Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff

The novelist, Somerset Maugham, said, “Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it.” We all wish we could follow such advice. Death is a subject we would rather not think about.

In light of that, it may seem odd that Winston Churchill planned his own funeral. It included many of the great hymns of the church and used the eloquent Anglican liturgy. At his direction, a bugler, positioned high in the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, played “Taps,” the universal signal that day is done.

But then came the most dramatic turn. As Churchill had instructed, as soon as “Taps” was finished, another bugler, placed on the other side of the great dome, played “Reveille”: “It’s time to get up, it’s time to get up, it’s time to get up in the morning.”

I don’t know if Churchill was a true believer in Jesus Christ, but by following “Taps” with “Reveille,” he seemed to be testifying that death is not the final note in history. There will be that “great gittin’ up morning,” when the dead in Christ shall rise. When a loved one dies, there is the sorrow and grief of loss, but for the believer, there is also the hope of eternal life that overcomes the grief.

Genesis 49:29-50:14 records the death of Jacob. More space is given to his death than to any other person in Genesis, and probably to any other person in the Bible, except for Jesus Christ. Moses’ reason for this lengthy treatment seems to be to renew for his readers the covenant promises of God concerning the Promised Land. Although Jacob only possessed a small burial plot in Canaan, he wanted to be buried there rather than to stay in Egypt, because God had promised Canaan to Abraham and his descendents. When Jacob died, his son Joseph grieved over his father, but also he had hope and faith in God’s promises, pictured here in Jacob’s burial in Canaan. From this account of Jacob’s death and funeral, we can learn how we, as believers, can face the death of a loved one.

Though we grieve at the death of a loved one, we have hope by faith in God’s promises.

Some Christians have the mistaken notion that it is not spiritual to grieve at the death of a loved one. They reason that Christ has defeated death, that the loved one is in heaven, and so we should be joyful. I was consoling a weeping young widow at her husband’s funeral when another pastor came up smiling and said, “Well, praise the Lord! Scott’s in glory!” In my opinion, that was an insensitive and unbiblical denial of our humanity. Our text shows that

1. It is proper to grieve at the death of a loved one.

Joseph was a godly man. His father’s death was not unexpected. Yet when Jacob died, Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept (50:1). Then he observed 70 days of mourning (50:3), plus seven more days after the funeral procession arrived at the borders of Canaan. There is no hint in the text that Joseph was unspiritual or excessive in his grief.

Although it is possible to grieve excessively, the Bible teaches that normal grief is a proper human emotion and that tears are the normal response in grief. Jesus Christ entered into Mary and Martha’s grief by weeping at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:33, 35). In fact, God the Holy Spirit is capable of grief, as seen in the admonition, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Eph 4:30). One of the most difficult commandments God has given anybody was when He told the prophet Ezekiel that He was going to take his wife and, as a sign to the disobedient nation, he was not allowed to mourn outwardly or weep for her (Ezek. 24:16-17). But that was clearly an exception. Grief is normal and proper when we lose loved ones in death. You’re not more spiritual if you don’t grieve.

A. We grieve because death is our enemy.

Death is not a natural part of life, as some would have us believe. Death is our enemy! Death entered the human race as God’s curse against our sin. As we saw in our study of Genesis 5, the history of the human race has been marked by the grim notice, he lived so many years, “and he died; ... and he died; etc.” As the infidel playwright, George Bernard Shaw, pungently noted, “The statistics on death are quite impressive; one out of one people die.”

That death is a curse may be hinted at in the name “Atad” (50:10): In Hebrew it means “thorn bush.” It is a flashback to chapter 3, where God declared that as a result of man’s sin, the earth would yield thorns. Here, as the funeral procession comes to this threshing floor of the thorn bush, it is a reminder of the curse of death stemming from man’s sin.

You may be wondering, “But didn’t Christ conquer death through his resurrection? Doesn’t the Bible say that He abolished death (2 Tim. 1:10)? Doesn’t death usher us into the presence of Christ? Then how can you say that death is still our enemy?”

Yes, Christ conquered death, but that triumph will not be fully realized until He returns to give us resurrection bodies like His own. Yes, He abolished death, in the sense of breaking its ultimate victory over believers. But the Bible never teaches that He abolished death in the sense of making it nonexistent, as the Christian Science cult teaches. It was not until the Apostle John saw the new heavens and new earth that he stated, “and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain” (Rev. 21:1, 4). Until then, death is a painful reminder of God’s curse upon our sin. We grieve because death is our enemy.

With regard to death ushering us into the presence of Christ, it’s true: “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). That’s wonderful for the person who has died in the Lord. But that doesn’t relieve all the pain for those who are left behind.

B. We grieve because death separates us from loved ones.

Joseph knew that he would never be able to talk with his father again in this life. Joseph lived for another 54 years. I’m sure that there were many times during those years that he longed to talk with his dad about something, but he wasn’t there. It’s that sense of loneliness, of missing the departed person, that makes grief linger, often for years. We have to work through our grief to the point where we establish a new “normal,” without the deceased person in our lives. That process takes time.

In his booklet, “Grief” (Christian Medical Society, pp. 11-16), Dr. Haddon Robinson states that there are three stages of grief through which we normally must pass. First is the crisis stage, which lasts up through the funeral. During this stage, a person at first feels shock and then numbness. Crying is a healthy sign of emotional release during this time. To help a person during these difficult hours, your presence is the most important thing. Sit with the person, listen a lot, and say very little. Let the person tell you the details of what happened. You can gently try to instill hope, but this isn’t the time to give out familiar Bible verses with the implication, “If you’d just trust God, you wouldn’t feel this way.”

