(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Okay, so we're there in Genesis 49 and we're coming to now to the end, we've only got 50 chapters in Genesis. We're now at the second last chapter and it's a very, very interesting chapter. If you may remember last week, we were looking at Genesis 48 and how Jacob was blessing the sons of Joseph, you know, Ephraim and Manasseh and he was prophesying of future events to come. Well, this continues, you know, now Jacob calls for his other sons to come as he's given his final words as he's about to pass on and he continues prophesying of these future events. You know, this isn't just Jacob making things up, he's got the Spirit of God moving in him, the Spirit of God is helping him, you know, prophesy of future and these things are penned for us here toward the end of Genesis, you know. So it says in verse number one, and Jacob called unto his sons and said, gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. The title for the sermon this morning is The Last Days of Israel. The Last Days of Israel, just playing on a few words there, Israel, of course, is Jacob. Okay, so we are looking at the last days or the last moments of Israel here, he's about to pass on, but then when he says here that the things that shall be before him, before you in the last days, you know, when we think of last days, we tend to think of the end times. And I'm sure when somebody sees that title for the sermon, they'll think, oh, this must be about Israel in the last days, in the end times. But no, you know, when Jacob talked about the last days here, he's just talking about future events. And obviously for Jacob, he's here now thinking about when they're delivered out of Egypt, when they go into the land that God has promised them, you know, God has promised them all along this line from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob, all these wonderful blessings of the land and the inheritance to come of a physical nature pointing us to spiritual truths. But when he talked about the last days, he's referring to that specifically. Now as we go through this chapter, there will be some elements of what we call the end times. There will be some elements of Christ's return still coming in the future, but that's not the emphasis of this chapter. The emphasis of this chapter is what would happen to Israel when they go into the land of Canaan, into that promised land. So that's what we're focusing on today, the last days in terms of from Jacob's perspective. The latter days to come for his children and for the tribes that would come out of, come from them. But it says in verse number two, gather yourselves together and hear ye sons of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father, Reuben thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Now you may recall in the previous chapter that his blessing, the full blessing that would have fallen upon Reuben as the firstborn was given on to Joseph and by extension to his children. So Reuben here will not receive the full blessing that he should have received, okay? But he's still blessed. He's still given this future prophecy to come. It says here, Reuben thou art my firstborn, my might. So we see there, yes, he is the firstborn of Jacob, but then it says here, and the beginning of my strength. There's a few ways to think about this term here, the beginning of his strength. This could be because he's the firstborn of Jacob, you know, Jacob, this is at his youngest. This is at his peak. You know, this is at his full strength when he's able to accomplish great things. You know, he marries, you know, Leah and then Rachel and he has, you know, it's the beginning of its strength as, you know, at the peak of his life as it were. That could be referring to that. But I think what he's referring to here is the beginning of his strength in the sense that the beginning of his offspring, that Reuben will be the first of the other sons and his daughter, Dinah, to come. And he's looking at his lineage, he's looking at his genealogy, he's looking at his children as his strength. And Reuben there is the beginning of that strength, of that line to come. And I think, you know, again, when we look at the Bible and we look at how God and how the men of God would look at children, it is so different to the way the world looks at children today, of course. You know, your children should be your strength. You know, when you look at your children, you say, well, this is what makes me strong. This is the lineage that I'm going to pass down, the inheritance. You know, what I teach my kids will go on through their generation and they can then teach their children and I can have an effect, you know, generation after generation. And that's how we ought to look at our children, you know. And the more children you've been given, the more strength you've been given to have an impact in this world. And so we see that the excellency, he keeps saying here, speaking of Reuben, the excellency of dignity. You know, Reuben was someone that had dignity about him. You know, this is what, you know, what his father says about him. He had dignity and the excellency of power, okay. So even Reuben, even though he's the beginning of the strength of Jacob, but he's also a man of power. He's a man of dignity, right. He had dignity about him, right. So dignity means he's worthy of respect, okay. And this is how Reuben started in his life. He was someone that was respectful, but then he says these words in verse number four. Because even though he started this way, Reuben became unglued. He became unglued. He became unstable as we're reading in verse number four. And let this be a warning for us. You know, right now you're in church. Right now, you know, you're seeking to know the Lord. Right now you want to learn the word of God and make the necessary changes in your life. You know, you may be someone right now that has excellency of dignity. You might have the excellency of power as you were today, but look, if you do not become stable, if you're not stable-minded, if you waver as it is as a Christian, you could end up like Reuben. And so in Reuben, verse number four, it says here, unstable as water. And of course, that's when Reuben would commit fornication with the concubine Bilhah, you know, one of Jacob's concubines, one of his wives. And so it's because you've done this wicked act, because you did something so bad, you know, you're someone of strength, of dignity, you know, you should have excelled. But because of the sin you've committed, you will not excel. And Brevin, we've got to be careful about our sins. You know, all our sins cause us damage. But there are some sins like the sin of fornication, taking another man's wife, you know, adultery. These are things that will destroy you. These are things that will ruin your