Politics and Promise

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Genesis chapter 47. The last time we were here we saw how God had brought Joseph's family to Egypt, how everything is settled in that land, how after talking to Pharaoh, So, they're settled in a very good place. And now we pick this story up again in verse 13 of chapter 47. We'll read to the end of the chapter.

Genesis 47, beginning in verse 13. Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, So that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, And Joseph said, Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone. And Joseph answered, Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone. So they brought their livestock to Joseph.

And Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, We will not hide from my Lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my Lord's. There's nothing left in the sight of my Lord but our bodies and our land.

Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. 1 Peter 2 Peter 3 Peter 4 Peter 5 Peter 6 Peter 7 Peter 8 Peter 9 10 Because the famine was severe on them the land became Pharaoh As for the people he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other Only the land of the priests he did not buy for the priest had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on that allowance that Pharaoh gave them.

Therefore, they did not sell their land. Then Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. And at the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field, and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.

And they said, You have saved our lives. May it please my Lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh. So Joseph made it a statue concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day that Pharaoh should have the fifth. The land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's. Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they gained possession in it and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, so that the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years. And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers.

Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place. He answered, I will do as you have said. And he said, Swear to me. And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed. Let's pray.

Lord God, open this text to us now that we might see the greatness of you and of our Lord Jesus. Help us, Father, to see the message you have for us here. And having heard it, live in light of it. Help us now, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. I imagine that most of you have an undying interest in political and economic theory.

Who wouldn want to read On Politics A History of Political Thought from Herodotus to Present in two volumes I sure most of you have on your shelves the political theory of possessive individualism Hobbes to Locke and of course my all-time favorite, what's wrong with Keynesian economic theory. Right? Or am I wrong? Your interest in such books probably matches your interest in the passage we just read.

This text seems to be nothing more than a description of starvation and destitution, economic policy, government programs, and the accumulation of power. Actually, this is a narrative about God's promise and God's faithfulness that he made to Abraham in that covenant. Again, I don't believe this is reading into this passage. I think this is following the theme of the entire book of Genesis.

Now, if we're going to understand this passage, we need to consider the original audience. One of the things you need to understand is when you're reading a passage of Scripture, you have to ask yourself, who's being addressed? What did it mean to them? And as you read this passage, you need to consider who the original audience was. Who were the people who first heard this?

They were the Israelites who had just left Egypt in light of the ten plagues and were marching to Canaan. They had been starving because of Pharaoh's economic policy, suffering and destitute because of a government building program, and all of it because of Pharaoh's unlimited power. But in this story, the narrative turns their experience on its head.

It is the Egyptians who are destitute and starving, while Israel is prosperous. And it is one of their own people, Joseph, who has enslaved the Egyptians. You see, the point of it is, they can have hope because God, in the past, did marvelous things on their behalf in keeping with his promises. And if he was that way back then, he'll be that way now. As I look back on this they can have hope Now as you survey the faithfulness of God you too can have hope The idea is if God been faithful to his promises then you too can have hope You can have hope because you can count on God remaining faithful to the promises he has made, and that he will accomplish them.

So how can you gain hope? Well, you can believe you will reap the benefits of the promise. Verses 13-27 in our texts. And then believe, you can believe in the certainty of the promise. Verses 28-31. So in this text, you find, first of all, believe that you will reap the benefits of God's promise.

Again, verses 13-27. Now I'm not going to re-read the whole chapter, you'll just have to read it as I talk to you, alright? But in verses 13 through 27, you find, believe that you will reap the benefits of the promise. The narrator shifts our attention now from Joseph's family to the entire nation of Egypt. The famine has been raging in Egypt and Canaan for a few years now, and things are getting desperate.

Things have gotten worse in Canaan since Jacob's family left. It also appears that Egypt's ability to produce food has ended. And the only food left are the government reserves that Joseph has accumulated. So, the people now approach the food czar, Joseph, in order to get food. And he sells it to them. Now, notice that the money is also collected from Canaan.

Historically, Canaan is kind of in Egypt's sphere of influence. Egypt has great influence in Canaan, so they're also collecting the money from Canaan. But it's gotten so desperate that the people are coming and say, we need food. And the wisdom of Joseph, on account of his dreams, serves to enrich his boss, Pharaoh. The next year dawns with heat and drought and no harvest, and the nation, or at least its representatives, approaches Joseph again for food.

We have no cash, all the money is gone, and we're starving to death. What good is it? To rule a nation of dead people. So Joseph suggests, all right, you're out of money, I'll take the livestock in payment for the food. And the Egyptians surrender all their livestock. A third year comes, and they've consumed last year's provisions.

