Worship Christ Is Risen youtube/watch?v=kr4p6NV50mI Shout To The Lord youtube/watch?v=gn5CMSSAx_c 10000 Reasons youtube/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E Seeing God’s Purpose - Genesis 45:1–47:31 When circumstances threaten to overwhelm us, we sometimes need an extra measure of grace to do what God calls us to do. Sometimes retrospect can help us recognize the unfolding of God’s plan and His use of our actions and the actions of others toward His greater design of growing our faith. Throughout what we perceive as missteps, Scripture tells us that God works out His purpose. And the amazing thing about God’s providence is not only that He always works things out according to His plan, but that He does so both for our sake and for His glory. As Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers in Gen 45, he made it clear that he understood the full picture of God’s purpose: The trials and challenges that brought all of them to that moment—from his brothers’ jealous actions to Potiphar’s wife’s lustful attempt to entangle him—all led to his position of power, which preserved his family through famine. God used these apparently unrelated actions to mature Joseph and solidify his faith and ultimately to preserve His people and uphold His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Although God’s ways can be difficult to understand at times, it’s clear that He uses everyday events and ordinary people to accomplish His will. 1. Reunion and Reconciliation (Genesis 45:1–15) A. A Surprising Announcement - Joseph’s story reaches a happy resolution in Gen 45–47. Despite everything his brothers subjected him to, Joseph ultimately chose not to respond with anger or resentment. Instead, he showed compassion and forgiveness. His recognition that God accomplished His purpose through it all enabled him to let go of the past and not hold it against his brothers. As Genesis 45 opens, we know that Joseph’s tests have finally produced the results he desired. Judah’s impassioned speech confirmed that his brothers were changed men. Joseph could no longer contain his emotions as Judah described the heartbreak that would befall his father should Benjamin be taken from him. Having witnessed their change of heart and Judah’s willingness to trade his life for Benjamin’s, Joseph wept as he finally told them who he was. B. A Surprising Understanding - The brothers, stunned into silence, were shocked by Joseph’s revelation. In an instant, they were confronted with the unbelievable truth that Joseph—the brother they sold into slavery—was alive and now second in command in Egypt. The revelation terrified them. What would he do? Would he exact revenge? Would he have them killed? Joseph reassured them, saying, “Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves that you sold me here, for God sent me as deliverance before you” (Gen 45:5). He immediately calmed their fears, proclaiming that God had sent him to Egypt. 2. Moving the Family (Genesis 45:16–46:7) A. Good News Delivered - Joseph instructed his brothers to bring Jacob to Egypt along with the rest of the family. With five more years of famine to endure, Joseph wanted to ensure that his family was provided for. Demonstrating his high regard for Joseph, Pharaoh provided the brothers with wagons and food for their journey home and back. He also conveyed that they need not worry about bringing their possessions when they returned—he would give them the best Egypt had to offer. Joseph also showed generosity to his brothers, giving them additional provisions. Jacob was understandably stunned by the news—so shocked, in fact, that at first he didn’t believe them. But he couldn’t ignore Joseph’s message and the presence of the wagons and gifts, and he eventually realized that his sons weren’t lying. With his sons, Jacob began the journey to Egypt to see the son he thought was dead. B. A Detour to Worship - En route to Egypt, Jacob paused at Beersheba, the southernmost portion of Palestine, to offer sacrifices to God—a location of enduring significance for him and his ancestors. It was there that Abraham called on the name of Yahweh and settled his family. It was there that Abraham’s son, Isaac (Jacob’s father), was added to the Abrahamic covenant. Isaac built an altar to God in Beersheba in response to His blessing—presumably the same one his son Jacob used when he stopped there. The text never explains why Jacob stopped at Beersheba. He may have been apprehensive about leaving the promised land, or he may have recalled God’s pronouncement to Abraham in Gen 15:13. Jacob may have recalled that God had explicitly forbidden his father, Isaac, from seeking refuge in Egypt during a famine: “And Yahweh appeared to [Isaac] and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land which I will show to you’ ” (Gen 26:2). God emphatically declared that He would make Isaac a great nation within Canaan, not outside of it. C. Reassurance from God - Jacob encountered the divine at Beersheba, just as his father and grandfather had. God appeared to Jacob and reassured him of his present journey. He told Jacob that He would extend the promises of the Abrahamic covenant to him and make him a great nation while in Egypt: “I am the God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there” (Gen 46:3). He also told Jacob that he would die in Egypt in Joseph’s presence, and that He would one day bring him from Egypt. God tenderly eased Jacob’s fears, showing him that the journey to Egypt was part of His plan. With this reassurance, Jacob resumed his travels. 