reputation. You know, so be careful about what you do. You may be doing very well right now, but a major sin like this can have consequences for the rest of your life. And here, Reuben would not be blessed in the full extent because of his sin. The Bible tells us in James chapter one, verse eight, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Reuben, just make a decision today that I'm just going to serve God for the rest of my life. I'm going to raise up my children to love the Lord. I'm going to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I'm going to seek to have a strong marriage. You make that decision today, and that's not going to change, you know. I'm going to be a godly influence, a good influence on my children until they leave the home. You know, and your mindset ought to be, no, I'm just going to serve the Lord for the rest of my life and not become unstable as water as Reuben became here. And here's the thing about Reuben. We don't really see any great exploits of the tribe of Reuben in the Bible. He's mentioned, the tribe is mentioned as, you know, we go through the tribes and the story of the history there, but really there's no great things that come into the tribe. We don't really know much about it. And then when the Assyrian captivity came and they were, you know, exiled from the land, that's it. That's the end of Reuben. We really don't know anything else about him. There's no real, you know, great figure of the Bible that comes from that tribe, you know. So it's just like he said, you know, that had something going for them. They were, you know, he was someone of dignity, but his mistakes had lasting effects down in his lineage. Look at verse number five now. Simeon, so Simeon is a second elder, sent Levi, a brethren, instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. So here, you know, Jacob recognizes there's a cruel nature about you. You know, there's something bad about you. Then he says here, and of course we know that is when Shechem wanted to marry the sister Dinah. Remember that story? They committed fornication and Shechem, you know, at least tried to fix things to some extent by marrying Dinah, but the brothers were so angry, Simeon and Levi, so angered by this, they went and murdered him. They went and killed Shechem. Then they also took out their wrath and their anger on the city, on all the men of that city and killed them all, even though they were innocent. They had nothing to do with that situation. You know, they were, you know, they let their anger, you know, basically destroy their reputation. And this is what Jacob says about his son, Simeon and Levi. He says in verse number six, oh my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united. Jacob says, look, I want nothing to do with the anger and the wrath of Simeon and Levi. What they did was wrong. And the Bible, you know, later on, when Moses gets the commandments, you know, there's instruction that if a man were to commit fornication with a woman, that he should seek to marry her. So what Shechem was doing was actually something that should have been done if they had committed a sin such as fornication. And so Shechem was at least, you know, even an unsaved man, I suppose, you know, someone that did not have the God of Abraham, at least he sought to do something right. But the children of Jacob did such wickedness. And Jacob says, look, I don't want anything to do with their anger, their wrath. I mean, that's not righteous at all. And that reminds me of Proverbs 22, 24, which says, make no friendship with an angry man. And with a furious man, thou shall not go, lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. And brethren, you know, we need to be careful with the people that we bond with, that we make close friendships with. You know, if you make friendship with an angry man, now we all get angry, obviously, this is a man who's, you know, out of control. You know, he's known for his anger, he's known for his rage, that's going to cause an effect on you. You know, the things he gets angry about, you're going to get angry about, whether it's righteous or not righteous, you know, you're going to be driven and be influenced by that person. And of course, this is a lesson about friendships, you know, being careful about the friends we make. People make friends with an angry man, even Jacob, the father of these two sons, what had nothing to do with their anger, with their wrath. And he's, you know, just saying, look, my soul have no part in what they did there. It keeps going here. It says, in verse number six, for in their anger, they slew a man, and in their self-will, they dig down a wall. So this was self-will. This wasn't right. This was something that came out of their hearts, the wickedness of their hearts that they did such things. Verse number seven, verse number seven, it says here, let me just, let me just pause for a minute. Oh yeah, so we continue about Simeon and Levi here. It says, cursed be their anger, for it was fierce and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. And this is exactly what happened with these two tribes. Well, let's start with Levi. Obviously, we have the tribe of, you know, the Levites coming out of that. Now the Levites inherit any land. No, they didn't inherit any land, right? They became, you know, certain families became the priests. You know, the people of this tribe would be the ones that would service the temple and all the work that would go toward, you know, serving the Lord through the tabernacle and the temple, but they never inherited any land. And where they lived were just on the land of other tribes of the people of Israel. And so this came to pass for the Levites that they would be scattered, you know, throughout Israel because they didn't have their own land. But this also occurred with Simeon. Please keep your finger there and go to Joshua chapter 19. Let me show you this. Joshua chapter 19, verse 1, Joshua chapter 19, verse 1. Because I don't know how well you know the story, but after, you know, the Israelites come into the land of Canaan, they start dividing the land. They start dividing the inheritance for the different tribes. And certain tribes, you know, got their portion of land, but then they started to run out of land. Okay. And they started to, what they did, they started to cast lots. Just random chance. Okay. This tribe, let's cast lots. I don't know exactly how they did it. They cast lots, and if their lots fell on certain things, then they would take that land. In other words, you know, for the Israelites at this time, it seemed like just a matter of chance. You know, what would happen to different people. And so we see this lot being cast for Simeon in Joshua chapter 19, verse 1. Look at Joshua chapter 19, verse 1. It says, and the second lot came forth to Simeon, right? So