Looking Toward God’s Kingdom: “This Place Is not My Home”

Looking Toward God’s Kingdom: “This Place Is not My Home” January 20, 2025

Photo by Sander Crombach on Unsplash

We often grow attached to places in this world – a favorite vacation spot, or a retirement destination. Joseph’s story reminds us: this place is not my home!

Scripture:       

Genesis, chapters 49-50; Psalm 8; Luke, chapter 20

Genesis 50:15-26 (NASB):

When Joseph’s brothers had seen that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!” So they sent instructions to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded us before he died, saying, ‘This is what you shall say to Joseph: “Please forgive, I beg you, the offense of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.”’ And now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”

But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived 110 years. Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will assuredly take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will assuredly take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” So Joseph died at the age of 110 years; and they embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.

Observations: “This Place Is not My Home”

In chapter 49, before Jacob dies, he commands his sons to take him back to Canaan to bury him. He directs them to bury them in the same cave in which Abraham and Sarah were buried. Isaac and Rebekah were also buried there, as well as Jacob’s wife Leah. In other words, Jacob told them, “This place is not my home. When I die, take me back home and bury me there.” And that’s what they did.

Now, at the end of chapter 50, Joseph is ready to die. He had been in Egypt for almost 100 years. He came to power at the age of 30, following a number of years as a slave and a prisoner. Joseph recognized that everything that God used everything that happened to him to provide for his family and protect them. Undoubtedly, Joseph had heard about God’s promise to Abraham from Jacob, just as Jacob heard it from Isaac. God would give their descendants the land He promised, and He would make them into a great nation. So Joseph makes his brothers promise that when God led them back to Canaan, they would take his bones with them and bury him there.

“The Lord Was With Joseph”

Last week, I reflected on the fact that Genesis repeats several times that “the Lord was with Joseph.” God was with him in Canaan, in Potiphar’s household, and in prison. Even though things looked bad, the Lord was with Joseph. God eventually demonstrated that to everyone. Joseph was appointed second in command in all of Egypt. He was in charge of famine relief, which enabled him to provide food for his family. Joseph brought his family to Egypt, and God blessed them and prospered them there.

But Joseph knew that Egypt wasn’t their final destination. God had promised to give them the land of Canaan, and Joseph trusted that God would do it. Joseph didn’t know when that would happen – but when it did, he wanted to be there! Just as Jacob had done, Joseph asked them to swear that they would take him back home. The Lord had been with Joseph, and Joseph wanted to be where the Lord was going to take them. “This place is not my home.”

Application: This Place Is not My Home

By the time Joseph died, he had been in Egypt for almost 100 years. If he had any memories of Canaan, they were the memories of childhood. He lived in Egypt and become powerful in Egypt. God blessed him with two sons, and brought his family to Egypt to live with him. Jacob came to Egypt, and think of how proud of Joseph he must have been! How good must Joseph have felt to see God fulfill His plans for Joseph and his family! The dreams of his youth – his father and brothers bowing down to him (Genesis 37:5-11) – had come to fruition in a way that only God could have brought about.

But Joseph recognized the difference between being in a place where God could use him and being “home.” No matter how much power and success and acclaim he had in Egypt, it wasn’t home. And in the same way, we need to recognize that this world is not our home. We’re living here – but someday, we’ll go home. And we don’t need to make anyone promise to take us there; Jesus has already done that! “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you will also be” (John 14:2-3).

Prayer:

Father, thank You for reminding us that this world is not our home. Help us to have the same attitide as Joseph. He understood that You were using him in Egypt, but he never made the mistake of thinking that Egypt was “home.” As Peter reminds us (1 Peter 1:1), we are strangers who are scattered throughout this world, but our home is with You.  Lead us today to live in ways that help Your kingdom to come and Your will to be done on earth as in heaven. Amen.

 

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