When you think about the religious sects in the world today some of them stand out very visibly by the way they dress or the way they cut their hair. The Orange People – followers of the late Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh – were so called because they dressed up in orange clothing. The Mormons, on the other hand, are much more sober. The men wear dark trousers and crisp white shirts with a little rectangular name badge white text on a black background.

In the light of this someone might be tempted to ask "What do God's people look like?"

Well you can rest east this evening – I'm not going to give you a list of fashion accessories that you must buy in order to be a real Christian – Christianity is first and foremost a matter of heart disposition. To be a Christian a mere change of outward clothing effects nothing what does matter is being born again.

But having said that we haven't said everything there is to say. While every Christian will want to become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of attitude and behaviour (and in this sense there should be some family traits that begin to make themselves evident in our lives) nevertheless Christians are not to become a set of clones where individuality is lost in a sea of impersonal conformity. Knowing God and belonging to Him is never a dull monotone existence but rather is designed to be a life of glorious technicolour!!

Jacob continues to bless his sons

We've already seen how Jacob adopted Joseph's sons as his own and pronounced individual blessings upon them. Now here in ch.49 on his death bed he calls the rest of his family together so that he might pronounce his blessings upon each and every one of his sons.

Once again we need to understand just what it is that Jacob is doing. He is not trying to gaze into a crystal ball and somehow work out what he thinks might happen to his sons and neither is he giving voice to some mere wishful thinking concerning the future of his boys. No, what Jacob is doing is making a prophetic declaration as he pronounces blessing after blessing upon his sons whom he sees not merely as 12 individuals but as the representative heads of the 12 tribes that they will engender. (v.28 is the first reference in the Scriptures to the 12 tribes of Israel.)

Well, we might ask, How is this possible?

Well if it were left to Jacob alone it would be impossible but Jacob was not on his own! As he pronounces his blessings he calls upon God (eg. vv.18, 24-25) and God knows the end from the beginning!

Is.46:8-13 "Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.”"

When Jacob finishes pronouncing his blessings we are given a clear summary of what he has just done and this summary has important implications for the way in which we must read his pronouncements. Listen to what Moses adds as a word of explanation in v.28:

"This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him."

Each of Jacob's sons receives a blessing. This is important.

When we consider the individual blessings as Jacob pronounced upon his sons we will find that his sons are described in very different ways. There are similarities between some of them but the thing that strikes us most obviously is how different they all are in both temperament and character from one another. The blessings pronounced are correspondingly different as well. The blessings pronounced on three of the tribes hardly seem to us like blessings at all containing rather an expression of Jacob's displeasure rather than of his approval.

What are we to make of this?

Well the first and very encouraging lesson for us to learn is that God's people are made up of a wide variety of different character types. The sons are all different and yet they all belong in God's family.

That means that whatever character we may have it we too may belong to God's people. If we are extroverts we don't have to try to become introverts in order to be a member of His family. Neither for that matter does the introvert need to become an extrovert; the optimist a pessimist or a pessimist an optimist. The fiery tempered doesn't need to become placid and the cool customer doesn't have to become suddenly hyper emotional in order to belong to God's people.

Jacob's sons – all of them without exception were blessed as members of Jacob's family. They hadn't done anything to deserve being his sons they just were his sons! Similarly for us we can't do anything to merit a place amongst God's people but by grace He bestows such privilege upon us.

But we should notice too that none of these sons was irredeemable! None of the character flaws were so great as to cause Jacob to pass over them. Yes, some blessings expressed his displeasure but that displeasure meant discipline within the confines of God's people and not exclusion from that people. And there is a world of difference between the two! None of Jacob's sons were perfect and some had had behaved in grossly despicable ways of which Jacob was thoroughly ashamed and from which he wished to be disassociated but they were not rejected as God had rejected Esau – these men (and the tribes they would produce) were to continue on as God's people.

Matthew Henry commenting on this chapter helpfully writes:

Among God's Israel there is to be found a great variety of dispositions, contrary to each other, yet all contributing to the beauty and strength of the body… and each may do good service to the cause of God against the Canaanites.

Such a lesson is not of course a new one to those familiar with the NT's teaching about the church. There is a wonderfully harmony in God's Book!

1 Cor.12:12-27 "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body––Jews or Greeks, slaves or free––and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honourable we bestow the greater honour, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honour to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."

The Individual Blessings

As Jacob works through his sons five are dealt with in more detail than the remaining sons. These five are:-

Reuben

Simeon

Levi

Judah

Joseph

And of these five the last two receive the most important place in Jacob's blessings.

