Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (John 11:25)
Let us enter the room with Joseph and his father, Jacob, just as Jacob will soon meet God. We find the account of Jacob’s death and burial in the closing part of Genesis chapter 49 and in chapter 50. Israel gave his blessing to his sons and went to be with God. He had lived a long, distinguished life.
Read the account given in Genesis 50:1-13. Before Jacob died, he asked Joseph to promise that he would take his body back to Canaan and bury him there. When Jacob died, Joseph received permission from Pharaoh to leave Egypt to bury his father.
In this beautiful account, Jacob’s sons carry out his last request. It is a human story of death in a family. Some of the greatest things God teaches us are taught during the days when we deal with the deaths of the ones we love. The Lord makes some of the most lasting impressions on our hearts as we contemplate death.
The Coming of Death to All of Us
If the Lord Jesus does not come soon, we are all going to die (Hebrews 9:27). We need to be reminded of this. God created man in a perfect world; but when sin entered through Adam, death entered this world also. The Bible teaches that we are all sinners, and that sin brings forth death.
Jacob lived a noble life, but he died. His family felt the awful burden of death, and tears of sorrow ran down their cheeks as they embraced their father’s lifeless body and sobbed with great hurt. Yet there was nothing anyone could do to bring him back. His voice was silenced. Their father was dead.
May God help us to be wise enough to see that we are not going to live forever on this earth. Death is coming.
The Conquering of Death
Imagine how awful death would be if it could not be conquered if it could not be defeated. When Joseph fell on the body of his father and wept, his father was already gone. The Bible says in Genesis 49:33 that Jacob “yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.”
Death has been conquered through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beyond the death and the grave, beyond the cold, lifeless body left behind, there is an eternal life with Jesus Christ for those who have trusted Him as their personal Savior.
The Lord Jesus has conquered death. He said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” In 1 Corinthians 15:51-57, we learn that Christ has taken away the sting of death. God has given His children the miraculous freedom not to fear death. We can live life to the fullest knowing that someday we are going to pass through the door of death into eternity to be with God forever.
The Concern for the Living
Joseph was good to his father. He spent seventeen years with his father before he died. No doubt he tried to make every minute count. However, when Jacob died, Joseph must have thought about so much more he would like to have done.
We need to have concern for our loved ones while there is still time. Life is so short; precious time is passing away. Some people never speak to their loved ones, and when their loved ones die, it is too late to make things right. God has a way of using death to make life more precious to us. We must be determined to show concern for the living while there is still time to do so.
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day… (Hebrews 3:13a)
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