Blessing the Younger

by faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph.

In other words, this, what we read about right here in Genesis 48, is as much a great demonstration of faith as anything else. I mean, this is a story about faith. It's a story about the triumph of faith in Jacob's life, exemplified in this blessing upon Ephraim and Manasseh. And as we approach this passage, we need to remember that this is the man who was born Jacob, which means supplanter or deceiver. He was the baby who came out of the womb, grasping his brother's heel. You know, from day one, he was trying to have his own way. From day one, he was not submitted to God's righteousness. He was a man who used manipulation and deceit to get Esau's blessing, birthright, and then to steal his blessing. He's a man that went off to Haran young and strong, proud and headstrong. But then God had begun to humble him. God let Laban give him a taste of his own medicine. He got tricked into marrying the wrong woman. Laban changed his wages 10 times. He faced marital problems. Then he had to go back and face Esau, how frightened and helpless he felt. Then God had come and wrestled him in the night, putting his hip out of socket, depriving him of his strength. And Jacob had cried out in desperation there,

I will not let you go unless you bless me.

So he was finally brought to his knees before God in faith. And God had changed his name, saying,

you shall no longer be named Jacob. You shall be called Israel

, meaning one who prevails with God or has strength with God. But even still, Jacob had a long way to go. In his physical weakness, he seems to become passive, fearful. He struggles as a leader. I mean, he just seems to watch helplessly as his sons get into trouble from one point of evil to the next. He suffers the loss of Rachel, then of Joseph, then he fears losing Benjamin. I mean, through it all, he becomes broken, grieving, on the verge of giving up. He cries out,

all has come against me. If I lose Benjamin, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to shield.

And then finally, he'd been renewed in his faith. He'd believed that Joseph was alive, he'd come to Egypt, he'd seen Joseph's face. He's experienced God's faithfulness and God's blessing. And now we come to the very end of his life, where he is weaker than ever before physically, and yet stronger than ever before in faith. He's a man whose mouth now gushes forth with the oracles of God. He's a man who speaks by experience and with conviction of God's great faithfulness. He's a man full, grateful, abounding in hope because he knows the Lord. And friends, I think we should pray that we would be like Jacob in our latter days. That after all life's trials, after all that we go through, that we would be triumphant in faith. that though our physical eyes would grow dim, that we, like him, might barely be able to even sit up in bed, that we would be so strong in faith and in the strength that God supplies, so that when our children and our grandchildren are there by our side, we would be able to speak to them of God in the way that Jacob does here. And you know, what is the source of the strength of his faith? What is it that makes him so strong and triumphant now? What has he learned? Well, I think it's especially a final lesson that he actually has to teach Joseph here. In fact, it's something that blind Jacob can see more clearly than even wise Joseph can. It's something that lies right at the heart of what it means to have faith in God. And it's the fact that God's blessings rest on his sovereign grace. They're not the reward for our goodness. They're not something that we're entitled to by our birthright. They're gifts of God's free and powerful and unwavering grace. You see, the main message for us this morning is that faith rests in the sovereign grace of God. Faith rests in God's sovereign grace. And my prayer for us would be that you and I would leave here today resting more fully in God's sovereign grace towards us. So let's look now at how Jacob teaches us to do that. And our passage breaks down into four sections. There's the announcement, the adoption, the blessing, and the inheritance. And let's look first at the announcement. So this is verses 1 through 7, the announcement. And in this section, Jacob announces his intention to adopt Ephraim and Manasseh and to bestow on them the covenant blessing. So as I said, Jacob is sick. He's nearing death. We see that in verse 1. And so Joseph comes to him. And somehow Joseph knows that he's supposed to bring Manasseh and Ephraim along. And especially since these are not his only two sons, it seems that somehow, you know, Jacob has already communicated to him that he wants him to bring them. And so when they arrive, Jacob sums his strength to sit up in bed. And he first begins to speak of the covenant promises of God. He says in verse 3,

God Almighty appeared to me at Luz

, which is another name for Bethel,

and he blessed me.

And this is a reference to Genesis chapter 35. It's not when Jacob had first fled from Esau and first come to Bethel, when he saw the ladder in heaven. It's actually when he returned to Bethel, which happened right after the Dinah incident, when Simeon and Levi had murdered the Shechemites. And Jacob had said to his sons,

you have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land.

