Alright, we are studying the letter to the Hebrews, as you might remember. And today, we are going to look at Hebrews 11:20-22. Hebrews 11:20-22. Alright let me first read the text: “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.”. Now let us again go to God in prayer and ask for help.

“Our Father in heaven, we thank you indeed for such a joy to come back together as your people at this physical gathering. O Lord, we do pray that indeed You’ll help us not to take this for granted and also to know that this is only a taste of what is to come when we will be gathered with all the saints in heaven and to worship You forever. And so Lord, we pray as we come together this morning, we want to come near to You and pray that You would draw near to us too and grant us blessing, grant us understanding of Your truth. Help us again as we study this passage of Scripture that You may impress upon our hearts things that You want us to learn.

And so we commit this time under Your hands, and we pray again not just for all of us who are gathered here in this hall this morning but for those who are unable to join us that You too would also be with them as they join us online through the live stream, both here in Malaysia and even elsewhere in other parts of the world. We thank You for such a blessing that we are able even to gather in such a manner. And so, we commit all these under Your loving hands, for we pray and ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Alright, we have been, you might remember looking at Abraham from verse 8 through verse 19. As I pointed out that the writer to the Hebrews devoted a large section on Abraham and perhaps rightly so, being the father of faith. And in Abraham, we learned something about faith that the basis of faith is the promises of God and that the promises are not mainly for this life. They were not looking to things on earth but things in heaven, and that the genuineness of faith is that preparedness to forsake all to follow Him. And so that we learn from Abraham. And today we look at this passage here from verse 20 to 22, and here we are looking at the faith of Abraham’s descendants. 

And so I want to make three observations here as we study these few verses, and number one is that the writer to the Hebrews now look past Abraham or has been focusing on Abraham as I said, but now he looked past Abraham to consider the faith of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. In other words, the Hebrews’ writer looks past the father and now focus or consider the faith of his children. So Isaac his son, Jacob his grandson, and Joseph his great-grandson. I think it’s a beautiful thing alright, to be able not just the think about the faith of the older generation but the faith of the younger generation. And that’s what the writer here is thinking about: the next generation. 

Now you see, when God made the covenant with Abraham, now it was not just with him, but it was with his descendants as well. Now that we see from Genesis 17:7 alright- Genesis 17:7, which says in verse 7, now God says: “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.”. And so God established a covenant with Abraham and his descendants, and in that covenant, God revealed His promises and His plans. So what are the promises that were revealed to them in that covenant?

So we look at verse 8 right, Genesis 17:8. It says: “Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”. So in this God revealed His promises and His plans and that is God says: My promise is that you will inherit the land forever, the promised land, and I will be the King. I will rule in that land alright, He said, I’ll be God over you, as He says in verse 8. 

Now we know that this is a gospel promise. Now in a sense, it’s kinda echoed in Peter’s sermon in Acts chapter 2 right- in Acts chapter 2, and this is what Peter told the people who were listening to him. And he said alright, Peter said in Acts 2:38-39- Acts 2: “Now then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; that you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”. So this is the gospel promise that if you repent of your sins you shall receive what? The remission of sin, you shall be forgiven and be given the Holy Spirit. And verse 39: “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”. 

So the promise is not just to this generation but to succeeding generations, whoever alright who respond to the gospel call, now they too will receive this promise of the forgiveness of sin. And so that is the promise revealed to them. So in the case of these descendants of Abraham- Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, here that the writer to the Hebrews now has in mind, the question is: When will they receive or realize these promises? So they were promised a land and God will be there with them forever. So when will they realize these promises? Well, that was earlier told to Abraham already when they will exactly, when they would receive those promises, because in Genesis chapter 15 alright- Genesis 15:13-16, now God has already revealed to Abraham. 

And so in verse 13 of Genesis 15, and this is what God said to Abraham: “Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. Also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; and you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”. So now is not the time yet. Now they have not realized the promise, but say a time will come, but four hundred years later. Now they will return and your people, the people right, your descendants will occupy the land. So there is a promise, there’s a time frame, but for these people- Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, at this time, at least for the moment, you know, they have not realized these promises yet. 