this is now, they're casting these lots. Even for the tribe of the children of Simeon, according to their families, for their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah. So the land that Judah got to live on was actually part of the inheritance that was given to the tribe of Judah. Okay. So not even Simeon received their own land. They would, as was prophesied by Jacob, you know, many hundreds of years ago, that they would be divided, you know, them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. You know, you know, even Simeon did not have sort of their own piece of land that belonged just to them. They would live within the borders of Judah. Okay. So it's interesting that, you know, it seems to be just happened chance, just casting lots, just rolling some dice to see what happens. And yet this was being prophesied by, you know, Jacob all the way back. So obviously Jacob here, you can see speaking by the spirit of God, you know, speaking the truth of what would happen. Verse back in Genesis 49, verse 8, please. And then we have here Judah. And of course we know Judah because the Lord Jesus Christ came from the tribe of Judah. But in verse number 8, it says, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, thy father's children shall bow down before thee. All right. So what I believe is being spoken about here is that the kingly line of Judah, starting with King David, would go through the line of starting, of course, from the line of Judah. And so, and of course, that would then lead on to Jesus Christ. But it says here about the line of Judah that thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies. So it'd be like a person just grabbing an enemy by the neck, you know, obviously he has all power, he has control over the enemies in that situation, right? He is in charge of that situation. And I couldn't help but think of King David, because King David was a man of war, he's known as, right? He had great victories in the Bible. Yes, King Saul before him also had great victories, but King David had the greater victories. You know, King David was the one that left the nation of Israel in its best place when he passed it on to Solomon. And through Solomon, Israel had great plenty, you know, had great blessings, great possessions, but it all started because of his father David. And I'll just read a portion of scripture to you. You don't need to turn there, but it's 1 Chronicles 18 verse 1. He gives us just a little summary of King David. And it says here in 1 Chronicles 18 one, now after this, it came to pass that David smelt the Philistines. We know the Philistines, big story there with, you know, Goliath and the Philistines being great enemies of Israel, that David smelt the Philistines and subdued them. He took Gath and her towns out of the land of the Philistines, and he smelt Moab. And the Moabites became David's servants and brought gifts. And David smote Hadar Reza king of Zobah unto Hamath, and he went to establish dominion by the river Euphrates. And David took from him a thousand chariots and seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand footmen. David also hogged all the chariot horses, but reserved of them in a hundred chariots. And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadar Reza king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. Then David put garrisons in Syria Damascus, and the Syrians became David's servants and brought gifts. So David's just defeating all these enemies, right? And they're so subdued they now come giving gifts to David, right? You know, just be merciful to us, you know, presenting these gifts or taxes, you know, as it were. Thus the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went. And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadar Reza and brought them to Jerusalem. And then in verse 12 it says, Moreover, Abishai the son of Zoriah slew of the Edomites in the Valley of Salts eighteen thousand. And he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's servants. Thus the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went. And then it says in verse 14, So David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice among all his people. Man, was David successful or what? Every battle the Lord was with him, guiding him, he defeated all these enemies, even people that went to help the enemies, David would defeat them. By the thousands, David was very successful. He was, as it were, someone just holding the neck of the enemies, you know, just having a firm grip, you know, on the enemies. And so we see in back in Genesis 49 that it says, Thy father's children shall bow down before thee, because obviously he became king, the one that was most highly exalted by office, you know, in the land of Israel. And you know, we can take this and of course apply this then to Jesus Christ, because we know the great victory that Christ would have when he would come in Revelation 19 on the white horse, and he would set up his kingdom. And I do believe the next verses, these are highly debated, you know, and very cryptic, very cryptic verses that we're about to read. But I do believe this points us to Jesus Christ. And in verse number nine, Genesis 49, verse nine, it says, Judah is a lion's whelp. Now if you don't know what a whelp is, it's like a puppy, okay, it's like a small animal, you know. And so it says here that Judah is like a lion's whelp, it's like a little baby lion, is what it's saying here, right? But it doesn't remain as this little lion. It says here, from the prey, my son, thou art gone up. So this little lion is growing up, you know, now he's going for prey. You know, little baby lions, they don't go and hunt, usually their mother goes and hunts and brings them food. But then they're taught how to hunt, they're taught how to go after prey. And so we see this little lion starting as a little child, but then it goes and hunts itself. And then it says here, from the prey, my son, thou art gone up, he stooped down, he couched as a lion. So to couch means that he just like, he's laying down, right? It's kind of like the word couch, what do you use on like, you know, you lay down on the couch. It's kind of that same idea. He couched down as a lion, but now he says, and as an old lion. So this lion has gotten even older, now he's an old lion, who shall rouse him up? You know, when you see a lion, you know, we don't have lions here, but if you see, you know, if you're walking and you saw a lion just sleeping, just laying down on the ground doing nothing, would you rouse him up? Would you go up to that lion and wake it up? Hey lion, wake up. No, you wouldn't, you'd be killed, right? The lion would just slash at you with his claws, take a bite at you, and there's your life, it's gone, right? The lion's powerful is what is being said here. You know, you don't