Legacy of Faith- Hebrews 11Sample

“Faith for the Future”

“By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.” —Hebrews 11:22

How confident are you in the promises of God coming to pass in your life? How long would you stand on God’s Word for it to come to pass? When we look at people of faith, they often stood on and held to promises they would not even see fulfilled in their own lifetimes. Joseph was so assured of the promises of God that he knew God’s Word would come to pass. Joseph had a heritage of faith; he heard stories about his great-grandfather Abraham, his grandfather Isaac, and his father Jacob.

I love the story of Joseph. God gave him a vision of his future, yet he was persecuted by his brothers and sold into slavery. He rose to success in Potiphar’s house but was then thrown into prison because of the lies of Potiphar’s wife. He interpreted dreams but was forgotten and left in prison. Yet, through it all, he never let go of his confidence that God would bring him to a fulfilled future. He eventually rose to be second in command in all of Egypt, and he saw the fulfillment of the vision that God had shown him when he was young. God also restored him to his family. He did not seek revenge against his brothers but instead understood that what the enemy meant for harm, God would reweave into something great. The reason he held onto that word was that it had been passed down from generation to generation by his fathers before him.

Joseph also held onto the word we find in Genesis 15, where God showed Abraham that Israel would be enslaved in Egypt for 400 years and that afterward, they would return to the promised land. In Hebrews 11:22, it tells us that when Joseph was dying, he spoke of the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt. This reveals to us that Joseph held onto a promise that he would not personally see fulfilled. Of all the things Joseph could have said at the end of his life, he chose to talk about, rehearse, and remember the promise that God had given to his great-grandfather: that God’s people would leave Egypt and enter the promised land.

At the close of verse 22, it tells us that Joseph gave instructions concerning his bones after his death. This shows that he was so confident God’s people would be freed from bondage that he asked them to ensure they would take his remains with them. Joseph was releasing his faith for the future in something he would never see personally. However, because he had seen God’s faithfulness in his life, he was sure that God would be faithful to future generations. So today, think of Joseph and how he used his faith not only for his present circumstances but also for the future yet to come.