“And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I [am] Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt,” Genesis 45:4.

The morning after I was asked to take the services today I read this chapter as part of my daily devotions. I have to put on record my humble thanks to the Lord for how He was given me His Word to preach in a most merciful and ready manner. I don’t think I have ever had to struggle to find His message for me to deliver. To His name alone be honour and glory!

This morning with the Lord’s help I wish to press upon you some thoughts on THE SOVEREIGN PURPOSE AT WORK in the lives of Joseph and his family. Please let us notice:—

I. HOW MANY ACTS OF GOD’S MERCY APPEAR AS TRAGEDIES TO OUR EYES!

This will be especially so in last days. Ignorance of God’s is at work when this happens.

1. The merciful dealings of God with Jacob and his family had appeared to them at the first as anything but mercy. Jospeh’s dreams were most offensive to his brothers and his father, Gen 37:8, 10-11.
2. The devil used the opportunity to attempt to hinder God’s purpose. Gen 37:17-22. The ‘murderer’ at work.
3. Many times the whole family despaired. Joseph, Gen 37:23, 36 39:19-20; 40:14-15. Jacob, 42:36 Brothers, 45:3, 50:15.

How wrong they all were in their despair!

II. WE MUST OFTEN WAIT A LONG TIME FOR THE FULL PICTURE OF GOD’S MERCY TO BE REVEALED.

1. Some 15 years passed between Joseph being sold into Egypt and the mercy of God was revealed. Gen 37:2, 41:46, 45:6. Indeed, Joseph may only have understood God’s plan when brothers arrived.
2. In the parables which deal with this age, when Christ is gone to His Father, the time of His absence is pictured as a long time. Matt 21:33, 25:14, Mark 12:1, Luke 19:11-12, 20:9. ‘Far country’, ‘for a long time’. We must wait with patience God’s plan unfolding.
3. As it was for the brothers of Joseph, the interval will be a time of self-reproach and shame. Gen 42:21-22. Paul said: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do,” Romans 7:18-19.

III. HIDING THE GLORY HE HAS PLANNED FOR US IS A WISE ACT BY THE LORD.

Our minds and hearts are not capable of rightly understanding and reacting to the full revelation of God’s merciful purpose for us. He can only, as it were, speak to us in parables.

1. Consider how Jacob and his sons reacted to God’s revelation of His purpose through Joseph as we have already noted. Gen 37:8, 10-11. Misunderstanding, anger, vexation.
2. God’s people have often charged the Lord with unkindness most foolishly! No better example of this is seen in the words of Job in the latter part of his book though not at the first, Job 1:22 , 42:3, 6.
3. Paul was forbidden to write about what he saw of heaven. 2 Cor 12:1-4. It was not proper to produce in writing what he heard and saw. They are hidden from our eyes for we would misunderstand and misapply them.

Paul wrote to the sorely persecuted Hebrew believers: “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry,” Hebrews 10:36-37. So it will be and we live by faith as we wait!

IV. THE FULL AND FINAL REVELATION OF GOD’S GOODNESS AND MERCY WILL BE BEYOND OUR HIGHEST EXPECTATIONS

1. As the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon’s glory, how much more will we repeat her words. “Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen [it]: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard,” 1 Kings 10:7.
2. Please note that not only the unworthy brothers and family of Joseph entered into God’s mercy but also the Gentile Egyptians. What a picture of the blessed aftermath of the revelation of Christ at His Second Coming, as it was with Joseph’s brothers on their second meeting with him.

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, [that] the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more,” Isaiah 2:2-4.