Like Ephraim and Manasseh [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. What happens to us is that the devil uses our past to keep us so locked up in the memory of our previous sin, our previous failure, our previous hurt, our previous trauma, that that's the only thing that could keep us from moving forward in the promised land.

But if God could get us healed enough of the past so that we forget our troubles, then we could move on and be twice as fruitful as we ever were before. It's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series that we've called The Top Ten from Pastor Alan as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina in the first 10 years of Pastor Alan's radio broadcast ministry. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now, a digital copy of The Top Ten from Pastor Alan Wright. This digital download can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries, or if you prefer, we do have a CD album available.

Your choice as you listen to today's message go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now as we get started with today's teaching, like Ephraim and Manasseh, The Blessing God offers everyone a classic message that became much of the subject of his newly released book, The Power to Bless, available wherever good books are sold or at PastorAlan.org.

Here now is Alan Wright. I want to talk to you some more today about how our minds can be more deeply transformed with the forgetting of what is the pain and the woundedness of yesterday in order to look towards the destiny that is tomorrow. To continue to think about how we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. This text here is one that conjures a beautiful image that little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. And Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. And when he had placed his hands on them, he went off from there.

And I love this image. I like this picture of Christ because in the first place he loved children and the little ones he welcomed to come up and get in his lap and wanted to touch them, put his hands on them. And what he was doing really was he was blessing the children. He was blessing the way that any Hebrew patriarch would bless his own children. You speak a kind of prophetically powerful word sometimes in just the simplest way over somebody's life. And here's the Son of God who has the Holy Spirit without measure. Here's the Son of God who flows in all the gifts of the Spirit and has the anointing on him that is greater than anyone has ever encountered before. And he's going to bless the children.

And I like to just envision what it might have been like. You know, you don't know what he said to each of these children as they came. He might have had a rambunctious kid and I could just see, can't you see the Savior just sort of laughing and say, My, you're full of energy and lay his hands on him and speak a word over him of, you know, you're going to be full of the energy of the Holy Spirit to do the work of the kingdom. You know, you could just see him saying something like that or looking into some child's heart who might be a little shy and speaking a word about the depth of that child's capacity to meditate on the things of God or, you know, some blessing that you could just see the Lord speaking over each of these children. We don't know what Jesus would have been saying as he was laying his hands on these children. But I'm almost positive of one thing he was probably saying.

I mean, I can't be positive. And so still it's a guess, but it's likely that he would finish what he was saying over these children with the words that Hebrew fathers would speak over their own children on the Sabbath day. And I can't be positive, but I'm pretty sure that after Jesus had spoken, whatever he was speaking of these children, that he would have said, May the Lord make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. Because every Sabbath, this is what Hebrew fathers, whatever blessing they would give to their sons, they would say in conclusion, May the Lord make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. In order to begin to grasp what that could possibly be about, we have to think about this incredible theme that we've been seeing running through the old covenant, that there is a conflict between the older sibling and the younger, and specifically between the firstborn son and the younger son.

And what we've seen is that from the very beginning, from the very first family, the first two brothers, they had this very conflict. They came, offered to the Lord something that was not as pleasing as Abel's offering. And so God gave Abel a compliment.

See there you go. I mean the older brother couldn't stand the younger brother even getting a compliment that he didn't get. Any sense of special favor towards the younger. And Cain took great offense at this. And the bitterness grew full force into the spirit of murder.

And he killed his brother. And we come through the pages of scripture and we see over and over this kind of conflict with the older and the younger. The older is the one who has so much favor because it's the firstborn son. And all the society celebrates the firstborn and the family is so excited. I mean it's just, it's just a fascinating thing. Brandon Williams, who was sent forth from here as a full time ministry at Wake Forest and they had a first child a week ago yesterday.

And Brandon was verged last night. Just so fun watching the glow on his face, you know, and everything and watching the celebration. In fact, I brought him up and kind of gave him a little impromptu interview about what it's like to be a daddy for the first time.

He's like, I just want to be with him all the time, you know, and it's just like you can't describe it and it's just wonderful. And part of what happens is when that first child comes, you see, it's like there's been so much of a sense of hope and expectancy. And then when this child comes, you have this celebration that in the first place that there's something here that is going to live on. And so much of the life of Israel has been shaped by the theme of the expectancy of that child and yet the delay of the child. And so the problem over and over is the problem of infertility and there seems to be no child and yet there's a promise of a child and this theme runs through so that there's a greatness to the celebration when the firstborn comes along, you see. And we're still like that and we have expectations over the firstborn because it's like everything's fresh and new.

