive.
You realize that this is all for you and there's
freedom in this blessing here and then full of
life, that idea that this dough is gonna bear
beautiful fawns, that it's gonna be, you know,
fruitful in that sense, that there's gonna be
life coming from this. So the image here in this
prophecy is freedom and flourishing, which is
really interesting because the region of Naphtali,
was the region of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea
of Galilee is where Jesus began his public ministry.
In fact, in Matthew chapter 4, verse 15 and 16,
Jesus said, Land of Naphtali, Galilee of the
Gentiles, people who live in darkness have seen
a great light. The picture here and the connection
in a broad applicational sense is where the Messiah
walks. Captivity gives way to freedom. Where
the Messiah walks, darkness gives way to light.
Where the Messiah walks, barrenness gives way
to new life. This, to me, is a prophecy of the
gospel, the good news that is coming to the world.
This is what the gospel does. It sets the captives
free. It brings light. Jesus himself said, land
of Naphtali, the people here who live in darkness
have seen a great light. Of course, it's Jesus.
And so Naphtali's prophecy here is like, hey,
there's going to be freedom in life that come
from you. And this is where Jesus started his
ministry. Christ comes into places bound by sin
and darkness. And when he does so, life flourishes,
doesn't it? Now, primarily it's spiritual life.
But that is the most important life that flourishes.
And so verse 22, he gets to Joseph. And he says,
Joseph is a fruitful vine. A fruitful vine beside
a spring. Its branches climb over the wall. The
archers attacked him and shot at him and were
hostile towards him. Yet his bow remained steady
with his strong arms. Oh, and his strong arms
were made agile by the hands of the mighty one
of Jacob. By the name of the shepherd, the rock
of Israel. By the God of your father who helps
you and by the almighty who blesses you. Joseph's
blessing here is quite a bit longer than all
these other ones, and it begins with this very
powerful imagery, right? A vine. A vine that
is growing beside a spring, and a vine that is
growing so strongly and with such health that
it climbs up over the wall, right? It's not a
vine struggling to survive. It's a vine with
great vitality. And really, the picture here,
as you're looking at this, it's... For God's
people, God doesn't just call us to thrive in
him, which he does call us to, but he calls us
to fruitfulness. Right? It's not enough to just
say, hey, I'm a good, healthy, strong Christian,
but I never have any effect on anybody's life,
and I've never led anybody to the Lord, and I
don't serve, and I don't use my gifts to bless
anybody. It's fruitfulness. that God wants from
us. In John 15, 5, this is what Jesus said. I
am the vine. You are the branches. What did the
branches do? They climbed over the wall. They
went outside the garden. And vines bore grapes.
They were fruitful. That we're not just called
to be here in the church. We're not just called
to be fruitful here in the church. We're called
to be fruitful beyond the walls of the church.
This is our evangelism. This is our ministry.
This is our service. He says, the one who remains
me and I in him produces much fruit because you
can do nothing without me in John 15 5. The blessing
of fruitfulness comes from being rooted near
the source of life, right? This vine, it was
beside a spring in Psalm chapter 1. You have
the very first psalm that says, blessed is he
who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.
And it goes on there in a couple verses, and
it eventually says, he is like a tree planted
beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in
its season, and its leaf does not wither, and
whatever he does prospers. You want to be successful
in your life, your walk? your spirituality, you
want to be successful in every area God wills
for you to be successful, then you need to be
planted and rooted in him because he is the source
of life. That's what it talks about. A life rooted
in Christ becomes a blessing beyond its own walls.
This is the picture. Being planted there means
that the branches grow so large and so powerful
they spill out into the world and have that blessing.
that God intended from the very beginning and
the blessing that he prophesied to Abraham. In
other words here, what he's telling to Joseph
is, hey, bro, your life produced fruit well beyond
yourself. And your life blessed people far outside
your family. But then he goes on with this weird,
like, yet his bow remained steady after he was
attacked by archers, right? How does this connect
to being fruitful? Well, trials are a part of
being fruitful. You guys know the concept of
pruning, right? You've got to prune a branch
that it would grow more. How many of you like
being pruned? Nobody. Right, good. Okay, good.