A funeral or memorial service is a helpful part of the grieving process for family and friends. It helps to give a sense of closure to the person’s death. While we talk about paying our respects to the deceased person, funerals are for the living, not for the dead. This huge funeral procession up to Canaan, with all of Pharaoh’s court officials, wasn’t for Jacob; it was for Joseph and his brothers. The Egyptians were showing their respect for Joseph by entering into his grief. The 70 days of mourning were just two short of the time of mourning for a Pharaoh, which shows how highly Joseph was regarded.

Joseph had his father embalmed in accordance with the Egyptian custom, partly so that he could transport his body to Canaan, as Jacob had made him swear. (So Joseph’s daddy became a mummy.) The Bible does not prescribe a method of burial, although the most common practice was to place the corpse in a cave or hewn out tomb. Some Bible teachers argue that cremation dishonors the body, but it seems to me that it is permissible if a family decides for it. When Christ returns, He can resurrect a cremated body just as easily as a decomposed, buried body.

The main consideration should be the way a family will feel about it later. While putting flowers on a grave seems pointless to me, I think it can be helpful for a grieving person to go to the gravesite as a place of remembrance and mourning. You can’t do that if the ashes are scattered at sea. Visiting the gravesite of godly family members can help us to recall their example and spur us on to follow in their way of life.

Regarding the cost of the funeral, I urge moderation. For a family member of someone of Joseph’s rank, it was obviously a huge affair. That’s not improper. A family should do what they feel proper within their means as stewards of the Lord’s resources. They should think about what they want the funeral to say to friends and relatives. I’m bothered when people spend needless thousands of dollars for caskets and flowers. Often the motive for such extravagance is either pride or guilt. Why not give testimony to the person’s values by having a simple service with a single bouquet and by giving a large donation to a Christian work? There is freedom in the Lord on these matters, but a family should think it through in light of the biblical principles of stewardship and witness.

The second stage of grieving is the crucible stage. This lasts 12 weeks or more and is most intense during the first six weeks. The extended family and friends have left to return to their routines and the grieving one is left alone. During this time, he must work through the fact that the dead person will not be a part of his life again. He has to deal with emotional ties from the past and with expectations for the future which were bound up with the one who died. Edna St. Vincent Millay captures the feelings of grief during this phase in her poem “Lament” (quoted in Robinson, p. 14):

Life must go on,
And the dead be forgotten.
Life must go on,
Though good men die.

Anne, eat your breakfast;
Dan, take your medicine;
Life must go on,
I forget just why.

It’s not uncommon for a person to have periodic bouts of depression and crying for two or three years after an “expected” death, let alone after a sudden, unexpected loss. As a friend, being there and listening is again the most helpful thing you can do. You won’t open wounds to mention the person who has died. The grieving person probably feels a need to talk about him.

The final stage is the construction stage, when the grieving person creates new patterns for living that are not tied to the past. This is implied in verse 14, which reports that Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt, where they had left their children and jobs (50:8). At this stage, the person accepts reality and is ready to move on with what God has given him to do with his life.

So, as Christians, it is proper to grieve at the death of a loved one. But as Paul says, we do not grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13).

2. Though we grieve, we have hope by faith in God’s promises.

Jacob mentions that he is about “to be gathered to his people” (49:29; see also verse 33). While some argue that this phrase is just a Hebrew euphemism for death or for burial in the ancestral burial plot, I think it implies more. Jacob wasn’t reunited with his ancestors when his body was carried into the cave of Machpelah, where their bodies lay. His soul was gathered to the souls of his ancestors in heaven the moment he expired. So the expression is an early statement of the hope of life after death.

Two thoughts about our hope:

A. We must exercise hope in God’s promises by faith.

The author of Hebrews makes the point that the greats of the faith died without receiving the promises (Heb. 11:39). God had promised Jacob the land of Canaan, but here he was, dying in Egypt, with no claim on Canaan except a burial plot. God had promised to make him a great nation, but he was only a company of 70 strong when he entered Egypt.

But by faith, he blessed his sons and predicted their future as the 12 tribes of the nation Israel. By faith he made Joseph promise to take his body back to Canaan. He could have been buried in the finest of Egyptian tombs, but he chose to make a statement in his death about his resolute trust in what God had promised. So he said, “Bury me in the cave ... in the land of Canaan” (49:30). Jacob’s faith gave him hope in God’s promises, hope that sustained him as he faced death.

How do we know that our hope in God’s promise of eternal life is not just wishful thinking? What if we die and there is nothing else? How do we know that our loved ones who have died in Christ are in heaven, and that we will be with them someday?

The Apostle Paul deals with all these questions. In 1 Corinthians 15 he argues that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the basis for our future resurrection. He shows that Christ’s resurrection has solid evidence supporting it and argues that if Christ hasn’t been raised, then our faith is worthless. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul argues that the resurrection of Christ is the basis for our hope of being reunited with our loved ones who have died in Christ.

But even though we have that solid evidence, we must exercise faith in God’s promises when we are faced with death, simply because we haven’t gone beyond the grave and returned. But Jesus has, and we can take Him at His word. When we do, He gives us genuine hope in the face of our greatest enemy.

B. We must extend our hope to those who are without God and have no hope.

Both the Canaanites (50:11) and the Egyptians observed Joseph during his grief. No doubt the Egyptians wondered why Jacob wanted to be buried in some cave in Canaan, when he could have had a beautiful tomb in Egypt. James Boice (Genesis [Zondervan, 2:322]) observes, “If Joseph had not expressed grief over the death of his beloved father, the Egyptians would have concluded merely that he had not cared for him, that perhaps he was even glad to have the old man out of the way. If he had expressed nothing but grief, the Egyptians may have concluded that the hope of an afterlife by these Semitic people was no better than their own dark hopes and may even have been inferior to theirs.” I agree with Boice as he goes on to argue that Joseph undoubtedly used the occasion of the funeral and the trip back to Canaan to tell his Egyptian friends about his hope in the living God.

