(Genesis) Genesis 49:1

We've come to the 49th chapter of the book of Genesis. You have your Bible there, follow along with us. And in many respects, this chapter is one of the more remarkable chapters of the Bible.

It certainly is a dramatic chapter. It's the deathbed scene of old Jacob. In fact, we saw him on that deathbed last time.

You'll recall that when he saw his son Joseph coming in, that he strengthened himself and he sat upon the bed. He just rejoiced to see his own son. Then after their interview, the rest of the sons came in.

And he has around him now all 12 of his sons. And this is his farewell message. Now, a farewell message is very important.

And he begins with his eldest son and just goes right down the list. And you couldn't have anything really more important than this. It is dramatic.

Anything that a man says on his deathbed is important because you feel like at that time he's telling the truth. How many times have you heard of a deathbed confession? Man waits until he gets really on his deathbed. I was reading some time ago of a man up in his 80s.

He was taken into a mission, almost delirious. He was dying and he made a confession of a murder that had been committed over 50 years ago in Mississippi. Another man had been hanged for that murder.

They thought he was just delirious. They began the investigation. They found out he is guilty, that he was the one who was guilty.

Man generally will tell the truth when he gets on his deathbed, that is, if he hasn't told it before. Now we see Jacob on his deathbed. And let me begin reading here at verse 1. And Jacob called unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

Now, we come to an important expression. There have been some folk that think I use certain expressions too much. And by the way, I agree with them.

But you're going to find out there are certain expressions in the Bible that occur and reoccur again and again and again. Now, one is right here, in the last days. Now, the last days of the nation Israel will be different than the last days of the church.

And here again, where you have a sharp dispensational distinction that needs to be made. The last days now of Israel, that's what he's talking about. What's going to happen to his sons in the last days.

I was in seminary with a young man. He was a Lutheran boy, a very brilliant young fellow. In fact, the matter is, he became a theology professor and a Hebrew professor.

And either one of them requires quite a few brains. And this young man certainly had the... I always enjoyed talking with him because he always had something new to offer. Because he did a great deal of study.

He told me one day that he was writing on the prophecies concerning the 12 sons of Jacob. And we'll see a little later on, we get to the book of Deuteronomy. They have become tribes then.

Each tribe with thousands in them. And in those tribes, Moses has something to say. And he took those prophecies, one in this chapter and the one that Moses gave, and followed the tribes through.

Now, a great many people today talk about the fact that there are certain prophecies concerning the nation Israel. Many of them have been fulfilled. Some are yet to be fulfilled.

Now, that's all true. But you can narrow it down even less than that. You can divide Israel into 12 parts.

And God has had something to say concerning each one of these tribes of Israel. And not only has the prophecy concerning the nation been fulfilled, but the prophecy concerning each tribe has been fulfilled. And friends, that makes it remarkable indeed.

So this is what's going to befall them in the last days. Now, some of the prophecy has been fulfilled. But most of it waits to be fulfilled.

Actually, more of what Moses had to say to the tribes has been fulfilled than what we have here. But it's quite remarkable, and all of it looks to the last days.