Mixed Blessings

Take your Bibles this morning and let's turn to Genesis chapter 49. Genesis chapter 49. Let's pray together. Let's pray together. Father we eagerly come to you now to hear you speak to us as we enter upon this hour we realize that this is not just any book that we are reading it is the living word of God it is the very voice of God speaking to us and so I pray you would give us hearts that would hear your voice we pray that through this you would reveal the glories that are yours help us to worship you and to live for you through Jesus our Lord thank you now in his name Amen Some of you may have had a conversation like this with your children.

Son, if you continue in these deceptive, manipulative, wicked ways, you're going to end up in prison. And you know, son, I can see it now. I look down the quarters of time and I can see it. It'll be Thanksgiving. And all your brothers and sisters are going to be there and their spouses and their children and we're all going to be having a good time, but you're not going to be there.

Then one of those cute little grandchildren are going to say, Mom and Dad, I've heard you talk a lot about Uncle George, but I've never seen him. Where is he? And your daughter says, Honey, Uncle George did some bad things and he's in jail. He's in prison and we just haven't seen him for a long time. son that's the way it's going to be or maybe you're out to lunch with your teenage daughter and you say to her honey you are one of the sweetest gentlest loving girls I ever known you are so much like your mom You know what Someday you going to find a guy who loves God and who loves you and you're going to have a house full of kids.

And it's going to be a lively, and it's going to be a happy place, and everybody will want to be there. Now, you see, you can kind of figure out the course of someone's life because of the character they now possess, right? Well, something like that happens in Genesis 49 as Jacob gathers all his sons together for the official blessing. Now, these blessings are not quite like our predictions, not quite like our conversations with our children.

And yet these blessings, because they're more prophetic, these blessings see into the future and see into the future of the tribes that's going to descend from these boys. They include blessings and anti-blessings, some not-so-nice things coming for some of the tribes. So let's look at it together. Genesis 49, verses 1 through 28. Then Jacob called his sons and said, gather yourselves together that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.

Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed, and then you defiled it. He went up to my couch. Simeon and Levi are brothers weapons of violence are their swords let my soul come not into their counsel oh my glory be not joined to their company for in their anger they killed men and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen cursed be their anger for it is fierce and their wrath for it is cruel I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel Judah your brother shall praise you your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies Your father's son shall bow down before you.

Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down. He crouched as a lion. And as a lioness, who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey colt to the choice vine he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk. Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea. He shall become a haven for ships and his border shall be at Sidon. Issachar is a strong donkey crouching beneath the sheepfolds. He saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant at forced labor.

Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path that bites the horse's heel so that his rider falls backward. I wait for your salvation, O Lord. raiders shall raid Gad but he shall raid at their heels Asher's food shall be rich and he shall yield royal delicacies naphtali is a dough let loose that bears beautiful fawns Joseph is a fruitful bough a fruitful bough by a spring his branches run over the wall the archers bitterly attacked him shot at him and harassed him severely yet his bow remained unmoved his arms were made agile by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob.

From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. By the God of your father who will help you, by the almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and the womb. The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills.

May they be on the head of Joseph and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey, in that evening dividing the spoil. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. Now we find this blessing ceremony in the midst of a book devoted to the promise of God.

You remember as the book opened, there is a fall from paradise, and then God promise that a conquering seed would come to destroy the destroyer And through the early chapters of Genesis we see that as people kept looking for the fulfillment of that seed and that sin like a great tide mounting and overwhelming the world, but then God keeping and preserving that seed through it all. We see that God called a man named Abraham and promised that the seed would come through him, particularly through a son from him and Sarah. And we see God remain faithful to that promise through the convoluted, messy lives of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

Now, as we come to this blessing passage, we have to ask, how do these blessings fit into the narrative of the promise? Well, let me make two observations. Here's the first. God's promise does not deter him from justice. God's promise does not deter him from dealing justly. We sometimes think that if God is going to keep his promise, he has to overlook sin.

Let me say that again. Sometimes we think that for God to keep his promise, he has to overlook sin. Our kids love to go to Grandpa and Grandma's farm in Iowa. They loved it. That was the highlight of the year. They loved to stay out there on the farm.

And so, let's just say, we promise them and say, hey kids, we're going to the farm in the third week of June. But listen, if you want to go, you have to behave. We're not going to take you out to the farm with grandpa and grandma and your cousins and have you act like wild Indians, okay? You've got to behave. But we're going out in the third week of June.