I was like, if you like that, that's kind of,
well, God bless you. That's all I'm going to
say, okay? Pruning hurts. It cuts. It's... But
it leads to new life, and Joseph's life had not
been easy. He'd been under attack constantly.
The arrows of his jealous brothers, the arrows
of the temptation from Potiphar's wife, the arrows
of injustice in prison, the arrows of abandonment
when the cupbearer forgot about him, and yet
he didn't collapse under the oppression. Why?
Because God's hand strengthened him. Right, the
picture of this bow here when it says the arrows
attacked him, yet his bow remained steady and
his strong arms were made agile by the hands
of the mighty one. The idea here is that he shot
straight and he shot true. Why? Because the father
wrapped his arms around him. And it's like a
dad teaching his kid how to fire a bow, and the
kid's like, and he's like, hold on, son, and
put his hand over his kid's hand on the front
and over his kid's hand and steadied the bow
for him and helped him shoot, and the arrow flew
true, not because of the strength of the child,
but because of the strength of the father. It's
an awesome picture. Now, he didn't collapse.
He endured. Joseph, not because he was strong,
because God was strong. Not because he depended
on himself, because he depended on God. That's
what got him through everything. So much so that
in Genesis chapter 50, in the next chapter, we're
going to see he says to his brothers, what you
meant for evil, God meant for good. The important
word to notice there, meant. God meant for Joseph
to go into the pit. God meant for Joseph to be
sold into slavery. God meant for Joseph to be
tempted in Potiphar's house. God meant for Joseph
to end up in prison. God meant for Joseph to
be abandoned by the cupbearer. So that when God
raised him up, God's will would be done. And
through all of it, Joseph learned to just be
like, God, I don't know what the next scene is,
but I trust you. I trust you. It's hard, but
I trust you. You see, faith learns to interpret
life through God's perspective. That's what faith
does. We're like, God sees something I don't,
and so I'm going to interpret my circumstances
and my situation through the lens of God. And
I may not know the answer, but I know God does,
and so I could rest. Then Jacob goes on to describe
God with a slew of titles here, right? The mighty
one of Jacob, the shepherd, the rock of Israel,
God of your fathers, almighty. Joseph. knew and
what Jacob is prophesying to him is that your
success was based in the reality that God is
mighty enough to rescue you, that God is gentle
enough to shepherd you, that he is stable enough
to be your rock and your foundation, that he
is faithful enough to keep his covenant promises
that he made to Abraham, your father's, and that
he is powerful enough to protect and to bless.
I made this challenge to the people in servant
service earlier, but as I was reading through
this, I just kind of felt like the Lord said,
hey, how about you remind yourself of that every
morning? And that's my challenge to you guys.
How about we start every single day reminding
ourself that God is mighty enough to rescue?
That when we start our day in your prayers, your
devotions, or as you're shoveling breakfast down
your face as you run out the door because you're
late, God, you are mighty enough to rescue. God,
you are gentle enough to shepherd. You are stable
enough to be my rock. You are faithful enough
to keep your promises and you're powerful enough
to protect me, Lord. Let me live my day in light
of those truths. Jacob had learned this through
his decades of hardship and now he's passing
this faith to the next generation. So then he
goes on to describe these blessings, right? He
said he's the almighty who blesses you with blessings
of the heavens above and blessings of the deep
that lie below and blessings of the breasts in
the womb and blessings of your father. Or the
blessings of your father excel the blessings
of my ancestors and the bounty of ancient hills.
May they rest on the head of Joseph on the brow
of the prince of his brothers. And that indeed
was Joseph's life. He was very blessed and not
the first. You know, 17 years, maybe blessing
there. Then from 17, 22 years later after that,
not a whole lot of blessing. But then he ends
up the second most powerful man in the world.
He got blessings above, blessings below, blessings
left, blessings right, blessings of relationship,
blessings of children. And that's God's intention
for his people. Why? because that was the original
intention. And then we brought sin into the world,
and so he said, okay, my intention is to bring
blessing back, so I'm going to make this covenant
with Abraham. And then we got this whole story
he tells through the entire Bible. And then verse
27, Benjamin is a wolf. He tears his prey. In
the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening
he divides the plunder. So this is very striking
imagery of the youngest son here. You know, he
says wolf. Wolves are hunters. They're known
for precision and persistence and aggression
and success in battle, right? You know, sometimes
people are like, oh, I'm gonna bring a wolf home
as my cute little puppy dog. And then you read
the story that later on the wolf bites their
face off, you know, and you're like, what happened?