dare go up against that lion, but that lion started as a little whelp, you know? And what I believe is being taught here is that when Christ came, he came in the manger, you know, innocent, you know, just a little child, you know, and, you know, he couldn't defend himself as a little child. Of course, you know, when Herod tried to kill the Lord Jesus Christ, they had to flee into Egypt, you know, but then as this lion grew, you know, Jesus Christ, the lion of Judah, many times referred to, you know, he became a powerful person, you know, and then here, what I believe is being referred to here when he's couched down as a lion, who will rouse him up is when he comes back, you know, and he's the king of the entire world. He sets up his kingdom in Jerusalem, he's reign over all the powers, like who's going to go up against Christ, you know, he's going to have the world at his hand. The Bible tells us in Psalm 2, 9, a prophecy of Christ, it says, thou shall break them with a rod of iron, whatever enemies, you know, the antichrist, the beast coming against Christ in his arms, you know, Christ just speaks, the word of God comes out of his mouth and destroys all the enemies, and he's going to rule with a rod of iron, and it says here, thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel, you know, it's like if you take a piece of pottery or a glass or something and you just smash it and it gets, you know, shattered, that's what Christ is going to do to the enemies that come up against him, you know, who's going to rouse up that old lion, you know, that's who Christ is, you know, I believe, and then it says here, you know, Psalm 2, verse 10, be wise now therefore all ye kings, be instructed ye judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling, and so, you know, I believe at that time in the millennial reign of Christ that, you know, you better not go up against Christ, you know, or he's just going to destroy, you know, whatever enemies may come up against him, you're better off just being submissive to Christ, you know, receive him as God, as the Lord, as your saviour and just serve him with fear and trembling. And then it says here, you know, speaking onto these things, you know, Christ will be the king of kings, of course, he is the king of kings, but then verse number 10, it says the sceptre, and a sceptre is, you know, like a rod, you know, and it's, you know, often given to kings or monarchs, people of the throne, it just refers to authority, power, you know, a high office, as it were, and it says here the sceptre shall not depart from Judah. And when God, you know, promised that David would be king, he would, you know, God would speak of an everlasting kingdom, that nobody would stop sitting on the throne of David, as it were. Now, we know this wasn't a literal understanding, yes, you know, many of the children of David would reign as the time would go on, but there is no king of Israel, you know, on the land of Israel, you know, like a physical king there today, but because we know that would be given ultimately to Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ is known as the son of David many times as we read the gospels, right? And that's just referring to him being the rightful king, and Jesus Christ, of course, is the eternal king, you know, ruling and reigning forever. And so it says in verse number 10, the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Now, this is probably where it's most debated. What is this about? Now, it says here, until Shiloh come. First of all, if you look up the word Shiloh in your Bible, besides this passage, it is always referring to a piece of land, okay? There was a piece of land in the land of Canaan that was known as Shiloh. And it talks about here, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Well, a few times in the Bible, the Israelites would gather together in Shiloh, okay? And so some people think because this is talking about, you know, future events to come, about the land of Canaan, this is just referring to that piece of land being a place where they would come and often, you know, they came there and they divided the land as it were from Shiloh and from Shechem, they were close from one another. And so some people say, well, that could be what it's referring to. My issue with that, though, is when it says here, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be, it's not, it doesn't seem like it's a piece of land if the land is being called him, okay? And so what I believe this is referring to is Shiloh being Jesus Christ, okay? And Shiloh means peace, by the way, you know, it's defined as peace. And of course, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, but also in Second Thessalonians, sorry, I don't have the passage here, but also, you know, the Bible refers to Christ being our peace, you know, the peace that brought us into reconciliation with God the Father. And so that's what I believe is being spoken of here is that Shiloh would be Jesus Christ. He would be ultimately the one which would, the scepter would not depart from him. And that, you know, he would always be that eternal lawgiver, as it were, you know, into eternity. And so that's what I believe is being spoken about here. And then also when it says here, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be, I believe this has to do with the end times. I believe this has to do with the rapture, actually, because in Second Thessalonians chapter two, verse one, it says, now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, okay. So the rapture, the resurrection is known also as the gathering together unto him. And what we saw here in Genesis 49, verse 10, is that when Shiloh comes, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be unto him. So I believe this is speaking about future events now, okay, for us in the future, where Christ would come back, and his people will be gathered together in the clouds to meet him in the air. And, of course, Jesus Christ is our peace, is the Prince of Peace. But it keeps going here in verse number 11, Genesis 49, verse 11. And again, these are very cryptic words, but this is what I believe it's referring to, okay. Let's read it first. It says, binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine. So this is referring to a donkey, okay, being binded to this vinyl, you know, and of course, grape vine is where we would get grapes, of course. And then it keeps going. He says here, he washed his garments in wine. So his garments have been washed in grape wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. So this is very figurative, and the Bible uses the word here, the blood of grapes. And I believe it mentions blood for a reason, okay. And then it says, his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. What is this about? I mean, it seems very