I mean, he was, he was afraid that, that the Canaanites would bound together and come and kill them. But instead in that moment, God appeared to him and said,

arise, go up to Bethel.

And then God sent a terror upon all the people of the land so that they didn't pursue them. And then shockingly, Jacob has to tell his sons, okay, we need to go meet with God. So give me your idols. and he buries them under a terebinth tree. So this family has been murdering, committing idolatry, flagrant sin against the Lord. And yet God summons Jacob up to Bethel and he says to him,

behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.

I mean, this is just sheer sovereign grace. This family deserves the very opposite. And yet God is reaffirming his covenant promise. He is reaffirming his intention to bless them. I mean, they've made themselves a stench in the land. God says, I'm giving this land to you. They've murdered people. God is saying, I'm going to multiply you. And now decades later, Jacob remembers this promise. And Jacob is reminding Joseph and his sons of it because he knows that it stands firm by the sovereign grace of God. And then he makes clear in verses 5 and 6 that he wants to confer the blessings of this covenant, this covenant promise on them. He says to Joseph,

your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Reuben and Simeon are.

" So in other words, he's saying, I want to adopt your two sons, Joseph. I want Ephraim and Manasseh to belong to me the same way Reuben and Simeon do. And note that Reuben and Simeon are Jacob's oldest two sons. So not only does he want to adopt Ephraim and Manasseh, he wants to give them the firstborn status. It's as if he has first selected Joseph to be the firstborn instead of Reuben, but by adopting two of Joseph's sons, he can give Joseph a double portion. First Chronicles chapter five, verse one says,

when Reuben defiled his father's marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph, son of Israel.

So that's what's going on here. Now that's also why verse six explains that Joseph has other sons and they will then now be reckoned either to the tribe of Manasseh or Ephraim in order for them to receive their inheritance. And amazingly, Jacob here is already looking forward to the division of the land. He's adopting these sons because he's thinking about how the land is going to be subdivided between his sons. And by adopting both Manasseh and Ephraim, it means both of them will get a share and thereby Joseph gets a double portion in the promised land. And isn't it amazing that Jacob is already dividing up an inheritance that he himself has not yet even received? It's sort of like if I left to my sons in my will shares in a company that hadn't even started yet. I mean, it's just based on sheer faith. And yet Jacob speaks as a man utterly convinced that God will do as he has said. Nothing can derail his purposes. Nothing can interfere with what God has promised. He's just assured in this sovereign grace of God. Then in verse seven, Jacob gives some rationale for why he's adopting Ephraim and Manasseh. He says, as for me, and keep in mind, verse six was about Joseph's other sons. So it's as if he's saying, as for you, Joseph, you have other sons. But as for me,

when I came from Paddan to my sorrow, Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way. And I buried her there on the way to Ephrath or Bethlehem.

Now interestingly, this is also from Genesis chapter 35. So Jacob's reflecting on the fact that right after God gave those covenant promises he just mentioned, promises that he was gonna multiply him, then Rachel died. Then he thought Joseph had died. Then he feared Benjamin would die. It seemed like the very opposite was happening to him. But now, He sees Joseph and even Joseph's sons standing there before him, as he says down in verse 11,

I never expected to see your face and behold, God has let me see your offspring also.

See, the point of bringing up Rachel here seems to be that that even though she died, God is now providing replacement sons for her. By adopting Manasseh and Ephraim, it's as if God is fulfilling his promise to multiply Jacob by providing the sons that Rachel never lived to bear. Oh, friends, I mean, the next time you find yourself in dark circumstances. The next time you find yourself thinking. This is something that God could never redeem for good. I think a great verse to turn to would be Genesis 48 verse 11.

I never expected to see your face. And behold, God has let me see your offspring also.

