“And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were 70.”
– Genesis 46:27
Genesis 46:27 is a powerful picture of the promises of God that we’ve seen all throughout the Book of Genesis. God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would make their line into a great nation. Now we see near the end of Joseph’s story this picture of the persons of the house of Jacob coming in Egypt as 70, which there’s so much we could talk about with that number and a variety of issues around it, but the overall picture is a picture we see all throughout Scripture of perfection, completion associated with seven, and particularly here with 70, the whole picture is God has done what He has promised. God has made the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob into a nation that will begin to multiply from this point.
This Verse Reminds Us that God’s Promises Are Sure
The promises of God are sure. They are surer than anything else in this world. You can count on His Word.
The key takeaway from Genesis 46:27 is that when God makes a promise, God always keeps it. The promises of God are sure, sure than anything else in this world. I make promises, and I want to do my best to keep my promises and will do my best to keep my promises, but I am not perfect, and neither are you.
Genesis 46:27 Reminds Us God Is Perfect
But when God makes a promise, He is perfect, and He always keeps it. As we read through the Bible and we see promises from God, we can know, you can bank your life on that. Read another promise, you can bank your life on that. Read another promise, you can bank your life on that amidst a shifting world with all kinds of unknowns.
I think about Heather, my wife and I, praying through some things together last night. One of the things we’re talking about is the unknowns and this or that but to be able to step back and say, “But we know these things, we know God is faithful to His promise in this way and that way, and so we’re going to trust in Him. Even as we walk into the unknown, we’re going to trust in God.”
This Verse Leads Us to Thank God
And so we pray, God thank You, thank You for Your promises to us. They, in and of themselves, are evidence of Your grace toward us. You don’t have to make promises to us. We deserve separation from you. We don’t deserve promises of grace and promises of blessing and promises of Your presence and strength and joy and peace and comfort and help.
All these promises we see in Your word, we deserve none of them, yet You’ve made them, and not only You made them as if You just dish out promises, oh, God, and then maybe they come true or You try Your best, no, they always come true. You are always faithful to Your promises. Oh, God, we praise You. We thank You, and we stand today on Your promises.
Genesis 46:27 Leads Us Ask God For Help
Lord, help us all throughout the day just to meditate on, to contemplate Your promises, to think about what are the promises in Your word that right now in particular with what’s going around us today that we can stand on. Bring them to our mind. Help us to study Your word, to know Your promises more and more and more, and in the process of knowing Your promises, to experience Your faithfulness to those promises more and more and more and more. We praise You. You are the promise maker and the promise keeper, always in every circumstance. You make promises by Your grace, and You keep promises by Your grace for Your glory, and we exalt You and we trust in You today. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