cryptic. But keep your finger there and go to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, you know, I spoke to you just previously how this, you know, looks like to be about the rapture. But if we continue on in this, in Revelation chapter 19, we know this is the passage where Christ comes back, and as I already mentioned, defeats the enemies of the antichrist, defeats the enemies of the beast. And in Revelation 19, verse 11, it says it like this, Revelation 19, verse 11. It says, and I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true. So obviously, this is Christ coming from heaven. And in righteousness, he doth judge and make war. It says here, his eyes were as a flame of fire. Now the passage that we read in Genesis 49, it says his eyes shall be red with wine. So often when we think of fire, we do think of those colors like red, right? And so I think it points to the same thing, that when Christ comes back, he's going to have these eyes like fire, or like Genesis 49 refers to his eyes red with wine, right? I mean, what an image. And it says here, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but himself. And then it says here in verse number 13, and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. Now in Genesis 49, it said that he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes, okay? And so when we see Christ coming, it says his clothes is dipped in blood, okay? So he's wearing, I guess, red. And it's just, you know, it looks like, obviously, the blood, his blood that he shed for us in Calvary. Then he keeps going, and his name is called the word of God. And so what I believe we're seeing here, brethren, is just another image, another picture of Christ coming to rule and reign in the future to come. And you know, so it's very similar. And so if we go back to Genesis 49, and then we look at the donkey, why is the donkey mentioned here? If we take this to mean that his garments are washed in the blood of grapes, that would be, of course, his sacrifice on Calvary when he shed his blood. And of course, when he comes back to rule and reign on this earth, he's coming with his closure dipped in that same blood. And so the, you know, the analogy that's being used or the figurative language that's being used in Genesis 49 is like grapes, the blood of grapes on his clothing. And so when we read verse number 11 again, binding his fall unto the vine and his ashes coat unto the choice vine, well, we know when Christ came to die on Calvary, when he came to die on the cross, how did he come riding? What did he ride? Did he come riding on a white horse? He came on a donkey, right? He came on a donkey into Jerusalem. He knew his purpose this last time when he rode into Jerusalem was to die on the cross. And so what I believe he's being referred to is that, yeah, he's binding his donkey unto this vine, you know, that it's his ride on that donkey that will lead him to die on the cross for us, to shed his blood for us. So that's what I believe it's being referred to in that passage there in Genesis 49. Let's get going. Verse number 13, Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea and he shall be for an haven of ships and his border shall be unto Zion. This is interesting as well. Keep your finger there and go to Joshua 19. We did go to Joshua 19 before to look at the tribe of Simeon and the land that they would inherit. But look at Joshua 19, verse 10, and again, this is another lot. This is another chance, you know, where is Zebulun going to live? What land are they going to live on? What land are they going to possess? And in Joshua 19, verse 10, it says here, and the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their families. And the border of the inheritance was unto Sarod and their border went up toward the sea and Marilla and reached to Dabasheth and reached to the river that is before Jochnium. So isn't it interesting? Another chance lot, another just rolling of the dice. Let's see what Zebulun gets and what do they get? They get their border up toward the sea and what did Jacob say? That Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea. Joshua just prophesied of these amazing events. You know, even these random chances were known by God and prophesied of God. You know, sometimes we think of our lives and we think about just a random chance where we find ourselves, you know, why, you know, we may be working certain jobs, why we're living where we live, you know, why we started maybe the church here on the Sunshine Coast, you know, might look like random chance, but God knew about it. You know, God's hand was already involved directing our paths. You know, if you love God, you know, God will direct your paths. If you acknowledge God, he will direct your paths. Things in life might seem like chance events, might seem like random things to you. You know, you could have gone with option A or you could have gone with option B, but many times God has his hand directing you whatever choice you thought you may have had, you know, and so we see this amazing truth come to be as Jacob speaks these words. I'm not sure how much Jacob really, you know, is aware, but obviously he's speaking through the power of the Holy Ghost here and these things are penned for us in the word of God. Back to Genesis 49 verse 14. Genesis 49 verse 14. And when it comes to Issachar here or Issachar, this is probably the tribe that I had the hardest to sort of understand, but let's read it here. It says Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens and he saw that rest was good and the land that it was pleasant and bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant unto tribute. So it's saying here that Issachar, the tribe of Issachar would eventually be a servant unto tribute. They'd eventually have to pay sort of taxes to live where they are. Now I did extensive study going just through the Bible looking at this tribe, preparing for this sermon. I just couldn't find anything. Now maybe I've missed it. If you guys have some ideas where, you know, this tribe were paying taxes. I mean, obviously it happened, it happened, but it may not necessarily be recorded for us in the word of God when this happened. But if you've got some ideas for this, please let me know what that is. So I don't really know exactly what this refers to, but I thought we could take a lesson from this. It says, look at verse number 14 again, Issachar is a strong ass. So it's being described as a donkey, like a strong donkey, right? It's a donkey that can carry its own burdens. It can be put to work, but it says here that instead of doing the work, it's couching down or it's laying down between two burdens, okay? So there are burdens this ass can do. There's work that it can do, but instead of doing the work, it's just laying down between. It sounds like they're a bit