God Meant It For Good

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“And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” Genesis 45:5

Main Readings: Genesis 43:15-44:34 & 45:1-15

Supporting Readings: Genesis 43:1-15 & Psalm 103

So far, in the drama of the Joseph story, we’ve encountered a God who moves in it all. A God who is with us in it all. And a God who exposes our hearts in it all.

And when I say, ‘in it all’, I mean in the rich tapestry of life that is unfolding every minute. The hymn writer, William Cowper said (we just sang it), ‘God’s purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour, the bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower’.

What we’ve seen so far in Joseph’s life is God’s purposes ripening fast; their unfolding every hour; and all of it with quite a bitter taste.

But this morning, at last, we’re going to taste some of the sweetness of God’s flower. Which may come as a relief to us. You might have been thinking when will we finally arrive at some good news in this story? Well, I am promising good news this morning. But I can’t promise it immediately I’m afraid. There’s some more bitter bud before we get there.

But then we must remember we are on God’s timetable here, not our own. So, we have to march to his drumbeat so to speak. And it will be good for us to do that.

As you know, by now Joseph’s brothers have been down to Egypt and have returned to Jacob with grain. And perplexingly, they have returned with the very silver they paid for the grain. Furthermore, to Jacob’s dismay, they have also retuned without their brother Simeon, who, if you remember, Joseph has kept prisoner in Egypt.

And now, with the famine starting to bite hard, there is no escaping the fact that a return trip to Egypt is necessary for them all to survive.

But that’s the problem we saw at the end last time. Joseph won’t give them any more grain (or their brother back for that matter) unless they come with Benjamin – their youngest and Joseph’s only blood-brother.

And it’s a problem because Jacob is so reluctant to let Benjamin go. He’s lost Joseph and Simeon already. Will he be made to lose Benjamin too? Not whilst he has breath in his lungs he won’t! That’s how he thinks.

Jacob knows that ‘no Benjamin’ equals ‘no grain’ – his sons told him so when they returned from Egypt. But you know how it goes right? We have this thing we do when there’s an obstacle in our way don’t we? We try to get our way by reducing the size of the goal. We think if we make the goal more reasonable it might just squeeze past the obstacle. And Jacob thinks if we just ask for a little more grain (not a lot), maybe the governor of the land will overlook the Benjamin demand that he made before.

But Judah’s having none of it, he knows the ruler of the land ‘warned solemnly’ and promised ‘you won’t see my face again unless you bring your brother with you’.

And this is what life is like isn’t it? Life backs us into these corners where we are trapped between what we don’t want to do and what we absolutely have to do. But of course, it’s not life that backs us into the corner, it’s God who does it. God is the supreme mover remember.

God has backed Jacob into this corner where he must let Benjamin go. And so often God does this in our lives. Especially when we are holding something that isn’t Him more tightly than we are holding Him.

He doesn’t like that. And he knows it’s not the best thing for us either. God is always the best thing for us. So, he forces our hands to show us that we must trust him with everything in our lives. Jacob has to trust God with Benjamin. It’s as simple as that.

But before God got him to that place, their situation had grown worse, to the point where Judah offered Jacob to hold him personally responsible for the return of Benjamin. He says, ‘I’ll bear the blame personally before you all my life, if I don’t bring him back’. I mentioned that now because it’s quite important to note in this unfolding story. And hopefully you’ll see why.

Suffices to say now though, Jacob is moved to let Benjamin go. And not just let him go, but to recognise that God’s mercy will need to attend their way. He says, ‘may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man (that is before Joseph) so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back you with you’.

So, it goes to show, that Jacob is just like we are. We hold on to control as much as possible until we can hold on no more. We recognise that God will need to show mercy if this is going to work out well.

It would have been better though if we all, including Jacob, recognised the necessity of God’s mercy always. Without trying to control by ourselves, the situation God is taking control of. At root it’s a trust issue. And we have to learn to be open to what God is doing far more readily than our sinful hearts often let us.

You know, I once locked myself out of a hire van in Croydon. The keys, the wallet, and the phone were inside the van, but I was outside it. And the door was firmly locked.

And to make things worse I was due at a wedding within the hour and therefore, neatly dressed in my wedding suit. Not an ideal situation I can tell you.

After tramping the streets of Croydon for a while, trying to remember phone numbers from the depths of my sieve-like brain, I concluded the best thing was to ring a locksmith which I ended up doing from a random betting shop I wandered into.

But not once in it all, did I pray. Not once did I stop and say, ’Lord, I don’t know if you’ll get me back in this van Lord, but I’m in your hands and that’s where I want to be’. That is, until the locksmith arrived, and he couldn’t get in the van either!

Well, I did finally get back in the van and I made it to the wedding just in time for the reception meal. And I guess some might think, overall, that was probably a win!

Anyway, it taught me that I’m not in control of anything at all. And, that to submit quickly to God’s will for my life by trusting him with my future is what ultimately glorifies him and brings me the greatest peace. And I’ve never forgotten that lesson.

So now, Judah and his brothers are on their way back to Egypt with gifts for the governor; the silver that had been returned to them; plus, more silver for more food; and of course, the all-important, Benjamin.

