Home is Still Up Ahead...

“Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob, ‘How old are you?’

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.’” ~ Genesis 47:7-9, NKJV

Jacob died at the age of 147. Today, this would be an example of unprecedented longevity. Maybe it was a remarkable even in Jacob's day (hence Pharaoh's question). But Jacob calls his days "few and evil," with good reason. Though blessed by the Lord, he was a fallen man who lived in a broken world. He spent his youth fleeing his home, laboring for his uncle, being cheated and deceived by the same uncle, and finally fleeing his new home; later, he lived in fear of his brother; he lost his beloved wife in childbirth; his sons sold his other son into slavery and lied to him about it; and he watched his grown sons make tragic mistakes (Simeon and Levi slaughtered all the men in a city to avenge their sister; Judah married a Canaanite woman; Reuben slept with his father's concubine). As for longevity, Jacob did not even attain to the days of his father and grandfather, Abraham and Isaac (Abraham died at 175; Isaac at 180). Neither Jacob nor any of his nearer ancestors came close to attaining the years of their pre-Flood forefathers (even Noah made it to 950). So when Pharaoh asks Jacob about his age, Jacob answers honestly. His days have been few and evil. He has seen the brokenness of the world and of himself. He understands that creation groans under the subjection of futility (Romans 8:20). He sees death working in everything thanks to man's rebellion against God. Yet for Jacob, this life is not the end. He says specifically, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage..." (vs. 9) Pilgrimage. Paul writes concerning the patriarchs, "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:8-10) Jacob, like all those who Abraham's children by faith, was a pilgrim. His true citizenship was in heaven, and his time on this earth was merely the road home. Jacob's hope was not in this world. He looked for "a better, that is, a heavenly country." (Hebrews 11:16) Because of His children's faith, Paul declares, "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." (Heb. 11:16) The believer acknowledges that his days are few and evil. True, he has plenty of room for thankfulness (indeed, he may overflow with it), and he knows the Lord works all things together for good for him. (Romans 8:28) But when he feels the darkness of this world weighing on him, he takes comfort in the knowledge that this world is not his home. Home is still up ahead. The best is yet to come. This earth is not all there is. We look for a new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13), where death has no power, and where God Himself walks with us.

May our Lord come quickly!

by Rebecca