The song we just sang had three stanzas to it, and each of those stanzas has its own promise, and they work progressively. And I assume you don't have your hymnals open, but I'll read you the first line of that song. The first stanza. Mine are days that God has numbered. God knows us. He has numbered our days and our time. He has made us to walk with him even in times of despair. We know that God has given us His Word to be a light for our feet. He's at the very least numbered our lives. The second stanza. Mine are tears in times of sorrow, darkness not yet understood. Through the valley I must travel where I see no earthly good. That second promises that God is going to be with us when we're walking through darkness. The first promise is that God is going to be with us because he's numbered us, he knows us. And the second is because we're walking in darkness. We have a sense of nearness to him. We can't see where we're going, but we know that he is near. And the third stanza is that we are a stranger on a pilgrim in a narrow way that will encounter harm and hatred for Christ's name. I'm not saying that Johnny Robinson, who wrote this song, wrote it in relationship to First Chronicles seven, but it fits pretty nicely. The first half of First Chronicles seven walks you through three tribes. There's four tribes that we're going to skip Benjamin and save him for when we get to chapter eight. As you know, through First Chronicles, we're working our way through the twelve tribes. And I hope you've noticed something that is holding true even tonight, that the twelve tribes all take on the character of their founder. The twelve tribes are named after the twelve sons of Israel, of Jacob. Each of those twelve sons were different people. Real people with real lives, real people. And they had offspring that took on their characteristics. Some of. That is providential. It's the argument that is, you know, is it environment or genetics that made them. Did their forefathers have the particular genes that produce those character traits and they were passed down? Is it environment that they kind of married within the tribe and they amplified those traits? Or is it simply providential intervention that God directed the tribes to take on the characteristics? Is it answered prayer because Jacob dedicated these twelve men? Remember, at the end of his life, Israel prayed for these. Twelve and in his prayer, he kind of captures their personality and promises that it will be passed down. And then on top of that, when they enter the Promised Land, all twelve of the tribes, they then they don't get to land the same way. When you read Joshua, they don't get their land the same way. They get it differently. And the way they acquire the land and where they acquired the lands also matches the personality of the tribes. And then, as First Chronicles brings it to you, the author first Chronicles reorders them and then gives them to you in a way that is meant to encourage and challenge you in an appropriate way for each of the twelve tribes. At the most basic level, for the Israelites, they're going through these twelve tribes. It's a review of their history, just like Americans might be reading about the life of some of the first presidents, we don't know them. But as we hear about them, especially being in Virginia, we're like, what all the presidents are from or something like that. You know, we're reading their stories and like, oh, I know that place. And that explains so much. And this is why those lines come from the, you know, the Virginia Constitution, state Constitution, wherever into the American Constitution, through these people in these places that wrote this. And they're like, all the stories come alive when you know that they're your history. And so at the very least, the Israelites engage with first chronicles like that. But for us as believers on whom the fullness of time has come. The end of the age has come to us. We read these and we see these fulfillments through these people as having a powerful spiritual impact on us. So that's true with all twelve of the tribes. But we're going to look at three of them tonight. These are certainly. Well, I'm just going to say they're the three less known of the tribes, right. Issachar, Naphtali, Manasseh. You might know more about Manasseh than the others, but I mean Issachar. Really? We likely don't know a lot about Issachar or Naphtali. I'm not going to say. None of you know anything about Issachar, because then I don't know Jack from the back row or shout out some fact about it. And. These three tribes are counted among God's people. These three tribes are known by God and they come back from exile. That is not true with all twelve tribes. All twelve tribes went into exile. Not all twelve came back, but these ones did. They are not known tribes because they had priests. They don't have any priests or because they have kings. They don't have any kings or because they have prophets. I mean, I don't think they had any prophets, and all the prophets are easily identifiable by tribe. But I don't know. They don't have any generals, maybe one or two generals. We'll look at them tonight. One or two famous warriors. They don't have a temple. They don't have really anything of value except they're numbered among God's