Genesis
chapter 45 picks up immediately after Joseph’s brother, Judah, gave
an impassioned plea to allow Benjamin to return to their father.
Joseph can no longer hold back his emotions. After clearing the
room, Joseph “wept
so loudly the Egyptians heard him“.
Through tears, he cries, “I
am Joseph! Is my father still alive?“.
His brothers were terrified. They were trying to process the
impossible; this ruler of Egypt that was about to pronounce judgment
on them is now speaking Hebrew and tells them he is the brother they
sold into slavery. The fact that this was Joseph was perhaps even
more frightening to consider. They must have feared, now he would
get his revenge. But Joseph continues, “Come
close to me. I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt“.
But Joseph then gives one of the most beautiful explanations of
God’s sovereignty ever written. Joseph explains, “Do
not be distressed…for selling me here, because it was to save lives
that God sent me ahead of you… It was not you who sent me here, but
God“.
God is firmly in control! The merciful God of eternity works His
will in our lives and all we can think is,” how inconvenient!”
The same God that set the heavens in motion is also working in your
life right now to bring you to exactly the place He wants you to be.
What lessons are we missing because of our own self pity?
Joseph
continues to explain to his still stunned brothers, “Now
hurry back to my father and say to him…this is what your son Joseph
says, God has made me ruler of all Egypt…come down to me and don’t
delay. You shall live in the land of Goshen…you and your children
and your grand children…I will provide for you there… 5 more
years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your
household… will become destitute… Tell my father about everything
you have seen“.
“Then
he threw his arm around his brother Benjamin and wept… and he
kissed all his brothers and wept over them“.
What an emotional moment this must have been. We also read,
“afterwards,
his brothers talked with him“.
Don’t miss the connection to how we react when we hear Jesus is
alive. Many of us were terrified to think how we lived, what
judgment was awaiting us, even being rejected. But in Matthew 10:28,
Jesus says, “Come
to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest“.
It’s
funny, after Joseph provides his brothers with provisions, and
transportation, and gifts for his father, Joseph urges his brothers,
“Don’t
quarrel on the way!“.
Again, what important words for us to hear. We hold the keys to
heaven and we are called to “set
the captives free”
(Isaiah 61), but we get bogged down in quarreling. When the brothers
deliver the good news, “Jacob
was stunned; he did not believe them“.
But when he saw all that Joseph sent, “The
spirit of their father Jacob was revived. And Israel said, “I
am convinced! My son Joseph is alive”.
In one sentence Jacob is restored and he is called “Israel”
again. Notice what changes his mind; it is when he sees the
evidence. When we bring the good news of salvation, people do not
believe until they see the evidence in our lives. It was when Joseph
talked with his brothers that they accepted the truth. The truth of
salvation is spread one life at a time. People must see the evidence
in order to believe.