Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20060917.htm

THE PREINCARNATE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST
Part VII: Christ's Ministry To Jacob's Seed: Releasing Our Children To Our Timeless, Faithful Lord
(Genesis 48:8-16 et al.)
  1. Introduction
    1. We parents often view the world in which our offspring will enter with great apprehension, for it usually seems to be "less safe and more wicked" than what we had known when we were growing up.
    2. There is one Constant to which parents can cling in hope for their offspring, and Jacob attached himself to that Constant for hope regarding the welfare of his vulnerable young offspring (as follows):
  2. Christ's Ministry To Jacob's Seed: Releasing Our Children To Our Timeless, Faithful Lord.
    1. Near death, Jacob was visited by his son Joseph and his sons, Manasseh and Ephraem, Genesis 48:1, 8-9a.
    2. He accordingly asked Joseph to bring his sons to him that he might bless them, Genesis 48:1, 9b; Jacob then embraced and kissed the little boys as his own (Genesis 48:5-6, 10) before giving them his blessing.
    3. Realizing his time and power to help these children was limited, and that they faced great challenges in the world, Jacob delegated their care to his One Faithful Constant, the Preincarnate Jesus Christ:
      1. Near death, Jacob delegated the care of his beloved grandsons to the God before whom his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, had walked, Genesis 48:15a,b; in its context, this delegation was full of promise:
        1. In Genesis 17:1 before the supernatural conception and then birth of Isaac, God directed Abram to walk before Him and that He would make him a father of many nations (Gen. 17:5).
        2. In Genesis 24:40, Abraham directed his servant that the Angel of the Lord before whom he walked would lead him to find the right spouse for his son, Isaac whom God had given him. We know from past lessons in this series that this Angel of the Lord was the Preincarnate Christ, and that he indeed led this servant to acquire Rebekkah as a wife for Isaac, Abraham's son, cf. Genesis 24:66-67.
        3. Thus, as the God before whom Jacob's forefathers, Abraham and Isaac had walked had promised descendants and blessing for them and spouses for them to that end, Jacob was in turn predicting the same blessings of God would continue to provide for Manasseh and Ephraem, Joseph's little boys.
      2. Near death, Jacob also delegated the care of his beloved grandsons to the God Who had shepherded him all his life until that day, Genesis 48:15c; in its context, this delegation was full of promise:
        1. Genesis 48:15 is the first reference in the Bible to God as a Shepherd, cf. Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Genesis 48:15. In this context, Jacob recalled God's protection from danger while he slept in the open field as he fled from Esau (Gen. 28:10-12), the field where God promised to be with him wherever he went and shepherd him back to the land to bless him and his seed there, Gen. 28:13-15.
        2. Thus, the God Who had protected and provided for Jacob in his life would shepherd his beloved grandsons, Manasseh and Ephraem and their seed as He had shepherded him as a "sheep" in his life!
      3. Near death, Jacob delegated the care of his beloved grandsons to the Angel of the Lord Who had redeemed him from all evil, Genesis 48:16a; in its context, this delegation was full of promise:
        1. The calamity that had threatened Jacob in his life and from which the Angel of the Lord, the Preincarnate Christ, had delivered him, is astounding in breadth and depth: Christ had saved Jacob from a vengeful uncle Laban when he left him for Canaan (Gen. 31); He had saved Jacob from a powerful brother Esau's hatred (Gen. 32-33), from retribution by Canaanites over the unjust slaughter of the men of Shechem by Jacob's sons, Levi and Simeon (Gen. 34:1-35:5), from the loss of Joseph in death by his spiteful brothers (Gen. 37 with Gen. 48:11) and even from the potential destruction of the family as a result of the brothers' treatment of Joseph, Genesis 45:4-9; 50:15-26!
        2. Accordingly, Jacob noted the Preincarnate Christ Who had effectively salvaged his life and family from many calamities would effectively protect the lives and families of his beloved grandsons!
Lesson: Jacob trusted that God Who had kept His covenant with Abraham to provide offspring for himself and a spouse and offspring for son, Isaac to keep that covenant going, then to shepherd Jacob in his vulnerable youth, and to redeem him from all calamities that threatened to undo that covenant, would continue with his beloved grandsons after his death just as it had with the family line until then!

Application: May we delegate the care, shepherding and redeeming power and love of our Lord as directed to past saints and then to ourselves to be with our offspring for all they need for blessing.