Well, they do pretty well, except for Levi, who suddenly becomes a demon incarnate in your midst and starts just howling, just starts doing things that just are crazy. Well, because you want to act justly, you say, well, we're not going, Levi. We are not going to Iowa because of the way that you have been acting. you see the promise of going to Iowa did not deter you from acting justly that promise didn't keep you from acting justly the problem is what keeps you from keeping the promise doesn't it A second observation is this.

Here's the first. God's promise does not deter him from justice. Here's the flip side of the coin. God's justice does not keep him, does not deter him from keeping his promise. Now if you look at what happened with the children going to Iowa, look at it from the other side. Because Levi was treated with justice, what?

You couldn't keep the promise. The rest of the kids don't go. You couldn't keep the promise. On one hand, the promise didn't keep you from exercising justice. On the other hand, justice kept you from the promise. So here are two observations I want you to see.

I know, I'm hoping it's not confusing. God's promise does not deter him from acting justly, does not deter him from his justice. And on the other hand, the second observation, God's justice does not deter him from keeping his promise. He is both just and gracious. Well, let's look how this unfolds for us in this text. Verses 1 and 2, Jacob called his sons together for the official blessing ceremony.

He came near the end of your life. You would bless your children. And of course, the oldest was expected to get the double portion. That was his. Here's what we want to see first as we look through this. You must believe that God's promise does not deter him from dealing justly.

God's promise does not deter him from being just. Now, in the content of the blessing ceremony, you see both the blessings of God, but you also see the ongoing reality and consequences of sin. You see patterns of sin that are exposed here. First of all, there's Reuben. Reuben is, of course, the firstborn and normally the recipient of the double portion, verses 3 and 4.

He had pride of place, humanly speaking, strength, might, honor, power, had it all. Yet all of that opportunity and potential was wasted. because he was as solid and dependable as water. Unstable Unstable You remember that he had slept with his father concubine Bilhah in an incredible act of immorality and in an attempt to gain leadership of the family.

His impulses were like an undisciplined torrent of water breaking through the dam. That's the kind of impulses, that's the kind of recklessness that characterizes Reuben. He's unstable like water. He's like a torrent. His impulses are like that. And because of his sin, Reuben loses his possession.

There's justice here. Now, since Reuben was disqualified, you'd think that the next son would gain double portion. But the next two sons are also disqualified. They also forfeit it as well in verses 5-7. You remember the story of Simeon and Levi. They had tricked the men of Shechem into getting circumcised because they had raped their sister Dinah.

And then, in their weakness, in the men's weakness, these two walked into the city and massacred all the men, all the inhabitants. And Jacob says, they are so violent that I don't want my reputation, my glory. I don't want it associated with them. I don't want to be part of their council. They are so wicked and cruel. They are cruel and senselessly brutal.

Not only do they wipe out the inhabitants, they hamstring the oxen. There was no need for that. But that's just how brutal these two guys were. And because of that, what does he say? In justice, they'll be scattered among the tribes. If you would look at Simeon's destiny, if you look at Joshua chapter 19, verse 1, Joshua 19 verse 1, you see that Simeon is absorbed into Judah's territory when they take the promised land.

In Joshua chapter 19 verse 1 it says, The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the people of Simeon, according to their clans, and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the people of Judah. And then verse 9. The inheritance of the people of Simeon formed part of the territory of the people of Judah. Because the portion of the people of Judah was too large for them, the people of Simeon obtained an inheritance in the midst of their inheritance They didn even have their own cut of the land They spread out among the tribe of Judah What about Levi?

Was he scattered among the tribes? Certainly was. Levi later was given no land. You remember, God said, you're going to be my priests, and I'm going to scatter you among all the tribes, and it's going to be your job to teach the people the Word of God. So these also were judged. We see justice here.

Next comes Judah with this remarkable prophecy, which we will look at next week. Not going to tackle Judah on this one. This is such a remarkable prophecy breaking in here that I want to devote next week to that. Okay? Then, verses 13 through 15, comes Zebulun and Issachar. Zebulun would end up living near the seashore, a little too close to the pagan shipping port of Sidon.

Sidon was a shipping port of the Phoenicians who were tremendous sea travelers. They had commercial contacts all over the known world then. And they're going to be near Sidon. Here he could pursue the material advantages of an international trade. And Issachar, Issachar also wanted material comforts, But he was lazy and he paid the price for it. Notice what it says about him.