He's a God that so often does exceedingly abundantly above all that we ever ask or think. Jacob was like, I wouldn't even expect to see you. I never would have prayed to see your offspring and yet here they are. God is a God who can make the brightest day dawn even after the darkest night. And we, like Jacob, need to learn to rest in His sovereign grace. So Jacob says, I intend to adopt your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, so that the covenant blessing may be fulfilled in them. And that brings us to the second scene in our story, which is the adoption ceremony. Okay, so number two, the adoption. This is verses eight through 12. And we should note, first of all, that Joseph is clearly agreed to this, right? He is moving forward. And by Joseph doing that, he's demonstrating great faith as well. Because for Joseph to let his sons be adopted by Jacob effectively nullifies any chance they have of inheriting high positions in Egypt. Right now, Manasseh and Ephraim are heirs to the prime minister of Egypt, perfectly situated for future political greatness. But by doing this, Joseph is giving that up. Now they will be known by Israel's name. And this is a trade Joseph is pleased to make. So the ceremony begins there in verse eight. And sort of like a wedding where we ask, you know, who gives this woman to be married to this man? Jacob asks, who are these? Not because he doesn't know his own grandsons, but because he's initiating a formal ceremony. And so Joseph responds,

they are my sons whom God has given me here.

And Israel says,

bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.

And to bring them to me here means bring them to my knees. Note that in verse 12, it says that at that point, Joseph removed them from his knees, not Joseph's knees, but Jacob's. And so the adoption ceremony involves Ephraim and Manasseh being brought to Jacob's knees. And bear in mind that these are like roughly 20-year-old young men. So this isn't cute little kids, you know, sitting on grandpa's knees. I mean, this is part of the formal ceremony. And probably the significance of the knees is that it symbolized birth. Just as these boys were originally born between Asenath's knees, now they're being brought to Jacob's. And there before his knees, Jacob kisses them. He hugs them. He delights in them as his sons. And then when they're removed from his knees, Joseph bows in worship and an affirmation of what's just taken place. So Manasseh and Ephraim are now formally Jacob's sons, thus entitled to receive the blessing that will follow. But first I want to pause and just point out that once again, this narrative points us to Christ and the gospel. We've seen time and again how Joseph serves as a foreshadow and an anticipation of Jesus. Well, consider how Ephraim and Manasseh's adoption points us to ours. I mean, just as they weren't born the natural sons of Jacob, we weren't born children of God. And just as they were adopted through their relation to Jacob's natural and beloved son, Joseph, We're adopted through our union with God's eternal and beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Just as they weren't adopted because of anything good that they've done, but only by Jacob's free choice, we're not adopted because of anything good we've done, but only by the sovereign will of God. Listen to Ephesians 1, verse 5. It says,

In love, God predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

I see it's God's will, God's purpose, God's grace, all given to us in his beloved son, Jesus Christ. There's nothing that we have done to earn adoption into the family of God. You know, we've been praying for the Dean family as they look ahead to adopting a boy from Thailand. And when they go and collect this child, I mean, he's going to have to learn that he is their son. It's not because he did something to earn it. And yet they are going to love him. They are going to care for him. They're going to provide for him. They have chosen to adopt him. And therefore, he just has to learn to rely on them as his parents. And in the same way, we, through our adoption, just have to learn to rely on the God who has freely chosen us to rely on his sovereign grace. Further, just as Manasseh and Ephraim were adopted through a ceremony in which they were symbolically born again, it should remind us that we are adopted through being spiritually born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. We were dead in trespasses and sins, but God made us alive by his power and his grace. Jesus has given the right to become children of God to those who are born,

not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

That's how we are born again. And then finally, consider that just as Manasseh and Ephraim were adopted in order that they might become heirs of a great inheritance, so that they might bear Israel's name, having tribe's name for them. We are adopted in order that the Holy Spirit might bear witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

Oh friends, through adoption, we become heirs of the new creation. We become the bearers of our Father in heaven's name. And there's no honor greater than to be called a child of God. John writes,

see what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God. And so we are.

