Embracing the End: Genesis 49:28-32

Being in the arms of God is a great place to be.  He walks through life with us; He will be there at the end of life to bring us into His promise of eternal life with Him.  He is worthy of our trust.

Almost at the end of Genesis, Jacob speaks the last of his blessings.  He pulls himself up into bed.  Then, he dies.  It all feels highly anticlimactic.

Jacob is the man who fought to come into the world, grabbing at Esau’s heel.  Jacob fought for Isaac’s blessing.  Jacob fought for the right to marry Rachel after he was forced to marry Leah.  Jacob fought with God upon coming back to his homeland.  Jacob fought for all the major events in his life.  Here at his death Jacob simply curls up and dies.

Jacob’s perspective on death is incredible.  Many people come to the moment of death resisting, fighting tooth and nail to avoid dying.  Unlike most people, Jacob receives death with open arms.  Jacob doesn’t fight death at all.  This may be the first time in his life he didn’t fight.

Some people think Jacob was so tired of fighting his way through life he was spent by the end.  For evidence, people look to Jacob’s interview with Pharoah and see how Jacob told Pharoah the days of his life were “few and evil.”  Hearing this, it is easy to think Jacob was tired of living and ready to die.

I believe the opposite.  Jacob certainly fought through many trials, but the last few years of his life were filled with joy.  Jacob was reunited with his favorite child.  That child was elevated to the second highest position in Egypt.  That child demonstrated his greatness for the known world to see.  Because of his favorite son, Jacob’s entire family was saved from famine and even profited during the experience.  At the end of his life, Jacob saw things work themselves out through God’s hand.

Because Jacob witnessed God’s work, he had every reason to be content at the end of his life.  God triumphs.  God demonstrates His ability to keep His promises.  Jacob knows if God kept His promises during Jacob’s life, then God could be trusted to continue to keep His promises after death.  His family was safe.  His family would become a great nation.  The only thing left to do was to be buried with his family in Canaan and to let God work in the next generation.

I love Jacob’s approach to death.  Life goes on after Jacob dies.  There is no need to stress and worry over events safely in God’s hands.  There is no need to be fearful and resist death.  We are safely in God’s hands as we die.  Jacob, the great wrestler over the span of his entire life, dies contentedly in the arms of His God.  Being in the arms of God is a great place to be.