The time of death and funerals can be a great opportunity for witness to those who otherwise put death and eternity out of their minds. We should always be sensitive, but also we must be bold, in telling others of the hope of the gospel at such times.

The late Joseph Bayly was a godly man who knew grief through the death of three of his children, but who also knew the hope that is in Christ. The day after he and his wife buried their five-year-old boy, who died of leukemia, Bayly went to thank the doctor who had been so kind to them through their ordeal. As he sat in the waiting room, the receptionist beckoned to him and whispered that a little boy playing in the waiting room had the same problem as his son had.

Bayly sat down next to the boy’s mother. They were far enough away from the boy so they could talk. “It’s hard bringing him in here every two weeks for these tests, isn’t it.” Bayly didn’t ask a question; he stated a fact.

“Hard?” She was silent for a moment. “I die every time. And now he’s beginning to sense that something’s wrong ...” Her voice trailed off.

“It’s good to know, isn’t it,” Bayly spoke slowly, choosing his words with unusual care, “that even though the medical outlook is hopeless, we can have hope for our children in such a situation. We can be sure that after our child dies, he’ll be completely removed from sickness and suffering and everything like that, and be completely well and happy.”

“If I could only believe that,” the woman replied. “But I don’t. When he dies, I’ll just have to cover him up with dirt and forget I ever had him.” She turned back to watching her little boy push a toy auto on the floor.

“I’m glad I don’t feel that way.” Bayly didn’t want to say it, but he felt compelled.

“Why?” This time the woman didn’t turn toward Bayly, but kept watching her child.

“Because we covered our little boy up with dirt yesterday afternoon. I’m in here to thank the doctor for his kindness today.”

“You look like a rational person.” (Bayly was glad she didn’t say, “I’m sorry.”) She was looking straight at him now. “How can you possibly believe that the death of a man, or a little boy, is any different from the death of an animal?” (The Last Thing We Talk About [David C. Cook Publishing], pp. 12-13.) Although Bayly ends the story there, I’m sure that he went on to tell her the basis for his hope in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Years ago I answered the phone and someone said, “Father Cole?” I said, “I am a father, but I’m probably not the guy you’re looking for.” He wanted the Catholic priest, but when he found out I was an official minister, that was good enough, so he asked me to conduct the funeral for his father. A son, a daughter, and her husband came in to see me before the funeral. After we had talked a while, I said, “At a time like this, you probably would like to know what the Bible says about what happens after we die. As I talked about the gospel, they got upset and said, “Are you saying our dad is not in heaven?” I had not said anything about their father. I replied, “I didn’t know your father, and I know nothing of what took place between him and God. I was simply telling you, not what I think, but what the Bible says, about how a person can go to heaven. I thought that you would want to know that important information.”

That’s the most important thing I can share with you today. The most crucial question you can settle is, “Am I ready to die?” Many people have a false hope for heaven. They think that God is loving and good, so He won’t judge sin or send anybody, except the very worst of sinners, to hell. They assume that if you’ve lived a good life, that’s going to be good enough when they stand before God.

An Indiana cemetery has a tombstone, over 100 years old, which bears the words, “Pause, Stranger, when you pass me by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you will be, so prepare for death and follow me.”

Some unknown passerby scratched this reply: “To follow you, I’m not content, until I know which way you went.”

Jesus plainly taught that there are two ways to go. He spoke often of both heaven and hell. The Bible says, “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). It also promises that if you will repent of your sin and trust in Jesus as your Savior, you will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). That’s the only solid hope in the face of death!

Discussion Questions

1. What are some ways Christians communicate the mistaken notion that “to show grief is not spiritual”? When does grief become excessive?
2. How would you defend, biblically, that it is possible to be grieving deeply and yet be trusting God fully?
3. What has helped you most and least when you were grieving? Why?
4. What do you say to someone whose loved one has just died without knowing Christ? How do you share hope in that situation?

Copyright 1997, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, © The Lockman Foundation

Two boys were walking along a street when they encountered a large dog blocking the sidewalk. “Don’t be afraid,” one of the boys told his more timid companion. “Look at his tail, how it wags. When a dog wags his tail he won’t bite you.”

“That may be,” admitted the other, “but look at that wild gleam in his eye. He looks like he wants to eat us alive. … Which end are we going to believe?”

You may have felt like those two boys when you’ve had to face trials in your life. The Bible exhorts us to “count it all joy” when we encounter various trials (James 1:2). We are assured that God is working all things together for good to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). But sometimes we aren’t quite convinced whether to believe the wagging tail of God’s promises or that wild gleam in the eye of the big trial confronting us. What if we count it all joy and the trial bites us?

Joseph was a man who had developed a godly mindset that carried him through the many trials in his life. He had been badly mistreated by his own family, as well as by others whom he had not wronged. He spent the better part of his twenties in an Egyptian dungeon, separated from his father, not knowing if he would ever see him again. Yet in spite of all these trials, he could say to his brothers, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20). He knew that even though his brothers hated him at the time and were trying to get rid of him, behind them it was God who was at work, sending Joseph to Egypt for God’s sovereign purposes (Gen. 45:5, 7, 8). Joseph’s trust in the sovereign goodness of God carried him through these terrible trials with a joyful spirit, free from bitterness and complaining. That same mindset will help us bear up under trials:

To bear up under trials, we must trust in the sovereign goodness of God in every situation.