3. Seeing God’s Purpose (Genesis 46:28–47:31) A. Settling in Egypt - During his years in Egypt, Joseph developed a knowledge of attitudes and customs unique to Egyptian culture. Genesis 46:34 offers a glimpse of this when Joseph tells his family that “every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians” (ESV). Despite this, as Joseph’s family prepared to move to Egypt, he instructed them to tell Pharaoh that they were shepherds. Joseph had a clear purpose, though; he wanted his family to live in the land of Goshen, located in the northeastern region of the Nile delta. The fertile Nile delta made Goshen an ideal place to raise livestock. By identifying themselves as shepherds, Joseph’s brothers could reasonably suggest Goshen for their settlement. Goshen was also on the geographic margins of Egyptian territory at the time. Given Egyptian disdain for Canaanites, Pharaoh would have wanted to segregate Joseph’s family from his Egyptian subjects. Joseph correctly anticipated that Pharaoh would choose the land of Goshen as their settlement. B. Looking Back - In Genesis 12 and several times thereafter, God promised Abraham that he would become a great nation and that all the nations of the world would be blessed through him (Gen 12:2–3). Part of His covenant faithfulness to Abraham included ensuring the welfare of his family; without them, Abraham would have no legacy. But God also told Abraham that his descendants would spend roughly 400 years in a foreign land. He delivered this news with a glimpse of hope: “Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years; but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions” (Gen 15:13–14 NRSV). Egypt was the nation God referred to, and Joseph was the means by which God led Israel there. As we’ve seen, He did so to sustain Joseph’s (and Abraham’s) family despite a devastating famine. But in addition to keeping His word to Abraham and preserving his descendants, God was setting the stage for His greatest act of redemption prior to sending His Son: the exodus from Egypt, the event referred to in Gen 15:14. C. Looking Forward - Long after Joseph died and the memory of his provision for God’s people faded, Egypt turned on Israel. Exodus 1:6–7 gives the background: “Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation. But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them” (NRSV). The next verse foreshadows their impending slavery: “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (Exod 1:8). Israel had strength in numbers, and the new Pharaoh feared a revolt. As a result, he forced Israel into slavery. As the story unfolds, God fulfills the word He declared to Abraham in Gen 15. He works mightily to deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt, and the exodus becomes a landmark in Israelite history. The imagery of the exodus account becomes synonymous with God’s deliverance throughout the Bible. In times of distress and oppression, God’s people look to the exodus and recall the unparalleled redemptive power of the Creator. And when Jesus—through whom God brings about His ultimate act of salvation—arrives on the scene, many events in His life parallel events from the exodus. We often struggle to recognize how difficult circumstances can be used for good—especially when they disrupt our own lives. Even though Scripture tells us to “rejoice in our afflictions” (Rom 5:3 ESV), this is much easier said than done. Yet, as Joseph’s story demonstrates, God can use the most trying of circumstances and the most unlikely people to accomplish His purpose. Joseph understood that God was using his own trials for good—not just in his own life, but also for the sake of his family. His story shows us that he had this perspective from the beginning. As a servant in Potiphar’s house, he remained aware of God’s presence in his life, refusing to sin in succumbing to Potiphar’s wife. During his imprisonment, he used his God-given ability to help others, anticipating that it might one day secure his release from prison. In Genesis 45:4–8, Joseph makes explicit what he has already discerned: that God had providentially orchestrated the events of his life to serve a greater purpose. The Bible testifies to how God can use the “foolish” things of the world to accomplish His will. Sustained by his fervent trust in God, Joseph eventually came to understand God’s ultimate purpose.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 00:35:30 +0000