Aid of God

DEVOTION

GENESIS

AID OF GOD

Gen 50:22-26

22 Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father's family. He lived a hundred and ten years 23 and saw the third generation of Ephraim's children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph's knees.   24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." 25 And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place." 26 So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

NIV

We have come to the end of the life of Joseph. We have seen so much to learn from him. Once again even in his last words to his family he gives us one last lesson. First it is interesting that his sons, sons are counted has his. That is the meaning of the phrase, placed on his knees. Although we are told he speaks to his brothers, the original word here is used in the widest applications and thus it could imply his brethren, his fellow Hebrews, all the descendants of Israel that came down into Egypt during the famine. His actual brothers may or may not be alive as Joseph was the second to the youngest of all of them. Nevertheless our lesson is not in this fact, but in his words. He affirmed to them God would surely come to their aid and take them up out of Egypt to the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the land he promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is interesting that Joseph used the words, “come to your aid”. They were living the good life at this point. They were given the land of Goshen, the best part of Egypt, the fertile area to pasture their flocks. They had food and water and were living under the protection of Joseph through the grace of Pharaoh. Why would God have to give them aid? Could they not just pack up anytime they wanted and travel back to their promised land? It is evident his words were prophetic in nature as some hundreds of years later they would need the aid of God to bring them out of Egypt. But our lesson is in those same words and carry the same meaning. We are in a land that is not ours. We need the aid of God to bring us out from this land into the Promised Land, the kingdom of heaven. We cannot just pack up and travel there on our own.

1 Cor 15:50-57

50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."  

55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"  

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

No, we need the aid of the Lord God to take us out of this land.  Just as he sent Moses to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt and take them to the Promised Land, he sent Jesus to bring us out of this land and take us to the ultimate Promised Land. We can see this in two ways. First in our life on this earth and second at the moment of our death. Because of Jesus we can be carried out of the life of sin and death, from the city of darkness that we once lived in. He brings us into the light of God. Although we are still on the same earth, we actually live in a different world. But as in the sense the children of Israel were trapped in Egypt, we are trapped in this world, in our bodies. Because of Jesus, we can and we will be brought out of this place and be lead into the Promised Land, the new city of Jerusalem. We will see other lessons looking forward watching the children of Israel's rebellion against Moses, wanting, wishing they were still back in Egypt because the journey is too difficult. Enough said, we will get to that lesson later. But let us keep our eyes on Jesus. On the truth that he is our aid, he has come to take us out of here and bring us to the place he has promised us. Jesus is the aid of God.