It's a wolf. It wolfed out. That's what wolves
do. It's not a domesticated animal, right? The
picture of a wolf, a snarling wolf, a hunting
wolf, right? This is this fierceness that he's
bringing, and this prophecy points to the fierce
character that would characterize the tribe of
Benjamin throughout history. Later on when we
get to judges, there's a judge named Ehud who
was a left -handed judge who delivered Israel.
Go read that story. Wow, fierce. He was fierce.
King Saul came from the tribe of Benjamin. Guess
who else came from the tribe of Benjamin? Another
guy named Saul. The guy who became known as Paul
the Apostle. Fierce, right? We read his story
in Acts, hunting down Christians, throwing them
in jail, having them executed simply for believing
that Jesus is the Messiah. And then Jesus got
a hold of him. Again, my translation. And then
he becomes Paul the Apostle. And guess what that
fierceness was redirected to? Well, we kind of
have a thing called the New Testament that came
from that. The fierceness of, I mean, I love
Paul's story, right? He was in a city once and
he gets stoned. That means they drug him outside
the city and they threw big rocks at him until
he died. Some people debate that point. I think
he died. Because he records that he had this
vision of heaven at the time, and he's like,
I don't even have words to describe it, it was
so amazing. But then God said, not yet, bro.
And he wakes up, and what does Paul do? Walks
right back into the city. That's a fierce wolf
right there. But he wasn't going to tear people
down and rip their throats out, he was going
to bring the light of the gospel. So, it reminds
us that there's both strength and... In danger,
in fierce power, however. You know, because at
times the tribe of Benjamin, I mean, they showed
amazing courage in battle, and we'll read about
this through the Old Testament. But at other
times, that same ferocity led them into conflicts
that almost wiped out the tribe. You know, it's
like that person that has such faith and courage
and all that, that they make bad decisions and
they get themselves into situations where it's
like, God didn't call you to that, and you know,
you almost got wiped out. The picture here is
great strength not governed by God can be very
dangerous. Our gifts not governed by God can
be dangerous. Strong leaders can be domineering.
Courageous spirits can be reckless. And so the
reminder is that every gift, every talent, every
strength we have, it all has to be surrendered
to God. It all has to be brought to the altar
and say, okay, God, what do you want me to do
with this? If I don't bring my gift of teaching
to the altar and say, God, you speak, it's your
words, it's your spirit, what do you want me
to say? If I don't do that, then this gift could
be used to manipulate and harm in so much that
we see in churches with false teachers and false
prophets and all this stuff today that People
are using something that is a gift that God gave
them for their own benefit. And it's just, it's
not good. When we do submit it to the Lord, it
becomes a blessing. When we don't, it's destructive.
And so, verse 28, it ends here and it says, these
are the tribes of Israel, 12 in all. And this
is what their father said to them. He blessed
them and he blessed each one with a suitable
blessing. I love that phrase, suitable blessing.
Do you know God's blessing on my life is not
suitable for you and your blessing is not suitable
for me? Why? Because we're different people.
We may have the same gift, a gift of teaching,
a gift of administration, a gift of helping.
We might have the same gift, but it's going to
be exercised slightly different. Why? Because
God created me and allowed me to live my life
and have my experiences and my successes and
my failures and my joys and my disappointments.
All of it God allowed for me so that when I am
the tool in his hand, Things are communicated
in a way he wants through my life. And you may
have a gift of teaching too, and God might communicate
the same thing, but it's going to be different.
Why? Because the blessing of teaching in your
life is suitable for you. It fits you. It's for
you to be used and submitted into the hand of
God, and we have to understand that. We're all
different people. We all have different personalities.
Yeah, there are non -negotiables in Scripture,
and yeah, there are things we follow, but we're
all different people, and the blessing that God
brings into our life, the one for all of us,
the blessing of being in his presence, and he
goes, okay, I want you to obey me and serve me,
and so I've given you talents, and I've given
you strengths, and I've given you gifts, and
they're suitable for you. What that means is
nobody in this room could say, Well, I think
God's calling me to do this, but that's not for
me. If it's not for you, you wouldn't have it.