And once more, the people approach the prime minister, who controls those massive grain stores, and they make their appeal. Here's the honest truth. We have no money, our livestock is gone, and we are on the precipice of death. We have nothing left but our bodies and our land. And so we offer them to you. Buy our land, buy us, so that we can have food and grain for planting.

Now something like this is not unusual. In the ancient world, if you were in debt, or if you were in debt, you couldn't repay it, what you would do is to sell yourself. You would sell yourself in order to pay off the debt or to offer yourself as collateral for the debt. On an individual basis, that's what you could do. On a national basis, this is what they're doing.

We have no money, we have no livestock, we have nothing to offer. We offer ourselves and our land. And Joseph accepts those terms and he enriches his king again, this time with land and people. Only the priests and their land were exempt from ownership. Now Joseph puts one condition on them. He says you must pay a 20% royal tax on all harvests that you have.

The rest is yours to feed yourself and your families. Now that seems like a lot to us. But actually, that's really reasonable by ancient standards. He could have said, you pay us and we'll give you 20% back to live on. In fact, he's so generous that the people notice in verse 25 of this chapter, what do they do? In verse 25 they say, and they said, you have saved our lives.

May it please my Lord, we be servants to Pharaoh They don see Joseph here as tyrannical for demanding 20 royal tax They see him as their savior Joseph is being incredibly reasonable and kind in what he says But notice as well that there is another group of people who are not starving, who retain possession of their land and their freedom, and who also prosper in it. Verse 27. Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt and the land of Goshen, and they gained possession in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

Isn't that interesting? Evidently they have the connection that allows them access to food in the midst of the famine without the drastic measures required of the Egyptians. They also gained possessions, and instead of barely hanging on to life, Instead of barely hanging on to life, they are fruitful and they multiply. And in contrast to the Egyptians, you find here a people who are independent, prosperous, and growing.

Now, what you need to see that's happening here is that everyone reaps the benefits of God's promises. Turn back to Genesis 12 again. Bedrock to our understanding of Genesis. Genesis chapter 12, the first mention of the Abrahamic covenant. Genesis 12, begin reading in verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And then you drop down to verse 7, and to your offspring I will give this land, meaning the land of Canaan.

So here are the promises of God. God promises to make a great nation of Abraham's descendants. And you see him faithfully fulfilling that promise here. What are they doing? They're fruitful. They multiplying Jacob family reaps the benefits of God promise They multiply They are becoming a great nation Not only that but those who honor his people right Those who honor Abraham those who honor his people will be blessed And this people, God's people, will be a vehicle of blessing to the nations.

Pharaoh had honored Joseph, and as a result, he reaps the benefit of God's promise. He becomes the undisputed prosperous leader of a great nation. He honored God's people. God honored him. The people of Egypt have also reaped the benefit of God's promise. They have food.

The Egyptians benefit just because they have God's people among them. Because God's people are among them and Joseph is in charge and God has blessed Pharaoh for blessing his people, They have food. Wait a minute. Some of you may argue. Do you remember the scripture reading from today that we just heard a few minutes ago? And besides, you started this morning talking about the Israelites as persecuted slaves.

That's absolutely right. But you always have to have the long view of God's promises as well. Even when it looks like God has forgotten his promise, has he? Even when it looks like he's forgotten, Has he forgotten? He will always keep his promise even though at the moment it looks like he's not anywhere on the scene and isn't being faithful to his promise.

He will keep his promise. Now from our reading this morning, here's what we read. And the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came to God. And God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew.

What did he remember? His covenant. The promises that he had made. And what did God do in response to the Egyptians' mistreatment of his people if we look ahead in our history? What happened? There were 10 plagues and the annihilation of Pharaoh's army.

God keeps his promises. Now, God has not changed. God has not changed. The world around us reaps the benefits of God promises because we God people are among them Now let's keep that in mind. The world even reaps benefits. Why?

Because we're in the world. Now, I've talked to almost all of you about your jobs and what's going on, and some of you have mentioned to me that you can't believe, If your company is still in business because of the boneheaded decisions that the owners are making of the company, you say, look, they do this, they do this, it's like crazy, they do that, we're going to lose business because of this. I mean, it's nuts.

I don't even know why we're still in business. And I say to them, well, could it be that they're still in business because you're working there? Because God has promised that if you seek his kingdom, he'll provide everything that you need. And maybe he's just keeping your company alive with your boneheaded owners because you're there and he has to provide for you because he promised that.