The firstborn has got all these possibilities, you see. And by the time you have your firstborn, you had to accept so many of your own dreams have kind of died away. I mean, you still got dreams but, you know, you got to get to a point, don't you man, where you realize you're not going to be a major league baseball player, you know.

You are not. And sometimes you just got to get to this point but then this firstborn comes along and what we tend to do is go, I might not have been major league but you could be major league, you see. And it's like you got faith but also that faith can get joined by pressure, right.

And so there's always a fine line there. There's so much that just funnels down onto the shoulders of this little infant boy that comes into the family. And this theme just runs through the scriptures. So you don't go very far from the story of Cain and Abel and you come up to the story of Jacob and Esau. And Jacob was a conniver. Let's not forget that he deceived his way into blessing.

But the significance of the story of Jacob is that the focus is not on the power of the deception and sin inside of Jacob but the focus is on the power of the promise and the power of the blessing. So much so, never forget this, that when Jacob deceives his aged father Isaac, deceives Isaac into thinking that Jacob is actually Esau, the firstborn. And he comes to this moment where he's supposed to get this very special fatherly patriarchal blessing spoken over the firstborn and with it a double portion of the inheritance. And when that moment comes the nearly blind Isaac is deceived. And he lays his hands upon Jacob thinking it's Esau. And once he realizes that he's made the mistake because Esau comes in and Esau cries out and says, my father, he said, bless me too.

Can you not undo the blessing? But see what a Hebrew patriarch understood is that words don't come out of your mouth and sometimes land and sometimes tumble to the ground. But the word itself has power that comes out of your mouth. So we in our Western culture, we've lost this.

We don't understand. We just blab away about anything and say anything and it doesn't matter because you can just take it back. You cannot stuff it back into your spirit and out it comes. And so when he said, you're the one that gets the double portion of the inheritance, here's the blessing on you. It had been spoken and once it had been spoken, it had been enacted. The word itself enacted the blessing.

The word, you have the inheritance, enacted the inheritance. It's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. The life changing message of good news has been taught over radio from Alan Wright Ministries for quite some time now.

And God has used every one of those messages. But some broadcasts have really hit home in special ways. In gratitude of more than a decade of radio, we have assembled the most powerful best love messages from each year of the first 10 and put them together in one special album. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we want to give you Alan Wright's top 10 CD album or digital download.

Are you ready for some good news? Make your gift today and discover God's grace afresh with Alan Wright's top 10 of the first decade. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright.

What we now have like three or four contracts and 15 lawyers and everything and finally say that's binding and still somebody will sue you and try to overturn it. What then it was just a word came out of the mouth and they understood that. And so when the word came out, he was blessed. And so Isaac said, I have blessed him. He trembled when he realized his mistake, but he said, I have blessed him and indeed he'll be blessed. And it was irrevocable. It was the blessing was irrevocable.

Please notice this. The sin in Jacob's life would be forgiven, but the blessing out of Isaac's mouth was irrevocable. Tells you something about the gospel. Well, Jacob, having stolen this blessing, gets the hatred of his brother Esau, lives in most of the years in a situation of division and angst between Esau and Jacob. And then Jacob has sons. And Jacob really loved Joseph because Joseph was born to Rachel and Rachel was Jacob's favorite.

But Joseph, being the young one, once again is hated by his older brothers. They throw him into a pit. They conspire that they're going to kill him, but then they think better of it and say, well, we'll sell him into slavery. They sell him to some passers by who take him to Egypt where he is made a slave in Potiphar's fossil.

And while he's there, this young man, who's still a teenager, has Potiphar's wife come after him. And when Joseph refuses, she accuses Joseph of seeking to take advantage of her. And Potiphar seems to have no choice but to throw Joseph into prison. So Joseph has been, has been, has been hurt in the deepest ways. Isn't it true that nobody can hurt you like your own family? Let the whole world despise me, but not my own family.

But when your own family despises you. He's made a slave. He's made into a slave. And then he's put into utter obscurity in this Egyptian prison.

This is so much trouble in his life. But Joseph is so discerning, so close to God, has such a prophetic ability that he wisely interprets Pharaoh's dreams. And through this gets promoted to second in command of all of Egypt. You never know what's going to happen, do you?

You never know what's going to happen. And there he is wisely governing, saving up grain for seven years, getting ready for what he knows in the spirit will be seven years of famine. And before the famine comes, we come to Genesis chapter 41.