God gave it to you because it's suitable for
you. And so we ebb and flow with personalities
and talents and stuff. Now, we don't let personalities
govern and direct and dictate, but that's a part
of how we serve one another and how we are a
blessing to the world. He blessed each one with
a suitable blessing. The story of Genesis began
with blessing lost. And through the line of Judah,
the blessing of God returns. And that blessing
comes through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1 .3 says,
blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavens in Christ. Christian.
Listen to what that said. Has blessed us with
every spiritual blessing. That's called past
tense. You have already been blessed. If you've
put your faith in Jesus Christ, you have been
blessed with every spiritual blessing in the
heavens in Christ. Your job now is to act upon
it and use it and walk in it and live in it.
The blessing that was promised to Abraham, passed
through Isaac, given to Jacob, spoken over Jacob's
sons, has reached us now through Jesus Christ.
And so that presence of God. Now, it's not the
ultimate fulfillment of that, because that's
going to be heaven. And I can't wait. But right
now, today, while my born -again self lives with
my... sinful self, and the Bible talks about
that whole dichotomy, I get to live connected
and in the presence of God every day. And just
in case we would think, well, I'm not sure God
said, how about this? I'm going to send my spirit
to live within you. The Holy Spirit is within
you. Does that mean you could get away from it?
No. He goes where you go. He goes where you go.
When you go into the darkness to sin and you
think nobody sees, he's there with you. Right?
A lot of you are just like, oh. It's true. When
you're out serving and the gift, and the gifts
that God has given you is flowing, he's there
with you. And you know, in one it says he's blessed,
in the other one it says he's grieved. Because
he's with you. We have the presence of God in
our lives today through Jesus Christ. Now, yeah,
we're in this transitional period where I'm like,
but I still have my sin nature. And, you know,
we got a whole book here that talks about that.
But one day, we'll be free of that sin nature.
But the blessing of that presence and that connection
was never meant to stop with us. Joseph's vine
went, Over the wall. And the same has to be true
with us. It has to be true with us. We are the
ones. We are the ones meant to be the branches
climbing over the wall through our connection
with Christ. God blesses us so that we can bless
others. That's the point. That's the growth.
That's the prophecy to Abraham all the way down
through. God blesses us so that we can be blessings
to others. In our families, with our kids, our
friends, our communities, and to the nations.
We are the channels of grace that have been given
to us. We are the conduit. And you can't be a
conduit of grace to the nations if you're locked
up in a monastery on the mountaintop. You can't
be a conduit of grace to the nations if you're
going, no, everything I have is mine. It's my
money and my time and my resources and mine,
mine, mine. You can't be a conduit if you're
like, I'm never going to talk to anybody. I'm
never going to serve. I'm never going to hand
out a track. I'm never going to open my mouth.
You're missing it. And, you know, in light of
all the burdens that so many of us carry, and
some of you are here in this room this morning
or watching online, and you're carrying heavy
burdens, right? Some difficult things. Genesis
reminds us all of something very, very wonderful.
That God's plan was, is, and will always be a
plan of blessing. That's it. Even when life is
hard and the circumstances are confusing and
the future seems uncertain, God's plan is blessing.
We're part of this world. but we're not, or in
this world, but we're not of the world, what
does that mean? That we're here giving strengths
and gifts to use for his glory. To serve one
another, to build up one another. And some are
given to teach and to admonish and to build up
the people for the work of the ministry so that
we collectively go out as a light on the hill
to be a blessing to the world around us. And
the primary way we're a blessing to the world
around us is by bringing them the hope of salvation.
The key to freedom from sin. But that doesn't
mean we don't also go with love and kindness
and grace and mercy and service and generosity.
The spiritual battle will not end as we were
told through these prophecies, but we will be
victorious. We may have more or less material
blessing here on the earth, but regardless, either
way, we're not absolved from being generous with
everything he's given us, including our time
and our talents. We know that ultimately, yeah,
our material wealth doesn't matter, but it's
all here to be a blessing to those around us.