In other words, for the moment they live in the shadow of these promises. Now it is the same with all of us here in the sense we all live in the shadow of God’s promises. We are promised the Promised Land- heaven. We will be there one day, and God will be there with us forever. But now we are living in the shadow of those promises. But the point is that they trusted God and responded in faith to those promises and to His plan, as He revealed to them, despite all the difficulties. It was not easy right, as they were waiting to realize those promises. But that is faith. They responded and they trusted in God all the days of their lives. So that is the first observation in Hebrews alright, in the Hebrews side, Hebrews 11:20-22, and that is: the focus now is on the descendants and their faith. 

Now the second observation is this: now the writer to the Hebrews looks at each one of them at the end of their lives to speak of their faith. Meaning to say, as the writer look at them and their life, he was thinking: where do I see or where do I see faith alright, or in which part of their life can I pick out alright an example of what faith is or an example of the fact that they trusted in God? Now what we read here and what we see here is that he actually looked at the end of their lives. Like I say, when you think about that again, it’s amazing, that at the end of our life, when we are old and retiring, what can be said of us about our faith at the end of our life? Well, let us look at them. 

And so back to Hebrews chapter 11, and the first one is Isaac in verse 20 alright- in verse 20. Now, Isaac, we know that his life was mostly uneventful, and he did not come across as a man of faith. So when you think about a man of faith or you think about Isaac, you’re thinking what about his life? Which part of his life? What particular action of his shows that he is a man of faith? Alright, that may be a question for many people, but the writer to the Hebrews sees something alright, he sees something in Isaac, although his life like I say was largely uneventful. Now most biblical records about him, most of the data in the Bible about Isaac concerns the passing of the blessing to his sons. So when you think about Isaac, what event comes to in mind? It is the passing on of his blessing to his sons alright, and that is Jacob and Esau. And that is what caught the attention of this writer here.

He said, Ah, that event in his life when he was blessing his son, that reveals his faith. That reveals that Isaac was a man of faith. How so alright? That, like I say, is the thing that caught his attention. And so we see that in, again we go back to the account in Genesis, we see in Genesis 25 alright, that is where this writer has in mind- in Genesis 25:23. Genesis 25. In fact, I shall read from verse 21 alright- verse 21: “Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

And the Lord said to Rebekah: “Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”. So that was revealed by God alright, that the younger one will be given the blessing alright, the older shall serve the younger. So Rebekah, and of course here her husband Isaac, knew of God’s purpose and plan. So in other words, he already has been informed by God that Jacob would receive the blessing, but Isaac preferred Esau because in verse 28 same chapter, verse 28: “Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game”. So he preferred the older son alright, and what happened? 

So the day came when he was supposed to give the blessing to his son in chapter 27. Chapter 27, it’s in verse 1: “Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old”. Remember, you see, the writer to the Hebrews is thinking of Isaac when he was old alright- “when he was old, his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” And he answered him, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, go out to the field and hunt game for me. And make me a savoury food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”. So he wanted to bless his older son alright, he said bring me my favourite food and I will bless you. But the outcome, of course, if you have read the Bible is well known alright, because we read later on same chapter in verse 30. Verse 30 of Genesis 27.

“Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. He also made savoury food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”. So he basically did what the father told him to do and thinking that the father will bless him. Verse 32: “And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—and indeed he shall be blessed.” When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—bless me also, O my father!”.

Now that was an incident right, kind of being referred to by the writer to the Hebrews and say: well this shows Isaac’s faith. Now he shows his faith because he couldn’t undo it. He realized that the blessing was not his to give, it’s God who decides. Although it came about in a rather you know cunning way, Jacob cheated, but you see God, in God’s providential dealing, God decided because God had already told Rebekah and Isaac that the blessing would go to Jacob. And so that happened according to God’s plan. And so his submission, he realized that he submitted to the will of God, trusting in God’s plan. Now sometimes we think of this kind of simple trust right, submission to God’s providential dealing in our life, now that is faith. That takes faith. Take trust in God. 

