Read Genesis 46:28-30

As they neared their destination, Jacob sent Judah ahead to meet Joseph and get directions to the region of Goshen. And when they finally arrived there, Joseph prepared his chariot and travelled to Goshen to meet his father, Jacob. When Joseph arrived, he embraced his father and wept, holding him for a long time. Finally, Jacob said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen your face again and know you are still alive.” (Genesis 46:28–30)

Think of what it must have been like. After more than two decades, Jacob once more held the son that he had given up for dead. After all he had been through, Joseph embraced his aging father—the man he had missed so much, the one he feared he would never see again. He might have felt the bones across his back as he held the old man in his arms. How long it had been! How much he had missed him! There the two men stood, staring into each other’s eyes. Weeping one moment, laughing the next. What a grand family reunion.

Jacob said the only fitting thing as soon as he could control himself: “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive” (Genesis 46:30).

There is another type of reunion noted in Scripture—the final, ultimate family reunion that is the hope of every child of God.

On that day we’ll all hear the blast of a trumpet. I know some who expect to hear the melodious strings of a harp. Not me. I expect to hear the lonely whine of a harmonica—because my dad is there in glory, awaiting my arrival. And on that “great gettin’-up morning,” our entire family will be reunited forever in the presence of the Lord.

The reality is, though, that no matter how precious your memories, it does not matter the way you were. What matters is the way you are. No amount of solid family ties will fit you for heaven. Only through Christ will you be included in His family roll call.

We can be thankful for the recording chamber of our memories that keeps us young. But what we really need at this important moment is the deep assurance that we are His. Only then can we look forward in hope to that ultimate and final family reunion.

Taken from Great Days with the Great Lives by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2005 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson.