Genesis 49:29-50:26

 God may not remove your fears but he can rescue you from them. The last passage in Genesis equips us to overcome three fears that everyone faces.

Outline

  • First, Afterlife – we must overcome our fear of death (49:29-50:14)
    • We overcome our fear of death by clinging to the future God promises us (49:29)
    • We overcome our fear of death by celebrating the way God uses us (50:4-14)
  • Second, Adversity – we must overcome our fear of the past (50:15-20)
    • We overcome our fear of the past by rejecting falsehood (50:15-17a)
    • We overcome our fear of the past by receiving forgiveness (50:17b-19)
    • We overcome our fear of the past by remembering God’s faithfulness – (50:20)
  • Third, Anxiety – we must overcome our fear of the future (50:21-26)
    • We must overcome our anxiety by trusting God will provide for us in the present – (50:21)
    • We must overcome our anxiety by trusting God will provide for us in the future (50:22-26)

Christ Connections

  • God’s covenant was a promise that God’s people will be in God’s place living out God’s purpose. By being buried in the Promised Land, Jacob and his family are looking to the life that comes from the promise. Though they embalm Israel, they cannot embalm the promises made to Israel—those outlast him until they are fulfilled in Christ.
  • Jacob’s funeral procession points forward to the Exodus from Egypt which travels on the same route.; The Exodus is a reversal of this moment,  this time Egypt is supporting Israel, next time Egypt will enslave them. This time pharaoh sends them, next time he will seek to stop them. This time Israel is mourning, next time they will be celebrating. Yet another reversal is set to come when Jesus is called out of Egypt to lead a new exodus.

Applications

  • Deep down all of us fear death. Often we try to hide that fear by covering up the effects of age with botox or a new car. We fear death because all of us have sinned and the wages of sin is death. Jesus destroys the power of death by destroying Satan, who has the power of death. We can overcome our fear of death because Jesus has overcome the power of death.
  • God uses things we’d never choose to work in us in ways we’d never change, our scars don’t have to define us but they can refine us.
  • God is weaving a tapestry together in our lives. Corrie Ten Boom spoke of life as a tapestry, the back is knotted, tangled, jumbled, messy. That’s often how we see our lives. But as one turns the tapestry over to the front you’d see a beautiful crown to reflect the crown of life that God is preparing for each one of us.