And the writer to the Hebrews is saying that that is faith. Sometimes we think of faith, we think of what? Great men of faith, you know, person who did great exploit. What great exploit? When simple things we cannot trust in God, what great exploit are we talking about? Well, we cannot trust in the providential dealing of God in our life. We argue with God, but no, there’s no argument. Plain submission. Next person right, Jacob. So in Hebrews 11:21, now the writer considers the faith of Jacob. And so he says: “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.”. 

Now again as we think of Jacob, Jacob also is an unlikely candidate to be what we called the hero of faith. When we think of Jacob, you think of a cheat alright, a rascal, or something like that. In fact, he cheated his father, he cheated his father-in-law, but God changed him. You see there is hope even with a man like Jacob. Well although we think of him as not a good man, but God changed him, you know at the river of Jabbok and gave him a new name Israel, and from then on, he became a model of faith. Now God can change people, a cheat, an evil man alright, but make him to be a model of a man of God, a model of faith. And in speaking of Jacob’s faith, now the writer to the Hebrews had Genesis 48 in mind. And remember then Jacob and his family came to Egypt during the famine when Joseph was the prime minister. And Genesis 48 tells of Jacob giving blessing to Joseph’s two sons- Manasseh and Ephraim. 

And so turn with me to Genesis 48 alright to look at that account that this writer to the Hebrews is referring to. So in Genesis 48, look first of all at verse 8 through verse 14 alright, just read this and get a feel of the context here. And so in verse 8: “then Israel”. Now Israel is of course referring to Jacob, his new name alright, “So Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?” Joseph said to his father, “These are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.” And he said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.” Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age”, kinda same situation as Isaac earlier on, old and blind. So his eyes were dim with age, “so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said to Joseph, “I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has shown me your offspring!

So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. And Joseph brought them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.” And so it is again, Joseph tried to manipulate right and wanting Joseph (mistakenly mentioned “Joseph”, supposedly “Jacob”) to bless Manasseh over Ephraim. And so he purposely guided so that it will happen. But then to his surprise, Israel, or Jacob here just crossed his hand alright at the last minute, whether it’s last-minute or not, he suddenly crossed his hand and Joseph was caught by surprise, and his plan did not work. 

And then we read in verse 17: “Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” So again we see that the plan did not work. And so Jacob blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.”.

Now again you see it shows faith alright, this incident here shows the faith of Jacob in the sense that again his refusal to reverse his action in the plans of God. It’s God’s plan. It’s kind of in the Bible you see God’s way is not our way. Our way is always the firstborn has the priority. But again in the case of Isaac, in the case of Jacob, and here now you see again and again God shows well My plan is different, My ways are different alright, the older shall serve the younger. And we see that again and again in the story of the Bible how David the younger one would be given the privilege and the blessing and so on. And so that is Jacob.

And then the third one alright- the third person is Joseph himself. Joseph himself. Now again you look at Hebrews 11 again and see which part of Joseph’s life or which actions of Joseph’s life was highlighted by the writer of Hebrews, what would you think? You think of Joseph, who do you think about, his particular action reveals his faith? Now the writer to the Hebrews says in verse 22: “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.”. That is that particular action of his that caught his attention. Now Joseph by contrast, now with the earlier two, his life was an exciting one, a full of exciting events right in Joseph’s life- he thinks about his dreams, he thinks about his colourful coat, he thinks about his imprisonment. You know his life stories like from prison to prime minister right, from rag to riches type of story.

It’s an interesting life, right? And yet despite the fact right that he has such an interesting and his life was full of achievement right, the writer chose this particular incident to illustrate his faith. Why? If you were to think about it, why do you think this caught the writer to the Hebrews’ attention? What is so special about this incident? Now it is this: it is that despite the fact that Joseph was a successful man, a man of great achievement, he had everything everybody wants in life- power wealth, everything in Egypt. Now he is the top man in Egypt, the prime minister. It was here he made his mark. Yet he knew where his future lies. He knew right what really finally matters. He knew that his future lies in the promises of God alright- his future lies with the promises of God. 