Look there with me. Genesis chapter 41. Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Potipharah, priest of all. And Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said it is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household. The second son he named Ephraim and said it is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. So Joseph has been despised by his family, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused, lied about, falsely imprisoned, left into obscurity, and then promoted to all of second in command of Egypt.

And now God has given him two sons. Once the family is reunited and Jacob discovers that Joseph, his favorite son, is alive after all these years. And the forgiveness that comes up out of Joseph and the reunion of this family, one of the greatest scenes in all the Bible. And when Joseph, after this reunion, comes to understand that his father, Jacob, who is now named Israel, that Jacob, now Israel, is coming near to the time of his death. And what Joseph wants more than anything else is to get his two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh, and get them over to Jacob so that Jacob could bless them. Shows you again the significance and power of the blessing that is spoken from that Hebrew patriarch. Turn to Genesis chapter 48 to see the scene. Some time later, Joseph was told, your father is ill. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, along with him. When Jacob was told, your son Joseph has come to you, Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed. Look at verse five.

Now then, this is what he's saying to Joseph. Your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. It was tantamount to him adopting, in a sense, Joseph's sons, such that they become alongside of all the tribes of Israel. Any children born to you after them will be yours in the territory they inherit. They will be reckoned under the names of their brothers.

Wow. When Israel, verse eight, saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, who are these? They are the sons God has given me here, Joseph said to his father. Then Israel said to them, bring them to me so I may bless them. How does a granddaddy feel when he thought that his son was dead and now he sees his son's face and also realizes not only was his son not dead, but he has two grandsons he didn't know of.

Come, let me bless them. Now Israel's eyes were failing because of old age and he could hardly see, so Joseph brought his sons close to him and his father kissed them and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face again and now God has allowed me to see your children too. And Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground and Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right towards Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left towards Israel's right hand and brought them close to him. Now let's just make sure we understand the picture, that here is Joseph and he knows that his father is nearly blind so he's going to help him out by making sure that Manasseh is at Joseph's left hand as he brings him forward because that's going to put Manasseh at Israel's right hand and it's going to put Ephraim the younger at Israel's, at Jacob's left hand. So the idea here is to make sure that the older one gets the right hand of blessing because the right hand is the one that is significant of the greater blessing, of the greater strength, of the greater favor, the greater inheritance in the right hand.

And so he brings them in the proper way to Jacob. But, verse 14, but Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head though he was the younger and crossing his arms he put his left hand on Manasseh's head even though Manasseh was the firstborn. Now Joseph is seeing all of this taking place so his hands are now crossed, you see, the right hand crossed over to go onto Ephraim's head even though Ephraim was the younger. Here we are again, the younger one getting the greater blessing. And verse 15, he blessed Joseph and he said, may the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who's been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who's delivered me from all harm, may he bless these boys and may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and may they increase greatly upon the earth. I mean, can you understand what he is saying here?

See, the 12 boys of Jacob are the 12 tribes, but Jacob has now said Ephraim and Manasseh, they are as my own, just like Reuben and Simeon are, just like you are, Joseph. Wow, such good stuff today from Alan Wright, the universality of God's blessing to us. It's what he gives us. And we've got more with Alan coming up in just a moment.

He'll be back offering some additional insights and a final word today. The life changing message of good news has been taught over radio from Alan Wright Ministries for quite some time now. And God has used every one of those messages. But some broadcasts have really hit home in special ways. In gratitude of more than a decade of radio, we have assembled the most powerful best love messages from each year of the first 10 and put them together in one special album. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we want to give you Alan Wright's top 10 CD album or digital download.

Are you ready for some good news? Make your gift today and discover God's grace afresh with Alan Wright's top 10 of the first decade. The Gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.

Or come to our website, drallen.org. For today, what's the take home? Well, this Ephraim and Manasseh story is absolutely amazing. And we'll finish this up tomorrow, Daniel, to see that in this moment that this patriarch of Israel crosses his hands and he blesses the younger one rather than the older. And we see the son who didn't deserve to be blessed get the blessing and the one who was, quote, entitled to it, get the lesser of the blessing.

You can't help. And I give you the little, we'll give away. You can't help but see Jesus. And we're going to see how this all wraps up in this beautiful picture of the Gospel. Jesus, the first born son, and we, the second and third born, sons and daughters, and how it is that God's right hand has been extended to us. It's amazing, but it is the Gospel that in Christ we are blessed beyond imagination. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.