RPG Adults
WHAT A BLESSED FAREWELL!
THURSDAY, MARCH 27
Genesis 49:28-33
Psalm 47
The earth is not our
permanent home.
WHAT A BLESSED FAREWELL!
The twelve sons of Jacob received the father’s blessing, more or less, each according to what he deserved. What a tremendous effort it must have been for a 147-year-old man to deliver that great sermon and last testament. The Spirit of prophecy from God came to Jacob like fresh oil to an expiring lamp. Having pronounced the blessing, he then prepared to depart, giving final and explicit instructions concerning his burial.
In those instructions, we see unmistakably Jacob clinging to God’s promise, that Canaan should be the inheritance of his seed in due time. Egypt was only a land of sojourn, for a season. There had to be the remembrance of the blessed Promised Land. Then Jacob appointed his own burial place, “the cave of Machpelah” (Gen 23:9), which Abraham had purchased for a burial ground. There lay the remains of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah and Leah. To these Jacob requested to be gathered, so that his sons and those to be added to them might continually remember that they belonged to another country, and not Egypt.
When all this was said and done, he reposed himself in bed in an attitude of rest. Contented and composed, he lay down and “…yielded up the ghost…” (Gen 49:33). What a blessed, peaceful and triumphant passing for this great man of God! Could any believer ask for a better way of going Home? The Psalmist said, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Ps 116:15). “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth… that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them” (Rev 14:13).
Dear reader, the day comes sooner or later when we too shall go the way of Jacob. Will you be like him, ready to “yield up the ghost” and pass to the next world to meet the Saviour? If you are one of His, then death holds no fear for you. It will be a joyous experience!
THOUGHT: I am really not ready to live until I am ready to die.
PRAYER: Give me a pilgrim’s heart, Father, a heart that ever yearns for Home.