Joseph No.23 But God

Genesis chapter 50. Genesis chapter 50. And turning to verse 15.

Last week we were dealing with the death of Jacob and you remember his particular request was that he should not be buried in Egypt but be taken to the land of Canaan where Abraham had bought a piece of land and there he wished to be buried. Joseph and his sons had of course carried out that wish and taken him there and buried him there. But now they had returned back into Egypt.

So we take up the reading at verse 15 of chapter 50. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, what if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him? So they sent word to Joseph saying, your father left these instructions before he died. This is what you are to say to Joseph, I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.

Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father. When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him.

We are your slaves, they said. But Joseph said to them, don't be afraid, am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don't be afraid, I will provide for you and your children.

And he assured them and spoke kindly to them. Joseph stayed in Egypt along with all his father's family. He lived a hundred and ten years and saw the third generation of Ephraim's children.

Also the children of Mekah, son of Manasseh, were placed at birth on Joseph's knees. Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, God will surely come to your aid and then you must carry my bones up from this place.

So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten and after they had embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt. Amen. Now as we listen to our friends, you'll hear the story of Joseph depicted starting quite happily, going into some of the problems that he was confronted with.

Be able to follow the words not only in the song as you hear it, but also on the overhead. Loved by the Father, precious to him, doing his will day by day, wearing his garment, feeling in love, singing along the happy way. Suddenly all is changed, darkness comes, on the chain.

Well, where are you lost? What meant it all good, though not understood? He's weaving a plan unknown to man. The silver and blue, the darker shades too. He's working his purposes through, weaving his image in you.

Verse nineteen of the fiftieth chapter. But Joseph said to his brothers, don't be afraid, am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. To accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

It would be true to say that those two words, but God, really encapsulate the whole of the message of Genesis. I go further. They become a summary statement of all that the Bible is actually proclaiming.

The third chapter of Genesis, God is in a mess. Romans makes it very clear that as far as the human race, all the descendants of Adam are concerned. There's none righteous, no not one.

Left to himself, man is of every created being most miserable. But God, God promises Adam and Eve that ultimately he'll step into this world. There's that mystical, wonderful anticipation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the words that the seed of the woman would one day bruise the head of the serpent.

One day stepping into the world of time and space would be God incarnate to be able to undo the damage done by Adam and all his descendants. But God commandeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You get it again in the New Testament, don't you? Often times, but God, here's the situation, it's so grotesque.

The problems are immense, but God comes along and he takes upon himself all the responsibilities for that difficulty. And he weaves his own plan and purposes and brings about what is his perfect will for humankind. And I suggest to you that here Joseph anticipates the full message of both testaments.

You intended to harm me, but God. Have you got a but God in your vocabulary? Maybe your circumstances have been equally as unpleasant as those of Joseph in some area. Maybe they still are.

Maybe you know what it is to be cast into a pit. Maybe you know what it is to be libeled wrongly. To be the butt end of coarse jokes.

The man who didn't quite land it as far as Potiphar's wife was concerned. You can imagine the smug comment that must have gone round the Egyptian bazaars. For here we have just a summary statement of all that Joseph endured and suffered.

And you need a sanctified imagination to put together certain incidents that possibly were consequential on the difficulties through which Joseph went through. But he believed that God was in it all. But God.

So here are his brothers and they've come back from the funeral service of Jacob, Joseph's illustrious father, sometimes referred to as Israel. There's been a public period of mourning and then there was a private family entombment as Jacob was placed in the sepulcher which housed the remains of Abraham and Isaac and their respective wives. And these brothers have now come back to Egypt with Joseph and suddenly something dawns on them.

The situation is completely different. It looks as though their lives might be imperiled. Jacob, Israel, the man who was in such close contact with Joseph, the prime minister of Egypt, is now away with his fathers, dead as far as this earthly scene is concerned.

What will be the lot of his sons at this point? Well, that's the context, if you please, behind Joseph's comment to his brothers. It seems to me that as we open his response to the problems that his brothers thought they had at the moment, we will find a great deal that will help us in our own lives as well as understanding how Joseph was able to cope in his life with the theology of but God. Don't be afraid.

Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. The but God theology becomes, first of all, an explanation of the past. An explanation of the past.

These brothers, as I say, were in great difficulty. They wondered, with Jacob being out of the way, if Joseph would take vengeance on them. After all, it was a family trait, wasn't it? Those ancient Hebrews, they were not the loving, mild people that our Lord Jesus Christ was.

Not naturally. They'd known what it was to spill blood when their sister had been raped. They had in their family records the way that Esau had murderous intention towards Jacob.

But now their father's out of the way. Won't Joseph, therefore, pour out his vengeance on these brothers who have done such terrible things to him? But no. Because Joseph believes that the fallout of his life, as a result of the evil of those brothers, though he doesn't pardon, at least he pardons, but he doesn't pass over their sin as though it had no dimensions of evil at all.

He sees that the very problems that they caused for him in the providence of God have led to him being the prime minister of all Egypt and the preservation of the lives of his brothers and of his offspring. You see, he's looking back. But God, the explanation of the past, God was in it, weaving his perfect plan, allowing to happen what Joseph nor you would have chosen for your life had you been in the same situation as Joseph.

God working at a higher level. God seeing things from the point of view of eternity, allowing in time things to happen that are unpalatable at that moment, but from the vantage point of eternity, Joseph will always be grateful for what happened. And when his brothers come along, when it dawns on them the situation that they are now in, as they realize, verse 15, that their father is dead, and the consequence of Joseph holding a grudge against them, if such be the case, when they come before him, or rather, when they send some intermediary before him, they ultimately discover that Joseph does not have malintent towards them.

It's difficult sometimes to feel forgiven, isn't it? You see, this was the problem, basically, of these brothers. I wonder if you feel that the letter that they produced from Jacob or the message that Jacob left, do you think it was fictitious? Do you think it was factual? Your father left these instructions before he died, did he? There's no record in Scripture that he did. Would Jacob Israel, who had such confidence in his son, believe that he would have maltreated the brothers once Jacob is out of the way? I can't prove it either side.

My inclination is to suggest that the letter was fictitious. And I can understand the reason, you see. These men have been forgiven.

At least, I think they've been forgiven. But then they're not quite sure. As there are times when you, in your relationship with God, are like that, not so.

The sins of the past, he's forgiven. Well, has he really forgiven? Joseph might somehow still have a vestige of vengeance in him because of what we did. Now, please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.

Who was the intermediary? They did send someone. They didn't come directly to him, did they? They sent word to Joseph. I know who I'd have sent if I'd been one of them.

I'd have sent Benjamin, wouldn't you? I mean, after all, Benjamin was the closest. He was the full-blooded brother of Joseph. And Joseph loved Benjamin.

I can, and I speak not over-critically because I see myself involved in all this conniving behind the scenes. It's part of the natural Adamic nature. I can see them sort of drawing up this plan, sending Benjamin.

Are you sure, Joseph, that you'll treat us well? Remember what father said? I remember times, don't you, when in the presence of God, it was difficult to believe that all those damnable sins of the past, those pages that you wanted to be ripped out of the book of your life, that they really had been ripped out and it all was forgiven. It's far easier for God to forgive than for us to accept His forgiveness sometimes, not so. So Joseph weeps.

He weeps because of, well, the nature of the sin of the brothers, the guilt that they now have because of the sins that they had committed. Maybe he weeps because they sometimes have questioned whether he really has pardoned them. I'm reminded of our Lord Jesus who wept over the citizens of Jerusalem, the holy place, the population of which He wanted, in such a wonderful fashion, to redirect in their fulfillment of the purposes of God, but they would not listen to Him.

Our Lord, when He wept over the tomb of Lazarus, thinking of the grief that had struck the hearts of Mary and Martha, simply because death in itself is actually a consequence of that first mess that Adam and Eve got us into, no wonder the Saviour weeps at times. But here is Joseph, you see, as we directly deal with him. And he allows the past, all that's happened to him, suddenly to open up afresh, not just the high points but the low points, the claustrophobia when he's in that pit, the contempt of being a slave as abuse is poured upon him.