A mistaken idea, widely promoted in Christian circles, is that all trials are from the devil and that a good God would never send trials to His children. Thus when we are hit by a trial, whether sickness or a difficult person or a financial setback, we are supposed to rebuke the devil and claim our victory by faith. If we don’t experience fairly rapid deliverance, then our faith may be defective. I believe that this is a faulty paradigm for facing trials. We need to see that …

1. God is sovereign over all, even over the evil things people do.

In this fallen world, there are many evil people who will seek to harm you. Often, as with Joseph, these evil people are close family members. It may be a parent who abused you emotionally, physically, or even sexually when you were a child. In Joseph’s case, his half brothers hated him and would have killed him had not the slave traders providentially come by at just the right moment.

What is even more galling, often the family members who mistreated you seem to be doing quite well in life. Genesis 38 shows how Judah, who had suggested selling Joseph into slavery, was doing quite well even though he was so far from God that he didn’t hesitate to go in to what he thought was a harlot for a moment’s pleasure. He had his pagan friends and seemed to be enjoying life, all the while that Joseph was grinding out an existence as a slave in a foreign country.

You have to keep in mind as you work through Joseph’s story that at the time he was suffering, Joseph didn’t know how the story would turn out. He didn’t know yet that if he just held on for a few years, God would raise him up as second to Pharaoh. But it is clear that he knew one thing for certain, that God is sovereign, even over the evil things people do (45:5, 7, 8; 50:20). Joseph’s trust in the sovereign God carried him through many bleak days in the dungeon.

Let me clarify that trusting in God’s sovereignty does not mean that you must passively endure the situation. If you are a child being abused, you need to report it to proper authorities. If you are being badly mistreated at work or at school, you may need to take some action to deal with it. What I’m saying is that there is great comfort for the believer in knowing that, however difficult your situation, the sovereign God is still in control. The devil is not in control; evil people are not in control; God is in control.

Many Scriptures teach us that God is sovereign even over evil men, and yet He is completely unstained by their sin. In the story of Job, the Chaldeans raided and stole Job’s camels, killing his servants who kept them (Job 1:17). These wicked men were not acting simply on their own accord, but were impelled by Satan. And yet God was over Satan, giving him permission to go so far and no farther. Satan could not do anything unless God willed it.

Take another story: God willed that the wicked King Ahab be killed in battle. How did God do it? A demon presented himself before God with the plan that he go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of Ahab’s prophets. God granted permission; the wicked prophets prophesied falsely; Ahab believed them, so that he was killed. God’s righteous judgment was carried out by a demon using deception, and yet God is not tainted by the evil. The prophets were responsible for following demonic counsel.

Samson wanted to marry a Philistine woman, which was clearly a sinful thing. His parents tried in vain to dissuade him from doing such a thing. Yet, we read, “his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines” (Judges 14:4). Samson was sinning, yet God sovereignly used that sin to achieve His righteous judgment!

Many more examples abound in Scripture. David’s son Absalom sinfully committed incest with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel, yet God declares the work to be His own: “You did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel” (2 Sam. 12:12). Rehoboam foolishly rejected the counsel of his elders, resulting in the division of the kingdom, but “it was a turn of events from the Lord, that He might establish His word” through his prophet (1 Kings 12:15). Nebuchadnezzar selfishly and brutally wiped out Jerusalem, yet he was doing God’s work and is called God’s servant (Jer. 1:15; 25:9; 27:6; 50:25). Cyrus, another pagan king, who like all pagan kings sought to build his own empire for his own glory, is called God’s anointed, whom God was using for His purpose (Isa. 45:1). Wicked men falsely accused and crucified the Son of God, and yet they only did what God’s hand and purpose predestined to occur (Acts 4:28).

After citing such examples, of which there are many more, John Calvin concludes, “Yet from these it is more than evident that they babble and talk absurdly who, in place of God’s providence, substitute bare permission—as if God sat in a watchtower awaiting chance events, and his judgments thus depended upon human will” (Institutes, 1.18.1).

Joseph not only knew that God was sovereign over the evil his brothers had done; he realized that God is sovereign over even insignificant things that we would tend to shrug off as chance. You’ll recall the story of when his father sent him to check on his brothers, and he didn’t find them at the place where they were supposed to be. A man found Joseph wandering in a field and told him that his brothers had moved the flocks to Dothan. So Joseph went to Dothan and found them. They threw him into the pit, planning to kill him after lunch. But it was precisely at that moment that the trading caravan “happened” by, and they sold him into slavery (37:14-36).

As that caravan made its way south, Joseph had plenty of time to think, “What rotten luck! Why did I happen to run into that man in the field who happened to know where my brothers were? Why did that caravan have to come along just then, when Reuben had indicated that he was going to try to get me out of the pit and back to my dad? Where was God in all this?” But Joseph didn’t believe in luck or happenstance. He believed in a sovereign God who sent him down to Egypt for reasons that, at the time, Joseph did not know (45:5, 7, 8).

Thus it is important to affirm God’s sovereignty not only over the major things that happen, but also over the little daily mundane details of life. Car problems, traffic jams, interruptions, clogged drains, sick kids, and a million other frustrations in life, as well as the bad things that evil people do to you, are under God’s sovereignty. Nothing and no one can thwart God’s sovereign, loving purpose toward you in Christ. He will work all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We need that mindset to endure trials.

But, also, we must understand and affirm that …

2. God is good in everything He does.

“God meant it for good” (50:20). He “works all things together for good” (Rom. 8:28). As God said through Jeremiah to the exiles who had been carried off to Babylon, “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope’” (Jer. 29:11). Although God’s people may suffer terribly, they must affirm by faith with the psalmist, that even though God afflicts us with trials, He is good and does good in all His ways (Ps. 119:67-68; 75).

