It is not only how you live your life but how you approach your death that marks you as a man or woman of faith.
“By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.” (Hebrews 11 v 22)
Your greatest possession is God’s promise that He will do what He said He will do. This promise may have been given to your previous generation or it may have been given to you. But the promise of God doesn’t die when we die. It continues to its fulfilment.
Genesis 50:24 and 26 “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.” 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.”
His dying words were: God will come to you and God will bring you to the land He has promised our forefathers.
This in 2024 is still our promise. God will visit you and God will bring you home.
He has done that. You have known His ‘aid’ throughout your life. He has been faithful to you. He has visited you by His Spirit and He will lead you home to heaven,
These are words of faith. Not only by Joseph but they are yours too.
This is what you pass to the next generation.
Joseph went further and made sure that when he died he would be a constant reminder that the following generations must also carry this covenantal promise. “…and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones”.
They embalmed Joseph and placed him in an Egyptian coffin which they carried as they journeyed towards the Promised Land. He was a constant reminder that they could never settle until they arrived there. They had to get to the Land that was promised them for one thing they had to bury Joseph! It wasn’t until Joshua’s generation that he would be buried in Shechem.
Joseph’s faith spoke to the next generation. It was not only about his story but a continual one of which he was simply a custodian. It is true of us today.
Missions Paul 