Genesis 48:21

Jacob was dying. He says boldly, "Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you." He speaks of death while "leaning on the top of his staff." It is as if he were still on his pilgrim journey, about to move from one place to another. God is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac. He is still in covenant with them. He has never dissolved His relationship with them, but is unchangeable towards them in it. Death would not dissolve his relationship to God, even "the God of Bethel." He had not received the promises in his lifetime, but he embraced them so firmly that he could count on God making everything good in resurrection. "He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him."

In this verse we hear the accents of faith. Israel knew that he was about to die, but his eye was lifted from himself to God. He had done much scheming in his time. But now he recognised that the only thing that really mattered was the presence and purpose of God. It did not matter what he himself had been, or what his sons would prove themselves to be. God would be true to them, and true to His purpose to give them the land He had promised. In the end, God and His word held Israel's soul steady. We will be happy if we find, long before the end of life's journey, that stability and security are there, and only there.

God had blessed Jacob at the beginning. He had held him up in his great sorrow when Rachel died. He had made what seemed to be his greatest disaster work for rich blessing. That same God would be with the sons of Jacob after their father had left them. Jacob had good reason for his confidence in God. His sons could rely on the God of Jacob, who had brought their father safely through his many trials.

Notice how he addresses the Lord: "O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac." He could not say "my God." He was not near enough to Him at that time. But when he was dying, he was near enough to say it. Then he turned and said to Joseph, "Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you." He knew Him, and was at home with Him then. Jacob was in a very different state of soul on his deathbed.

And what a blessing the lads got from the dying pilgrim. There was great faith in Jacob, to be able, in holy confidence of soul, to transfer the blessing from himself to them. He was "rich in faith" himself, and left his riches to Joseph and his sons. "Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers." Another pilgrim who was "rich in faith" spoke in the same way to the elders of Ephesus. He told them they would not see his face again, but said, "I commend you to God."

Jacob did not say, "Because I have not lived in the land, I have not got the blessing." No! he had it by faith. "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." God is always the same to faith. Faith raises us above all human thoughts, and gives us rest in God.