Most of us are quick to see God’s goodness in the blessings of life, but not so quick to discern His goodness in the trials. Jacob was like that. When his sons returned from their first trip down to Egypt to buy grain, and the unknown lord of the land (Joseph) had taken Simeon captive and was demanding that Benjamin accompany them on the return visit, Jacob wailed, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me” (42:36). But, in fact, all these things were not against him. The truth was, God was for him. Even the trial of the famine was being used to reunite him with his beloved Joseph and to provide for all his needs for the rest of his life.

I have often profited spiritually from the incident in the life of David where he hit bottom. He had gotten himself into a mess because he had doubted the sovereign goodness of God in his life. God had promised David that he would sit on the throne of Israel, but for years he had been chased by the mad King Saul. In a moment of despair, David said, “Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul” (1 Sam. 27:1). So he went and allied himself with the pagan Achish, King of Gath.

For a while David was able to play the dangerous game of convincing this pagan king that he was on his side. At first, things seemed to go much better for David and his men. Saul stopped pursuing them. Achish gave David a city, Ziklag, where he and his men could live with their families, instead of having to hide in caves.

But then a ticklish situation came up, where Achish and the Philistine warlords were going into battle against Saul. David went up with them, pretending to be one of them. But it was awkward for him to be going into battle against the Lord’s people, including his dear friend, Jonathan. At the last minute, God rescued him by making the Philistine warlords insist that he not accompany them into battle. So David and his men returned to Ziklag.

That’s when the bottom dropped out. Raiders had burned Ziklag with fire and had taken all their wives and children captive. David’s men were so upset that they were talking about stoning him.

But then comes a great verse: “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1 Sam. 30:6). I can’t say for certain what all that entailed. But, based on his many Psalms, I believe that David probably confessed his sin of doubting God’s sovereign goodness when he had gone over to Achish. He also probably reaffirmed God’s gracious covenant promises. He definitely humbled himself under God’s sovereign hand, because he inquired of God as to whether he should go after the raiders and recover their wives and children. That was not an easy thing to do! What if God had said, “No”? But David now was bowing before God’s sovereign lordship.

But the great thing about the story is that even though David had brought about many of his troubles by his own lack of faith, God was graciously working things out to give him the kingdom. In the battle against the Philistines, Saul and Jonathan were killed, opening the way for David’s taking the throne. God graciously allowed David and his men to recover their wives and children, along with much spoil. So even though it seemed to David in his low point that God was not good, he could look back and see how God’s sovereign goodness was directing all the events of those difficult years.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out how when difficult things happen to us, and we are quick to grumble and wonder why God would allow this to happen, and even to doubt His love, it should awaken us to our own sinfulness. We should realize in a new and deeper way how prone we are to harbor unworthy thoughts of the God who has loved us with an everlasting love, and we should be humbled. But, he points out, such humility is good for us, and anything that so humbles us is working together for our good. It also shows us our desperate need of God’s forgiveness, help, and strength. “It is only in this way,” he concludes, “that we really get to know the love and grace of God, His kindness, His compassion, His tenderness, His patience, His longsuffering. How little we know of them!” He sums it up by saying “that our greatest trouble is our ignorance of God. We know things about God, but our real trouble is our ignorance of God Himself—what He really is, and what He is to His people.” (Romans, The Final Perseverance of the Saints [Zondervan], pp. 166-168).

This affirmation of God’s goodness, even in our trials, has been the refrain of the saints down through history. John Calvin cites many Scriptures that show how God tenderly cares for and protects His children. He sums it up: “Indeed, the principal purpose of Biblical history is to teach that the Lord watches over the ways of the saints with such great diligence that they do not even stumble over a stone [Ps. 91:12]”(Institutes, 1.17.6).

In 1895, the beloved pastor and writer, Andrew Murray, was in England suffering from a terribly painful back, the result of an injury he had incurred years before. One morning while he was eating breakfast in his room, his hostess told him of a woman downstairs who was in great trouble and wanted to know if he had any advice for her. Murray handed her a paper he had been writing on and said, “Just give her this advice I’m writing down for myself. It may be that she’ll find it helpful.” This is what he had written:

“In time of trouble, say, ‘First, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place; in that I will rest.’ Next, ‘He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child.’ Then say, ‘He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow.’ And last, say, ‘In His good time He can bring me out again. How and when, He knows.’ Therefore, say ‘I am here (1) by God’s appointment, (2) in His keeping, (3) under His training, (4) for His time.”

So in times of trial, we can and must know that God is sovereign, even over the evil things people may do to us. But also we must know that God is good and that He will work every situation together for good for His children. Finally, knowing this, …

3. We must trust the sovereign goodness of God in the midst of our trials.

The reason we must trust God is that it may be years, or perhaps only in eternity, before we figure out specifically how God is using our trials for good. Joseph had to keep trusting for years as he sat in that Egyptian dungeon. Every morning when he awoke in that foul place, he had to direct his thoughts to God and say, “Lord, I trust that You have some good and loving purpose in this situation. I submit to Your sovereign purpose, even though I do not understand.” He may have had to do that a hundred times a day. But I contend that he did it. If he had not, we would not hear him say, “God sent me here”; “God meant it for good.”

Trusting God is a mindset; it occurs in your thought life. It is a mindset that puts God at the center, where He rightfully should be. If we are focused on our happiness as the center, we will not be able to trust or glorify God in the midst of our trials. But, as we have seen, Joseph lived a God-centered life. As Scripture makes clear, God’s glory is the supreme thing in all of life. If we daily, moment-by-moment, put our thoughts on glorifying God, showing by our trusting attitude that He is both sovereign and good, then He will bless us in many ways as a by-product. But if we are focused on our own happiness, we will find it hard to trust God and we will be miserable people.