lazy, okay? It sounds like they have a lot going for them. They can be very productive, they can do great works, but they're just laying down doing nothing and the burden just sits there, okay? That seems to be what's happened. And then it says here in verse number 15, and he saw that rest was good. You know, he saw that rest, so he's just rather rest than work, right? And the land that it was pleasant, so he's just enjoying the land, he's just enjoying where they are. But then what happens to it, about his shoulder to bear, so eventually he would bear and became his servant unto tribute, okay? So eventually they are forced to work, but it's kind of like to pay taxes, all right? So I'm thinking, well, what's this about? And I thought of this proverb, Proverbs 12, 24, Proverbs 12, 24, which says, the hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute, okay? Let me read that again. The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute. So I think this is what happened to this tribe, right? They should have worked hard, and I think the lesson here is Brethren, you know, we should work hard, you know, be productive, don't be lazy. I know we live on the Sunshine Coast, I know it's beautiful, I know we just love to relax and just enjoy this piece of land, but really we should be productive for the Lord. We should be productive, you know, do the works that, you know, the ability that God has given us to do, you know, put it to work so we can be someone that bear rules, we can have authority, we can have a say in how things go, we can be an influence on other people. Otherwise, if you're lazy, you'll be put on the tribute, you know, you'll be working for other people, you'll be paying, you know, taxes for other people as it were. So let it be a lesson. Even though I don't know exactly what happened to this tribe, and what events took place, at least we can see some spiritual truth that we can apply to ourselves. Genesis 49 verse 16, next tribe, Dan. It says here, Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Now, I believe this is referring to Samson, because when we think about all the judges that we read about in the book of Judges, who's the most famous by far? Definitely Samson. I mean, we have many chapters of the life of Samson, and Samson came from the tribe of Dan, okay? So what I believe here, and I'll tell you why as well when we look at verse number 17. So I do believe this is referring to the most famous judge, Samson. And then in verse number 17, I do believe this is a cryptic prophecy of what would happen to Samson. It says, Dan shall be a serpent by the way. So just an adder in the path. So this little reptile, you know, Slytherin, and then it says here, that bite of the horse heals so that his rider shall fall backward. Now what I believe this is referring to is that this horse were the Philistines. Now remember the Philistines were at war with Israel, Samson was risen up to defeat the Philistines, and eventually he would. Eventually he would. But it's referring to here like a serpent that takes down a horse, and that the horse rears up when he gets bitten, and the rider falls backward, and yeah, the Philistines were destroyed. You know, God did use Samson, even though he made a few mistakes in his life, God did use Samson in a powerful way to judge his people, but also to bring judgment upon the Philistines at that day. And of course, when Samson had his ultimate victory, he was at his weakest state. You know, you could maybe refer to him, you know, he was blinded, you know, his hair had been cut, he had lost the power in his might. And I guess if you compare a horse with a serpent, you know, the serpent would look very weak in comparison to what, you know, the strength of a horse. But yet that serpent was able to take down that horse and the rider. And so I believe this is a very cryptic prophecy of Samson taking down the Philistines. And then verse number 18, Jacob says these words, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. Just two thoughts there. Number one, Jacob is dying. He just may be pausing for a moment and saying, Lord, can you help me? Like I'm near the end of my death, but he needs to keep finishing with his last words. That could be the salvation that he's speaking about here, or it could be still in reference to Samson, that Samson would bring salvation as it were by God for the Israelites against the Philistines. It could be that. Anyway, verse number 19, Gad, a troop shall overcome him, and he shall overcome, but he shall overcome at the last. So very quickly, Gad would be one of these tribes that instead of taking land in Canaan, they would take land on the other side of Jordan. Remember that story, how certain tribes would take some land, they were happy with the land, they didn't want to cross Jordan and take possession of Canaan, and so they took part of the land on the other side of Jordan. And it says here, a troop shall overcome him, so they would be taken over by enemies. And this played out in their history, that they would be an easy target for people that would want to come and cause harm to Israel, but then it says, but he shall overcome him at the last. So they would eventually have victory over those enemies that would try to come and overtake. You can read stories about them in the Bible. Let's keep going. Verse number 20, and out of Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. And again, there's not much here to go by, but I believe what they're saying is that the land that Asher would inherit would be like the best in the land of Canaan, right? That their land of inheritance would be very productive, very fruitful. And we know all of the land of Canaan was very fruitful and very productive, but it seemed like Asher would take some of the best land in that place. Verse number 21 says here, Naphtali, or Naphtali, is a hind let loose. He giveth goodly words, and what do you think that's about? I mean, that's all we have for them, right? I mean, some of these stuff are very, very cryptic, right? So it says here that Naphtali is a hind. Do you guys know what a hind is? Who knows what a hind is? Yes? A deer. Yeah, but it's... It's like a baby deer? It's not a baby deer. It's a female deer. It's like this, you know, what is that? What's that song? A deer, a female deer, but a hind is like a doe, right? So a hind, it's referring to Naphtali as a female deer, and then it says he giveth goodly words. And what I believe this is about is the prophetess, Deborah, okay? Because she was from the tribe of Naphtali, all right? And of course, you know, referring to Naphtali as this female deer, and, you know, he giveth goodly words, even though, you know, Deborah was not a he, but I think it's just referring to that tribe giving goodly words through Deborah. And I'll just read to you from Judges 5, you can