Jacob's Dying Words
Genesis 49:18
I have waited for your salvation, O LORD.


I. The believer can use this language of the text, because he will be PUT, AT DEATH, IN POSSESSION OF A GLORIOUS INHERITANCE — "I have waited," said Jacob, "for Thy salvation"; language implying that there was a future good not yet attained, long as he had been a subject of the Divine government, seeking humbly and holily to " walk with God."

II. The words imply Jacob's WILLINGNESS TO LEAVE HIS CHOICEST EARTHLY COMFORTS. He looked for a better heritage, not exposed to vicissitude and change; not amidst a dark and idolatrous land, but in the region of glory where cherubim and seraphim abide; not accorded by the bounty of Pharaoh, but prepared by God for His people. He looked to a house, the "builder and maker of which is God." He lived under a darker dispensation than ours; but he had heard the invitation, "Come up hither": "Enter, thou blessed of the Lord." If then, like Jacob, we have been reconciled and brought near through the "blood of the everlasting covenant," are we not warranted in thinking that God will not leave His people comfortless at the last?

III. Jacob had EXPERIENCED MANY TRIALS AND BEEN SUBJECT TO MANY SORROWS. The words, accordingly, seem to have been spoken in assured belief that these would soon be past.

IV. The Christian may feel the force of Jacob's words, inasmuch as he expects to be favoured with the nearer vision of, and to hold CONGENIAL INTERCOURSE WITH, THE SAVIOUR.

(A. R. Bonar, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

WEB: I have waited for your salvation, Yahweh.




Jacob's Dying Confidence
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