He sees it all, all that he's suffered on behalf of these brothers, and he says, don't be afraid, you meant it for evil but God. And there are times, perhaps in slightly different contexts, for our life's experience is not generally as dramatic as that of Joseph. And God allows the fallout in our lives to be unpalatable.

And at the moment of being in the pit, you can hardly sing Hosanna. That would just be unrealistic for us to ask you to do that. There are moments when it would be perhaps the cruelest thing for the preacher to come along to you and say, all things work together for good to them that love God.

You believe it theoretically but it's very difficult for you to take that and apply it to yourself at that particular moment. But when the years have gone by, we can come along and remind you of the problems through which you went. And you could take the words of Joseph and say, it seemed as though evil was intended for me, but God, God meant it for good.

The explanation of the past. But not only does this theological grasp of the providential dealings of God poise you to look back and to see how he has indeed been involved in your life, I argue further. It sets you right for the present.

The explanation of the past, it moves on to give you confidence for the present. Drop down to the 22nd verse, you see. And here you'll discover many things if you think it through carefully.

Joseph has reassured his brothers, he's spoken kindly to them, he said that their destiny here in Goshen is sealed as far as his favour to them is concerned, as long as he has influence. As long as he has influence, but he's not going to be around all the time, is he? And verse 22, when you read on from verse 21, actually catapults you 61 years ahead. Now isn't that extraordinary? You see, the Bible only gives you samples of the lives of people, obviously so, it would be so voluminous in terms of content if it was going to give you everything that had ever happened, even of our blessed Lord, the evangelist, the fourth recorder of the gospels of the life of our Lord Jesus said that if all that he did had been written down, then all the libraries in all the world couldn't contain the information.

Well, it's the case in lesser degree with Joseph. We've got this compressed account of the opening years of his life and the way that he is dealt with in Egypt and becomes prime minister. We've got the lovely scene of Joseph reunited with his father and the brothers settled in Goshen.

The father dies, 61 years go by, and verse 22 finds Joseph as an old man. He lived 110 years, and he's got a concern. Some of you have got concerns for your children and for your kith and kin.

You know you're not going to last forever. Unless the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, you'll have to go through the valley. You'll have to go knee deep, waist high, and ultimately be submerged in the Jordan.

Now, maybe that's not your worry. Maybe your worry is what about them? How will they cope when I've gone? Honesty vies with humility, but I have to make the conclusion that their spiritual well-being to a large degree rests with me. I'm about to die, says Joseph.

Verse 24. He's had the benefits of the fairly long age, but you can see how sin is affecting the whole of the human race and the natural lifespan is being shortened. Abraham lives a long time, Isaac a lesser time, Jacob a lesser time than Isaac, and Joseph a lesser time than Jacob.

But he's still done 120 years, and he's gone to the third generation. And as far as the Egyptians are concerned, he's been very blessed indeed as he sees his grandchildren playing around, as he seats them on his knees. But now he's about to die.

As to what is going to happen with those who are left when you've gone, well, I tell you, it's all in the book, But God, theology, isn't it? Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will surely come to your aid. God will surely come to your aid. I love the Bible.

It's the reason, I suppose, that I try to be a preacher. I find it a fascinating book. I find my approach to the Bible paradoxical in some ways because although I love it, at times it's difficult to get into.

Do you have that experience? I don't think that's strange. I think it's because the Bible is so valuable. The devil does everything he can to stop us getting into it.

But once you're there, you delight in its pages. And I do recommend to you the regular, consistent reading of Scripture. But when you go through what for some of you are these well-worn pages of the book of Genesis, what thoughts flood your mind? Well, you've got biography after biography, haven't you? You've got Adam.

You've got Noah. You've got Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But they all peter out at times.

The baton is passed on. And when you move into the book of Exodus, it's Moses. And then later on you get into the judges.

And then you get into the great period of the kings, David and Solomon and Jeroboam and all those great and sometimes evil kings. And then you move on to the prophets. Then you go on to the time when Israel is in exile.

And then the Jews are brought out of the exile. And there's the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. And you go to the minor prophets.

