WHEN DEATH STRIKES THRICE

Genesis 35

Pastor Rick Jackson

1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Billions and perhaps trillions are spent each year to try and cheat, avoid, or delay death but to no avail. Death comes. Romans 5:12 declares- Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

None but One has beaten death and beaten it thoroughly and that One is the Lord Jesus Christ. He died in our place but death and the grave couldn't hold Him. 3 days later He rose triumphantly from the dead, never to die again. And... and He offers to everyone who will commit their soul to Him the same victory! [Romans 5:15] But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

He takes the sting out of death by removing the cause. Sin is the cause as we have seen and to those who will receive Him the Lord Jesus takes their sin and gives them His righteousness as a free gift! [Romans 5:19] For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Israel was a man that put his trust in God. In Genesis 35 he faces death not once but three times but he does so with faith in God, may we face the inevitable with as much grace.

I. DEATH AND THE PRESENCE OF GOD [v. 1-15]

1. The Blessing of Genuine Preparation [v. 1-7]

2. The Blessing of Good People [v. 8]

Allon-bachuth means "oak of weeping"

3. The Blessing of God's Presence [v. 9-15]

II. DEATH AND THE PROMISES OF GOD [v. 16-20]

1. God Promised Sin Would Bring Sorrow [v. 16, Gen. 3:16a]

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;

Jeremiah 31:15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

2. God Promised Sin Would Bring Death [v. 17-18a, Gen. 2:17]

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Matthew 2:17-18 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

3. God Promised a Saviour Would Bring Victory [v. 18b-20, Gen. 3:15]

(God told Satan in Adam & Eve's presence) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Mark 14:62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Mark 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

Acts 7:55-56 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Ephesians 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Hebrews 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

Hebrews 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 Peter 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

III. DEATH AND THE PURPOSE OF GOD [v. 21-29]

1. Sin Cannot Ruin the Purpose of God [v. 21-26, 49:3-4, 9-11]

2. Death Cannot Ruin the Purpose of God [v. 27-29a, Luke 16:22]

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also ° died, and was buried;

3. Time Cannot Ruin the Purposeof God [v. 29b]

Matthew 1:2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;

Matthew 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Mark 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?

Luke 13:28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.

Luke 20:37 Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.