“Joseph said to his brothers, “I am going to die, but God will certainly act for you and bring you up from this land to the one he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Then he made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God acts for you, you must carry my bones up for here.” Genesis 51:24-25 (Author’s translation)
The germ of the idea for this devotion comes from a sermon by Dr Andy Miller, President of Wesley Biblical Seminary in Ridgeland, MS. He pointed out that the book of Genesis ends on an interesting note. Joseph gets his brothers to swear that they will take his body with them when they one day leave Egypt. In short, the book virtually requires that we read the next book!
But it also tells us that Joseph knows his family story very well. “God promised to Great Grandpa Abraham that the land of Canaan was going to be ours one day. So we’re here for now, but not forever. I’m not going there alive, but I want to be part of it. Promise you’ll take my bones with you.”
So, think about it. For some 400 years, that coffin was passed along from one generation to the next. We can imagine the children saying, “Dad, Mom, why do we have to have that coffin in the living-room?” And the parents answer, “Oh, that’s Great Great Grandpa Joseph. We’re not staying here, and when we go, we’ve got to take him along.” That is called the Works of Faith.
Now look at the last chapter of Joshua, and the next to last verse (32), after the report of the death of Joshua. What is the culmination of the Exodus and the receiving of the land? “The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried in Shechem….” Why is this statement here, at this point? It is here to say that the whole point of Genesis – Joshua is that our God keeps his promises, that faithful people can build their lives on those promises, and that when they do they become a sign to those who follow. Will God accomplish his good purposes for you, in this life and the next? Oh yes, and the good news for us is that our bones will live again. Believe it, live it, and die in the certainty of it, and in doing it, leave a sign that will shape all the generations after you.
Called To Be Transformed 