"God and the Future" Genesis 49 Pastor Allan Wooters, D.Min.
Prophecy is one of the most popular biblical topics of all. It’s been said if you want to draw a crowd to your church offer a series of studies on prophecy. Such studies do not lack information seeing that 25 percent of the New Testament is given to prophetic statements. I think for most of us, we want to know about the future but then we don’t. The future, like the present and past, isn’t all good. Yes, there’s coming an ultimate good when God blesses His people with a new heaven and a new earth but getting to that point is filled with challenges as well as blessings. This is the reality of any future prediction we find in Scripture. It is the case with our text from Genesis 49.
The Patriarch Jacob has called his sons to his death bed so he can bless them. “Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, ‘Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come. Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; and listen to Israel your father,’” (Vs.1 – 2). The word blessing is used in these verses but later in v.28 it is used three times to summarize what was said. That might seem strange given that some of what is predicted by Jacob contains no blessing at all but rather curses. So, how are these rightly entitled blessings? They are blessings when viewed from the perspective of God’s people throughout history. The blessings that are contained in this chapter are the basis for the blessings we enjoy in Christ today. Even the curse statements serve us and so for us even they are blessings.
While we could delve into various issues raised by Jacob’s words, we are going to consider what we learn about God and the future. What we discern in this text gives us hope about the future in general but more, about the immediate future as we continue to confront our present crisis. What must be true about God given the statements by Jacob? Let’s begin with where the text does with Jacob’s son Reuben.
Reuben’s future is recorded in vs.3 – 4. As the firstborn, Reuben and his descendants should be the leader of the whole family. However, Jacob rejects this place of honor and leadership due to Reuben’s sin. Recall, that Jacob in chapter 48 gave Reuben’s place of honor to Joseph’s son Ephraim. You see, Reuben had engaged in an affair with one of Jacob’s concubines named Bilhah as recorded in Genesis 35:22. The sexual sin was bad enough but the affront to his father and the family’s honor was beyond terrible. Reuben displayed massive self-centeredness and arrogance of demonic proportions. Due to this outrageous sin, Reuben lost his birthright and his descendants would as well. The prophecy proved to be correct. Reuben’s descendants have scant mention in Old Testament history. No judge, no prophet, no military leader, or person of any importance came from this line attesting to the lack of preeminence predicted by Jacob. It got so bad for this line that Moses prayed in Deuteronomy 33:6 that they would not pass out of existence. Amazing! What does this tell us about God and the future? It shows us that God knows the future.
God Knows the Future
Our Lord knows precisely what is going to happen to one and all. He is all-knowing so this must be so. Indeed, because He is God, He knows the future better than any of us know the present or the past. God knew what would become of Rueben’s family; none of it surprised Him at all.
Moving from Rueben, Simeon and Levi receive their prophecy. It too was one of cursing. But with the next son, everything changes. This son is Judah, vs.8 – 12. While history bears out the truthfulness of the prophecies of all the sons, this one concerning Judah is massively important and fascinating. If any of the prophecies give evidence of how much God knows of the future, this prophecy is exhibit A. Let’s look at the statements.
Your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies…, v.8. This was literally fulfilled when a man named David was designated by God to assume the failed reign of Saul. David built Israel into a powerful nation. His son Solomon continued and added to the unprecedented success of his father David. Judah produced a dynasty that lasted for 640 years. God knew it all!
Then in v.9 we read a statement that compares Judah to a lion. This imagery speaks of strength and the fear with which others would view him. Given the long line of kings that came from Judah who can doubt this? Kings had absolute power and it was so with David and his dynasty.
Now v.10: The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. What we begin to see at this point is that these words now focus on Judah’s greatest descendant of all, Jesus Christ. Jesus is declared in Revelation 5:5 to be “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David.” Jacob, by God’s grace, is peering down the corridors of time and speaking of the day Jesus would come as Lord and Savior. Of course, Jacob didn’t know all these details, but his words were fulfilled 100 percent! God knew what would come even thousands of years in the future and spoke through Jacob to reveal what was to come to us.