people. And so these three tribes are a bit of a shout out to the little people. There. Shout out to the faithful guys that nobody knows their name except their wives. That kind of guy. You know, it's possible they're not going to preach or be an elder in a church or be known for any great acts of faithfulness, but they're the kind of guys that are always here on a Sunday evening service. My favorite kind of guys. That's these three tribes. When it comes down to it. They're not famous, but they're known among God's people. They become a picture of. As I said, presence, not power. They're not powerful tribes, but they are known for being in. The Promised Land. I'll give you an outline tonight, resting in God's presence. All three of these tribes are resting in God's presence at the end of First Chronicles. There. There. They haven't been forgotten. Theirs is the key to Zion City. They have it in their pocket. There is the promise of the Savior that will go through Israel. They believe that promise. They have that promise. They're waiting for the Savior. They came back to rebuild the temple. They came back to retake the lands. They came back to reconstitute Israel and to wait for the Savior. Theirs is indeed the key to Zion's city. The first we look at is Naphtali. And Naphtali is a picture. Of resting in God's promise through discernment, through discernment. So I said, Naftali, I Emma, Issachar, Issachar is a picture of resting in God's promise through discernment as a tribe. Issachar models submission to the law, discernment about what the Word of God says, and steady faithfulness. They do not represent ambition. They do not represent leadership. They represent discernment. It's one of those tribes that never dominates the storyline, but they play a quiet and strategic role. They're not a headline tribe, but they are steady and faithful models of covenant obedience. First of all, we are introduced to them in Jacob blesses Issachar. He describes Issachar as, I'll put it on the screen, a strong donkey. Is that good or bad? I don't know, crouching between the Sheepfolds. All right, so you're starting to paint a pastoral image if you haven't grown up around a farm, maybe this image is foreign to you, but you have the sheepfolds, you have the pins where they are. And they're in the middle of the flock of sheep. Is a donkey, not a weak donkey. Not one of those weak sauce donkeys. That's annoying, but a strong donkey that just sitting there out in the middle of the sheep fields. I mean, what does that do? Doing? Who knows? Who knows what any donkey is ever doing? They're not the best communicators. But he's strong and he's there among the sheep. He's there in the field where he's supposed to be. He's not causing a ruckus. He's just hanging out. That's Issachar. It's not really that negative, a strong donkey. If you wanted to be negative, you wouldn't call him that. But there he is. And then it goes on. He saw that a resting place was good. Well, I mean, if you know something about donkeys, you know that when they're happy with where they are, that's it. Right. Then, like when they reach where they want to rest, they are going to rest there. You can hit them and kick them and eat them and they're not going to move. And so it is with Issachar. He found his good spot in the field. He saw the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant to forced labor. I mean, that is a classic donkey move right there. So, Issachar, why is he there? Why? Just think of the promise. This is from Jacob talking to the man Issachar, remember? And the blessing to each of these becomes the paradigm for the tribe. So Issachar has found his spot where he likes, and he's going to hang out there. He's not going to move. As a result, though, he will have two things. He will have rest and he will have work. They are both there for him. He's known as one who rests. Because of that, he's going to be a servant of forced labor. Now you can see perhaps you have a child like this and you're like, this child is just content and he's not going to be a hard worker. I get it like I look at my child and the stage, and he's not going to be a hard worker when he grows up. I understand it, and there's part of that that's great. He's going to have a restful life. There's another part of that that's not great. He's going to be working for other people very hard. That boy will be. That's Issachar. But he sees that the land is good. He makes the decision himself. The land is good. I'll take it. Even though I'm going to have to work. Issachar represents strength expressed through submission, not dominance, unlike Judah. Judah is going to have the scepter. Judah is going to rule the sheep field. Levi is going to be the priest for the sheep. Issachar is just the ordinary guy who's happy where the Lord has placed him. God's people are not all rulers, but they will all be with him in the kingdom. God does not only take leaders and kings and priests and prophets to heaven, he takes ordinary people who rest in faithfulness and Joshua nineteen Israel. Issachar gets the fertile ground Joshua ascribes to Issachar. When Joshua starts parsing out the land, he ascribes to Issachar the most fertile fields. Maybe because of this prophecy, he's thinking through, well, this is the tribe that's