And on seeing Benjamin, Joseph is quick to order the slaughter a whole animal – which given the famine must have been very costly. He orders a meal to be prepared for the brothers whilst he goes about the rest of his day’s business.

The brothers know nothing of this. And so, it’s a really tense situation for them. Imagine it from their point of view: they haven’t had much success in Egypt to date. And now they find themselves at the governor’s house - that same one who spoke harshly to them last time - and naturally they fear the worst.

They think they’re about to be attacked, seized as slaves, and robbed of their donkeys – all on account of the silver that got returned with them last time.

The only plan they can think of is to explain to Joseph’s steward that somehow the silver ended up back in their sacks, but they have no idea how. And that they’ve brought it back with them, plus additional silver to buy grain.

And you really have to marvel here at the response they get from Joseph’s steward. You might have expected him to say, ‘my master will deal with that when he comes home’.

But you do not expect an Egyptian to speak in these terms: ‘It’s alright; don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your silver’. Not only does Joseph believe in God’s sovereignty. Not only do we believe in it. Evidently this Egyptian attendant believed in it too. It's quite amazing really!

You see it’s not too hard for God to work in the strangest places to comfort his people. And that’s what he’s doing here – he’s comforting the brothers in their distress through an Egyptian servant. ‘That money you took back with you – your God put it in your sacks. So don’t worry’.

Now of course, Joseph put it back in their sacks. Not even that! Joseph’s servant put it back – he says so: ‘I received your silver’. But no, the servant says, ‘God put treasure in your sacks’!

And this is the case, isn’t it? Through God’s providential workings in our lives – in all the trials and tribulations of them – God is putting treasure in our sacks. He’s putting spiritual treasure in our hearts. What an amazing gift that is! And yet we so easily miss it.

But God made sure these brothers didn’t miss it, by declaring it in the mouth of an Egyptian.

Now, we noted last time that Joseph was hard towards his brothers but showed signs of softening. And that’s probably evidence of some soul-searching and spiritual wrestling within. It would be nice to think that, now that Benjamin has arrived on the scene, Joseph’s wrestle would be over. But that’s not the case.

It many ways if it were over because Benjamin had arrived, that would be the wrong reason for it being over. Joseph’s wrestle against bitterness has to be one that is overcome by the power of God in his heart, not by getting what he wants – namely revenge and some quality time with his favourite brother.

You see, it's all too easy to side-step the sin issue by indulging ourselves. But all that does is leave the sin issue at large in our hearts and make us feel good with things that are not God. It’s a distraction method born of Satan. And it’s one to watch out for!

No Joseph needs to wrestle with the sin until the sin is defeated in his heart. And the sinful inclination here is to punish his brothers for their treatment of him.

The first signs are encouraging though. Joseph engages with them, and he communicates with them. That’s where reconciliation starts. He asks, ‘how are you doing? Was the journey long? And how’s your dad – is he ok?’ And that leads them naturally into the meal that Joseph had ordered – so they’re eating together and so on. It all looks rather positive. Joseph is doing the kind of things that establish relationship.

But then as chapter 44 opens, Joseph’s heart is altogether different. He’s still deceiving them as to his true identity. He orders the silver to be returned to them again. And this time he orders his own silver cup to be placed in Benjamin’s sack along with the grain.

And there’s no doubt about it, this is a calculated move. And, what’s more, it’s done in full knowledge as well. Because, right after they leave, he’s going to send his servant after them, to accuse them of steeling the cup. And when it’s found in Benjamin’s sack Joseph is going to use that as the basis for keeping his brother, Benjamin, in Egypt.

All of which is especially evil because, we are alerted in verse 22 to the fact that Judah told Joseph, on their first trip, that Benjamin could not leave their father or he would die.

In other words, Joseph knows what Benjamin means to Jacob! And yet, Joseph is hardening his heart against his brothers, knowing that when they return without Benjamin, they’ll have to pay the price for it.

But God says – we heard it last time - ‘it’s mine to avenge, I will repay’. Joseph is taking into his own hands again, what is expressly God’s to do.

Now the distress that this causes the brothers, and Judah especially, is quite evident. They tore their clothes and retuned with the servant to Joseph to plead for Benjamin. And they threw themselves on the ground before Joseph.

But even now Joseph, in his bitterness, prolongs the pain with lies about using divination to find out they’d taken the cup. It’s all very unkind and it’s ultimately ungodly.

And you know, whilst Joseph is behaving like this, it’s one of his brothers who now who reflects Jesus most closely – which I’m sure you’ll agree is quite the turn-around in the story. It shows how God uses circumstances to shape our lives more and more into the likeness of himself.

Judah, you might have noticed has become the family representative of late. And so, it’s Judah who says to Joseph, ‘your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, “If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life”. Now then, please let your servant remain here as my Lord’s slave in the place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers’.

And of course, what Judah is suggesting is a substitutionary atonement for what, appears to be, the sin of his brother.

It is from the tribe of Judah that Jesus will come one day in the future. And when He comes, he will also put his own life on the line in the place of the lives of his brothers and sisters, even though he had committed no sin and even though they absolutely had.