Friends, let us marvel at the love of God who says to us, just like Jacob said to Manasseh and Ephraim, you shall be mine. I am calling you by my name. What an amazing gift God has given us in adoption. So, God adopts us just as Jacob adopted Manasseh and Ephraim. Now let's look thirdly at the blessing. So number three, the blessing. This is verses 13 through 20. And first of all, I want to say something about what this sort of blessing even means. We read earlier in the service a portion of Genesis 27 where Jacob blesses Jacob and then also Esau. Next time we'll look at Genesis 47 where Isaac blesses Jacob and then Esau. And the next time we'll look at Genesis 49 where Jacob blesses the rest of his sons. And if you're like me, you might be wondering, why is this sort of blessing such a big deal? Like, what exactly is it accomplishing? And I want to sum it up by saying that these blessings are both prophetic and effectual. They're prophetic in that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not merely expressing their personal well wishes for their sons. They're actually speaking for God. They're authoritatively and infallibly declaring what will be. Now, how they came to know that is kept somewhat mysterious to us. I don't think it's necessarily that God came to Jacob in the night and said, you're supposed to adopt these two sons and this is what you're supposed to say. Rather, the author of Hebrews tells us it's by faith that Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh. I think their mind, their reasoning are involved as they discern God's will and project what will come in the future. So they're carried along by the Holy Spirit to prophesy in a rather unique sort of way. But secondly, these blessings are effectual. And what I mean by that is they're not merely predictive. They're not merely revealing what the future will hold. There's a sense in which they're actually affecting the future by mediating the blessing of God himself. For a faint analogy, think, for example, of the apostles laying hands on people so that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. God's blessing came through the apostles in that way. Before the laying of hands, they didn't have the Spirit, but after the laying of hands, they possessed that gift. Well, in a similar way, I think the patriarchs are being used like conduits to bestow God's own blessing on the coming generation. And by their blessing, they are establishing the way in which that blessing of God will be distributed and will be passed along in the generation to come. And this effectual quality is why, for example, Isaac, even after being deceived into blessing Jacob, even though he thought it was Esau, he can't take it back. He can't undo it. What he had just spoken had been established by God. And I think that account of Isaac blessing Jacob should be especially on the forefronts of our minds as we turn here to Genesis 48. Chapter 27 begins,

when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see.

As you notice here in verse 10, we read,

now the eyes of Israel were dim with age so that he could not see.

Once again, we see an old blind father preparing to bless his two sons. Isaac had inadvertently blessed the younger above the older and thereby fulfilled what God had said before they were even born. What's going to happen here? Well, in verse 13 we see Joseph preparing his sons to receive the blessing. And so there's a ceremonial laying on of hands. And so Joseph takes Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. So as any father would, Joseph's lining up the older son Manasseh for the right hand blessing. The right hand symbolized the greater blessing. But then Israel stretches out his right hand and lays it on Ephraim's head, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, crossing his hands. And verse 17 tells us that when Joseph saw this, it displeased him. Literally, it was evil in his sight. I mean, it just seemed so wrong. It was distressing to him. I mean, this violates all social convention. I mean, everyone, everywhere in that day always would place the blessing on the older above the younger. You know, I was trying to think of a modern parallel, and the best I could come up with would be, you know, if people are sitting at a table, there's one seat left. I mean, how would you feel if someone escorts the young, able-bodied person to go sit that while there's someone who's sort of old and a walker, and they're expected to stand? You think, no, this is so wrong. This is backwards. You've got it reversed. They should be switched. Well, this blessing is of far, far, far greater significance than where you would sit at a table. And so Joseph is provoked by this. And it says he tries to take his father's right hand off of Ephraim's head and put it on Manasseh saying,

not this way, my father, since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.

But old blind Jacob refuses. And he says, I know, my son, I know. This was not a mistake. This was not just a weak old man haplessly crossing his arms. This was not because he's blind, he'd confused Manasseh and Ephraim. No, Jacob knows exactly who's on which side of him. He's quite intentionally blessing the younger with his right hand. He says,

I know Manasseh also shall become a people and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.

