Genesis 50

Jacob's life was over. Those are hard words to say, and they are not precisely correct. It would be better to say what the Bible says about this horrible experience of death: Jacob “breathed his last and was gathered to his people.” I like that.

There is a brutal fact that Joseph and his brothers must acknowledge: As far as it concerns this earth, Jacob, the great man, their father, had breathed his last. That is a gentle way to face the truth. His body was still there, but that body was no longer alive. Death is a fact to be reckoned with, but it is not the only fact that we should confess. The other fact at the end of Genesis 49 is also very important: Jacob “was gathered to his people.” I like the sound of that too. There is existence for Jacob beyond the grave. Regardless of our guess concerning the eternal condition of anyone we love, we can say this: “He is in God's hands.” What the Lord does with each one may be hard for us to discern. We do not really know what transpires between any individual and the Lord at the moment of departure. We do know that everyone must deal with God. Jacob breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people. That last statement is not just about the burial of Jacob's body. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive with God at the time of Jesus' ministry so many centuries later. That is why Jesus quoted this verse to the Sadducees in Matthew 22:31-32. “As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” Jacob is alive in the presence of God.

But we are here below, and heaven and earth are sadly divided because of sin. We weep, and we should. Jesus wept at the death of his friend. But we should also know that God will unite all things in Christ, things in heaven, and things on earth. A far better solution than the grave is on the way.

In every time and place, people who believe in a future life, gather together to pay their respects to those who have departed from us in order to be gathered to their people in the presence of God. The Egyptians did it one way, and the descendants of Abraham had their own rituals. We mark the passing of loved ones as well. We probably weep too little, and try to tidy up our emotions too quickly. Perhaps that is why so many people seem to be secretly stuck in grief. But another reason is that too many people grieve without hope. They do not acknowledge their secret unbelief concerning life beyond this life, and therefore they do not turn to the passages throughout the Scriptures that would help to heal that wound.

It is right to stop life for a season, to go to the house of mourning, to consider for a time that something remarkable has taken place. A person created in the image of God has breathed his last, and he has been gathered to his people in another land. Think about that, and let it change the way you live. Let it help you to see Jesus as the Resurrection Man in heaven, and then, when the time is right, you can leave the graveside of the deceased, and let the dead bury the dead. But you cannot do that until you are captured by the glory of life among Jacob's people in heaven.

Do not feel that you have to hide your tears. You have loved much. The gift of your beloved was a very good gift. You are allowed to grieve much. There is no rulebook for this experience beyond the Word of God. The Lord will meet you in your brokenness if you will open your heart to His care. Do not be concerned that the people of your land here below will see you crying. It will be harder for you to find joy again if you are unable to acknowledge the awful fact of death. Let it be a fact, but do not let it be the only fact.

The loss of someone can cause much collateral damage. Joseph's brothers had felt some protection from their worries concerning Joseph's vengeance against them by the fact that Jacob was still alive. One of the losses that came with his death was that they sensed that all protection was now gone. They feared that Joseph would finally pay them back.

What they found instead in Joseph was a man who understood sinners and God, earth and heaven. He knew that they meant something for evil, but that the Almighty was doing something for good, even for their good, for their life. What a god we serve. The same fact can be said about the cross of Christ. It was done through the hands of evil men, but it was also accomplished according to the express plan and foreknowledge of Almighty God. See Acts 2:23. Joseph gathers his brothers together in peace, even though he knows what they did. Jesus knows our sins better than we do. He suffered for them on the cross. But He still gathers us together and speaks words of shalom to the nations.

Soon Joseph would breath his last and be gathered to his people. But Joseph would not be immediately buried in Canaan. He would go back to The Promised Land only when the descendants of Jacob went back. Though it would take hundreds of years, eventually they carry his bones back home.

The book of Genesis started with mankind, male and female, living in the direct presence of God, in a more seamless heaven and earth paradise. Sin changed all that. The book ends with one great man's longing about where his bones will be buried. We long for something better than the right grave. We not only want to live forever with our people. We want to be with God, The only way we can have the peace that we yearn for is through the appointed Seed of the woman, Jesus. He has brought us light, life, and security in the best of all possible lands.