In Genesis 46:4 God says to Jacob, “I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”
Boice says, “So when Jacob required Joseph to bury his body in the Promised Land, it was like saying that he was standing on God’s promises.
Hebrews tells us that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his one and only son, Isaac, because he believed God could and would raise the dead. Here, his grandson, Jacob, requests to be returned to the Promised Land because he too believes that God can and will raise the dead.
For us it’s not completely future. For because of Jesus, we know that God can, will, and has raised the dead. We just celebrated it, this Easter.
Matthew 21:31-32, Jesus tells those who deny life after death, “as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
Paul tells us Abraham’s faith was counted as righeousness because he was “fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” (Romans 4:16f)
You can’t break God’s promises by leaning on them!