" You know, as I said at the beginning, how ironic it is that blind Jacob here can see what even Joseph couldn't. And Joseph has just been a paragon of wisdom. He's the great interpreter of dreams. He's the leader of a nation. He's the one who has always seemed to have the keenest spiritual awareness. But now even Joseph stumbles over this. Even Joseph is confused and confounded by the ways of God. And bear in mind that we have not been told a single thing about Manasseh or Ephraim. There is not a shred of evidence to think that Manasseh has done anything wrong to lose his position or that Ephraim has done anything right to gain it. We know Ephraim is being chosen above Manasseh solely because of God's sovereign grace. I mean, through this act, Jacob is testifying to the fact that God chooses whom he wills. It's not by birth. It's not because of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but it is because of God who shows mercy. It's about God's free and his sovereign grace. And this turns out to be a hard concept for Joseph to grasp. Joseph, who's always been the best son, who's always been quick to trust God, who's always been a man of integrity, he trips over this. But Jacob, the heel grasper, The cheat, the one who's had all these ups and downs, the one who's now physically blind. He now sees perfectly clearly that God's grace doesn't depend on us. I mean, this is a reflection of the fact that Jacob realizes that he was not chosen because of anything good he'd done. That he did not ultimately get the blessing because he outmaneuvered Esau for it. No, he was chosen and he was blessed because before the twins were even born or had done anything either good or bad, God said to Rebecca,

the older shall serve the younger.

He understands that he himself is a living testimony to God's sovereign grace. And now he is proclaiming that same sovereign grace to the coming generation. Now notice a few things about the substance of the blessing itself. First, notice how God-centered it is. Jacob begins at verse 15 with this threefold declaration of the name of God. He calls him the God of his fathers. He's the God who's faithful from one generation to the next. He calls him his shepherd. He's the God who has shepherded him throughout his whole life the way his family has been shepherds of flocks and herds. God protects, God provides, God nourishes. And he calls God his redeemer. He calls him the angel who's redeemed him from all evil. And this is probably a reference to the angel of the Lord, that manifestation of God's personal presence who comes to be with his people. And this is actually the first time the Bible calls God a redeemer. And yet I think it's a word that Jacob chooses because he's often been surrounded by evil. And often that's been his own fault. And yet time and again, God has come down to rescue him, to redeem him, to pull him out, to pick him up. And how this beautifully, and as he talks about this to his sons, I mean, how this beautifully anticipates the great revelation of God as the Redeemer who will bring these descendants out of slavery in Egypt. Now a second thing to notice about the substance of the blessing is that it focuses on multiplication. Jacob says in verse 16,

God blessed the boys and in them let my name be carried on in the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the earth.

In other words, he's adopted them so that they might bear his name so that God's promise that he mentions back in verse four of how God would multiply him might be fulfilled in and through them. He's passing on that same blessing to them that they might multiply as God had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And as such, we must emphasize that both will be greatly blessed. Unlike with Jacob and Esau, it's not that one is blessed and the other is sort of demoted. No, this is both of them are being exalted. He says in verse 20,

by you Israel were pronounced blessing saying God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.

So their names will be forever associated with blessing. Generations to come will appeal to them as an example of what it looks like to be blessed. And yet even still Ephraim will be greater. From all the way back up in verse 5 down to verse 20, Jacob is consistent. Ephraim is always placed first. And he says in verse 19,

Ephraim's offspring shall become a multitude of nations

, or the fullness of nations. And it is true, by the way, that Ephraim becomes the strongest tribe. Sometimes the whole northern kingdom All the ten northern tribes, which are usually called Israel, sometimes they're called Ephraim. So his name alone represents the fullness of the whole nation because of his great strength. And so these blessings are effectual, these blessings are prophetic, these blessings come to pass. Now before we return to some application, let's look briefly at the final section, the last two verses, where we see an inheritance. So we've seen an announcement, an adoption, a blessing, and now fourthly and finally, an inheritance. This is verses 21 and 22. And we should be clear here that this is not the inheritance, it's an inheritance. It's like a little foretaste or down payment of what's yet to come, because here Jacob gives to Joseph the one little piece of the promised land he owns, aside from that cave he'd inherited from Abraham. And he assures him,

God will be with you. God will bring you back to the land.

And he says,

moreover, I have given to you, rather than to your brothers, one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and my bow.

And this appears to be a reference to the land or territory right around Shechem, because the word translated mountain slope actually is the word Shechem, or shoulder in Hebrew. This is also where Levi and Simeon had killed the Shechemites, as I mentioned earlier. And then before that, this is the place where Jacob had actually bought some land. Genesis 33 verse 19 says he paid a hundred pieces of silver to buy land from the sons of Shechem's father, Hamor. So he had bought land here. He says he had fought for this land here. And as I said, in addition to that one little cave in Machpelah, this is the one other piece of land in Canaan where he can presently lay any legitimate claim. And perhaps something like Bill Gates' father leaving his car to Bill Gates. I mean, Jacob leaves this one little piece of land to the prime minister of Egypt. And this is the most precious thing Jacob had. This is no doubt more precious to Joseph than anything in Egypt. And in fact, over 400 years later, we see the fulfillment of this. Because in Joshua 24, verse 32, it says,

As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem. in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.