turn there if you want, Judges 5, verse 1. We have the story of Barak. Remember, Barak was meant to go and fight a war, but he was too scared and needed Deborah to be with him. All right, but I won't go into that story right now. But in Judges 5, verse 1, after they have victory, Deborah sings this song, you know, and it's beautiful words. You can read Judges 5 in your own time, some really great words in the Bible from Deborah, the prophetess, but it says in verse number 1, then saying Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoham, on that day saying, praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offer themselves, hear, O ye kings, give ear, O ye princess, I, even I, will sing unto the Lord, I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. So I think these are the goodly words. I think this praise the Lord, you know, on behalf of all Israel is being said, you know, being sung by Deborah. I believe this is what's been referred to in Genesis 49, verse 21. You know, so I think it's wise when we get these cryptic prophecies and stuff, we go and look in the Bible and say, well, what could that be about, you know, and of course, I can't be completely dogmatic, you know, if you have some other thoughts what this could be, share with me. I just don't think you can find a better, you know, demonstration of this cryptic prophecy than Deborah being like that hind, that female deer. Anyway, back in Genesis 49, verse 22, Genesis 49, verse 22, speaking of Joseph, and of course we spent the last few chapters preaching through Joseph. It says Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. So the word bough just means like a branch, okay, so it'd be like a fruitful branch. And what I think is being spoken of here is, you know, have you ever seen, you know, vines that just keep growing? You know, our backyard neighbor had a, what fruit was it growing in the backyard? Passion fruit, yeah, he had a passion fruit, and the vine started to go over into our yard, right? And he said, oh, you want me to get rid of it? But we said, no, you know, we decided to eat the passion fruit, so we're growing off that vine. But it just kept growing, kept growing. It's like even the wall was not stopping it, it just climbed over the wall and just keep growing, right? Very productive, very efficient, you know, vine. And I think that's what's being spoken of about Joseph here, is that he's like this fruitful bough, this branch, it just keeps growing. And even when he confronts a well, it just goes over the wall of the well and just keeps growing down. Like, you know, and I think this is just speaking about Joseph, the kind of man he was, you know, he had a lot of obstacles in his life, he had a lot of difficulties, but he was able to overcome all those difficulties, able to overcome all those barriers. So he was very productive, very efficient man by the power of God, so I believe that's why Jacob describes Joseph like this. And then in verse number 23, it says, the archers have surely grieved him and shot at him and hated him. So in the Bible, who hated Joseph? The brothers. Remember, his brothers hated him. We also have the story of Potiphar's wife who, you know, when he didn't want to sleep with her, she hated him, you know, made a false accusation about him, and was thrown into prison. So you know, he notices, of course, Joseph has suffered, you know, he's been shot at, you know, and people hated him. But look at verse number 24. But his bow abode in strength, and he was able to overcome those difficulties, overcome those challenges. Why? It says here, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. So look, Joseph was able to overcome all these enemies, because God was able to do that. God was able to make his hands strong. And brethren, when you're going through difficulties, when you're going through challenges, just put it in your mind and say, well, this is going to make me strong. If I can overcome this difficulty, if I can have the strength of God, I can be stronger than I've ever been. That's how strong Joseph was, no matter how much he was shot at, no matter how much people hated him, he came out stronger than before, because he had God on his side, okay. And it's quite interesting how, you know, God is described here at the end of verse number 24. It says, by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, from thence or from God is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. So it's not saying Joseph is the shepherd, the son of Israel, it's saying from God will come the shepherd, the stone of Israel. So the one that led Joseph into victory, that helped him in difficulties, was the shepherd, was the stone of Israel. And of course, Jesus Christ, again, another picture of Christ, surely we can see that, right? Christ is referred to as the good shepherd, the great shepherd, the chief shepherd in the Bible. And the stone of Israel, Christ again, referred to as the rock many times, right? His words are like a rock as well. And we can build our foundations on the Word of God. You know, Psalm 18, verse one says, I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I'm sure Joseph felt this way about God, about Jesus Christ being his rock, his shepherd, that guided him in his difficulties. Verse number 25, Genesis 49, 25, even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee? And by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that life under. Let's stop there for a moment. He's saying, look, you're going to be blessed by God. You say, man, wow, he's going to be so blessed, he's going to have all this money, surely he's going to be rich and powerful. And yes, he was, he got all those things. But notice the blessings that we're about to read. Blessings of the breast and blessings of the womb. Again, how does God see children? How do faithful men of God see children? As a blessing. You know, if you can have children, the blessing of the womb, the blessings of breastfeeding, raising your children. These are blessings of God, and our country aborts them. Our nation kills little babies in the womb of their mothers. That just shows you how ungodly Australia has become, how ungodly they are. They don't even value the things that God values. God wants to bless us with children. What a blessing. Verse number 26, he says, the blessings of thy father. So the father of Joseph is Jacob, so he's referring to himself in the third person here. But it says here, the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. Of course, Joseph being separate from his brethren when he was sold into Egypt. But what does Jacob say about himself? He says, look, I've been more blessed. What did it say there in verse number 26? The blessings of thy father have prevailed. I've had more blessings than the blessings of my progenitors, speaking about his ancestors. He