In the Institutes (1.17.11), John Calvin develops at length the blessings that come to the believer when he learns to live under the loving providence of God. He cites a number of assuring verses from the Psalms: “The Lord is my helper” [Ps. 118:6]; “I will not fear what flesh can do against me” [Ps. 56:4]; “The Lord is my protector; what shall I fear?” [Ps. 27:1]; “If armies should stand together against me” [Ps. 27:3], “if I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death [Ps. 23:4], “I will not cease to have good hope” [Ps. 56:5; 71:14]. Then he comments, “Whence, I pray you, do they have this never-failing assurance but from knowing that, when the world appears to be aimlessly tumbled about, the Lord is everywhere at work, and from trusting that his work will be for their welfare?” In other words, they trust in the sovereign goodness of God.

Conclusion

A believer confided with his Christian friend, “I find it terribly hard to trust God, and to sense His presence in the dark passages of life.” “Well,” said his friend, “if you cannot trust a man out of your sight, he isn’t worth much. But you can surely trust God even when He is hidden in the shadows, for you have His promise that He will never leave you or forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).

Another man who loved the Lord was going through deep and discouraging trials, and his trust in God was near the breaking point. One day he went for a walk in an orchard with his young son. The boy wanted to climb an old apple tree, so the father patiently stood below watching. Many of the limbs were dead, and some of them began to break under the boy’s weight. Seeing his son’s plight, the man held up his arms and called, “Jump, Buddy, I’ll catch you.” The boy still hung on, and then as another branch snapped he said, “Shall I let go of everything, Daddy?” “Yes,” came the reassuring reply. Without hesitation, the boy jumped and the father safely caught him.

Later the man said, “That incident was God’s message directly to me! I understood what the Lord was trying to teach me. At that moment I did trust Him completely, and it wasn’t long until He wonderfully supplied my need.” (“Our Daily Bread,” July, 1982).

That’s the mindset we need to endure trials—to trust in the sovereign goodness of God in every situation. Whatever you’re going through, you can know that though others may mean it for evil, God means it for good. He wants you to trust Him so that He will be glorified in your life.

Discussion Questions

1. We are often told today to let God know how angry we are at Him. Is it sin to be angry at God? Should we be encouraged to express it?
2. A skeptic sneers, “How can God be good and allow innocent children to be abused?” Your answer?
3. How can God be sovereign over everything and yet not be responsible for evil?
4. If God is sovereign, how can we know when to submit passively to some wrong and when to take action against it?

Copyright 1997, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, © The Lockman Foundation

Our family does a lot of hiking when we’re on vacation. Sometimes you take a hike that meanders through the forest and you begin to wonder where you’re going. Then, you finally come out on a high point, where you can look back and see the way you came. Suddenly the whole thing fits together in a way it hadn’t before as you see the relationship between the parts and the whole.

We’ve spent the better part of two years hiking through Genesis, enjoying the details as we’ve gone from chapter to chapter. Many of you have started attending this church since that time, so you didn’t have the benefit of the first message, when I gave an overview of the book and some of its themes. The rest of you have probably long since forgotten that overview. So I thought it would be profitable, now that we’ve walked through the book, to give a final recap of this first book of the Bible, to look back from the summit and see where we’ve come.

In broad outline, Genesis answers the question, “How did it all begin?” It starts with the creation and the first man and woman, without sin, in the Garden of Eden. It ends with Joseph in a coffin in Egypt. Of course the pivotal event, which led from that glorious beginning to that disturbing conclusion, was the fall of the human race into sin. Genesis graphically portrays the effects of sin on the human race. But it also shows God’s great mercy in redeeming fallen man and calling out a people for His purpose, a channel for His blessing to all nations. Moses, the author, is supplying the historical basis for God’s covenant with His people, Israel. He wanted them to know where they had come from and where they were going. God had promised Canaan to them; thus there was no future for them in Egypt or in the wilderness. Moses wrote Genesis to show Israel that they must, by faith and obedience, go forward to conquer the land God had promised to give them.

Genesis hinges at the call of Abraham in chapter 12 into two major sections, each with four subsections:

1. Human history from Adam to Abraham: The beginnings of the human race (chap. 1-11).

A. Creation (1-2)

B. Fall (3)

C. Flood: Increase of sin culminating in judgment at the flood (4-9)

D. Dispersion: Sin after the flood, culminating in the judgment at Babel (10-11)

2. Human history from Abraham to Joseph: The beginnings of the chosen race (12-50).

A. Abraham (12-24)

B. Isaac (25-26)

C. Jacob (27-36)

D. Joseph (37-50)

The sovereign hand of God over human history is a major emphasis in all of these events. By reading Genesis, God’s people can see that He is behind all their history. He is the one who has brought them to where they are, and He has promised many blessings regarding their future. And yet God’s sovereignty doesn’t negate human responsibility, as is demonstrated in the lives of the characters of Genesis. God confronted Cain with his anger, but Cain disregarded God’s warning and went on to murder his brother. Noah, on the other hand, refused to go along with his godless contemporaries and was delivered from God’s judgment through his obedient faith in building the ark. Throughout the book there are marked contrasts between those who obeyed God and were blessed and those who disobeyed and suffered the consequences: Abraham and Lot; Ishmael and Isaac; Esau and Jacob; Joseph and his brothers.

Genesis is rich in theology. As I mentioned in my first message, someone has said, “The roots of all subsequent revelation are planted deep in Genesis, and whoever would truly comprehend that revelation must begin here.” I am not going to attempt to go through the many doctrines and topics treated in Genesis nor to mention all the beginnings that are covered. But I’d like to point out some of the fundamental teachings about God and man as we look at the central theme of Genesis.

God has graciously redeemed us from the curse of sin so that we may be His channel for blessing all people.