" So God is faithful to his every word. And as we think about this little foretaste of the inheritance that Jacob gives to Joseph here, I think it should remind us of the foretaste and the down payment of our inheritance that God gives us. Ephesians 1, after talking about our adoption, goes on to say,

in him you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee or the down payment of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

You see, the point is, no matter how far away your salvation feels, no matter how faint are the evidences of grace in your heart, no matter how small your portion of the Holy Spirit seems, if you are in Christ, then you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And he is the guarantee of your full inheritance until you acquire possession of it. What a sweet promise. Just as Joseph could even from Egypt think about that one piece of land that was already titled to him. We have been given the Holy Spirit from God as an assurance that the God who has begun a good work in us will finish it. That we will one day enjoy the fullness of our inheritance, not because of our faithfulness, not because of our strength, but because of God's sovereign grace. Now I hope that as we've worked through this passage, in spite of all the ancient ceremonies that are so unfamiliar, in spite of all the intertextual references to other parts of Genesis that can be hard to follow at times, I hope that that's the grand theme that stood out. That you can see how Jacob comes to the end of his life confident in the sovereign grace of God. Confident in the grace of a God who doesn't reward the deserving. because none of us are, but the God who freely and unilaterally and sovereignly blesses the undeserving by his own grace. A God who distributes his blessing, not according to the way that we would expect, but often to reverse our expectations, just to highlight his sovereign prerogative. And also that he's a God that when he chooses to set his grace on us or anyone, He does it with the power of absolute sovereignty. Nothing can change his mind, nothing can stay his hand, nothing can interfere or overthrow whom God blesses will be blessed. That's what it means to be blessed by his sovereign grace. And Jacob here, after having done so much to try to gain the blessing for himself, so much to try to seize it, And then it seems even after he had it, it seems that he feared losing it for so long. Now finally, he comes to the end of his life and he's triumphant in faith. He's able to rest confident and secure in the sovereign grace of God. He's able to boldly proclaim it to his sons. And in the end, I think what we need to take from this is the very same lesson that Jacob is teaching Joseph. It's a lesson of what Joel Beakey called crossed arms theology. It's a lesson that God's ways are not ours. That God often bestows his blessings in the very reverse of what we might expect. And so before we close, I want to take a few minutes just to meditate on what this crossed arms theology might mean for us. How would it apply in our lives? How might we, like Joseph, need to repent of trying to uncross the arms of God? And how can we, like Jacob, learn to find such amazing peace and assurance when we finally learn to trust those crossed arms and rest in his sovereign grace? As let's think for a moment about three arenas where this crossed arms theology would apply. And the first would be to consider the cross. Consider the cross. Remember Peter after Jesus said, you know, I must suffer many things and be killed and on the third day rise again. And then Peter said, oh, no, no, no. This will never happen to you, Lord. Right, you're the Messiah, you can't die. Then later, Jesus gets up to wash his disciples' feet. And once again, Peter says, Lord, what are you doing? This is reverse. You're the master, we're the disciples. You're not gonna wash my feet. And friends, do not we, like Peter at times, feel that same way about the cross? We see Jesus on the cross, but I'm the sinner. I'm the guilty one. What are you doing on the cross, Jesus? You're the holy one. You're innocent. You're the one who deserves the right hand blessing from God. But it seems that God's arms are crossed. And God says to us, I know, my son, I know. He says, I did not consult you about what to do about your sin. I didn't ask you whether or not to send Jesus to die. No, I, by my sovereign initiative, chose to extend my left hand of curse and put it on his head and my right hand of blessing on yours. It's God's sovereign grace. Friends, the cross shocks us. The cross is scandalous to us. It violates all human convention. And its great planner and architect is God. God alone. No man conceived of it, but God has planned it. God chose to deliver up his own son so that we, his enemies, might be forgiven and saved. And that promise is for all of us. If you only look to Christ, you will be saved today by God's sheer grace, by his mercy, by his love. Second, consider how we see this crossed arms theology in election. The Bible teaches this doctrine of election whereby God chooses some for salvation, even from before the foundation of the world. The point being, if you're saved, it's not ultimately because you chose God. It's because he chose you. And our New Testament scripture reading came from Romans 9, where Paul wrestles with this doctrine. And in verse 14 there, he anticipates the objection.