This is why I could say in last week’s message that God is never panicked about things happening in this world. Nothing takes Him by surprise because He has perfect knowledge about the future. This includes your future as well. The great thing about God knowing the future is that He can prepare us for what is to come. We might not feel like we’re ready for what comes but we are more than we realize. Also, even our struggle to cope works to turns us to God where we find strength, wisdom, grace, and hope.
And speaking of hope, the remaining statements concerning Judah apply largely to the time of ultimate victory for God’s people; the time when Jesus, or as He is referred to here, “Shiloh,” comes. The New Testament, as well as various Old Testaments prophecies, depict the time when Jesus comes as one of total victory over every evil and as a time of eternal prosperity. In v.11, God’s people are so blessed materially that they can afford to tie a lowly donkey to a rich vine of grapes and let it graze. That would never be done practically but in the day of Christ reign on the new earth, it could be done because the abundance is so great. That, by the way, is what v.12 is about. It is not referring to Judah’s descendants being a bunch of drunks or of Jesus being so. Rabbis for centuries have viewed this as a further prophecy of the abundance the land will produce when Shiloh/Messiah comes. I know that seems strange to us, but we know Jesus was not an alcoholic and when He comes every blessing will be given to God’s people.
So, God knows the future. There is no other way to explain these words and how, thus far, they have proven absolutely true. So, one truth we see in our text is that God knows the future. But that’s just for starters. The second truth is even more amazing. That truth is this: God controls the future.
God Controls the Future
Skeptics and even some within Christianity mock at this fact but in reality, something or Someone must control the future. Some like to say the future is open, that it all happens by chance. Yet they will turn around and say that our DNA is our destiny. They argue that everything we do is really the result of a combination of our genetics, our experiences, both linked to the force of evolution and natural selection. With such an atheistic worldview the future is anything but random but highly controlled by entities out of our control. So, for skeptics, the future is controlled by something namely the force of evolution and our genetics.
But Scripture gives us a different, encouraging and empowering view. It says God controls the future and what is so unscientific about that? Science can’t disprove nor prove the existence of God. If God exists, then it is logical to say He controls the future. After all, He had the power and knowledge to create this amazing cosmos so what is wrong with saying He controls His creation as well? If you build something you have control over it don’t you? Well, enough of the argument. Why does such a belief matter?
It matters because we can know that what happens is governed by God. But this God is not any God but the One revealed in Christ through Scripture. God is controlling all things but along with a loving, all-wise, and all-powerful hand. It must be this way. The only way God could give Jacob or any prophet knowledge about the future is because God guides every event, down to the smallest detail so that what Jacob predicted could come true. Since it is God who controls the future, we can trust that whatever happens, God has sent. Plus, we can also trust that it will be good sooner or later. But I must hurry. One other fact stands out about the future. It is that God has anchored the future in Jesus.
God Anchors the Future in Jesus
The future is not in the hands of the politicians. Aren’t you glad? I’m tempted to say can I get an “Amen!” but I wouldn’t hear you anyway here on Facebook, but you can say “Amen!” if you want. Seriously, when we are overwhelmed by our situation, when we are distressed and wonder what the world is coming to, Scripture gives us the answer. It is coming to Jesus. Colossians 1 tells us concerning Jesus “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together…All things have been created through Him and for Him” (vs.15 – 20).
If the future is anchored in Christ, where should your life be anchored? The answer is obvious. It should be anchored in Jesus Christ. He is the center of history, creation, and God’s plan for this world. The future then is in Christ. If you are there, if Christ is your Lord, keep trusting Him today, tomorrow, indeed, for your entire future. We won’t always understand why at a time God allows certain things to occur, but we know that He is overseeing it all and ultimately, we will be blessed. Remember the truths given to us concerning God and the future. In them you and I have a hope that will never disappoint.