TWO EXTRA BLESSINGS

May 19, 2002 pm
MF Blume


Genesis 41:50-52 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. (51) And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. (52) And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
Genesis 48:1-5 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. (2) And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. (3) And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, (4) And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. (5) And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
Genesis 48:8-20 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these? (9) And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. (10) Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. (11) And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed. (12) And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. (13) And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him. (14) And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. (15) And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, (16) The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. (17) And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. (18) And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. (19) And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. (20) And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.


Joseph suffered much from his brothers during the days of his youth when God gave dreams to him.

* Their jealousy of the dreams' messages of bowing down to him enraged them.
* Finally they sold him into slavery and duped their father into thinking he died.
* The slave traders sold him to Egypt, and after time in serving a house there, the wife's failed attempt to seduce him caused her to cry rape when he ran.
* And he wound up in prison.

But God raised him up and prospered right there in the country of his affliction.

* He was called upon by Pharaoh after the leader had a dream and Pharaoh's butler informed him that a man in prison could interpret it.
* Joseph told the king that the dream spoke of seven years of plenty that were coming, to be followed by seven years of famine.
* Joseph was appointed to oversee harvest supplies during the seven plenteous years, and was thus highly promoted in Egypt.

His prosperity changed his entire life.

* He forgot all his past troubles, and even his family troubles and came to have his own family.
* He prospered in t he very land where he was afflicted.

He married and had two sons.

* The firstborn son caused him to name the boy Manasseh.
* Manasseh means "forgetfulness; he that is forgotten."
* "For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house."
* He celebrated his own experience of victory over his past due to the overshadowing amount of blessings in his prosperity by naming his son so.

His second son was named Ephraim.

* Ephraim means "fruitful and increasing".
* "For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction."

In time, when the famine hit Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to obtain the food Joseph directed Egypt to house.

* Joseph saw the men fall down on their faces before him, and he realized his dreams were fulfilled!
* They bowed down to him just as his dreams foretold they would

In the process of time, hiding his identity to them, he caused them to bring Benjamin and Jacob.

* He revealed who he was in the midst of it all and there was a grand family reunion!

After the family was given provisions to dwell in Egypt, word came that Jacob was ill.

* In his senior years, they realized he may die.
* So Joseph went to see him with his two sons.
* Jacob reiterated God's promises to him and his fathers, and proceeded to tell Joseph that he regarded Manasseh and Ephraim, not as grandchildren, but as his own sons.
* He felt to prophesy over and bless the sons, as he would his actual sons.

Israel/Jacob was very weak of sight as Isaac his father was.

* In fact it was through Isaac's blindness that Jacob deceived him and received the blessing of the firstborn.
* So Joseph led the boys to be positioned in such a manner before Israel so that Manasseh, the firstborn, would stand before Israel's right hand.
* The right hand of power was laid upon the one to receive the birthright blessing.
* And Ephraim was placed before Israel's left hand for the lesser blessing, albeit a blessing.

Israel then moved his right hand over to Ephraim instead of laying it on Manasseh as he should have, and laid his left hand on Manasseh.

* Joseph protested and informed him of his error.
* The right hand should be upon Manasseh, not Ephraim.

Israel insisted he knew what he was doing, and he knew he put his right hand on Ephraim instead of Manasseh, and continued to do so and gave the blessings.

* He told Joseph that Ephraim will be greater than Manasseh.
* (Similar to Jacob being regarded as the firstborn when Esau should have received it).

In order to do that with his hands, Israel had to "cross" his arms.

* And through this "cross", two extra blessings were added to the Household.
* Since these were not actually Israel's two sons, they normally would not have been prophesied over.
* However, since they were, and since the names of the boys represent Joseph's own experiences, we see a message.

Manasseh speaks of Joseph's blessing to forget the past.

Ephraim speaks of Joseph's blessing to prosper.

One more point to consider.

* The kingdom of Israel was comprised of the twelve tribes, with actual allotments of land issued according to the tribes.
* So the blessings on the sons represent the blessing in the Kingdom.
* Since these two sons of Joseph were added to the list, and blessed, they speak of two extra blessings in the kingdom of God.

Today, the Kingdom of God is the world of the Holy Ghost.

* It has blessings as well!
* And since these two extra blessings were added to Israel's progeny due to Israel's act of crossing his arms, we see a spiritual message of two extra blessings in the Kingdom of God that came THROUGH THE CROSS.

Recall that Jesus told natural Israel in his day that the Kingdom would be taken from them and given to another nation.

