Facing DeathGenesis 49:29-50:26

We Must All Die

• A universal truth– The fact that we die is not what is

important– What is important is how we face death

• There is a right way and a wrong way to die!– The wrong way, we suffer eternally– The right way, we live eternally

• Important to face death in the right way

Jacob is Dying

• Remember– Jacob was very sick and on his

deathbed

– He had called all his sons to his bedside

– Now it was time for God to take Jacob home

Jacob’s Charge Genesis 49:29-32

• Jacob made two important requests concerning burial

– To be buried in Canaan, in the cave bought by Abraham

– To be buried in the place where his loved ones were buried

Jacob’s Charge Genesis 49:29-32

• Jacob faced death believing in the promise of eternal life

– He believed he was to be gathered to his people

– He believed that his people—Abraham and Isaac—were still living in the presence of God, living eternally

– He believed that he was to be gathered to them, that he was to join them in eternity

Jacob’s Charge Genesis 49:29-32

• Jacob was declaring his faith in God’s promises

– His burial was to be a great testimony to God and His great promises

– He wanted his descendents to know • That God had truly given the great promises to

the world• That God had given the great promises to him

personally– George Washington Cooksey

• Tombstone – born 18 Jan 1829, died 20 June 1906

• "Remember friends as you pass by, that all mankind are born to die, then let your cares on Christ be cast, that you may dwell with Him at last."

Jacob’s Death - v. 33

• As soon as he had finished the instructions to his sons, Jacob slid back up onto the bed and died

– He was gathered to his people– Jacob joined all the believers who were

living with God in eternity– If we believe in the promised seed—the

Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be gathered to Jacob and all other believers who are living with God in eternity

Grief and Mourning Genesis 50:1-14

• Grief (vv. 1-3) – The moment Jacob died, Joseph

leaned over to his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him

– Grief and Sorrow caused by:• The death of loved ones - John 11:33-

35; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14• Death - To be conquered - John 20:14-

16

– The danger of grief and sorrow is that they often becomes self-centered - John 16:5-6

Mourning Passes vv. 4-14

1. Funerals – great gatherings - vv. 7-9

– Joseph organized a large funeral procession to demonstrate his father’s faith

• All the household of Joseph and his brothers - except the children and the workmen

• All the officials of Pharaoh’s court

Mourning Passes vv. 4-14

1. Funerals – great gatherings - vv. 7-9 2. Fulfilling wishes – v. 10-14

– Joseph completed his father’s faith• He buried him in the promised land of Canaan• Love those of our family and honor their

wishes for burial

– We must love our parents• Especially if they are believers who truly follow

God• Love them no matter how much they may

have failed in the past

Mourning Passes vv. 4-14

1. Funerals – great gatherings - vv. 7-9

2. Fulfilling wishes – v. 10-143. Returning to the Former Land

– Didn’t stay there– Brings back memories– Family– Neighbors– Friends

Guilt and Fear Genesis 50:15-21

• Fear Drives Guilt – v. 15– Fear begins with doubt

• The brothers began to fear that Joseph might seek vengeance against them

• Joseph had said that he had forgiven them

– Had Joseph really forgiven them?– How could a person forgive so terrible a

wrong?

• Eventually a spirit of fear gripped their souls

Guilt and Fear Genesis 50:15-21

• Fear Drives Guilt – v. 15– Fear begins with doubt– Guilt is caused by unbelief - John

20:24-25• Deliverance from guilt

– By God’s love - 1 John 3:20-21– By the conviction of the Holy Spirit - John 16:8-11

• Godly sorrow vs. worldly sorrow • 2 Corinthians 7:10 - For godly sorrow produces

repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death

The Cure for Guilt vv. 16-21

• Repentance – vv. 16-18– The brothers sent a messenger to Joseph

• Jacob wanted the sons to confess their sin to Joseph and to ask his forgiveness

• The brothers asked Joseph to forgive them

– When Joseph heard the message, he wept – True repentance

• No trouble in asking forgiveness when they had wronged a person

• They came to Joseph• Genuinely following God, and wanted the family

to be reconciled

The Cure for Guilt vv. 16-21

• Repentance – vv. 16-18• Forgiveness –vv. 19-21

– Joseph’s response - a model for all who would respond in a godly way to ungodly persecution

– Genesis 50:19-21• But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am

I in God’s place? And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them

The Cure for Guilt vv. 16-21

• Repentance – vv. 16-18• Forgiveness –vv. 19-21

– Vengeance belongs to God, not man • Their attitudes and actions were evil, but

the result was intended by God for good• How could Joseph be angry when good

had come of their sin through God’s providence?

• Instead, Joseph returned kindness for cruelty

The Cure for Guilt vv. 16-21

• Repentance – vv. 16-18• Forgiveness –vv. 19-21

– Joseph had forgiven his brothers 17 earlier• He had never gone back on his

forgiveness • God gave him God’s very own spirit of

forgiveness– What is God’s spirit of forgiveness? – Once forgiven, always forgiven

• The old sin is never brought up again• It cannot be if it has been truly forgiven

The Cure for Guilt Repentance & Forgiveness

• God had overruled their evil and worked it out for good

– Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”

• Joseph repaid evil with good – Romans 12:21 “Be not overcome of evil, but

overcome evil with good”

• Joseph encouraged his brothers not to fear– An example of forgiving others!

• If Joseph could forgive his brothers, we can forgive any person for anything

• No matter how terrible the wrong done against us, we can forgive the person

Joseph Facing Death Genesis 50:22-26

• Faithfulness – vv. 22-23– Joseph lived to be 110 years old

• The last half of Joseph’s life — 54 years — covered in 5 verses

• Over 12 chapters to cover how God prepared and used Joseph to save the world

– What was Joseph to do with the rest of his life?

• Be faithful to God• Keep his family together• Live a godly and righteous life before the world

Joseph Died vv. 24-26

• Moses intentionally placed the deaths of Jacob and Joseph side by side

– The burials of Jacob and Joseph are different but • Both reflect the same faith and hope• Both believed that Israel’s blessings in the

future would be realized in the promised land• Both would be a testimony to their faith

– Joseph was a continual reminder that some day the exodus would occur

The End?

• The end of a magnificent book– 2 funerals – doesn’t seem like a good

ending for a book– Began in the garden - perfection & beauty -

paradise– Ends in 2 coffins, one in Canaan, one in

Egypt• But wait a moment!

– Genesis 50 is not the end of the story!– Moses still has 4 books to write– God has ordained another 61 before the

final chapter – The final chapters of Revelation - return to

paradise!

Revelation 21:1-4 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the

first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away”

Revelation 22:1-5 And he showed me a river of the water of life,

clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. And on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall no longer be any night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever.

Death is not the End!

• Jacob came to a very different view of death

– No longer did he consider death the end

– Even if a man were to lose his cherished son• As God had commanded Abraham to

sacrifice his son Isaac, God could raise him again

– Jacob, like Abraham and Isaac, came to see that there was life after death

Hebrews 11:17-19

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED.” He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type

Death is not the End!

• The way you view death makes all the difference in the world

– If it is the end of everything, then there is no need to seek heaven or to avoid hell

– If there is no life after death, the world is right when it says “… eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die”

Death is a Beginning!

• What lies after death – Compels us to face eternity squarely,

before death – We need not fear death once we are

rightly related to God by faith in His Son

– We need not avoid talking about it• Death promises us a time eternally

– With God– With those in the faith who have been

separated from us by death

John 14:1-3

Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, for 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8

Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight — we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Philippians 1:23

But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.

Not the end, but the beginning!

1 Corinthians 15:55-58 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR

VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”