Now, remember, he remembers God’s prophecy. Joseph remembers God’s prophecy like I read earlier on in Genesis 15 when God told Abraham that one day your people, your descendants will inherit the land, but not now. One day, four hundred years’ time they will be there. I believe that story stayed with Joseph. He remembers God’s promises. How often do we live our life that way, always being mindful of God’s promises in the Bible and we live our lives in light of those promises? And so Joseph remembers God’s promises. And therefore wealth and success and luxuries in life did not make him forget heaven. He might have everything but never make him forget that Promised Land. He’s set his eyes on things above rather than on things on the earth. 

And that this reason why the writer to the Hebrews said that reveals his faith. He is still thinking because, in his instruction to the children of Israel, he says remember alright, remember he made mention of the departure of the children Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones. When you arrive there, they haven’t arrived there yet, but he knows they will be there one day because God promised that they will be there in the Promised Land of God. He said I don’t want to miss out, I also want to be there, but I would die before I reach there. But bring my bones there. Bring my bones there. That’s why he gave instructions concerning his bones. I want to be there. 

How much do you want to be there? Would you give instructions to people? Now if I die before I’m there, dig up my bones and bring it there. I want to be there, not here. Yes, I have everything here, but this means nothing to me. This means nothing to me, even being the most powerful man on this land. Now that reveals Joseph’s faith. And so that is a second of it. So the first is that the writer of the Hebrews considers the faith of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph alright, the sons of Abraham. And secondly, he looked at each one of them at the end of their life to speak of their faith. 

Now the third observation is this: now he highlights alright, he looks at their faith and show to us what faith is. You see, look at them, now let us learn something about faith. He highlights something about what biblical faith is about. Remember this chapter is about faith. So what about faith that we see in these men? Number one: faith is believing in God’s promises. So you see that the writer to the Hebrews seems to be coming back to this again and again. Now whichever person he was referring to, he said these people, they believed in the promises of God. God made promises. Do you believe in the promises of God and hang on to the promises of God, despite of all the challenges and the difficulties in this life? Or perhaps despite the fact of the allurements and attractions of this life?

Now, these attractions and achievements didn’t draw Joseph away. He counted them as nothing, as dung, as Paul would say. They are rubbish, that I may have Christ. So faith is believing in the promises of God. And therefore Isaac blessed his children concerning things to come. That’s what we are told in the Bible. And the content of his blessing shows that he’s trusted in the promises of God. And it was also faith that enabled Joseph when he was dying in Egypt. He was old and dying and all his family in Egypt, and when there’s nothing to show that they were going to arrive in Canaan, in the Promised Land, there’s nothing in their life. They were waiting, but there’s no indication that they will be there because of the challenges and the difficulties before them. Yet he firmly expected them to possess it.

In all their life, there is no, you know, there is no wavering there. All of them, they expect their descendants to finally arrive there and to inherit the land. Their focus is there. And further of course when we look at Jacob, he showed his faith in God’s promises by living a life of worship. And that’s why the writer to the Hebrews: “worshipping God and leaning on his staff”. And that expression there actually speaks of his lifestyle. What kind of lifestyle do you have? What is your lifestyle on earth? But for Jacob, a life of worship. He was worshipping. He is looking forward to the Promised Land. His life of worshipping God and that expression “leaning on his staff” means the same as saying Abraham was living in tents. He was a pilgrim. He was a traveller. He was going, you know, we are all pilgrims. Yeah, we are not settled, we are not rooted in this earth. We are just a passing through. 

Now that’s the picture of them that the writer is trying to paint. And Joseph, as I pointed out, in giving instruction about his bones predicted the return of Israel to the Promised Land 400 years later. And so confident of him alright, about that. That’s why he gave those instructions. And now their belief, now this is I think what we should grasp here. Their belief in God’s promises is also seen in their concern to pass on the blessing to their children. They believed in the promises of God and they want to pass that to their children. Now we will do the same if we have the same conviction in the promises of God. If we believed in these Gospel promises that we will be there, that there will be forgiveness of sin. We would want to pass this on to our children like them. 

So I want to ask: Parents, would be parents or new parents, have you ever spoken to your children about the promises of God? Have you spoken to them about heaven or hell? It’s amazing if parents have never spoken to their children about heaven or hell, never warned them of that, or never told them of that, of such a beautiful place call heaven. You don’t believe in that? You never told them? You don’t want them to be there? Or about hell? Don’t you believe in hell? Don’t you want to warn them that they might not end up there and you never had a conversation with your children about these things? Now if they do not believe in you, they are not likely to believe others as well. 

