Letting your faith do the walking Part VIII
Jacob’s Faith; A Worshipping Faith
Hebrews 11:21
Introduction
Tonight as we come to Part nine in our series on “Letting your faith do the walking”, we will briefly study the end of the life the Patriarch Jacob.
Jacob was a man whose whole life had been changed by the grace and mercy of God. He began his life as a deceiver, stealing the birthright of Esau. Later on, he was converted as he wrestled all night long with the Angel of the Lord, until finally, at the break of day, he was given a new name, a new nature and a new purpose. From that time on we see a new Jacob. He is now a man of faith, love. He is a man with the call of God, and a purpose for living and a promise from God that would stand forever. He had become to understand what it meant to walk by faith with God on his side.
Jacob was given the same promise given to Abraham, although Jacob like Abraham and Isaac never saw the Promised Land given to the Nation of Israel. In fact, he saw the reverse. His family was forced to Egypt because of famine. Yet he continued to worship God, ever believing and passing on the promise of God—even as he was dying. Tonight we will look at Jacob and his worshipping faith.
Read Scriptures: Genesis 48:1-6,13-16, Hebrews 11:21
I. Jacob Grew old, but he didn’t Grow weary of God’s promise.
Vs. 21 “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.”
Jacob was nearing the end of his life, he was making the final arrangements after his death. Then the scripture says something very interesting it says that Jacob “worshiped God as he leaned on the top of his staff.” Now I know what you are thinking, “what in the world does that mean?” Well I’m glad you asked, because I think I have an answer for you.
It could mean something very simple, he was old, weak, and frail and he needed support so he leaned on the top of his staff for support. That is a very pliable explanation. However I think it means something a little deeper than that simple explanation.
The staff of a person in those days was in essence that person’s life story, because they would carve the events of there life on the staff, then it would be handed down to the next generation.
No doubt Jacob would have had carved on his staff the time that he deceived his father Isaac and received his rightful blessing, and when he had to run for his life from his brother Esau after that event.
Then he would have had recorded the dream that God had given him concerning the ladder reaching down from heaven to earth and he angels ascending and descending and God made the promise that he made to Abraham and Isaac that his descendents would be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and the Messianic promise that all people on the earth will be blessed because of him and his offspring.
Then probably the worst thing that any parent can go through in the death of a child, when he was told by his other sons that Joseph had been killed by wild animals. With countless other events that are recorded in scripture that happened in the life of Jacob.
Jacob leaning on his staff could mean that he was remembering all that God had done for him and in the process was worshipping. Even in his old age, he didn’t grow weary of the promises of God, because he was still telling the story.
I hope that as we near the end of our lives, we will recount all the events of our lives recorded on the staff of our minds, remembering all the things that Jesus has done for us, and worship him. I remember the last moments of Bro. James Courville’s life as he was lying in the hospital bed, I leaned over and said in his ear, remember all the things that Jesus has done for you, all the great promises that are yours through your faith in Him, and he began to say some of those promises.
Some of us, as we grow old we tend to grow weary. Jacob grew old, but he never grew weary.
II. Jacob died in a foreign land, but he held on to the promise of the promised land.
Vs. 21 “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.”
This is a picture of a true sojourner, or stranger on this earth. Jacob’s rightful place of residence was the land of Canaan, or the promised land, which when God appeared to him told him “He would give him this land as an everlasting possession.”
Jacob died in Egypt, however on his death bed he held on to the promise of the promise land, by dividing up the land to his sons in Genesis 49. Don’t miss this, they were in Egypt and had never taken control of the promised land, it was still inhabited by the Canaanites, gergashites, hivites, the parasites, and the mosquito bites.
There he was on his death bed, still believing, still holding on to the promise. We die in this land, this is Egypt to us, but our home is in heaven, our promised land. Although we die in a foreign land, we need to keep our minds focused on the promise. The promise that one day we will live forever in our promised land.
III. God rewarded Jacob by allowing him to be a blessing to others while he was dying.
Vs. 21 “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.”
He blessed Josephs two sons on his death bed. It is truly a reward for our lives, when God allows us to bless others as we near the end of our lives.
Jacob blessed Joseph’s two sons that he had in Egypt before his father and come down to Egypt. In fact in the original account, it teaches that Jacob actually adopted Josephs two sons Ephraim, and Manesseh, and gave them a part of the inheritance of the promised land as well.
Don’t you want to be a blessing to others as you near the end of your life. I really believe it is a blessing and a reward from God when he allows us to be a blessing to others when we die.
Conclusion
Maybe tonight you are holding on to anger and bitterness, and you want to get rid of it, come and cast it on the altar of God’s grace and mercy. Let us be like Jacob, lean on the top of our staff, or look back at our lives no matter how long it may be, weather good or bad, and worship Jesus tonight.
