Mar 31

Genesis 50:22-26
Memorise Hebrews 11:22
“God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land”

Joseph and the rest of his family would live out the rest of their days in the foreign land of Egypt. However, Joseph knew that this was certainly not the end of the story – it was only the very beginning! There was still much in store for God’s chosen people, as they would eventually become the nation of Israel, from which the Messiah would come forth.

Joseph took God’s covenant to Abraham in Genesis 15 seriously, whereby God had promised that though they would “be a stranger in a land that is not theirs” (Genesis 15:13), yet after a period of affliction “afterward shall they come out with great substance” (Genesis 15:14) and return to the land that God promised to them. With that in mind, Joseph instructed his people to carry his bones out from Egypt when they leave and return to the Promised Land. He spoke these words with a confident certainty, knowing that “God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob” (Genesis 50:24). It was a command that he made in faith, as would be testified in Hebrews 11:22, that “by faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones”. He knew that God is a covenant keeping God, and just as He had promised, He would certainly bring it to pass, in accordance to His perfect divine plan.

True enough, they did leave Egypt under the leadership of Moses, and they never forgot Joseph’s instructions: “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you” (Exodus 13:19). When Israel completed their conquest of Canaan, they fulfilled Joseph’s dying wish: “and the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem” (Joshua 24:32).

In all this, we see how God kept His Word, and brought them out of Egypt into the Promised Land. Even though Joseph did not live to see it happen, yet he knew that it would certainly happen, because He trusted in God’s Word. Dear teen, do you have the faith to take God at His Word, and know that everything He says is certainly and definitely true?

Thought: What promises of God do I look forward to?
Prayer: Lord, may I look forward to Christ’s soon return with certainty and

confidence.