Faith Rests in God

This weekend, across our country, citizens will gather to remember those who gave their lives in service to the nation. We honor fallen soldiers because of the sacrifice they gave in defense of their country. When you consider the bravery of those soldiers, you can’t help but wonder what motivated them. Some were perhaps motivated to defend their friends in the platoon. Others may have had a broader motivation, thinking about the importance of the mission, the necessity in taking the hill, the moral imperative of defeating an evil enemy. Still others may have thought of their loved ones back home, or the country they served, and found motivation in that. Whatever the case, it’s clear that one must have a good reason to die well. To give your life in sacrifice to a cause, to die with hopeful outlook, to face death with pride and dignity, you must have your eyes set on something. This morning, I want you to consider this question: what would motivate you to die well? To answer that question, let’s consider Heb. 11:20-22. From this passage I want to consider three points: Faith rests in God’s grace, grasp, and guarantee.

First, understand that faith rests in God’s grace. In these three verses, the writer of Hebrews points to three patriarchs as examples of faith, and in doing so, he gives a very specific way that each exemplified faith. They all exemplified faith in the way that they approached death. Isaac was old and blind when he blessed Jacob. Jacob was on his death bed when he blessed Joseph’s sons. And Joseph made an important final request as he lay dying.  It is important to note that the writer understands faith as a lifelong endeavor. Faith is not something that you have at one moment in time. It is not a single act, like walking the aisle or getting baptized. It is not a transaction, as though I gave God my faith and he gave me salvation. Faith is a lifelong dependence on God’s grace. Faith perseveres to the end. So, all of these men are used as examples of faith because, even in their deaths, they acted in faith.

Another general point that is worth making is the fact that all three of these patriarchs had other marvelous acts of faith. Jacob wrestled with God and reconciled with his brother. Joseph took the abuse of his brothers, suffered faithfully in prison, and trusted the Lord’s visions. But, the writer ignores all of those faithful deeds, and instead only mentions the way these men died. I don’t think this is intended as short-hand or oversight. Rather, I think the writer means to point us to the object of faith. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph may have been great men of faith, but the more important question is where they placed their faith. You see, their faith led them to trust God’s grace, even in death. They hoped in God, that he would fulfill his promises. And because of this, they were able to die well.

The first example of these three faithful elders is that of Isaac. The writer notes that Isaac, acting in faith, invoked future blessings over Jacob and Esau. You can find this original story in Genesis 27:27-29. For the sake of time we won’t read it, but remember that Isaac and Rebekah had twins, Jacob and Esau. We know that Esau came out first, and as was the custom, he should have received the birthright. We also know that the two parents had their favorites – Isaac loved Esau because he was a strong, manly hunter. But, Rebekah loved Jacob. As Isaac aged, he lost his sight and became concerned that he would die, so he directed Esau to go out and kill some game and make his favorite stew so that he might bless him. Rebekah overheard this plan, and so, while Esau was out hunting, she dressed Jacob in goatskin, cooked the stew, and had Jacob pretend to be Esau. As a result, Isaac pronounced the blessing on Jacob instead of Esau. Now, in remembering that story, you might be wondering, “Preacher, where is the faith?” Isaac was tricked, and yet the writer of Hebrews says that he blessed Jacob by faith.

There are two important answers to that problem. First, as we saw with Sarah, faith doesn’t have to be strong to be effective. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be saving. And, the person acting on faith can be full of sin, motivated by all sorts of conflicting desires, and still have saving faith in God’s grace. Isaac wanted to bless Esau, in spite of God’s promise at their birth that the older would serve the younger. Isaac played favorites with his children and drove a wedge of division that would last for decades. And yet, he still had faith that God would carry on the blessing Abraham had received through him and to his son.

Second, the blessing that Isaac gives to Jacob isn’t just some well-wish or a list of platitudes. The blessing is an irrevocable, covenantal promise that extends the blessings of Abraham. If you read Genesis 27:28 and 29 you’ll find that the blessing of Isaac echoes the very things that God promised Abraham in Genesis 12 – that he would receive a blessing, be a blessing, and spread God’s blessing throughout the world. Isaac acted in faith, even though he could no longer see. He trusted that God would continue his promises through his son.

The second point I want you to see is that faith rests in God’s grasp. In verse 21, the writer notes that Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph. This story comes from Genesis 48, after Jacob has been reconciled with Joseph. As he approaches death, he calls all his sons to him and offers blessings to each. But, with Joseph, there is a technicality that could create a problem for the lineage. Joseph had two sons by an Egyptian woman. Even before the time of Moses, there was bad blood between the Hebrews and the Egyptians. That bad blood goes all the way back to Genesis 9, where we read that Noah, after the flood, planted a vineyard, made wine, and got drunk. In his drunkenness, he was laid out naked in his tent, and his son Ham acted perversely against him. As a result, Noah pronounced a curse on Ham’s descendants. One of the descendants was a son named Egypt. This racial division between the Hebrews and Egypt went both ways, and it was strong. So, does this mean that Joseph’s sons are outside of the covenant blessings of Abraham? Does this mean that the line of Joseph is a dead branch? Is God going to accept people into the covenant who aren’t genetically true-blooded Hebrew? Jacob definitively answers that question by faithfully blessing the sons of Joseph. And, he doesn’t just accept them into the family. He doesn’t just extend his well wishes to them. In his blessing, he goes so far as to name the very tract of land that they will inherit. Oh, brothers and sisters, this is good news for us today. God’s reach, his grasp, extends into all the world. He has not closed off his covenant of grace to only those who are pure blooded Israelites. His covenant is for all people. His love is for all the world. The saving work of his son is for whosoever will.

Finally, see that faith rests in God’s guarantee. In verse 22 we get this strange note about Joseph. At the end of his life, he prophesied that the Israelites would be led out of Egypt, and then he gave instructions about his bones. In Genesis 50:25 it says that Joseph made the sons of Israel swear that when God leads them out of Egypt, they would carry his bones into the promised land with them. Then, in Exodus 13:19, after the 10^th plague, in which the Pharoah relinquished to let Israel go, we have this brief note: “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear.” So, why is this the thing that proves the faith of Joseph, of all the wonderful deeds that he did? Why is this quirky little thing about the care of his bones so important? It’s important because it shows that Joseph believed that God’s promises to him were guaranteed, even beyond his own death. He believed that God would bless his descendants. He believed that they would inherit the promised land. He believed that God would provide a sacrifice for sin through the Messiah. And, he believed that one day, God would raise the dead. So, he made Israel swear that they would care for his bones, looking forward to that resurrection when his life would be restored in a new, spiritual body.

Friend, this may be a difficult fact to face, but understand that death is coming. It comes for us all. It may be knocking at the door, or it may be many years away, but it will come, nonetheless. I ask again this question: what would motivate you to die well? Can you die with hope? Or, is death a dread and terror to you? You can have the hope to face death through Jesus Christ. He has defeated death through his resurrection, and he has promised that he will bring that new life for us as well. Won’t you trust him today?

Brothers and sisters, our only hope in life and death is that we are in Christ. We have the hope of his grace, that he loves us and has promised to save us. We have the hope of his grasp, that we are a part of his covenant through faith. And, we have the hope of his guarantee, that he will be faithful to his promise to bring about our resurrection.