* That other nation is the church!
* A holy nation and royal priesthood.
* So the blessings of Israel are upon the church.
* But through the cross two extra blessings are on the church as well!

MANASSEH

* The blessing Manasseh represents is the lives of sin that we committed that are forgotten by God when He saves us.
* God just doesn't forgive.
* He forgets what he forgives!
* Don't worry about your past sins and horrors having any affect in hurting a relationship today between you and God.
* God has forgotten them!
* He doesn't know what you're talking about if you refer Him to them.

God has been caused to forget our sins through the cross.

Joseph was rejected and suffered at the hands of his brethren.

* What an ordeal.
* Yet he forgot it all.
* Animal sacrifices were insufficient since they did not remit sins.
* And every year the people had to face their sins all over again and hope the atonement would succeed.
* But Christ died once and once and for all He remitted our sins.
* We forget about them!
* We do not need to worry about them or even have conscience of them once they are remitted.
Hebrews 10:3-4 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. (4) For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Hebrews 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
We were rejected.

* We were sinners.
* But the cross removed all our guilt.
Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
So many sins in our lives wearied God, so God chose to forget them all.
Isaiah 43:24-25 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. (25) I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
This also speaks of Jesus Christ.

* Jesus was rejected by His brethren, Israel.
* Like Joseph, God's hand was upon the man Christ Jesus, and they sold him for silver as they did Joseph.
* They crucified Him.
* But all that was forgotten.
* He came unto His own and they received Him not.
* But the glory of the cross in subsequent resurrection of Christ caused Him to forget it all.

He humbled Himself to become a man in the incarnation, and came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.'

* But all that changed by the cross.
* He is king of kings now.
* Sitting on the throne of David.
* All the past is forgotten!

Ephraim.

* God has exalted us and prospered us, replacing the past with such abundant blessings.
* Not only that, but Ephraim was not the firstborn.
* He was second.
* In the flesh he was second, but in the Spirit he was firstborn!

Jesus is firstborn in the Spirit as well, although you could say He is sort of second born when compared to the nation of Israel and the Old Testament which came long before He came.

* The birthright is not through the natural picture.
* Although the nation of Israel came before Christ, it was Christ who was in the plan of God to be firstborn from the beginning.

As Jacob crossed his arms and prayed the birthright onto Ephraim, it was a mystery to Joseph, and he protested.

* And it may look odd to see the Old Covenant and Natural Israel put in second place beneath Christ and the New Covenant, although the New Covenant came second, but this indeed is a mystery, hidden from the foundation of the world.
1 Corinthians 2:6-8 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: (7) But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: (8) Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
The firstborn blessing is a double portion blessing.
* It grants twice as much land to the heir.

Through the cross, Jesus received a double portion blessing.

* All that He was blessed with is shared by you and I, too.
* He died and resurrected, and we die with Him and are resurrected with Him.
* He is seated in glory, and we are seated together with Him.
* Its a double blessing.
* His blessing is our's!

He put on incorruption and so shall we!

He is spotless and without sin, and so are we!

The grave could not hold Him, and neither shall it hold us.

We are JOINT-HEIRS with Christ!

God made the last to be the first!
Matthew 20:27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

Mark 10:31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
If you've considered yourself second rate, you will actually be made first!

Now...

There is another great truth in all of this.

* Israel said Ephraim would be greater than Manasseh.
* Indeed he was!
* His name became a synonym for the entire nation in later prophetic writings of the Old Testament.
* And when all Israel gathered beneath four of the twelve tribes' banners, around the tabernacle, Ephraim's name was on the west and his banner was one of the four!
* Manasseh had to camp beneath Ephraim's banner.

Joseph called the firstborn Manasseh, because he felt his first priority and greatest blessing was to forget the past.

* That is a great blessing.
* Jacob said Manasseh would be blessed.
* However, God changed the picture and made Ephraim greater!
* So many think the greatest they'll ever achieve is to be forgiven of all their past.
* To just be able to forget our pasts is, to many, a huge success.
* They feel the best anyone can hope to enjoy in the kingdom is to get over the past.
* However, God is telling us He will INCREASE and PROSPER us so much after we forget the past, that it will outshine all the amount of past that He forgave.
* He forgives and forgets a lot.
* But He blesses with more than He had to forget.
* Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound!

If you feel your past is a lot to forget, then how much do you feel your blessings and prosperity is going to be if its going to be greater!

* Ephraim was greater than Manasseh .
* Prosperity and increase would be greater than forgetting the past troubles!
* How great must those blessings be!
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