says, I've been blessed by God more than Abraham, more than Isaac. How was he blessed more? He had 12 sons and one daughter. He says, look, I had so many kids, even Joseph, because this is the blessing. I've been blessed more than even Isaac. How many children did Isaac have? Two, right? The twins. And then Abraham, he only had that one son with his son of the promise. And of course, he had Ishmael as well. He says, look, I've had so much more, 12 sons and he refers to that being greatly blessed, more so than his fathers before him. And of course, speaking then directly to Joseph, and Joseph was the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, and these are two tribes that will become great tribes. A large amount of people, it would be very powerful, great tribes in the land of Israel. So this blessing of childbearing, of productivity will be passed down onto this tribe as well. And it's just amazing how the Bible measures blessings by the number of children you have. It's so contrary, again, to this world. Verse number 27, Benjamin shall raven as a wolf, in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. So another good blessing here for Benjamin, the youngest son, it says here that he'll be victorious. And I think the only thought that I can have here is King Saul. King Saul, the first king of Israel, he was from the tribe of Benjamin. And again, I spoke about how great victories David had, but King Saul also had very great victories as well. And so what I believe here, this reference is just like, either King Saul would have this victory over the enemies, great victories, or even the story of Esther. Mordecai and Esther, they were from the tribe of Benjamin. And we know they also had a great victory against Haman, the great enemy that would try to destroy them and all the Jews. And so it could be either one, it could be both. That could be referred to there in that cryptic prophecy. Let's keep reading, verse number 28. All these are the 12 tribes of Israel. And this is it that their fathers spake unto them, and blessed them. Everyone according to his blessing, he blessed them. And he charged them and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephraim, the Hittite. And in the cave that is in the field of Mechpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephraim the Hittite for possession of a burying place. And they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife. And there I buried Leah. I'll stop there for a moment because as we've been going through the books of Genesis, I've been saying to you how when people die, you know, the men of God are passing on, quite often the Bible speak about them being gathered unto their people, my people, gathered unto my people. And you see how that's a picture of them going to heaven, you know, going to heaven, being with their ancestors. And I still believe, of course, I still believe that's true. But I've heard it said, and this is because of verse number 29. Let's read it again. I've heard it said that being gathered unto their people, I've heard this preached before, is the fact that he will be buried with his ancestors. And that's what we just read, right? It says there, and he charged them and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people. And then it says here, bury me with my fathers. And we read how they've all been buried there in that same place. And they've said, well, see, being being gathered unto your people means you're being buried in the same area as your forefathers. I can sort of see that from that verse. But if we keep reading, we'll see that's not quite accurate. That's not true. Let's keep going there because it says in verse number 32, the purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. Now look at this, and when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed. So he's finished blessing all his sons. He knows he's about to die. So he gets back into bed and yielded up the ghost. So he gave up the ghost. It's quite interesting because we know that Christ, when he died, he also gave up the ghost. And look, I've heard it said, obviously most people will just die and they have no thought about that. People can die by accident and stuff like that. But I've heard it said that people that are very close to death, let's say they might be struggling with a terminal issue and they know they're close to death, it's like they just know they're about to pass on. And they're often asked to see their loved ones if they can, one final time. It seems like here, Jacob just knows he's about to die. And even to the point where he has some control over yielding up the ghost. It's like some people are just on their final legs and they're just fighting. If I can just tell you very quickly, you guys were praying for my next door neighbor that we had down in Sydney, Donna. She was terminally ill with cancer. And we eventually gave her the gospel. She got saved. But she could have passed on at any point. And I truly believe, Kristina and I would see her, she looked bad. And it's like she could die at any moment. She had some last business to deal with, some last documents for her children, legal issues. And it seemed like the only thing that was keeping her alive was just making sure these final documents were completed for the will and all those kinds of things, honestly. That's part of it. But also the opportunity that God gave us to give her the gospel, just those final moments. It seems like when she got that sorted, then she just passed on. And you often see this happen. It's like when they come into the end of their life, they're able to almost time when the death is going to be. But notice this, he goes into bed, he yields up the ghost and was gathered unto his people. So while he's there, dying, he's gathered unto his people. So his body wasn't even taken to be buried, it had to be taken far away to be buried. That didn't even take place yet. He's on the bed, dying, gives up the ghost and the Bible says he was gathered unto his people. Meaning right there and then, he was with his people. So this is a reference to dying and brethren, when you pass on in this life, you're going to be gathered unto your people. You're going to be gathered unto your loved ones that have gone before, those that are saved, those that are your forefathers in the faith, you're going to be gathered unto Jacob and Abraham and Isaac and you're going to see Jesus there and you're going to see all the great prophets there, all the great men of God when you pass on and you're going to be with your people. So I hope that was interesting chapter for you to go through. It was quite challenging to prepare because a lot of these little cryptic prophecies and you've got to find it in the Bible, where does this play out and I hope you'll be able to take something out of that. Let's pray.