Verse 14, Issachar is a strong donkey crouching between the sheepfolds, laying down between the sheepfolds. He saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant at forced labor. Issachar also wanted material comforts but was lazy and paid the price. Issachar was a strong donkey. Like any other tribe in the people of Israel, he had the opportunity and the ability to conquer or enslave the native Canaanites.

And although he's a strong donkey, he's going to lay down like a lazy donkey. And he's going to make peace with the Canaanites for the sake of the good life, for the sake of the material prosperity. what he does as you read in the book of Joshua and Judges what he does, he doesn't conquer the Canaanites he so intent on living the good life he makes peace with them and eventually what happens is that he ends up enslaved to the Canaanites He ends up in forced labor to them instead of the other way around And so for peace and prosperity, these tribes lose their spiritual distinctiveness. They lose their spiritual distinctiveness.

Dan, verses 16 and 17. Dan is so small, he's likened to a snake. He still executes justice, it says, but it will be like this small creature who is aggressive and dangerous and strikes unexpectedly. You know who this sounds like? It sounds like Samson, who came from the tribe of Dan. Samson, who would strike unexpectedly.

Remember all the stories about him showing up and carrying away the gates of a city or taking a job on and killing 300 inhabitants. He was like this major guerrilla fighter who would go and do his thing. And at this point, Jacob cries out, I wait for your salvation, O Lord. Why is that there? I think it's there because surrounded by the reminders of his own treachery and seeing the sin of future generations, Jacob gives voice to this great desire.

Oh God, I long for the day when all this will be gone. When all this will be over, all this hostility and all this sin and everything will be gone. I long for that. I was struck the other day by the ever-present me. I was struck the other day as I was going somewhere and saw something. I was struck by the ever-present, encompassing effects of sin.

The poverty, the anger, the deceit, the laziness, the confusion, the disunity, the arrogance, the fear. And that's just in the town of Leroux. And I long for the day when it all be right. Don't you? Don't you long for that day? I remember saying to Beck, man, this curse of sin is just, it just goes everywhere.

It's just not. No let up anywhere. I'm looking forward to the day when it's gone. And that's Jacob at this point. He's looking to the future and he sees some good things, but he sees all these other things as well. Well, he goes on.

Gad will lead a troubled existence. Gad will be a tribe that's under a lot of raids and attack, but he will strike back and he will not be overcome. Verse 19. And when you read the history of Gad, you see they were fighting the Moabites, they were fighting the Arameans, they were fighting the Assyrians. Gad, it seems to be under attack. They'll never be overcome, but they still seem to be always in perpetual warfare.

Asher will provide rich food for the palace, verse 20. Naphtali will prove to be a swift, agile tribe, moving often on the northern frontiers of the country. and then there's Joseph Joseph here obviously receives the double portion that is due the eldest but he gets it he receives the double portion however I'm also saving Joseph for next week Judah and Joseph are fascinating prophecies They get the most press, don't they? There's things going on in those two tribes that deserve their own attention.

Benjamin is like a fierce wolf. He is predatory and brave. He kills more than he needs, and he shares what he has. He divides the spoils. He shares the prey with others. this tribe gained a high reputation for bravery and skill in war. In fact, one of the best general kings to come out of Israel, Saul, and if you read Saul's story, you will see that he was a great, he was always beating up the Philistines.

Saul was a good general. He came from this tribe. by the way another fearless kind of a brave in your face kind of a guy came out of this tribe too the second Saul whose name was changed to Paul also came from this tribe Now, what's the point? You see, Jacob is seeing this is where you're going to end up. It has the strength of prophecy behind it, but this is where you're going to end up.

And the character I see now, this is what's going to happen to you. And what you see here is both the complexity of sin and God's justice. Even among believers, you're going to see patterns of sin and that they affect others. There's patterns of sin in our lives that seem to be recurring, right? And they affect others. Here's the complexity of sin.

Some sins are socially reprehensible. Sleeping with your father's concubine. Maskering an entire city. Those are socially reprehensible. Some sins are easily recognized because everyone says they're wrong. Such as drunkenness and murder and child abuse.

Even those in our society are considered wrong and reprehensible. But some sins are socially laudable. Pursuing a good living. Gaining comforts of life. And gaining a reputation for producing good quality delicacies that even kings want. Right?

Those are good things, right? Unless, of course, they cost you your spiritual distinctiveness. And there's so much in our society today that's considered normal, that are wrong. Sexual promiscuity. Is anybody shocked anymore when a boyfriend and a girlfriend move in together to live together before they're married? Are you shocked by that anymore?

