To Joseph, who “By faith – when he was on his deathbed – spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones,” Hebrews 11:22.
But how on earth could Joseph speak about an exodus from Egypt when the Israelites had no reason to leave? They’d flourished in the land and been held in high regard by the Egyptian hierarchy. And what’s more, how could Joseph have known there’d be an exodus in the first place, when it wouldn’t happen for at least 140 years after his death?
There’s a clue in Genesis 50:24, when Joseph told his brothers, “I’m about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Central to Joseph’s life and confidence was God’s promise to give Abraham and his family line “The whole land of Canaan as an everlasting possession” (17:8).
A land, however, that Joseph realized he would not see himself, because God had wanted him in Egypt instead, in a position of such enormous influence and respect that God could build Israel into a nation because of him. So Joseph was stuck in this distant land, but his faith in God’s promise to get Israel back to Canaan never wavered. And nor had his longing for the land he’d never see too – his faith and longing being so strong that he made sure his bones would be taken back to Canaan (Genesis 50:25), because in his heart that was home.
God had given him a major part in the creation of that home too. Like his father Jacob, Joseph had been the next link in the chain of God’s promise to Abraham to bless all nations. And Joseph only had to look back on his life, as his father had, to see how God had made him into such an effective link, directing his life through all kinds of trials that at the time seemed to have no purpose at all.
But we can see the purpose in Joseph’s life, that like him – no matter where we live, or what world we’re stuck in that shows no indication of God’s promise being fulfilled in our lifetime – God will get our “bones” to our promised home too. He made sure Joseph’s bones got home through Moses (Exodus 13:19), and now through Jesus he’s doing the same for us (John 14:3). No wonder, then, that “Faith makes us fearless” ….(next blog)