Jesus’ sacrificial atonement will take him to the grave and under the intense wrath of God. And it will remove that wrath from the people that he dies for. That’s the very apex and pinnacle of all of God’s providence in all history. And here it's foreshadowed in Judah’s offer to take the place of his brother Benjamin.

But now that brings us to the best and most powerful part of the story – the revelation of Joseph to his brothers in chapter 45.

Judah’s heart for Benjamin seems to melt Joseph’s heart towards his brothers. And we learn at the beginning of chapter 45 that Joseph could control himself no longer.

Now I think we can all imagine how terrifying it must have felt for Joseph’s brothers because, not only are they encountering the brother they have not seen for twenty years;

not only are they encountering the brother they planned to kill and ended up selling into slavery;

not only are they encountering the brother who had those dreams and here they’ve been bowing before him non-stop;

but they are now encountering their brother as the highest functional power in all Egypt – with the power of life and death in his hands.

I think I would feel rather vulnerable too! The overriding thought in their minds must have been, ‘We’re done for. There’s no way Joseph isn’t going to use his position to exact his revenge on us’! In fact, verse 3 confirms their terror at Joseph’s revelation of himself.

Praise the Lord then for Joseph’s softened heart here. And I would draw your attention to it in chapter 45. Verse 4, ‘Come close to me’ he says. ‘Do not be distressed’ he says. ‘Do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here’, he says. It’s quite an amazing thing for Joseph to say really!

And that’s what a Christian heart can do. You see, Joseph’s God is a God of mercy. He’s a God who is slow to anger and abounding in love. He’s also a God of justice – a God who punishes sins. And that means that if justice and mercy are met together in God then they can’t be met together on me. In other words, I must be dealt with according to mercy or according to justice, but it can’t be both. But neither can God deny himself!

Joseph is a man who has known God’s mercy and he’s content to let God deal with the justice part. And that frees him to be merciful here to his brothers. But we know how God gets justice – we know he pours out his punishment on his son, Jesus.

So, you see that if you have received mercy at the hands of God it is only because God’s justice has been satisfied in Jesus. And if that’s the case for us, then what about for those who have sinned against us? Joseph understood that God would deal with the justice part, freeing him to show mercy to those who had sinned against him.

And it’s at this point that Joseph recognises, in the fuller sense, what God has been doing in it all. No less than three times, Joseph attributes the events of the last 20 plus years to God’s sovereign plan to save the lives of his people.

Verse 5, ‘he sent me ahead of you to save lives’. Verse 7, ‘God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance’. Verse 8, ‘it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to pharaoh. He made me lord of Pharoah’s house. He made me ruler of all Egypt’.

Joseph has come to recognise that God has known this famine was coming – not because God’s been weighing the probabilities, but because he designed the famine and sent it. And Joseph sees that in God’s great plan he designed to save his special people – the decedents of Abraham by, what he calls, ‘a great deliverance’. And, he recognises, that God chose him to be his special instrument in the right place, at the right time, to accomplish that very purpose.

So now Joseph’s going to act in the capacity that he understands is God’s will for his life. He’s not going to be disobedient; he’s going to do what God has called him to do. And so, he says to his brothers: ‘come down to Egypt, you and your families. You’ll live in the best region. You’ll be near me. I’ll provide for all your needs right through the next five years of famine. And so, I’ll prevent you from perishing’.

And this is exactly the gospel that we all know and love, isn’t it? It’s the gospel in shadowy form. God has planned the salvation of his people. He has sent his chosen one, Jesus, into Egypt – into this world – on his rescue mission. Jesus has paid the price. And now he says to his people, ‘Come to me. Don’t delay. I’ve got everything you need. Come and live in the blessing of God. Come and live where I am – be near me. And I’ll provide for you, and I’ll make sure you don’t perish’. And so, he does!

What an ask it was of his family to up-sticks and leave their homeland for a foreign land. What faith it was going to require on the part of ageing Jacob. But we see at the end of the chapter that’s exactly what Jacob does. He says, ‘I will go and see him before I die’.

But I’d like to finish now with the display of Joseph’s tender love for his brothers. You see in God’s providence; Joseph has been placed in a position of great power. And it might sound like I’m going to mention his position in Egypt again, but I’m not. I’m talking about his power to dispense love and grace.

God’s providence has revealed that to Joseph as well. The power invested in us by the salvation we’ve received is a power to love one another. It’s the power to show grace to each other.

Joseph threw his arms around Benjamin and embraced him. And you think, ‘that doesn’t show anything special – after all Benjamin didn’t betray him’. True, but then it says this: ‘Joseph kissed all his brothers and wept over them. And afterwards he talked with them’.

And when the brothers return to Canaan, there’s not one donkey for Benjamin, there’s ten – one for each brother. And ten female donkeys too – one for each brother.

So, God, in Jesus, blesses his enemies abundantly and draws them into his fold and he restores peace between us and God.

God’s providence will bring us into relational conflict with one another at times in our lives. But Jesus has paved the way. Jesus has shown us mercy and out of it has flowed peace. And now we can surely show mercy too. And out of it can flow peace also.