See, children as you raised them, in fact, we must remember you see, if you think of having a ministry of discipleship, those are your first responsibility. Those are your primary disciples. You cannot even disciple your own children, don’t talk about discipling other people. If you never told your children about John 3:16, about the love of God, then we want to talk about going to the mission field and tell other people about the love of God. 

Indeed we might say that the greatest proof that we believe in heaven and hell and judgment is not our speaking to our friends or colleagues, or not even as I say going to mission field, but to our children. That is the greatest proof that we believe in these gospel promises, and that we see in the lives of these men, passing on their blessing to the next generation. So that is the first thing this man highlights to us about faith- they believe in the promises of God and so strong is their belief that they will pass it on- they will pass it on, first of all, to their own children. 

There’s a second thing that is highlighted here about faith by this man is that faith is trusting in God’s plan. You see, God makes promises, but He also reveals his plans of how these promises would be fulfilled. So this is His promises, but this is how they will be fulfilled. Now the Bible shows very clearly that God’s plan centres on the work of Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus Christ that the promises to Abraham would ultimately or finally come true because He secured all the promises for us. And the plan continues today as the gospel is preached, as men and women come to faith. Now it will culminate one day in the return of Jesus Christ and judgment of all people. 

Now you see that is the plan of God. That is His promises and that’s how it works out. But the plan of God may work out in unexpected ways. Like I say, His ways are different from our ways as we see again in the story of this man in how in the blessing of Jacob and the blessing of Ephraim here. I say God would choose the foolish thing of the world to accomplish His plan. Sometimes we think you know to achieve God’s plan we think of our own strategy- human strategy, human ways, cleverness, now we will be able to do the gospel work. But His way is different from our ways. He will use things that we would least likely to use right- the fisherman, the unknown people, and those ways you know we think will not work like preaching. A lot of people think that “Oh you will just preach, you just preach the Word it won’t work. People wouldn’t come. We have to be more interesting than that. We have to create ideas, more entertainment, or things like these.”.

Well God’s ways are different. And this man trusted in the ways of God and His plan. So faith is not to change but to trust in God’s plan. And then finally, faith is also seen, as we see in these men, faith is also seen in how we handle the prospect of death. It is obvious that these men trusted in resurrection alright, God’s resurrection. Remember Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life, He who believes in me even if he dies, He shall live.”. And they believe that. They believed in what Jesus said in the New Testament. So, therefore, they face death calmly. All of them, we look at them, they were at the end of their life. The calmness, Joseph said, when I died, just take my bones with you and bring it to the Promised Land. Jacob, arriving in Egypt, old man and dying, said I do not know when I will die. It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter because we all die. But when I die, do this. But his life is still alive worship and a pilgrim. 

Faith is seen in how we handle the prospect of death. It is always a mark of Christian faith to approach the reality of death with the peace that comes from God. There is a poem that puts it this way: “The pale horse stands and will not bide, The night has come and I must ride; But not alone to unknown lands, My Friend goes with me holding hands.”. Or perhaps in the hymn expressing the same thing: “I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness. Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.”. 

And then think of the Apostle Paul when he was about to die, what did he say? Well, he wrote to Timothy and he has this verse to say about his death in 2 Timothy 4:6-8: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”. And this is how the men of faith handle the prospect of death. They know that they were dying, but it doesn’t matter. That is faith. There’s something better coming: “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain”. So what will it be for us at the end of our life? What will be said of us? Would it be the same as what the writer said of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph? Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we thank You so much for this privilege of studying Your Word, the privilege of learning about faith. Lord, we know that we are like infants, babies learning about faith. It’s such an important and deep truth. And Lord, we pray only that You’ll help us to learn more and more, that we will not just be people of little faith. We thank You for men and women who’ve been examples and models of faith, not just in the past but even in our day. Lord, help us. Help us, that we too would demonstrate such faith to trust in You, to trust in Your promises, and would have no fear even in face of death, for this we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.