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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