<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Then Israel said to Joseph, \u201cBehold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0(Genesis 48:21)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When\u00a0Israel<\/strong>\u00a0(Jacob) told Joseph,\u00a0Behold, I am dying<\/strong>, he understood a transition was underway. The torch Israel held for so long was now given to Joseph and his brothers. Israel was the last of the three great patriarchs to walk the earth, but God\u2019s work would continue.<\/p>\n
Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher of Victorian England, understood this principle. \u201cIf Abraham dies, there is Isaac; and if Isaac dies, there is Jacob; and if Jacob dies, there is Joseph; and if Joseph dies, Ephraim and Manasseh survive. The Lord shall never lack a champion to bear his standard high among the sons of men\u2026. God will keep up the apostolic succession, never fear of that. When Stephen is dying, Paul is not far off. When Elijah is taken up, he leaves his mantle behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true. Sometimes when we see great men and women of God die, we despair. Who will carry on God\u2019s work? The answer is simple: God will carry on His work. He will choose, call, and train His servants as it pleases Him.<\/p>\n
Israel gave Joseph hope for the future, planted in a valuable promise:\u00a0God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers<\/strong>. If the patriarchs no longer walked the earth, God would still be with His people. God would also keep His promise to give the land of Canaan (the land of your fathers<\/strong>) to the descendants of Israel.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s declaration,\u00a0God will be with you and bring you<\/strong>\u00a0completes a collection of phrases connected to his life that illustrate the believer in various stages of spiritual maturity.<\/p>\n
The phrase,\u00a0I am with you<\/em>\u00a0(Genesis 28:15) was God\u2019s promise to be with young Jacob (Israel) in the present moment, the \u201cright now.\u201d This shows that God gives the young believer every possible assurance of His presence and grace.<\/p>\n
The phrase,\u00a0I will be with you<\/em>\u00a0(Genesis 31:3) was God\u2019s promise to Jacob of His future faithfulness, to be seen in coming days. This shows that God expects the growing believer to trust He will be near, even when he only has the promise of His presence.<\/p>\n
The phrase,\u00a0God\u2026has been with me<\/em>\u00a0from Genesis 31:5 was Jacob\u2019s wonderful testimony that God had fulfilled the promises of His presence. This is something a mature believer will declare. The mature believer can tell others how God has been with him, even in difficult and testing times.<\/p>\n
Finally, the phrase here in Genesis 48:21,\u00a0God will be with you\u00a0<\/strong>shows that God gives the mature believer the opportunity to encourage\u00a0others\u00a0with the promise of God\u2019s presence. It was as if Israel could say, \u201cJoseph, God has never forsaken me. God has been with me, and I can confidently say He\u00a0will be with you<\/strong>.\u201d (Guzik)<\/p>\n
Which of these four stages best describes your spiritual condition?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Then Israel said to Joseph, \u201cBehold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.\u201d\u00a0(Genesis 48:21) When\u00a0Israel\u00a0(Jacob) told Joseph,\u00a0Behold, I am dying, he understood a transition was underway. The torch Israel held for so long was now given to Joseph and his brothers. … Continue reading “59. i. Genesis 48:21”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195202"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195208,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195202\/revisions\/195208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}