And then you go on as you tunnel your way through Scripture into the larger area of the New Testament. And you encounter the apostles and the great evangelists. But they all die.

But there is one whose name is on every page. He never dies. The king, invisible, immortal, who sits upon the throne.

He's the regent. And who takes stock of the affairs of men. And he comes alongside them.

I am about to die but God. God who never dies. God the great I am.

God who is from everlasting to everlasting. From vanishing point to vanishing point. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

You remember the heart cry of Moses? When in a time of despondency he addresses his God in the 90th Psalm. But you change not. Man is like a flower, like the grass it fades.

He's like water that's spilt upon the ground. He's as a cloud that comes across the sky. He's there for a while but then he's gone.

But this God remains. You see what I mean? That God, not just an explanation for the past. But confidence in the present.

I shall go. But God will be with you. God will surely come to your aid.

God will visit you. I offer this as more than a morsel of comfort to all the friends who are concerned. That when the sands have gone through the glass.

And they're in the eternity with God. That they can still pass on their blessings to their children. And if you have no wealth.

No land. No house. To be able to pass on your God.

So to speak. Means that you are a parent with great potential for decreeing blessing. I am about to die.

But God will visit you. But God's theology gives an explanation of the past. It gives confidence for the present.

And I start to conclude my remarks by making this other obvious deduction. Which doubtless with your perception you've already arrived at. It will give you hope for the future.

It will give you hope for the future. Joseph like Jacob does not die as a pessimist. Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die.

But God will surely come to your aid. And to take you up out of this land. To the land he promised on oath to Abraham.

Isaac and Jacob and Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath. And said, God will surely come to your aid. And then, then you must carry my bones up from this place.

He died with hope for the future. Here's a puzzle. If you were to select one quality in the life of Joseph.

That needs to be recorded for posterity. You've only got one particular option. What would you go for? Would you say, well the way that he coped in his early years.

When he was coming up against the envy of his brothers. The great courage that he had in Egypt. When away from all his mentors.

And all who could have spoken to him about the God of Abraham. He still retained faith. Would you say, well that was a tremendous example of integrity.

When he didn't play fast and loose with his, with his, with Potiphar's wife. The interesting thing is that when you get to the corridor of faith. In Hebrews chapter 11.

Where the great portraits of the men and women of faith are hung up. And you come across Jacob, come across Joseph. There is only one comment made about Joseph.

And it has to do with this. Hebrews 11.22 That when Joseph died. He made a request.

About his bones. I don't think that the last thing in my mind. When I am at the point of death.

Will be my bones. But the writer of the Hebrews singles Joseph out. Because when he died.

He gave instructions concerning his bones. Why is this? Why does scripture record this? Why is it that in the book of Joshua. At the last chapter.

References made to the way that Joseph's bones. Are actually interred in the land of promise. Well I tell you.

The reason is because Joseph has great hope. You see for the future. He specifically says to his brothers.

Don't have me buried immediately. Don't have me taken as was our father's remains. And interred in the cave of Machpelah.

With Abraham and Isaac's remains. No, why not? Well I argue this and it's only my own reasoning. You can accept it or reject it as the case may be.

It seems to me that when Joseph died. Obviously there's no one of his great influence there. To organize this movement of the Hebrew community.

To the land of promise. Just for a short funeral service. And what is more.

If Joseph's remains are taken there. And the Hebrews are still in Goshen. They have no more visual reminder.

That actually they're Jews in Egypt. And never to be part of Egypt. But have Joseph's body in a mummified state.

There in Goshen. With an oath solemnly entered into by the brothers. Passed on to the following generations.

Then they will have a reminder. That though they the descendants of Joseph. And Jacob and Abraham are in Egypt.

Ultimately God's purpose is for them to return. To the land that he gave to Abraham. You see Joseph is a man of the book.

I don't mean by that he had written record. But often he'd been with his older father Jacob Israel. And sometimes perhaps as a boy.

Joseph had been taken to his grandfather's tent. And Isaac had told him all about Abraham. And on one occasion you remember in the 15th chapter of Genesis.