1. Genesis tells us who God is.

The book begins by bringing the reader face to face with the awesome reality of God as the creator of all that is: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” There is no introduction to lead up to the point, no argument to prove His existence, no room for speculation or curiosity. By revelation, not speculation, we are brought face to face with the eternal God who spoke the universe into existence. There’s not even time to duck. You must either accept God as the source of all or reject Him. The Bible begins with an authoritative declaration that demands a response to the Creator of the universe.

The revelation of God’s awesome power in creation might tend to put us off, to make us feel like we can’t approach such an omnipotent God. Yet the early chapters of Genesis show that the omnipotent God is also a personal God who communicates with the people He has created. He talks with Adam and gives him meaningful work to do in the garden. He knows Adam’s need for a helper and creates Eve for his wife. The first couple communes with God each day in the garden.

But just when we’re starting to relax and feel like we might be able to approach this awesome, but personal God, sin enters the picture and we see God pronouncing curses on the serpent, the woman, the man, and the ground. We learn that God does not take sin lightly as He expels the fallen couple from the garden. Then, as sin spreads through the fallen human race, we recoil at God’s terrible judgments in the flood and again at the tower of Babel. We see that God is a holy God who must judge all sin.

But in all of this, there is hope. Rather than striking the fallen couple in the garden dead on the spot, God graciously offered them hope in the promise of the seed of the woman. He would bruise the serpent’s head, although the serpent would bruise him on the heel (3:15). This is the earliest promise in the Bible of the coming of Christ the Savior, born of a woman (not a man, through the virgin birth). In His death, He was bruised on the heel, and it seemed as if Satan had triumphed. But Christ’s resurrection turned what seemed like Satan’s victory into his defeat, as the seed of the woman bruised the serpent’s head.

Then God graciously provided animal skins to clothe the fallen couple (3:21). This provided for their physical nakedness, but obviously it went far beyond that. Just as man’s nakedness goes beyond the physical and points to the exposure of the soul resulting from sin (3:7), so God’s provision of clothing went beyond the physical need for garments. It is a beautiful illustration of what God would do through the Lord Jesus Christ to provide salvation for all who stand shamefully exposed before Him in their sin. God’s provision of the animal skins shows us four things:

First, we need a covering for our sin. The thought of standing with my sin exposed in the light of God’s holy presence is more intolerable than the thought of showing up for a job interview at the White House stark naked. I need some sort of covering.

Second, our attempts at covering ourselves are inadequate. Adam and Eve made fig leaves, but that wouldn’t do. Modern man tries the fig leaves of good works to cover his sin and to make himself presentable to God, but God cannot accept that.

Third, only God can provide the covering we need for our sin. He takes the initiative in properly covering our sin and guilt. Adam and Eve were passive; God did it all. We cannot receive God’s salvation as long as we offer Him our fig leaves. We must let Him provide everything, as He has in fact done in Christ.

Fourth, the covering God provided required the death of an innocent substitute. An animal had to be slaughtered to provide this covering for Adam and Eve. If, as we can probably assume, Adam and Eve witnessed this slaughter, it must have shocked them. This was the first time they had witnessed death. As they saw the animals (lambs?) having their throats slit and writhing in the throes of death, they must have gained a new awareness both of the seriousness of their sin and of the greatness of God’s grace in not requiring their own immediate death for their sin. They learned that without the shedding of blood, there is no adequate covering for sin, but that God would accept the death of an acceptable substitute. In light of subsequent revelation, we know that that substitute is Jesus Christ, to whom these animals pointed as a type.

So Genesis shows God as the Almighty Creator who yet can be known personally. It shows Him as the Holy Judge of all sin, yet the Savior who Himself provided the payment of the penalty for our sin.

Genesis also shows God as the Sovereign Covenant God, who works all human history according to His purposes. He calls Abraham, a pagan man, and promises to bless him by making him into a mighty nation and by blessing all the families of the earth in him (12:1-3). In spite of the foul-ups of Abraham in taking Hagar and fathering Ishmael; of Isaac in favoring Esau; of Jacob in scheming to secure the birthright; and, of Jacob’s sons in selling their brother into slavery; God’s purpose for His people moves forward. As Joseph told his brothers, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good” (50:20).

We see God’s sovereign grace in choosing men. He chose Abraham over his older brother Nahor, Isaac over the older Ishmael, Jacob the schemer over his older twin Esau, and the younger Ephraim over Manasseh. But Messiah would not come through Joseph’s descendants at all, but through the tribe of Judah, again demonstrating that it is God’s grace, not human merit, that matters. In all this we learn that our salvation depends upon our sovereign, gracious God, not upon our merit and good works.

If I had time, I could develop much more fully this theme of who God is as revealed in Genesis. We could study the names of God as revealed throughout the book: Elohim; Yahweh; the angel of the Lord; El Roi, the God who sees; El Shaddai, God Almighty; El Elyon, God Most High; the fear of Isaac; the God of Jacob; etc.

But before I move on, let me apply this by saying that we need to submit personally to God as He has revealed Himself rather than create a God of our own liking. The God who reveals Himself in the book of Genesis isn’t necessarily to our liking. Modern science tells us that everything has evolved through random chance. Genesis says that God created the heavens and the earth. Either you create your own god out of science, which is ultimately to make fallible man your god; or, you submit to God the Almighty Creator revealed in Genesis.

Genesis reveals God as a holy God who judges sin. That’s not popular in our day. We’d rather have a nice god who is tolerant of sin. But either you create a false god of your own liking, or you submit to the God revealed in Genesis. The God of Genesis is one who provides salvation from His judgment apart from man’s efforts. You may not like that, since human nature wants to earn salvation. But you must either submit to the God of Genesis or create your own false god.

