A COFFIN IN EGYPT

GENESIS 50:2

A. "HE WAS PUT IN A COFFIN IN EGYPT"
  1. The life-story of Joseph is full of pathos:
    1. We think of his father's special attachment to him
    2. We marvel at his mysterious dreams about his future and the attitude of his brethren because of Joseph relating his dreams to them
    3. Then we think of his slavery in Egypt and his trials and triumphs
  2. Our text is a meaningful part of the closing chapter of his long and useful life:
    1. We love to linger with the high points in the drama of that life
    2. We hesitate to think that great life closed with the terse statement that they put his remains in a coffin in Egypt B. A COFFIN IN EGYPT
  3. A forceful reminder for all born of a woman:
    1. How we resort to every expedient to evade the conclusion - "I must die"
    2. Every artifice of language is employed to disguise or paraphrase that dreaded appointment with death - Examples: Hezekiah on his death-bed - Is. 38:1-11; Jonathan and the vow of his father - I Sam. 14:44-45
    3. It is an appointment that is inevitable, so writes Paul - Heb. 9:27
  4. "He was put in a coffin"
    1. Why must we let this shadow fall across our life? It is because the shadow is essential to the proportion of the picture
    2. If once we realize that death does close a vista, does set a term to our activities, we shall see that, at best, our life is a pilgrimage from cradle to the grave - Ps. 90:12
    3. The Bible gives strong emphasis to the fact that our life is at best a sojourn - that is what Jacob said to Pharaoh - Gen. 47:9
  5. "He was put into a coffin"
    1. But as we think, how little of him after all was put there - his mortal remains
    2. his life's influence lived on - "His works do follow him" - Rev. 14:13
  6. Think of the marvelous thing we call influence:
    1. A savior of life - or savior of death - 2 Cor. 2:15-16
    2. We think of such Bible characters as Ruth, Joseph, and Daniel - in contrast to Judas, Cain, and Ahab C. "HE WAS PUT IN A COFFIN IN EGYPT" - WHAT A THOUGHT PROVOKING TEXT
  7. But that is not a full account of the matter:
    1. They put his body into the coffin, but not his interest
    2. Joseph, you will recall, requested of his brethren for them to take his remains with them when they returned to the promised land
    3. He foresaw that a time would come when God would visit his people - and he wanted to be a partaker of that heavenly visitation
    4. Thus we see that that great man Joseph looked beyond his sojourn in Egypt, beyond the coffins of Egypt - He looked for the promised land
  8. What a consolation in this hour of sorrow and great loss to the bereaved:
    1. The remains of this loved one rest in a coffin
    2. But not his influence - it shall continue in the lives of all of us who remain behind
  9. the influence of a mother's self-sacrificing love
  10. the influence of a father's faith
  11. the influence of a faithful dorcas worker
    1. There is the memory of the departed's activities in church and its program
    2. That is the bright side of the picture - there is, at times the darker side of the shadow of the coffin - what if our influence has been harmful to others - what about if we influenced others to commit sin
  12. The coffin does not do everything:
    1. It encloses the dead bodies, but cannot remove the influence of our lives - good or bad
    2. It does show that none of us have an abiding place in this world
    3. It shows us that our only hope for the future is found in God's promises


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