1. Reuben

He was the first born and would naturally expect to head up the family but in fact he never seems to have exercised a leading role amongst his brothers. His catastrophic decision to lie with one of his father's concubines scandalised his father who never forgot this slight. The instability of his own character meant that the rights and privileges of being the first born were never to be enjoyed by him and they were passed to another.

In the history of the people of God the tribe of Reuben was to produce no prophet, no judge and no king. Perhaps the only well-known members of the tribe of Reuben were Dathan and Abiram – famous only for their faithless rebellion against Moses' leadership!

2+3. Simon and Levi

These two brothers are taken together and characterized by being violent and angry men. They were cruel in the expression of their wrath and Jacob their father wanted it to be known that he distanced himself from their aggressive and destructive behaviour.

As the territory is allocated amongst the tribes in the Promised Land the allocation is such as to prohibit these tribes exercising a violent dominance over the others. Simeon's territory will be inside that of Judah's and thus its influence on the other tribes will be severely restricted. Levi would have no territory of its own but because of their loyalty during a time of national apostasy they were raised to an honourable position as priests to the Lord.

4. Judah

Having got off to a poorish start Judah now has attained a noble position. Isn't this heartening? We don't have to be forever a prisoner of past failure! If the blessings given to the preceding three brothers were restrictive that is certainly not the case with Judah.

Judah is to enjoy the praise of his brothers and although the right of the first born will pass to Joseph nevertheless leadership and royalty will be associated with Judah who will prove himself to be both courageous and prosperous.

As the Israelite tribes moved through the wilderness it was Judah that opened the march and led the way. As the tribes entered the promise land and fought to take possession of the land it was Judah that had the leading role to play (Jug.1:2). And as Joseph became less important King David ruled firstly over Judah and then over all the people of God and would become the forefather of the Messiah!!

6 tribes are dealt with quickly and with little information before Jacob turns his attention towards his favourite son Joseph. A final brief word about Benjamin will complete this cycle of blessing.

Joseph

Joseph here has yet more blessings heaped upon him in addition to the blessings of ch.48. Five times the word "blessings" is used in the section that deals with Joseph see vv.25-26.

Jacob is careful as he speaks about Joseph to trace all of Joseph's current blessings back to the LORD Almighty. Yes, Joseph had had troubles and trials in his life but God had rendered him successful. He had come through situations where he had been the subject of envy, revenge, temptation and ingratitude and it was all down to God's faithfulness that he come through triumphantly. God had so dealt with him that Joseph had become the shepherd of his people – providing the food and the security they need as well the sure foundation upon which the future of the nation can be built. In this Joseph, under the blessing of God, is able to be a type of the Lord Jesus who later would come to save His people, providing food for them to eat and to be the most important corner stone of all!

Having touched upon the blessings that Joseph is already experiencing in the present Jacob went on to invoke all kinds of different blessings upon Joseph at the hand of this same God who is richly described in these verses.

The God who has looked after Joseph up till now and who will cause blessing in the future is "the Mighty One of Jacob", He is "the God of your Father", He is the Almighty. (vv.24-25)

Jacob's death

With the blessings complete so is Jacob's life. All that remains for him to do is to repeat in greater detail the instructions he has already given concerning his burial.

The instructions had already been given to Joseph in private (ch.47:29ff.) They are repeated to the whole family that all might be left in no doubt as to the origin of the request to be buried not in Egypt but back in the Promised Land.

Jacob speaks of his imminent death not in terms of a cessation of existence but of being gathered to his people. Jacob is thinking of his ancestors but particularly of his ancestors as they stand in relation to God!

Those ancestors were the people of God - those spirits of just men now made perfect. This people comprise the souls of all the saints who had already departed this life, and were then in a state of happiness and bliss. He saw himself as belonging to the mystical body which is the church, the company of God’s elect through the covenant of grace.

His expectation of being gathered with such shows his belief that the souls of men are immortal and that there is a future state after death, which is a state of happiness, and into which saints immediately enter as soon as they die. Jacob fully expected to be with them in just a short time!

Conclusion

Salvation is for all types of characters and individuals and they may all find their place within the church, the body of Christ.

How foolish we can be in wasting time always wishing to be some other than we are! Let us imagine that entry into the people of God depend upon things that do not count! Let us come as we are to Jesus!

Let us recognize that the source of all our current blessings as well as all our future blessings is God Himself and respond appropriately to Him in thankfulness, praise and confidence!

Let us remember that the good news is not for this earthly existence only but has an eternal dimension that is glorious.