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Genesis 48:

Reading #155  The Son of God

Last week we saw how Jacob settled the arrangements for his burial, but now we read of other events that transpired in the time just before he died.

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Genesis 48:

1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick”: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

2 And one told Jacob, and said, “Behold, your son Joseph comes to you”: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

3 And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people; and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession’.” [Genesis 35:11].

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Before carrying on with our Genesis record we could profitably look at the title “God Almighty”, following the thought given to Moses during the exodus two hundred years later.  As the people grew in numbers so they correspondingly moved away from the understanding of God’s way and had to have more and more simple explanations given to them.  In Moses’ time they needed a great change in ritual and understanding to make many details clear.

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Exodus 6:

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now shall you see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.” 2 And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, “I am the LORD: 3 and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty [El Shaddai], but by My name JEHOVAH [sometimes pronounced YAHWEH, both of which mean the self-existent One] was I not known to [or appreciated by] them.”

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followed by

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Isaiah 9:

6 For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called “Wonderful”, “Counsellor”, “THE MIGHTY GOD”, “The everlasting Father”, “The Prince of Peace.”

7 Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David [on earth], and upon His kingdom [in heaven], to order it [settle the controversy], and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever [into eternity]. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

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By these two texts we see that the “Almighty God” whom Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knew was indeed the Son of God, the only One who could be seen by humanity, and whom we know today as Jesus the Christ.  See John 8:56-59.  What we should also see is that they had all the information they needed to understand God’s “way” at that time.

The name “Jehovah” [literally YHWH and sometimes pronounced as Yahweh] was held in such awe by the Hebrews that they eventually came to where they simply said the word for “LORD” [“Adonay”] in its place because they feared its power.

“I was not known to them” does not mean that the patriarchs were unfamiliar with name of the LORD, since the following verses show otherwise.

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Genesis 12:

8 And he [Abram] removed from there to a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he built an altar to the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. 

Genesis 15:  

1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.” 2 And Abram said, “LORD GOD, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?”

Genesis 24:

2 And Abraham said to his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, “Put, I pray you, your hand under my thigh: 3 and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell…”

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It simply means that the Son of God had not needed to reveal the full meaning of His covenant name to Abraham and his forebears.  It had been enough that they should understand Him as the only true and living God, El Shaddai, and not one among many as the heathen did.  Deuteronomy 6:4. But now He was adding to this knowledge.

Consider also Exodus 3:13-14, for all of God’s names show aspects of His character, but this one is the foundation of them all.

What does all this mean to us today?

It was the nature of the Son of God that was revealed to Moses and the people leaving Egypt.  Jesus had life in Himself, He was NOT a created being exercising someone else’s power, and they needed to know this.  As Eve had come forth from Adam and was NOT created separately, so the Son of God came forth from His Father.  Jesus says of Himself,

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Proverbs 8:

22 “The LORD possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. 23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was [before there was a universe]. 24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth [from the person of God]; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth…”

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and the apostle John tell us in his gospel,

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John 1:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the Light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not…

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth…

18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, WHICH IS IN THE BOSOM OF THE FATHER, He has declared Him.

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It was this that formed the basis of the dispute between the angel Lucifer and the Son of God.  Both Jesus and Lucifer (Ezekiel 28:14) are shown as “covering cherubs” in God’s earthly picture of heaven’s working place, the sanctuary built in Moses’ time.  (See Hebrews 8:5.)

Moses was told,

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Exodus 25:

18 And you shall make two cherubims [a class of angels] of gold, of beaten work shall you make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat [a picture of God’s throne]. 19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. 20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. 

21 And you shall put the mercy seat above upon the ark [as the lid of the box]; and in the ark you shall put the testimony [the Ten Commandments] that I shall give you. 22 And there [in front of the box] I will meet with you, and I will commune [talk] with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

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And that’s how it was in heaven.  Because the Son of God looked and acted exactly as any angel did, with the notable exception that He would sometimes walk into the immediate presence of God the Father which was indicated by a bright light sitting on a throne, everyone accepted Him as an angel.  e.g. See Genesis 22:15-16. However, one day Lucifer endeavoured to walk into God’s presence and found that he could not.  It was the gap that separates Creator from creature that stopped him, but he did not know that and assumed that God was forcibly restraining him from approaching.  This made him very jealous of his partner cherub and caused him to accuse God of favouritism.  God settled the matter by giving His word that there was no favouritism and that indeed the “other” angel was His only-begotten Son (which is why He could approach the bright light), but this was not accepted by many of the angels.