And so they're reaping the benefits. They're still in business. That's entirely possible. All right? Just because you're there, God keeps the company running. Look at Matthew 5 for a moment.

Matthew chapter 5. How else is the world benefiting because of the presence of God's people? In Matthew chapter 5, verse 13, you read this. You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under God's feet.

In this warning, there is something that you have to see. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Verse 14. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

You know, we're salt and light in this world, and the world is not as bad as it could be because of the presence of God's people. We're salt that keeps our culture free. At least from not degenerating as fast as it could. And we're light, pointing people to God. And so the point I'm trying to make simply is this. They're reaping the benefits.

It's not as bad as it could be without the people of God in its midst. Well, what about our suffering? You know, we're suffering. Not so much in this country, but Christians all over the world are suffering. And we are starting to be marginalized. It may turn into suffering that's much harder for us.

I don't know. But what about God's promises then? Well, let's look at some of his promises. Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 for a moment. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. I remember studying this years ago.

It was in the first couple of years of my ministry here. And how I was struck by this. Here's a promise from God to those who suffer for his name. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. I want you to follow with me as I start reading in verse 3. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the inflictions that you are enduring. Paul has left Thessalonica, and when he left, they came under increased and intense persecution. And so he's writing to them, and here's what he says. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering.

Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. So God says, those who afflict you, I will afflict. That's a promise from God. But when is he going to do it? Let's keep reading. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed To this end we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ Now it may seem unusual to us to hear these words, but God says you can endure because I promised one thing that those who afflict you I will take vengeance on.

Unless of course they come to Christ. But if they do not, they do not obey the gospel, they will face judgment because they have persecuted you. Long view of the promise. That's what God promises. Even in our suffering. And lastly, the world benefits the most as we hold out the promise of the seed that he promised way back in Genesis chapter 3.

And the seed that he says in Genesis 12 will bless the nations. The world benefits because they have a people who hold out to them the one hope that they have of escaping the judgment of God in Jesus Christ. They have the hope of a better life in Christ as we hold out to them this seed, this Savior. So God has not changed. He keeps His promises. And you can have hope as you believe that you will reap the benefits of God's promises.

Now, what else do we learn from this chapter? Verses 28-31, believe in the certainty of those promises. Believe in the certainty of the promise. I'll read this, verse 28, And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years. And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me.

Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place. He answered, I will do as you have said. And he said, Swear to me. And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed Now the camera fades out from the scene of people in the palace begging for food and opens in a private residence and a private conversation between Joseph and his father Jacob They're making funeral arrangements of all things.

And Jacob seeks to convince his son that he should bury him in Canaan, not in Egypt. His present residence. He says, please, do not bury my body in Egypt, but take it to Machpelah, where Abraham and Isaac were buried. Earlier we see that they were buried in this place called Machpelah. And Joseph says, okay, Dad, I promise we'll bury you in Machpelah. And Jacob says, I mean it.

Promise that you'll do it. Put your hand under my thigh and swear it. Now, in our culture, if you make an oath, you put your hand on a Bible, which speaks of the importance of telling the truth, of keeping a promise. At all our inaugurations, for example, a president takes the oath of office on a Bible. That's to show how inviolable that oath is. Now again, today, no one knows the significance of the hand under the thigh kind of swearing.

I don't know of anybody who's figured that out yet. But it does communicate something. It communicates, this is serious. You've got to promise me. So put your hand under my thigh and swear that oath. So Joseph swears the most solemn pledge he could that he would take Jacob's body and bury it in Canaan.

And Jacob, because he's too feeble to prostrate himself to the ground, bows upon the head of the bed in worship to God. Now what you find here is Jacob's certain that God will promise a land to his descendants. He so believes in the certainty of that promise that his heart is in that land. Now look I grew up in a little town called Merton Wisconsin Okay A town about half the size of LaRue And I left my hometown when I was 18 years old never to go back there and live again Okay?

I'll never go back there to live again. In fact, I've lived, wow, I've lived most of my life here. In LaRue. I did the calculations today. It's been 57% of my life, I think. Maybe more.

Yeah. Something like that. Okay? I've lived most of my life here. But what would you think if I told Becca and my kids, when I die, promise me that you will take my body and bury it in the little cemetery that's just north of town, Of the town of Merton where I grew up. What would you think?

What would you think? You would think that my loyalty, my home, what I really considered home was Wisconsin. Okay? You would think that my real home was in Wisconsin. If I said, bury me there. Well, that's the point here.