going to hang out in the sheep field. Let's give him ground that'll grow at least. Because of that, Issachar became stable. And because of their stability, they became known as discerning. First Chronicles twelve through thirty two men of Issachar who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. They did not become leaders. They aren't the ones that led Israel into battle, but they were the ones in the days of the kings that told the kings what to do. They weren't prophets. They didn't have supernatural revelation from God. They didn't direct the kings because they were in charge. They directed the kings because they knew what was up. There, listed then here and not critiqued. I mean, the classic Issachar person is the first one you meet. In verse one. The sons of Tola Zottola is a judge. He's listed in the book of judges, and he's repeated here a few times. He's the son. His sons are listed there in verse two, the houses of namely Tola, there in verse two. Mighty warriors that are generations. The total is the repeated guy. Well, Tola is like the most famous dude from Issachar. He's a judge listed in judges chapter ten, I think, and nothing is said about him there. He's just a judge and you move on. That's Issachar. By the way, he was a judge after the whole fiasco with Abimelech. Abimelech, if you remember, put himself forward. Abimelech is in Hebrew, means my daddy is king. That's not a very humble. And he named himself that kind of thing, you know, not not very humble. He didn't mean it as like God alone as king. He meant it as like the line is in my family. Look out. There's a whole millstone incident from the window where they're crushed to death. It's a fiasco. He's kind of, in a sense. Israel's first king, and it does not go well. Well, Tola is left to pick up the pieces, and he leads Israel out of that mess. And he's the one who's remembered. By the end, in verse five, they have all kinds of fighting men. Their kinsmen belong to the clans of Isachar were eighty seven thousand warriors enrolled by genealogy. Again, Issachar is listed, not critiqued. Nothing good or bad about them beyond the fact that they're discerning. This is a great pattern, something for believers to follow. Ephesians five understand what the will of the Lord is. Colossians one, verse nine. Walk in wisdom and fruitfulness. First Thessalonians five. Discern the times. There's a basic principle that maturity in. You can rest in the Lord's presence. When you are discerning, you're not easily spooked. You're not easily put to to flight. There's difference between horses and donkeys. Donkeys rest better. Horses scatter. There's a virtue of being like the donkey if it's a discernment. Issachar teaches that with discernment you can rest in God's presence. The Christian life is not about being in charge. It's about knowing what obedience requires. Right now, that's a huge difference. I'll say that sentence one more time. The Christian life is not about being in charge. It's about knowing what obedience requires from you at any moment. Way better to have the kind of people leading you that aren't aspiring to leadership, but know how to obey at the moment, in difficult situations. That leads to a way more restful Christian life than those that run to and fro and this way and that. That's Issachar. Verse six. You get Benjamin. We're going to skip Benjamin altogether for now. That's verses six through twelve. And we're going to shove those into the chapter eight. Most of the names that are here in six to twelve will be repeated in chapter eight for Saul's genealogy. Saul is from Benjamin, so we'll skip over Benjamin. Plus, the outline works a lot better when Benjamin shifts after Easter. Second, though, is Naphtali. Naphtali. Naphtali is a picture of how to rest in God's presence through darkness. Issachar is resting in God's presence. Through discernment, Naphtali is resting in God's presence. Through darkness, Naphtali reflects the law's demand for faithfulness even on the edges. Naphtali is a border tribe. They don't have their fruitful valley. They're up on the northern end. They're in the part of Israel no one really wants. You almost need to know the topography of Israel. I don't want to make a geography lesson, but just a little geography lesson. From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. The Jordan River runs down. Up on the west side of that is a mountain range. This is the mountain range. You'd walk from Jericho to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is up in those mountains, but there's a mountain range that kind of cuts that that land in half. You don't get over the mountain ranges very easily. Naftali is on the other side of the mountain range, not the fertile side of the mountain range, but the bad side of the mountain range, the side of the mountain range with the Sea of Galilee on it. That's where Naphtali is. It's land that nobody really wants. Sea of Galilee is great for fishing. But it's not going to have crops and fields that are there. That's nataly's land. It's a it's a highway. The road from Egypt up to Lebanon goes through there. So it's a transient area. It's populated with Gentiles. That's where Naphtali ends up. Why does Naphtali end up there? Well, let's look at Nataly's promise. This is all that is said about Naphtali by Jacob. Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful words. I don't know, I don't know a doe that's less let loose. That bears beautiful words. That's what you got right there. There's virtue in Naphtali, but you almost have to let it go. And it's beautiful when he's running on the fringes kind of thing. We see deer that run in our backyard and they run by the window, and sometimes there's big groups of them that run by our our window, and they're fun to watch. You know, we don't name them or anything. We don't go live with them. They just run by like they're fun, they're pretty. And there they go. That's that's Naphtali. They're beautiful. But you don't, you know, bring him in. They're outdoors. That's all you get. It's not like there's a verse after that I dropped off. That's it. That's Naphtali. And that about captures their genealogy, too. Look at verse thirteen, the sons of Naphtali. And you get them, and then you're done. There they are. Naphtali is marked by freedom, swiftness, and fruitfulness of speech. So what does that mean? You have to almost. You don't get enough here. You have to keep tracing Natalie's story. Joshua nineteen is where Joshua settles them on the northern part of Galilee, far away from Jerusalem. They live on the edges of Israel's life, exposed to Gentile influence, exposed to invasion. Tiberius is Naphtali. That's the big city, Jesus's lifetime that he never went to. By the way, it's not mentioned in the New Testament. It was the biggest city in the province where Jesus lived. It's not even mentioned because there was. It's practically a Roman city. That's Naphtali. Yet its location makes it a strategic gateway. It's like the place out in California, you know, Barstow, where there were two freeways come together to get up to Las Vegas. You know, you kind of don't want to live there. You need a Barstow with a truck stop, but you don't want to live there. What's the Virginia equivalent? I could say I'm thinking Harrisonburg, but I wouldn't say that out loud because some of you like it there. Like you need a place like that. But, I mean, it's just two freeways meet. That's Naphtali. Famous people from Naphtali or Barak. He's the classic Naftali leader. He was the general or the judge that led them to deliverance with the battle with Cicero in the tent peg through the head. That's Barak. But remember, Barak wouldn't fight without Deborah. He wasn't like the leader kind of guy. He's like, I guess I'll lead Israel as long as I have a lady to lead with me. That's Barak, and that's not meant as a good thing, by the way. And remember, they do the prophecy that the victory will go to the lady. The victory that goes to the lady is not Deborah. It's Cicero who puts the tent peg. They don't even know about it. The word just gets to Barak and Deborah. They write songs about it and everything. But it's not exactly the paradigm of military strategy right there. And yet God gives them victory under shared leadership. That's classic Naphtali right there. They're courageous, but not independent. Faithful but not dominant. And because they're on the fringes there, I think the first tribe to get exiled. The first tribe on the right side of the Jordan River to get exiled anyway by Syria. Syria takes them over. I mean, it's the first stop in Israel. If you're going to conquer someone, it would be Naphtali, and they go down fast. And yet. God remembers them. That's the promise. In Isaiah, we fixate on the promise of the Messiah that the Savior will be from Nazareth, but born in Bethlehem. And we wonder, how is that going to be? How's that going to be? And you get the census and that solves it, that we lose that. For many Old Testament Jews, what the most prominent feature of the Savior was as far as geography wasn't that he was going to be a Nazarene, and it wasn't that he was going to be born in Bethlehem. The most prominent feature of him was that he was going to launch his ministry in Naphtali. Isaiah chapter nine. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But the light is going to shine there. That's why Matthew chapter four calls Jesus a light of the Gentiles, the light of Naphtali. Something that wouldn't click our. The tripwire in our mind. But it is a classic Yahweh kind of promise. Here's the. Here's the tribe that is, in a sense, the weakest and the most on the fringe, but I'm going to bless them with the ministry of the Savior. Capernaum is an aptly. Jesus did almost his whole ministry in Naphtali. Why would God send the Savior to Naphtali? Why not Judah, where kings come from? Why not Benjamin out of homage to Saul? There's so many other tribes. You can make a case for any of the tribes except almost Naphtali. Why Naphtali again? Because it's the light to the Gentiles. The point of the Savior is to be the light to the nations. So if you want him to be the light to the nations, you light the torch in the city of the Gentiles. That's the point. The Jews didn't understand that. Remember, they find out where Jesus is from. Nazareth and Naphtali, like, can anything good come from that part of the world? Answer no. The one prophet from that part of the world, remember, was Jonah, who also went to the nations. That's the point. Naphtali shows that you can dwell in darkness and still rest