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part?

He knows that many will hear the doctrine of election and say, but that's not fair. We're going to respond like Joseph, saying, no, no, God, your arms are crossed. They're supposed to go the other way. You're supposed to bestow salvation on the head of the one who does what's good, on the head of the one who chooses you, the one who makes the right decision, the one who humbles himself, the one who somehow in some way is a little bit more deserving than the other. And God says no. depends on my sovereign grace. Just as God chose Jacob over Esau, just as God chooses Ephraim over Manasseh, it didn't depend on them, and it does not depend on us either. God freely chooses to save one, and he passes over another. He says to Moses,

I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

He hardens one, he has mercy on another, and the point is

it does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

He's the God who chooses proud Pharisees like Paul, and despised sinners like Mary Magdalene. He chooses noble pagans like Cornelius the Centurion, and Jewish fishermen like James and John. There's no rhyme or reason to it that you or I could claim to know. All we can know and say for sure is that God chooses whom he chooses for his own glory. So that ultimately, he who boasts can only boast in the Lord. And the point is, we, like Joseph, need to repent of trying to uncross God's arms. We're expecting him to dispense salvation our way. He's God. It's his prerogative. And yet at the same time, this is not just a truth for us to submit to. It's one for us to treasure. Because there is such wonderful assurance and peace that comes with being able to rest in the sovereign grace of God. You see, when you understand that nothing you did contributed to your salvation, you realize that nothing you could ever do could lose it. If nothing you ever did caused God to choose you, there's nothing you can do to make him unchoose you. The God who said his love on you and chose you from before the foundation of the world. Is the God who will be faithful to finish that work by his sovereign grace. And that's how we, though we are sinners, though we have no confidence in the strength of our faith or our grip on God. That's why, like Jacob, we can both live and die triumphant in faith, triumphant in what Christ has done, triumphant in this great hope that the God who has saved us will hold us, that he is faithful and true. And then third and finally, consider the way that we see crossed arms theology in the church. Because unlike with Jacob and Esau, where Jacob's blessed and Esau's lost, both Ephraim and Manasseh received covenant blessing. For them it's not the difference between blessing and non-blessing, it's the difference between blessing and greater blessing. And when it comes to the church, we so often look around at other people's gifts, other people's callings, other people's station in life, and we ask, why can't that be me? What did they do to get that? And what do I have to do to get it too? Why does that person preach so much and get to teach so much at church? Why does she see so much fruit in her evangelism? Why are they blessed with another child and we can't even have one? Why did she get such a great husband? Why is he so popular? Why does he have so many friends? And then we don't say it. I think as we go looking for those answers, sometimes it's like we're really just trying to uncross the arms of God. We're assuming that it's because of something they did or something we're not doing. And we're forgetting that God is the God of sovereign grace. We're forgetting that all of our blessings were not earned, they're not deserved. They're gifts of God distributed freely by his grace according to his wisdom. And what we need to do, like Joseph needed to do, is take our arms off of the hands of God, humbly surrender. and acknowledge that no, these blessings are God's to give. And we need to find the peace of knowing that God is the God who knows better than us. That God actually loves you more than you love yourself. That he is not withholding good from you because he doesn't love you enough. But he has actually already blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And according to his wisdom, he is giving you exactly what you need for your journey until you get there. So friends, let us learn from Jacob this morning to both live and to die, resting by faith in the sovereign grace of God. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this message. We thank you for the reminder that you are the God of sovereign grace. God, we thank you that in Christ alone our hope is found, that he is our savior, he is our king, he is the one who has done all. We pray that you would give us faith, that you would help us to learn to rest in you and the sufficiency of your work and the greatness and the power of your grace. We ask that as we do so, you might be greatly glorified in and through us. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.