Abraham has this horrific dream. When he sees all his descendants. Taken to a land of bondage.

And ultimately for 400 years they would remain there. Until the fullness of the evil of the Amorites was fulfilled. And then.

And then they would be taken back. From Egypt. To Canaan.

And Joseph knows. As he dies in hope. That one day.

Those descendants of his. Will be taken away. From Egypt.

Back to the land of promise. To the fulfillment of all that God promised Abraham. Years ago.

God will surely come to your aid. There will be mighty visitations. And ultimately God in his greatness will send someone.

To bring you out of Egypt. Back to the land of promise. That he gave to Abraham.

And all his descendants. And when that happens you must carry my bones up from this place. So Joseph died.

At the age of 110. And they embalmed him. He was placed in a coffin.

In Egypt. But God. God.

There was an explanation of the past. You meant it for evil. He meant it for good.

But God. There's confidence for the present. I'm going.

But he'll be with you. But God. There's optimism.

For the future. My bones. Not to be interred here.

But back with the remains of my father. And my grandfather. And my great grandfather.

And when that happens. You will appreciate. As I have discerned.

That God works out his purposes. In the lives of an individual man. And he controls the great sweeps.

Of history. And what Joseph discovered. My friend.

Applies to this day. Our Lord Jesus has gone into the heavens. But the Bible tells us in the last chapter.

Of the last book. He will visit us again. And John says even so.

Come Lord Jesus. We're not left. To languish.

In Egypt. We're not at the butt. Of the whims of the pharaohs that are yet to be.

And the great rulers that there are in this world now. And ultimately that will come. The people of God.

Are locked into the plan of God. And ultimately. There'll be that mighty visitation.

That full redemption of the people of God. Not specifically. To a literal tract of land.

But into that great new era that God has. For all those. Who've trusted his son.

As Lord. And Savior. God intervened.

In the life of Joseph. God intervened in our world through the life of the blessed Christ. And as today we remember his entry into Jerusalem.

And all that was going to happen. And lead to that horrific death on the cross. Remember this.

As Savior is saying in effect with his last breath. All this was meant. As evil.

To me. That God. Planned it.

For the good of humanity. And ultimately his death occurs. Followed by his mighty resurrection.

And the day will come when this same Jesus. Shall return. In great power and glory.

To complete the work. Of total redemption. Of the soul.

And of the body. Of all. Who've placed saving faith.

In him. Joseph. We salute you.

You teachers. The theology of. But God.

Lord Jesus we thank you. For you make the inadequate lessons that Joseph teaches. Perfect.

In your life. Death. Resurrection.

And. In your soon coming. Amen.

And amen. Let us pray. Father.

We come to the end of these. Significant. Studies from the life of Joseph.

And we want to make a heartfelt response to you. And ask you to take our lives and to let them be consecrated. All to thee.

And in moments when the threads. Are pulling the colors of black and gray. And not purple and gold.

Moments when the sun isn't shining. But we're not buoyed up on a charismatic wave. Times when we're in the dungeon.

Help us father to believe. That in those moments you're working out your plan and your purpose. And ultimately you'll bring us through.

We thank you for those peaks. Those experience we have when. There seems to be a naked reality of your presence.

And when praise is easy to come by. And easy to bring before you. Thank you too for those moments.

Keep your hands upon your children here. And help us to cope with the past. With the knowledge of you.

To draw strength for the present. With the knowledge of you. And to be optimistic about the future.

Because of our faith in you. Thank you God and father. In Jesus name.

Amen. 406. Our hymn before we come around the table of our blessed lord.

406. Through all the changing scenes of life. Through all the changing scenes of life.

We trust. We trust. In you.

In you. In you. In you.

In you. In you. In you.

In you. We envisage Moses leading those Israelites out of Egypt. Carrying with him.

We envisage Joshua clearing the earth. And turning those remains. And we thank you for that physical action.

Indicates the accuracy of your word. In all it's detail. We thank you, Father, for the promise of the Lord Jesus that if we confess him before men, he will confess us before his Father who is in heaven.

Help us, Lord, to act on the promise of the veracity of your word, now and always. Amen.