Parasha Vayechi 5782

Me

I love traveling. There’s just something exciting about experiencing new places. We’ve been to Israel, which was by far one of the best experiences ever, and I can’t wait to go back. I’ve gone on short-term missions trips with Jewish Voice to Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. This weekend I’m in Orlando for the MJAA Southeast Regional Conference. Back in November I was in Phoenix for anther conference.

But, our absolute favorite way to travel is on a cruise ship. Now, this isn’t necessarily the scene for everyone… Many love cruises, many hate them… But Danielle and I are huge fans of them. A cruise is by far our favorite vacation to take. We get to sail on a giant ship with all sorts of restaurants and bars, with pools and hot tubs, countless lounging and relaxation opportunities, entertainment, and so much more. For one fair we have our hotel room for the week, all the food we could ever want to eat, multiple ports of call to experience, and so much more. Dollar to dollar, it is our favorite.

But, what’s funny is that no matter where we travel to, no matter how long or short we’re gone, no matter how much fun we’ve had… There’s always one thing thought that never fails when I travel… I can’t wait to get back to my home, and particularly my bed...

I’ve slept on some super comfortable hotel beds, I’ve slept on cots in a tent in the bush of Africa, I’ve slept on peaceful beds on the rolling waves of cruise ships… But, no matter what, there’s always something special about returning back to my own bed. I get that overwhelming feeling of peace and relaxation, of comfort, of rest, of being at home when I’m in my bed that I just can’t quite get the same when I’m traveling.

No matter how excited I am for a trip, no matter how awesome the trip was, I always find myself longing to be back in my own bed in my own home…

We

Do you know that feeling? There’s just something about being home, right?

Whether we’re talking about traveling, or work, or the grocery store, or whatever else.

There’s just something about that serene feeling of coming home, walking in the door, and exhaling… Realizing that all the crazy and hectic of the outside world is done and behind you for a bit, and you get to just kick back and relax where you find yourself most comfortable.

And I don’t care how happy or dissatisfied with your home, or how much you long for a bigger and better one, or whatever else. When you walk back into your home all the stress and the care of the outside world seems to wash away in a way that’s just hard to describe.

God

This week we read Parasha Vayechi, Genesis 47:28-50:26, which is also the final parasha of Bereshit.

The parasha opens with Jacob telling Joseph that when he dies he wants his bones carried out of Egypt and buried in the Promised Land. Then we about Jacob speaking a special blessing over Ephraim and Menasseh.

In chapter 49 Jacob then blesses all 12 sons in order of their birth, some seemingly get better blessings than others.

Lastly, in chapter 50 Jacob dies and all Egypt morns for him. Then a tremendous procession leaves Egypt to bury him in Canaan. Then Joseph reassures his brothers that he has absolutely no intention of retaliating against them.

But we also see two very important things occuring in Parasha Vayechi that should be a reminder to us of where our loyalty lies… And just as I discussed my love for traveling and there just being something about longing to be home again, we see the same spiritual reality in our Parasha this week.

Let’s dig into the Scriptures together.

Genesis 47:28–31 TLV

Now Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for 17 years, so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years. As the time of Israel’s death drew near, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please put your hand under my thigh and show me faithful kindness. Please do not bury me in Egypt. When I lie down with my fathers, you must carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” So he said, “I myself will do according to your word.” “Swear to me,” he said. So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed down in worship on the head of his staff.

Abraham was called by HaShem to leave his father’s house and to head to a land he had not known, a land that would be an eternal inheritance of his descendants. Abraham made sure that Isaac never left the land of promise, but remained deeply connected. Yet Isaac didn’t maintain the same expectation of Jacob. Jacob left and spent a little over two decades in Padan Aram basically enslaved to his father-in-law, Laban, with constantly changing wages. But, he was constantly chasing the next big pay day… Whether it was his wives, or his cattle, or his financial wealth.

But, eventually Jacob makes his way back to the Promised Land and settles down and finally finds his spiritual connection to the Promised Land. But, due to a vast famine Jacob and his family have made their way to Egypt and is reunited with his long-lost son Joseph.

However, in Parasha Vayechi we find ourselves at the end of Jacob’s life. At this point he has spent 17 years living in Egypt. He has become comfortable here, he has nothing to worry about, and he has all of his sons with him. But he never forgets his spiritual connection to the Promises of God and to the land of Canaan.

Here we see Jacob demands Joseph to make sure when he dies his body is not buried in Egypt, but instead are carried out and buried with Abraham and Isaac in the Promised Land. He recognizes that even though his current residence is in Egypt, this is not his home. His heart’s yearning is to return to the Promised Land, to reside in the Promises of God.

You can also tell how important this request is to Jacob by who it is he is making the request of. He isn’t asking any of his other 11 sons, who in Egypt are more or less powerless to see his desire come true. He goes directly to Joseph, who, aside from Pharoah, is the most powerful man in the world. He went not just to the son he has a special connection with, but the son who has the ability to actually make this happen. And, with great fanfare from Egypt, Joseph does in fact make it happen.

