Genesis 50 - Finish What You Started
Well, good evening. Most of you are awake. All right, we’re gonna get there. I’m still on Israel time—my world is jacked! I just got back from leading a tour with Brad, along with 42 of our fellow Wellians who got to go over there. My body still thinks it’s like three in the morning, and I had coffee at five in the afternoon, which I never do. Hopefully, my body can figure out that I need to stay awake for the next forty-five minutes.
We had a great trip over there. Many of you have been on that trip, and many of you need to go. I highly encourage you, if you haven’t been over to Israel with us, it’s an amazing place. A friend of mine on the trip said, “You know what, none of the truths in my Bible changed, but it went from black and white to color. I just saw things that I’ve never seen before.” Put it on your bucket list. Lord willing, we’re going back in 2023, and we would love to take you with us.
The Grand Finale of Genesis
Tonight, I want to invite you to turn for the last time to Genesis chapter 50. I say the last time—hopefully not the last time we ever teach from it, but the last time we’re in the book of Genesis for a while. We are going to tie a bow on this series tonight. I counted up 39 messages in the book of Genesis; we have spent a year and two weeks studying this book. Kudos to you guys! I am so impressed with this church. One of the things I love about y’all is you’re not afraid to put the hammer down, open up a book with 50 chapters, and say, “Absolutely. We love the Word of God because it points us to the God of the Word.” We want to know more about it because it teaches us about the character and nature of the God we worship.
We have a significant twofold task tonight. One is to tie a bow on chapter 50—to watch the season of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and now Joseph) come to a conclusion. These upper and lower stories that we’ve been talking about, how God works in the everyday while acting behind the scenes, all come to a conclusion here. But we also need to wrap the entire series. Why is this book here? Why did Moses pen these 50 chapters, and why do we read it thousands of years later to be edified and reminded?
By way of reminder, last week we saw the death of Jacob. We saw his parting words and final blessings to his sons as he gave his swan song. Now Joseph is the last patriarch still alive. Just like his dad Jacob, who left this world clinging to the promises of God, Joseph is going to do the same. Both of these men, as their forefathers did, are going to die in faith.
Jacob was very specific about where he was to be buried. We read his plea to Joseph earlier in Genesis.
Genesis 47:29-30 (NASB)
When the time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, ‘Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.’ And he said, ‘I will do as you have said.’
Jacob told him, “This is not my home. I dwell here, and I’m excited to be here because I got to see you again, Joseph, but ultimately this is not my home.” This was a dying man’s last request. It was so important to Jacob that he made Joseph swear to take his body back home. He reiterated that command on his deathbed.
Genesis 49:29-32 (NASB)
Then he charged them and said to them, ’I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. ‘There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah– the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.’
This idea of where these patriarchs lay their heads for the very last time is an incredibly important concept. To be “gathered to your people” meant being physically in a burial tomb together, but it was much bigger than that. It wasn’t just about proximity, like buying cemetery plots next to loved ones today. It was a statement about where they placed their hope. All of these men died saying their lives were attached to the promises of God. They believed God would be faithful to what He said, even though they hadn’t seen those promises completely fulfilled in their lifetimes.
Abraham received promises that extended to Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. None of them saw the total fulfillment of the land, the seed, and the blessing. Yet all of them died in faith, believing God would bring those things to fruition. That’s why they insisted on being buried in the land of Canaan.
Honoring a Patriarch
In Genesis 50, Joseph is mourning the passing of his father.
Genesis 50:1-3 (NASB)
Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him. Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. Now forty days were required for it, for such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
Joseph did what was normative in that culture: he had his father embalmed to preserve him. Notice that it wasn’t just the Hebrews who mourned Jacob; the Egyptians mourned him too. They wept for him for seventy days. The official period of mourning for a Pharaoh was seventy-two days! That speaks volumes about Joseph’s stature and relationship in that community. Pharaoh effectively said, “This is your patriarch. We will mourn him because of who he is and who you are to us.”
Joseph then asked Pharaoh for permission to honor his father’s final wish.
Genesis 50:4-6 (NASB)
When the days of mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, ’If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh, saying, ’My father made me swear, saying, ‘Behold, I am about to die; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.’ Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.‘’ Pharaoh said, ‘Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.’
Notice how tactfully Joseph approached Pharaoh. He left out the part where Jacob said, “Don’t bury me in Egypt; I don’t want to be here.” Instead, he framed it around honoring a sacred oath made to a dying father. Pharaoh immediately granted the request.
Genesis 50:7-9 (NASB)
So Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household; they left only their little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen. There also went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.
To my knowledge, there is not a bigger, more grandiose description of a funeral in all of Scripture. Pharaoh sent his delegates, heads of state, and the most important people in his kingdom to accompany the family back to Canaan to honor Jacob. The sons left only their little ones and livestock in Goshen because they were returning. Jacob’s story encompasses half the book of Genesis, and here we see a fitting, honorable tribute to his life.
Genesis 50:12-14 (NASB)
Thus his sons did for him as he had charged them; for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field for a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
They buried Jacob in the cave of Machpelah—the very plot Abraham purchased generations earlier—and then returned to Egypt.
Unfathomable Grace and Forgiveness
Even in the midst of a faithful celebration, these brothers were grieving. Grief does funny things to us; it sends us into tailspins. With their father gone, the brothers were gripped by fear.