in God's presence. Naphtali is on the fringes, in the very outside. And yet God not only allows him to rest in his presence, but uses them to bring the Savior not just to the world, but to the nations. If Issachar shows how to live wisely, Naphtali shows us that God brings light into darkness first. God often brings his greatest light into the places that have known the deepest darkness, and such it is with Naphtali. Third, you can rest in God's presence through discernment, like Issachar, through darkness like Naphtali, and third, through repentance like Manasseh. Manasseh, we see in verse fourteen, the sons of Manasseh. First of all, a quick word on Manasseh. Remember that Joseph had two sons of Jacob was. Joseph was the at the end of the line there. He's the one that had the coat of many colors. Joseph was. That was sold into captivity. Slavery that went into Egypt, became the prime minister providentially of Egypt, and then rescued the rest of the twelve tribes, bringing them into Egypt. So as Jacob is giving the blessings to all of his son Joseph, Joseph has a long blessing. But there's no tribe called Joseph because Joseph has two sons. And remember, Levi is not going to have any land here. And so Joseph's blessing becomes divided between his two sons. His two sons were Manasseh and Ephraim. We're going to look at Ephraim next week. But Vanessa, for now, Manasseh gets a double blessing because Joseph had a double blessing from the beginning. Masa represents displaced privilege. He's the first to become second. Manasseh was the oldest, but Ephraim was elevated above him. And yet Manasseh gets a massive amount of land. Judah had the largest territory, but most of Judah's land was not habitable. Manasseh probably had the largest land that you could live in, but it was a weird looking territory. A weird looking land like all the other lands, have kind of neat borders, like they follow a river or a mountain range or something like that. Not Manassas. Manassas land looks like a gerrymandered congressional district. That's Manassas land, and I looked I don't know if you have looked, but you should have a grid for for Manasseh right now because of this. Do you know Virginia is proposing redistricting and all the all the things? Uh, so there is a manual Bible church and there is my house just right down the street. There are no stoplights between my house and Immanuel Bible Church. And on the other side of my house is Immanuel Christian High School. Again, no stoplights between us. We are all in literally the same neighborhood and all three of us. The high school, my house and Emmanuel Bible Church will be in three different congressional districts. The high school will be in with like Virginia Beach, for goodness sakes. There could be value to that, I guess. I don't know what the value would be, but that's where they'll be. But they won't be in my congressional district. And I can throw. I can hit the building with a rock and neither will I b c That's Manasseh. A river splits them there on both sides, but one side of the river, they snake down it and the other side of the river. I guess if you take a ferry upstream, you can maybe get to the other part of Manasseh to connect it. Barely. That's Manasseh. It's all messed up. Manasseh becomes the picture of divided loyalties. It's gerrymandered beyond recognition. It's geographically divided because the two sons were divided. Remember, all the characteristics of the people are played out in the tribes. The two sons were divided with divided loyalties. They were flip flopped on top of each other. That's Manasseh. So their own territory gets divided like his. Like he and his brother were divided. Manasseh failed to drive out the Canaanites, so they became perpetually divided. The lesson from Manasseh is that long term compromise produces long term weakness. Strength without covenant faithfulness leads to collapse. And that's their story. It's a sad story. Manasseh had Israel in verse fourteen, the Aramean who was born from the Aramean concubine. Look at verse sixteen. Micah, the wife of Machir, bore a son called his name Perez. The name of his brother was Suresh. Sons. They have brothers that seem to be divided as well. Manasseh becomes a picture of divided loyalties. They were also one of the first to go into exile massively after Napoli fell. Manassa fell closely after they had divided inheritance, divided obedience and divided outcomes. Sent into exile early. But here's the crazy thing with Manassas early exile. Because they were taken away in exile, they weren't all taken away together. The Assyrians thought they got all of them, but they only got like one half. They forgot the gerrymandered half that went down the river. And so what that half did is they then reassociated themselves with Jerusalem under King Hezekiah. They came back to Jerusalem. They were the first of the northern tribes to go back to Jerusalem and say, we want to go back to worshiping at the temple. Will you take us? And Hezekiah said, yes, come on back. Because they were compromisers and divided, they were split, but God used their split loyalties to bring them to repentance. They had a displaced privilege. They had divided identity, compromised obedience, but it resulted in participation back with the temple again. You