That's normal, isn't it? That's normal. It's wicked. But it's socially lauded. pride and self-love are celebrated. One writer put it this way, that we have magazines whose entire purpose is gossip, yet they are not hidden on the top shelf of the store in plain wrappers. Are they?

The ones that deal in gossip are just bang, right there before you check out. Right? Acceptable. Acceptable to spread gossip. Not only are they that, but such sins have multi-generational consequences. They affect others.

You see the clear effects of drunkenness and pornography abuse and adultery You can see the effects of those But there also a corrosive effect to those respectable sins too They also have a corrosive effect. A guy I really like to read is a guy by the name of Ian Duguid. Ian Duguid. He's a Scottish guy. He writes this. I was never the favorite.

I never quite measured up to my family's expectations. And I never felt that I was quite approved. That deep hurt now bears bitter fruit in all kinds of sinful responses in my own heart and my relationships as I constantly strive to win the approval of others and of God and to prove to everyone that I can really be successful. And he talks about some of the bitter fruit.

He's caustic ton. He's real good at sarcasm and cutting people down and his arrogant attitude. All those. everybody can see those, right? Those are reprehensible. They're his because of the influences of his life. The influences, they didn't determine him, but they influenced him greatly, right?

But then there are others' sins that generate applause that's had an effect on him. I love this. Such as my relentless drive to work hard and succeed. people generally regard it as a good thing that I am up at 5 a.m. working on writing projects even though that restlessness is often driven by sinful fears and desires, right? He's afraid. That's why he gets up at 5.

That's not commendable, right? You see, sin is this complex thing. we got to get over the oops view of sin right? oops I didn't do what I should do oops I did something I wasn't supposed to sin is this insidious thing that works its way into our lives and produces patterns and affects generations afterward and you know what? God's justice doesn't take a break God's justice doesn't take a break even though these are God's people who have promised his justice does not take a rest And you can see that in here.

Reuben, right? Levi and Simeon Zebulun and Issachar You can see these all the way through here that there are those that God clearly condemns His justice doesn't take a break, even though they're God's people. And the same is true with us. God's justice does not take a break because we're God's people. Now here's the good news. Here's the good news. we can still have hope because Jesus has taken the wrath of God so that the death that justice demands is not required of us.

Does that make sense? Because of Jesus' death on the cross God's justice that demands hell has been satisfied and we no longer have to worry about that. But does that mean that God's justice goes on vacation now? That we can do whatever we want? No! What happens is His justice still demands that His people live righteously.

That they live holy, distinctive lives in this world. His justice demands that we be different than everybody else. His justice has been satisfied in Christ, but it doesn't say that you can do whatever you want. His justice doesn't take a vacation. Well, what happens? Well, number one, Matthew 1.21 He sends Jesus to rescue us from our sin and you shall call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sin.

Note, not save us from penalty, not save us from hell, not save us from God's condemnation, but to save us from sin itself. In other words, God saves the adulterer. in order to make him a faithful husband. In order to rescue him from adultery itself. So the first thing God does in His justice, after Jesus, Jesus has satisfied the demands for the penalty.

And yet, He sends Jesus, what? To save us from our sin. He sends Jesus to break the rule of sin, so that we can live righteously. In Romans chapter 6, verse 3, Romans chapter 6 verse 3 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might be buried. walk in newness of life.

He's broken the tyranny, the despotic rule of sin in our lives so we can say no to sin and yes to God. All because of His justice. You know what else He does? He sends hardship so that we will grow. He sends hardship so that we'll grow. Hebrews 12, verses 10 and 11.

But God disciplines us for our good that we may share His holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. It yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Alright? So God's promise does not deter Him. God's promise does not keep Him from acting justly.

His justice is still enforced. Nevertheless, you have to believe that God's justice does not keep him, does not deter him from keeping his promise. Verse 28. By the way, if you have a break there, it shouldn't be there. Verse 28 goes with the verses on the top. It starts out with blessing, it ends with blessing.

And it says, notice, this is what their father said to them as he blessed them. Blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. This is a blessing. Even the anti-blessings are blessings in one degree or another. For one thing, note this. All these blessings and anti-blessings depend on God fulfilling his promise to Abraham and giving them the land.

Do you realize that? Now, they're not anywhere close to the land. They're living in Egypt. In fact, we know now, historically, it's 400 years before they even start the trip back. And yet Jacob is so convinced that God's going to keep his promise, he tells them, you're going to have this land. You're going to be in that part of the land.