Then we read in Genesis 50...

Genesis 50:24–26 TLV

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m about to die. But God will surely take notice of you and will bring you up from this land to the land that He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made Israel’s sons swear an oath saying, “When God takes notice of you, you will bring my bones up from here.” So Joseph died at 110 years old, and they embalmed him and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Joseph, the man of dreams and vision, seems to have some sort of foreknowledge that the children of Israel aren’t getting out of Egypt any time soon. He seems aware, at least to some degree, of what the future holds for Israel.

When Jacob asked Joseph to make sure he was buried in the Promised Land there was an urgency in the request. Jacob wanted to be buried there immediately. Yet when Joseph makes the request of his brothers there seems to be absolutely no urgency in his request. There is the same yearning and spiritual connection in Joseph to the Holy Land as we see with Jacob, but he seems aware that there is a long, rough future awaiting the children of Israel in Egypt in the relatively near future. He knows that his brothers will not be the ones carrying his bones out, but rather their descendants.

His choice of wording is curious as well… Remember, Israel is residing in Goshen because Joseph wanted to provide a place of safety for Israel, a place where they could all remain together and be secure. But, Goshen also ultimately becomes their imprisonment of sorts as well, as in the not so distant future they become enslaved by the Egyptians and their residence in Goshen becomes their only sense of a safe haven.

But Joseph speaks a bit of prophesy here. Again we read...

Genesis 50:24–25 TLV

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m about to die. But God will surely take notice of you and will bring you up from this land to the land that He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made Israel’s sons swear an oath saying, “When God takes notice of you, you will bring my bones up from here.”

“God will surely take notice of you and will bring you up from this land to the Promised Land. When God does take notice of you, bring my bones out of here also… Make sure your descendants do not forget me here… I have spent far too long separated from the Land of Promise with a deep spiritual connection burning within me… Do not leave me here forever.”

And as we see Israel finally being set free from Egyptian slavery in the Shemot, the book of Exodus, we read this...

Exodus 13:17–19 TLV

After Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, although that was nearby, for God said, “The people might change their minds if they see war and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds, and Bnei-Yisrael went up out of the land of Egypt armed. Moses also took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made Bnei-Yisrael swear an oath saying, “God will surely remember you, and then you are to carry my bones away with you.”

When Israel left Egypt Moses made sure Joseph left with them. They did not forget him, they did not leave him behind as his brothers once had when they sold him into slavery. Moses carried his bones out of Egypt with them to be buried in the Promised Land.

See, there’s a great spiritual concept that we need to take to heart in this. In the same sense that Jacob and Joseph both realized that Egypt was not their home, but rather that the Land of Promise was. In the same way that they both had a deep spiritual connection to the Promised Land. You and I, as believers in Messiah, may live here in the Olam Hazeh… But we do not belong here… We are bought by the Blood of the Lamb and are made sons and daughters of the King of Kings. This means that, while we are residence of the Olam Hazeh, our home is in the Olam Habah.

In the same way that Jacob and Joseph had a longing for the homeland to which they had a deep spiritual connection while they resided in Egypt, we have a yearning for our spiritual homeland with which we have a deep spiritual connection through the Ruach HaKodesh.

See, we weren’t created to live in this world… Or, at least, not the way it is currently… So every day we have to deal with all the crazy mess that the this world has to offer all we long for is to go back home… And I’m not talking about our house or our own beds, I’m talking about being in the Presence of God. And this is what Eretz Yisrael represents. And in it is the city in which God has placed His name, the city in which we encounter His Presence and in which we make sacrifices and offerings to Him—Jerusalem. And Israel and Jerusalem are not just the promised homeland of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are a foreshadowing of Olam Habah, a foreshadowing of the New Heaven and the New Jerusalem which will descend upon the earth and in which we will reside in the Presence of our Heavenly Father for all eternity.

And much like Jacob and Joseph who were sojourning in Egypt and longing to have their bodies returned to rest in the Promised Land, you and I as followers of Yeshua are strangers and sojourners in this world.

In fact, the Brit Chadashah alludes to this very idea numerous times. For instance...

John 15:18–19 TLV

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But you are not of the world, since I have chosen you out of the world; therefore the world hates you.

Yeshua says the world will hate use because we are not of this world, we are called out into His kingdom. We see this very same reality foreshadowed in the story of Israel after Jacob, Joseph and the other sons of Israel die. Egypt becomes scared of them, they feel threatened by Israel’s mere existence. They see how the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has protected Israel, how He has prospered them, and how He favors them. They are convinced that, given the right circumstances, the nation of Israel would turn against Egypt and join Egypts enemies in battle against Egypt. So, out of fear of what they presumed about Israel, Egypt turned against Israel first and enslaves B’nei Yisrael.