So whatever God has given you, be a good steward
of it. And then, yeah, there's a lot of promises
in the Word where God says, hey, if I could trust
you with a little, I'll give you more. That may
or may not be money. It may be ministry. It may
be soul harvesting. Who knows? But let all that
God has given you spiritually and emotionally
and materially flow out of you or you're missing
the point. Stand strong and fierce like Benjamin
against wickedness and evil in this world. Stand
strong and fierce for righteousness and godliness
and yet remain yielded to the guidance and the
direction of the Holy Spirit in everything. That's
what these prophecies teach us. And ultimately,
the same God who carried Joseph through everything
he experienced in his life is the same God who
blesses his people in Christ today. You and me.
And one day, the story, the whole story is going
to end exactly as Scripture says it will end.
And this is what it looks like in Revelation
5 .13. I heard every creature in heaven, on earth,
and under the earth, and on the sea, and everything
in them say blessing, and honor, and glory, and
power. Be to the one seated on the throne and
to the Lamb forever and ever. The story that
began with blessing is going to end in eternal
blessing. And through Jesus Christ, that blessing
has come to you today. So trust him. Trust him.
Keep your faith in him. Walk in him. Endure.
Because God's intention in your life is to bless
you. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, God, for
your word. Your word is hope. It is truth. Your
word is salvation. Your word are the answers,
is the answer. God, we need you so much. And
Lord, we understand that words matter. I believe
that's why you had them written down and preserved.
So that we could read them, hear them, live them.
And so Lord, I ask that you bless us as your
people. Lord, if you would allow me, I pray.
pronounce your blessing upon this church and
the people gathered here this morning. Lord,
I pray, God, that you would work in and through
the gifts and the talents that you have given
your people here at this church, that we would
use those things to be who you've called us to
be, to do what you've called us to do. Lord,
that... As we are in the world, we would not
be of the world, but in our interactions, we
would influence the world for godliness. That,
God, we wouldn't shy away from the calling, Lord,
and deny the gifts you've given us, Lord, like
Issachar, but instead, God, we would take and
do and live and proclaim and preach what is true
and right according to your will and your word.
God, that we would be staunch defenders of the
faith and not bring an idolatry into our lives,
not worshiping other things and putting other
things on the pedestal above you. God, that we
would just accept the reality of spiritual attack
in our lives, Lord, and persevere with the truth
and the knowledge that we are already victorious.
That, God, we would stay connected to you, Lord,
grounded in you. That as we would grow strong
and healthy spiritually, Lord, we wouldn't just
be focused inward, but we would be focused outward
to the community around us, to the lost around
us. And, God, I pray that we would be fierce,
fierce and zealous in a godly way. Lord, that
we would be strong and courageous and passionate
in standing for the truth and representing you
in this world and submitting ourselves and our
time and our resources to your hand, that we
would follow your will in all things, God, that
you would be glorified. So God, I ask that you'd
bless us, that your blessing would fall upon
us. That we would remember and enjoy the blessing
of your presence. I pray, God, that your presence
would just shine to your people today and every
day. That if we've forgotten about it, Lord,
we would be reminded. That the warmth of your
glory, Lord, would just shine. And that we would
then respond accordingly in obedience, in faith.
God, do a mighty work through our church. Do
a mighty work through our lives individually.
Do a mighty work in the families here, in the
relationships here, God, with spouses and kids.
Lord, bring reconciliation, bring hope, bring
healing, bring wholeness. Because, God, it is
your will that unity and fellowship and holiness
be the norm. That was your original intent and
creation, God. And Lord, while we're here on
earth, let us experience that, not just so that
we can receive the blessing of it, but then we'd
be able to share the hope that is in you with
others. All looking forward to the ultimate expression
and the ultimate fulfillment of the blessing
you desire for us. Lord, we love you. We thank
you. We glorify you, God. It's in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. Well, I pray God would richly
bless you this week. And pray and ask God for
ways to be a blessing to others. Seek to be a
blessing to others. Don't avoid it. Open yourselves
to the move of the Holy Spirit. Listen to His
voice and watch what God will do. It's going
to be amazing. Let's close in worship and praising
Him. Amen. God bless you guys.