You're going to be here and you're going to be there. He is convinced the whole covenant promise undergirds these blessings. They can only happen if God keeps his promise, you see, of giving them the land, of Abraham's descendants getting the land. That serves as the foundation for these prophecies and these blessings. So right away, you've got to understand that promise undergirds all of this.

And at times what we see here is His justice serves the promise His justice serves the promise Look at the anti leveled against Reuben That, in reality, turns out to be a blessing for the nation itself. How? By demoting Reuben for his turbulent and uncontrolled desires, Jacob saves the nation from reckless leadership. He saves the nation from reckless leadership.

Who ends up leading? Transform Judah. So it serves the promise. And he, notice, he turns the fierce, he turns the fierce drive of Levi to good. How so? Did you listen to the Old Testament reading?

I hope you listened to the reading. It is God's word after all. But in that, do you remember Moses comes down from the mountain, there's all this debauchery going on in the camp, and what does he say to the tribe of Levi? Strap on your swords, boys, and I want you to go through this camp and not pay any attention whether a person is a family member, whether he's a person of influence, whether he's a person of power, whether he's rich, whether he's poor. deal with these idolaters.

And so they went through the camp and you remember and it said they killed 3,000 men that day. It shows a tribe so zealous for the honor of God they executed judgment on idolaters no matter what their position or relation. God used that fierce attitude of the Levites at that point. You know what he does? he gives them the priesthood and then gives them the responsibility of being scattered among the tribes not having any land of their own to teach the word of God to them.

He did scatter them just like Jacob said but in a different way than what you'd expect. Justice serves the promise. What we have to see here is sin does not have the last word when it comes to the promise of God. Let take a quick look at the book Look at Abraham Isaac Jacob and all these men What do you see What do you see? All are foolish and sinful, cruel, unbelieving, compromising, deceptive, manipulative, and sometimes just downright stupid.

Right? and yet neither Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or Jacob's 12 sons could derail the promise of God. It doesn't derail his justice, does it? But it doesn't derail his promise either. He still keeps that. He's still going to keep that promise. Notice this, that none of the 12 are cut off from the promise. none of the twelve are cut off from the promise.

Do they have other consequences for their sin? Yes. But they are not cut off from the promise. Remember, Abraham had his Ishmael cut off from the promise. Isaac had his Esau cut off from the promise. Jacob has twelve sons, none of which are cut off from the promise.

Hey, if you were in charge, would you do that? is that what you would do you're all looking at me like what yeah let's face it you had these 12 sons would you cut any of them off from the promise I think I'd be tempted to just what wouldn't you it's a good thing you're not God God knows better has nothing to do with their upright character either does it these men are not upright one writer put it this way notice that all of these sinners along with their sin damaged offspring are incorporated into the line of promise Israel is not built on the foundation of righteous Joseph or even transformed Judah but on the foundation of all twelve patriarchs all twelve are in the line of promise are the foundation for the promise that's going to come to you and me all twelve that says something about the grace of God. Sin does not have the last word because God chooses to save sinners. So listen God justice does not deter him from keeping his promise By grace all of Jacob children received the promise of being numbered among God people By grace, God chooses to use the vehicle of this family as the means of giving the nations the promised conquering seed.

And by grace, God rescues us. God rescues us by that promise people who are also what? Unstable violent worldly treacherous, compromised abusive right? He uses Jesus to save us what can we learn from the blessings given to Jacob's sons. Believe that the grace of God's promise does not deter his justice. God does not change.

He still remains just. But be assured of this, that God's justice will not keep him from fulfilling his promise. He's both. In Jesus, both come together. he can look with mercy on you and give you all good things that he's promised if you trust in the one who has met the demands of justice. What does the word of God say? What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also graciously give us all things? see God can still graciously give you all things why? because Jesus met the demands of his justice and that justice now works for you accomplishing righteousness in you so that he fulfills the promise of a holy people a nation belonging to God so always remember this God's promise does not deter his justice nor does his justice deter his promise only God can work them both Father thank you for your word help us now as we come to this table to remember the demands of your justice and yet the one who those demands. God of heaven, as we come to this table, remind us again.

Remind us. Make it clear to us. Implant upon our hearts these truths. That the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished it all. And that those who flee to him will find a God who looks upon them with favor. But who also will work righteousness in them.

Thank you for your word today. Thank you for the preaching of this table now before us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.