In the same way, the world sees the Presence of God in the Body of Messiah and the world does not quite know what to do with us. This partnered with the fact that sometimes as followers of Yeshua we don’t really know how to interact with the world and often push them away rather than drawing them in, the world around us hates us. And, as Yeshua tells us, it isn’t us they hate so much as it is He who is in us that they hate. And the comfort we have is in the Ruach HaKodesh’s assurance that the Olam Hazeh is not our home, just as Egypt was not Israel’s home. We are here in the here and now, but we have far greater promises awaiting us when heaven and earth are rolled away and the New Heaven and New Jerusalem descend upon the earth and we get to finally rest in the promises of the Olam Habah.

Peter reminds us of the great responsibility that we have to cleave to Messiah in everything we do and say, to have the Presence of God permeate our very being so the world may see He who is in us. And he urges us to maintain a Ruach filled and Ruach led life so that the world around us may in fact see the Lord in us, despite the evil they may speak against us, and if possible they may be led to faith in Yeshua as well.

1 Peter 2:9–12 TLV

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were “not a people,” but now you are “God’s people.” You were shown “no mercy,” but now you have been shown “mercy.” Loved ones, I urge you as strangers and sojourners to keep away from the fleshly cravings that war against the soul. Keep your conduct honorable among the Gentiles. Then while they speak against you as evildoers, they may—from noticing your good deeds—glorify God in the day of visitation.

Likewise, Paul reminds us of what awaits us through Salvation in Messiah Yeshua.

Philippians 3:20–21 TLV

For our citizenship is in heaven, and from there we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He will transform this humble body of ours into the likeness of His glorious body, through the power that enables Him even to put all things in subjection to Himself.

And this is such an important reality to grasp. Remember, Israel was a stranger and sojourner in Egypt, Egypt was not their home… But, they ultimately became comfortable in Egypt, they began to live like Egyptians rather than as Hebrews (or ones who have crossed over). Even after Adonai set Israel free from Egypt and we began our journey back to the Promised Land all we could do was bicker, moan, and complain about how much easier life was in Egypt, how much better we had it back there… We were literally walking through the wilderness being sustained miraculously by the hand of God, experiencing miracle after miracle right before our very eyes… And yet as we were journeying to the foreshadowing of the Olam Habah all we could do was long for the “good old days” in the Olam Hazeh.

Paul’s call is vital, that while we eagerly await the return of Mashiach we put all things in subjection to Him. This goes for our worries and cares of this world, this goes for our fallen sinful ways, this goes for our relationships, this goes for our work life, our home life, our families, and our own personal walk with God. We put all things in subjection to Him.

And the author of Hebrews reminds us that just as our forefathers never saw the fulfillment of the promises God had spoken to them, they waited eagerly with great expectation in what they fully believed would in fact happen.

Hebrews 11:13–16 TLV

These all died in faith without receiving the things promised—but they saw them and welcomed them from afar, and they confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If indeed they had been thinking about where they had come from, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they yearn for a better land—that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

In the same sense, you and I as followers of Messiah Yeshua, are following a long line of folks who were 100% sold out on Messiah. They believed in perfect faith in their salvation by His sacrifice. They yearned eagerly themselves for His soon return. And like our forefathers awaiting the fulfillment of HaShem’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our predecessors in the Kingdom of Messiah died without seeing His ushering in the Olam Habah. But, they maintained perfect faith in what was to come, in the promises of HaShem.

And we can live in their example while we long for and await the City of our true citizenship. And by living our lives in faithful subject to the Ruach HaKodesh we will be guarded and protected from the disdain of the world around us, we will be shielded and protected in the cleft of the Rock.

You

I know many of you are going through a world hurt right now. You are facing battles that are overwhelming, battles that are tearing you down, battles that feel, at the moment, as though they are going to destroy you.

But if you walk away from here today having learned but one thing, I want you to know that no matter what this world is throwing at you, no matter how difficult a season you may be walking through right now, no matter how badly it feels like your world is crumbling around your feet, know that as a believer in Yeshua HaMashiach your promises are awaiting you in the Olam Habah, not in the Olam Hazeh. You are a son or daughter of the King of Kings and your citizenship, your home is not in this world, it is in the New Heaven and the New Jerusalem.

We

If our worship team will make their way back up to the stage.

In the same way that when I am traveling there always a longing to be back in my own bed, back in my own house, no matter how much I am enjoying myself in my travels, as believers in Messiah Yeshua we have a promised eternal home awaiting us. And just as Jacob and Joseph died with full faith in the future fulfillment of HaShem’s promises remember His people and to take them out of Egypt and restore them in the Promised Land, you and I can cleave to perfect faith that even though we are but strangers and sojourners in the Olam Hazeh, in this spiritual Egypt, the Olam Habah, the New Heaven and New Jerusalem is awaiting us and we will be fully restored in the image and likeness of HaShem, we will rest for all eternity in His Presence, and a day is coming in which we will never again have to worry about the pain and anguish of this fallen world.

Until then, we rely on the Blood of the Lamb, we live lives fully subjected to the Ruach HaKodesh and His inspired Word in great expectation. And just as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so many more lived their lives looking forward with great expectations to His Promises, we can live our lives looking forward with full expectation as well.

Hebrews 11:16 TLV

But as it is, they yearn for a better land—that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.