After a long “war of words”, they then left heaven permanently and came to earth where they felt comfortable.  Revelation 12:12.

In this way the contest continued on earth and eventually the Son of God became also the Son of man.  In this position He looked and acted completely as a man.  He told us, “Of Myself I can do nothing,” because of this restriction. (John 8:28.) He had not ceased to be the Son of God, He simply did not use His own power from birth to Calvary to help His humanity.  BUT, after passing into Satan’s prison house He demonstrated beyond a doubt that He had an ability beyond any other human being.  He could walk out again in His own strength!!  He was “the self-existent One.”

In an explanation of this portion of the contest, Paul wrote to the Jews who had become Christians.

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Hebrews 1:

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers [different] manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days [of Jewry] spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds [the universe].

3 Who being the brightness of His glory [character], and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins [at Calvary], sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 being made [identified as, or proved to be] so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance [God calling Him “Son”] obtained a more excellent name than they. 

5 For to which of the angels said He at any time, “You are My Son, this day have I begotten you?”

And again, “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?

6 And again, when He brings in the firstbegotten [and only begotten, John 1:14] into the world [in humanity], He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” [which can only be said of a God, Exodus 20:1-5.] 

7 And of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels spirits [spiritual helpers], and His ministers a flame of fire [great encouragers].” 8 But to the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre [symbol of authority] of Your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows [because You can do so much for them].

10 And, “You, LORD, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Your hands. [Colossians 1:15-17]  11 They shall perish; but You remain; and they all shall wax old as does a garment; 12 and as a vesture shall You fold them up, and they shall be changed: but You are the same, and Your years shall not fail [You live forever].”

13 But to which of the angels said He at any time, “Sit on My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool?” 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? [In chapter two Paul described how exactly Jesus was also a man.]

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After Calvary Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome and told them that it was a basic teaching of the apostles that Jesus came forth from the grave by the power that He had within Him.  That He did NOT rely on His Father’s power. 

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Romans 1:

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, 2 (which He had promised afore by His prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our LORD, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4 and declared to be the Son of God WITH POWER, according to the spirit of holiness, BY THE RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD…

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It is this power that separates Him from every creature in the universe, and it is this that allows Him to be our Saviour.  He was the only one who could separate from His Father by going into death, and then come back from it!  What a pity that many of the so-called gospels of today ignore this point!  He is the only One who can take our “death” from sin, and contain it, while giving us a portion of His life in exchange.

When Martha was told that her brother Lazarus would rise again, she answered, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day,” but Jesus meant to resurrect him in a few minutes and wanted her to appreciate what, and how, He was going to do it.  John 11:24.  Still seeking to give a true direction to her faith, Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection, and the life.”  Verse 25. 

In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived.  And, “He that has the Son has life,” we are told. 1 John 5:12. The divinity of Christ (and therefore His immortality) is the believer's assurance of eternal life. “He that believes in Me,” said Jesus, “though he were dead, yet shall he live [come up from the grave]: and whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die [go down into the grave]. Believe you this?” Verse 26.  All Christ had to do was call to His divine life which He had given to Lazarus when he became a Christian and it would respond.

Christ here also looked forward to the time of His second coming. Then the righteous dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the living righteous shall be translated to heaven without seeing death, by virtue of the power of the divine “life” within them.  1 Corinthians 15:51-52. He who Himself was soon to die upon the cross stood in front of Martha with the keys of death in His hand, a conqueror of the grave, and asserted His right and power to give eternal life. 

It was this truth that He was unfolding to Moses in our quote from Exodus.  It is this truth that we all need to know in a practical way today so that the second part of Christ’s statement may come true.

Back to our story next week,

RonP

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