Genesis 50:15-17 (NASB)
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!’ So they sent [a message] to Joseph, saying, ’Your father charged before he died, saying, ’Thus you shall say to Joseph, ‘Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.’’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.’ And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
Joseph’s brothers assumed the worst. They had lived near him for seventeen years in Egypt, yet they panicked. They wondered, “What if this was all a ploy? What if Dad’s presence was the only thing keeping Joseph from taking revenge?” Joseph was second-in-command over all Egypt; he had the power to execute whatever justice he wished. You can hear their lingering guilt. They still hadn’t fully grasped the magnitude of Joseph’s forgiveness.
Genesis 50:18 (NASB)
Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, ‘Behold, we are your servants.’
They threw themselves down and said, “We are your slaves.” They figured they were dead to rights. But they completely misunderstood Joseph’s heart. Joseph really was as good on the inside as he appeared on the outside. Look at how Joseph responded at the end of verse 17: “Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”
Can you imagine extending genuine grace, only to realize the recipients still lived in terror that you were going to retaliate? If the brothers had been in Joseph’s shoes, their flesh probably would have sought payback. Joseph’s heart broke because his forgiveness was authentic. Then he uttered some of the most profound words in all of Genesis.
Genesis 50:19-21 (NASB)
But Joseph said to them, ’Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? ’As for you, you meant evil against me, [but] God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. ‘So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
What an incredible picture of a man who rose above bitterness and resentment. He said, “Do not be afraid. Am I in God’s place?” Joseph had the perspective to recognize that while what his brothers did was genuinely evil, God was working behind the scenes for good to preserve life. Genesis leaves us with this unforgettable picture of Joseph: a man of unfathomable grace.
Joseph’s Final Hope
As the book comes to a close, Moses records Joseph’s final days.
Genesis 50:22-26 (NASB)
Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees. Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.’ Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, ‘God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.’ So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.
Just like his father, Joseph died clinging to God’s promise. He made his brothers swear, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” He knew Egypt was not their final resting place. Four hundred and thirty years later, Moses honored that exact promise.
Exodus 13:19 (NASB)
Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, ‘God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you.’
When Israel marched out of Egypt, they carried Joseph’s bones with them, eventually burying him in the promised land. Both Jacob and Joseph ended their lives looking ahead, anchoring their hope in the covenant promises of God.
Three Takeaways from the Book of Genesis
After 39 messages and over a year in this book, why is Genesis here? What does it teach us? Three key truths stand out.
1. God is Faithful to His Promises
Genesis is a book of promises. In Genesis 3:15, right after the fall, God promised that the seed of the woman would deliver a mortal blow to sin, Satan, and death. Later, God promised Abraham a land, a seed, and a blessing that would touch every family on earth. God made and kept those promises so that you and I could sit in this room today and experience the blessing of Abraham.
Throughout the story, human beings constantly put those promises in jeopardy through foolishness and sin—Jacob’s deception, Abraham’s lying, the brothers throwing Joseph into a pit. Yet God worked through and in spite of their brokenness. As an old pastor back in Texas used to say, God can “hit a straight lick with a crooked stick.” What others mean for evil, God orchestrates for good.
2. We Need a Better Deliverer
As you survey the characters of Genesis, repeated failure is everywhere. Adam rebelled in the garden. Noah got off the ark and immediately got drunk. Abraham repeatedly lied about his wife. Isaac followed right in his father’s footsteps. Jacob was a deceiver. The entire cast of characters is a mess.
Genesis proves that humanity cannot produce its own savior. These men were chosen by God, but none of them was the ultimate deliverer promised in Genesis 3:15. Genesis ends by pointing us forward, leaving us longing for the Messiah who would finally come to defeat sin and death forever.
3. We Are Called to Live by Faith
All these patriarchs died in faith without seeing the complete fulfillment of the promises.
Hebrews 11:13 (NASB)
All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
Jacob and Joseph lived in Egypt, but their hearts belonged to the promised land. They lived out Romans 8:28 before it was even written, trusting that God causes all things to work together for good.
In so many ways, these patriarchs are us. We live with promises in our rearview mirror—the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ—and promises yet to be fulfilled in our future. Jesus is physically in heaven right now, preparing a place for us.
John 14:1-3 (NASB)
’Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. ’In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. ’If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, [there] you may be also.
Jesus promised that He will return for His bride. Just like the saints of old, we are called to live in expectant waiting, completely convinced that what God said is true. He has even given us the Holy Spirit as a down payment, guaranteeing our inheritance until the day of redemption.
Walking in Faith Today
As we close the book of Genesis, let’s ask ourselves: will we be found faithful? Flawed and broken as we are, will we trust the promises of God every single day? As the church here in Fresno, California, let’s be men and women who finish what we started, standing firm on His Word and living for His kingdom.
Let’s pray.
Father, thank You for this book. Thank You for preserving these faithful stories where we see so much of ourselves. Help us to model the faith of these men and women—broken people who trusted in a faithful God. By Your grace, empower us to live for Jesus in our culture today. Keep our eyes fixed on Your kingdom. Whether we pass from this life to the next or You return to gather Your church, find us faithful, ministering the gospel and trusting Your promises. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.