Genesis reveals a sovereign God who works all things after the counsel of His will, who chooses His servants according to grace, not human merit. Again, you may not like that, since human nature likes to think in terms of man’s freedom to determine his own destiny. But you must either submit to the sovereign God of Genesis or make a god who fits your fancy, who is not God at all. Genesis tells us who God is, which confronts us with our need to submit to Him.

2. Genesis tells us who we are.

The British skeptic, George Bernard Shaw, in response to the German concentration camps, reluctantly concluded, “There is only one empirically verifiable doctrine of theology--original sin.” While that doctrine looms large in Genesis, it is not the first picture of man. The first statement about man is God saying, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). While the image of God in man was marred by the fall, it was not obliterated. We know this because after the flood, God establishes the death penalty for murder, basing it on the fact that man was created in God’s image, a truth that still applied (Gen. 9:6).

That great truth lies behind the proper Christian view that every human being should be treated with respect. It lies behind Christian opposition to the slaughter of unwanted children through abortion and infanticide. It is the basis for respect and care for the elderly and dying. It is the motivation behind Christian hospitals and health care. It lies behind Christian charity toward the poor and underprivileged. It lies behind a proper Christian respect of men for women and of women for men, since Genesis 1:27 distinctly states that God created man in His image as male and female. It hints at what the second chapter confirms, the basis for Christian marriage and family relationships. It forms the basis for the proper understanding of one’s self, showing that we each have a unique role in God’s purpose.

But Genesis also shows us as fallen in sin, alienated from God. The devastating effects of sin are displayed in full view throughout the book. The beauty of the first couple, innocent in the garden, is destroyed as they are expelled because of their sin. Their oldest son, the first man born into the first family on the earth, jealously murders his younger brother. In Noah’s time, the sinful condition of the human race is summed up: “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (6:5).

So our view of self has to be molded not only by the encouraging truth that we have been created in God’s image, but also by the sober reality that our hearts are inclined against God and toward sin. While it may not be a pleasant thing to look into the mirror that Genesis holds before us, it bears witness with reality. You read the book of Genesis and come away saying, “Yes, that is what human nature is like. Even more, that is what I’m like!” It’s an accurate picture of the human condition. But Genesis doesn’t leave us there. That would be hopeless.

3. Genesis tells us what we must do.

Genesis shows us, as we’ve already seen, that God offers us redemption and how we must respond. I could illustrate this from the great passage in Genesis 15:6, where Moses writes that Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. The apostle Paul uses that text to demonstrate that salvation is by grace through faith apart from human works (Galatians 3; Romans 4). But instead, I’d like to illustrate it from the first instance of faith, when Adam believed God’s promise of redemption.

After God pronounced the curse for man’s sin (3:14-19), there is a verse that at first seems to be out of context. Genesis 3:20 reads, “Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.” Then the text goes on to tell of God’s provision of animal skins and of His expelling the couple from the garden. But after the grim words of verse 19, which inflict toil and death upon the human race, you would not expect verse 20. At best, you would think that it would read, “Now Adam called his wife ‘the Grim Reaper,’ because she was the mother of all the dying.” It was ultimately because of her sin that death came to the human race. Yet Adam calls her “Eve,” which means life-giver or mother. And, remember, this was before she had any children.

What does Genesis 3:20 mean? It is Adam’s response of faith to God’s promise to send a Savior through the seed of the woman (3:15). Adam heard and submitted to God’s penalty of death (3:19), but he also grabbed on to God’s promise that there would come forth from the woman a descendent who would bruise the serpent’s head. And so by faith, before his wife had conceived, Adam named her Eve, the mother of all living.

Salvation is now and always has been by faith in God’s promise. Before Jesus Christ came into the world, a person’s faith had to look forward to the promised Savior. Since Christ, faith looks back to the Savior who has come. Salvation has never been based on keeping the commandments or on a person’s good works balancing out his sins. We are made right with God by trusting what He has said concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, the only Savior, who took our penalty on Himself on the cross.

Saving faith always results in obedience. Noah didn’t just say, “I believe You, God, that You’re going to send a flood to destroy the earth.” His faith resulted in 100 years of hard work and ridicule as he built the ark and got on board when God told him to. Saving faith always affects our behavior in this evil world. If we believe God concerning His promise of salvation from judgment through Christ, we will turn from our sin and seek to live in accordance with God’s purposes.

That means that we will commit ourselves and all the resources God has graciously entrusted to us to His great purpose of blessing all the families on earth through the seed of Abraham, who is Jesus Christ. If we really believe what Genesis teaches about God’s judgment on sin and about His provision in Christ, we cannot be complacent as billions go into eternity without Christ. Rather, we will do all we can to be channels of God’s blessing to those who are lost and perishing.

Conclusion

An old man, walking along the beach at dawn, noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Catching up with the youth, he asked what he was doing. The young man answered that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun.

“But the beach goes on for miles, and there are millions of starfish,” countered the old man. “How can your effort make any difference?” The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to safety in the waves. “It makes a difference to this one,” he said.

Paul tells us that the Lord is “abounding in riches for all who will call upon Him; for ‘whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Rom. 10:12-15). God wants those beautiful feet to be your feet!

Genesis tells us who God is, who we are, and what we must do. God has graciously redeemed us from the curse of sin so that we may be His channel for blessing all people. Let’s obey the message of Genesis!

Discussion Questions

1. Which is emphasized more in our day: God as loving Redeemer or God as righteous judge? How can we restore the biblical balance?
2. Which view of man is most emphasized today: Man as created in God’s image or man as fallen hopelessly in sin? How do we find the biblical balance?
3. Some emphasize God’s sovereignty to the neglect of human responsibility. Others focus on “free will” to the detriment of God’s sovereignty. Where is the biblical balance?
4. Why is proper theology about God and man the necessary basis for world missions?

Copyright Steven J. Cole, 1997, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, © The Lockman Foundation