can live for a long time with split loyalties. It wrecks your life. But you can live that way. And it's so easy to come back to God. It's just. No matter how far away you walk from God, repentance is always one step away. That's the idea. You can spend ten years walking away from the Lord. It takes one moment to turn back to him. That's the lesson of Manasseh. Go as far away as you want. It'll hurt you. It'll hurt your family. But God receives his children back. So Issachar shows us wise living. Naftali shows us that God shines light in the darkness, and Manasseh shows us the danger and the hope of a divided life. It's dangerous because again, they ended up in exile with massive tears. But it's hopeful because you can always repent, even from exile. Notice that the lesson from all three of these tribes is so different than Levi and Judah and Benjamin and Simeon. Those guys had positions of power because they were clinging to where the temple was. They were trying to elevate themselves. They had roles to play in the kingdom. Not so with these three tribes. They did not seek control. They didn't seek to expand their borders. You know, it's Jabez, he's from Judah, who's like, expand the borders. Not these guys. They want to be secure in the presence of God. They want to rest in his presence like a donkey in the field, like a doe is beautiful out the window. They just want to rest in the presence of God. That's it. And so God brings them back from exile. He doesn't bring Dan back from exile. They're gone because they're compromised. But he brings these groups back. Now, I want you to see that all three of these tribes play into the life of Christ. Of course, we've talked a few of those examples, but Jesus embodies them perfectly. Jesus doesn't go to rule in Jerusalem. First, he rules from where the Gentiles are. Like Naphtali, he doesn't assert dominance, but he exemplifies discernment of his father's will. Like Issachar. He didn't come to be served, but to serve and lay his life down as a ransom for many. That's an. That's Issachar. And he didn't grasp at power, but humbled himself, taking on the form of a servant, becoming obedient all the way to the point of death, even death on the cross. That's Manasseh. Now all three of those. We had put those under the category of communicable lessons. Like all three of them, you can learn from. Jesus is the way he acts in the strength of all three of these tribes. It's not something that's beyond you. It's something that's available to you. Naftali teaches you the importance of knowing what to do in any situation. Issachar teaches you you should do it in hard places, and Manasseh teaches you that when you fail, you can always repent and come back to God. That's not a best selling book on leadership or anything, but it is the basics of discipleship. Know what to do. Do it when it's hard and when you fail, turn back from the Lord. You can ask yourselves, do you feel like you need discernment? Do you feel like you're standing in darkness? Do you feel like you have divided loyalties? In these three tribes show you that even in those places where you are now, you can rest in the Lord's presence. God is not looking for powerful people. He's looking for people who show up, who are present and who are counted. And these tribes are here because they made it back from exile, not because they were impressive, but because they were present. God isn't building his kingdom through powerful leaders, but through those who remain present, discerning his will, willing to obey in difficult situations, standing in darkness and returning to him when they fail. Lord, we're thankful for your word that models for us patient obedience, long term faithfulness. As we prayed for tonight. Faithfulness is your yes, yes and your no. No. We see that modeled, of course, by Christ, whose very word was his bond, but also by these tribes. Even in their failure, they came back to you. Lord, are we in a sense, want to live out the best of these tribes? We want to be discerning, devoting our minds to the Word of God to know how you would have us to live. We want to be restful content with where you've put us, not always angling for a better pasture, but just content with your assignment. As First Corinthians seven says, and we want to be like Manasseh, not, of course, in their divided loyalties, but in their eagerness to return and their restoration. We know that. Sexually immoral and liars and adulterers and murderers will not inherit the kingdom of God. And yet such were some of us. Yet you receive us back when we repent. We're grateful for that. We give you thanks for these lessons. In Jesus name, Amen. And now for parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson. If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, IBC church. If you want more information about the Master's Seminary or our location here in Washington, DC, please go to TMZ dot edu. Now, if you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, DC area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel. I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service. But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church. Now, may God bless you this week as you seek Jesus constantly. Serve the Lord faithfully and share the gospel boldly.