That's the point. Jacob says, that's my home. That is where God's going to fulfill his promise. Right? It's my home because I am certain that God will fulfill his promise of giving us that inheritance. Remember, he was just a nomad in that land.

He didn't own any land. The most that family owned, get this, the most that family owned was a burial plot in Melk, in that little town. That's the most that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob owned. But he was convinced that God would give them that land and that was his home. He believes in the certainty of God's promise so much so that he makes death a statement of the faithfulness of God.

Now, do you believe in the certainty of God's promises? Do you live life believing that God is faithful to his promises? Do you make decisions and live in such a way that says, I truly believe that God will do what he has promised? I was talking to one of you this week. Do you live with the certainty of the future in mind now? You say, well, what do you mean?

Well, let me give you a couple of examples. As you look at the cultural disintegration and the political chaos all around you, do you lose hope or do you stand for Christ knowing that a new day approaches? Do you still remain faithful to him when it looks like it's going to get worse? Listen to Philippians chapter 3 verse 18 through chapter 4 verse 1.

Philippians 3 18 to 4 1. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things. That is a perfect description of the culture that we live in. It's a perfect description of it, right?

They glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things. But, he says, our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

What's he saying? In a culture that's disintegrating all around you, and it's getting hard for you, stand firm. Why? Why? Because our citizenship is in heaven, and there's a Savior who will appear from there, and He will set all things right. He will change us completely.

And so in light of that you stand firm When it starts getting really hard you stand firm Why Because you know there something coming You certain of that You know Jesus is returning. Alright? Here's another one. What about those times when your job seems so hard, your boss is unresponsive, and the drudgery is unbearable, and they pay so little? What about then?

How does living for the future help you then? Well, listen to Colossians 3, 22-25. Bond servants, slaves, which is what most of you feel like. Bond servants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.

You are serving the Lord Christ, for the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. What are the problems? What do you do when your work is unbearable? Right? And God says, don't just work for your boss when he has his eye on you. You do your best every single day.

Why? Because you know what? He says, you workers have an inheritance from the Lord. Have you ever thought about that? You have an inheritance from the Lord. He sees the everyday workers and says to them, you do your best at your job because why?

You will receive from the Lord this inheritance as your reward. And not only that, again, God sees who's afflicting you and he will deal with that. No one is going to get away with exploiting anyone because God promises that's not going to happen. You see even the drudgery of your everyday life where no one seems to appreciate you and you don get paid what you worth right Even then the future should help you make decisions now You know what Jesus believed in the certainty of God's promises, and he conquered by faith.

Never forget Hebrews chapter 12, where it says, Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before him endured this cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. He says, look to Jesus.

You know why? Because he lived by faith. There was joy set before him. You know, even today in Sunday school, we talked a little bit about Gethsemane, where Jesus is crying out, Lord, if there's any other way, let's do that, but not my will, but your will. And the question is, how did he make it through? How did he make it through the agony of Gethsemane?

Right? And then the crucifixion. It says here that, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. You know how he handled it? There was something better on the other side. God had promised him, I'm going to raise you from the dead.

I'm going to exalt you to the highest place in the universe. And when you go through this, that's what's waiting for you. And Jesus believed his father. Jesus had to exercise faith. Jesus made his decisions based on the future. You can be certain of God's promises in Romans 8.

It says, He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, How will he not also along with him give us all things? How do you know God's going to keep his promises for you? Because he sacrificed his son for you. There's the guarantee. If he going to sacrifice his son you can count on him giving you everything that you need Are you certain of the promises of God In the long run, God keeps His promises, and in that you find hope.

You must believe that you will reap the benefits of God's promises. Jesus reaped the benefits. A glorious throne, a glorious name, because in His suffering, He believed His Father. Father, do you believe the promises given in Christ and that God will give you what he's promised? You have to live and think and gain your hope in light of the promises of God.

Our Father delivered over his Son in order to guarantee that he would fulfill every promise. Father, thank you for your word. Most of all, we thank you for the promises we find in that word. We see before us this morning a living example of how your people reap the benefits of your promises. We've even seen how those who hate you reap the benefits of the promises made to your people.

We've seen, Lord, how your promises are certain, and that we ought to live in light of that certainty. Lord, I pray that this week, when many of your people sitting here today face what appears to be unbearable circumstances, that they would remember that you are a covenant-keeping God, And that you will fulfill all the promises you've made to them, even when it seems in the circumstances in which we find ourselves that you have forgotten. Again, remind us by this example that we've read that you will remain faithful.

Give us hope, we pray, by your promises. In Jesus' name, Amen.