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“So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”NIV

“I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive.”

We read in Acts 1:3a about Jesus:

“After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.”

Here is another of those points in the Joseph story where we see a likeness to the Jesus story. How will people come to believe that Jesus is alive? Well, this is what struck me as I reflected on the passage early on Monday morning:

• The church must give its witness (26). We have to ‘tell’ them Jesus is “still alive”;
• We should encourage them to get back to the primary source (27a). We want them to hear Jesus for themselves; to listen to His words in the four gospels;
• There is also a place for pointing to the evidence (27b). There is no absolute proof. If there was we wouldn’t need faith. But there is such convincing evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, that many who were adamant they didn’t believe, were won over and came to faith in spite of their earlier prejudices. Frank Morrison is one such person. He wrote the classic, ‘Who moved the stone?’ He entitled the first chapter, ‘the book that refused to be written.’ He had intended to explain that the resurrection accounts were human inventions – fairy-tale endings to the matchless story of Jesus. But when he began to sift the evidence, his mind was changed, and he was honest enough to admit it. He is just one among many who could tell a similar story. In recent years, Lee Strobel has written many books on Christian apologetics. He said: “I owe Morrison a great debt of gratitude. Who Moved the Stone? was an important early link in a long chain of evidence that God used to bring me into his kingdom. Morison’s stirring intellectual exploration of the historical record proved to be an excellent starting point for my spiritual investigation.”

Every Christian can affirm that Jesus is alive, and we will “go and see” Him after we die. This is our glorious hope. We see Him now by faith, but one day we will see Him face to face.

‘Behold Jesus manifesting himself as a Brother and a Friend to those who once were his despisers, his enemies. He assures them of his love and the riches of his grace. He commands them to lay aside envy, anger, malice, and strife, and to live in peace with each other. He teaches them to give up the world for him and his fulness. He supplies all that is needful to bring them home to himself, that where he is they may be also. And though, when he at last sends for his people, they may for a time feel some doubts and fears, yet the thought of seeing his glory and of being with him, will enable them to say, It is enough, I am willing to die; and I go to see, and to be with the Beloved of my soul.’ Matthew Henry.

²⁴ Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!”NIV

“Don’t quarrel on the way!”

This seems to be a knowing comment from Joseph. He was well aware of what his brothers were like (or, what they used to be like). Perhaps he was afraid that on the way home they might descend into recriminations, and start blaming one another for what had happened. No doubt his admonition would have quite an influence on them. They were now very much in awe of this man!

Of course people differ and will have differences of opinion. Life would be dull if we were all the same. We need to learn to respect these differences and be able to listen to one another. We could learn so much – even from people with whom we disagree – if we only had the courtesy to give them an ear. Sadly, in the church, we often dig in behind entrenched views, and become rude to others who see things differently. Frankly, it’s a terrible witness, and the world is often scandalised by our behaviour. Meanwhile, we hide in our ‘silos’, and from the apparent safety of our ‘echo chambers’ we lob grenades at one another.

But it is possible to disagree without being disagreeable. May God help us in our weaknesses.Our unity, and our witness to a watching world, are at stake.

“⁹ Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. ¹⁰ You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. ¹¹ I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute. “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. ¹³ Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”¹⁴ Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. ¹⁵ And he kissedall his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.¹⁶ When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased.¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸ and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.’¹⁹ “You are also directed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. ²⁰ Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.’”²¹ So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. ²² To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels^[b] of silver and five sets of clothes. ²³ And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey.

“You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me…I will provide for you there…” (10,11).

Almost thirty years ago, as I was on the cusp of leaving the church I was serving in Leeds, to throw myself into leading a church plant in Boston Spa full time, I was preaching through the life of Elijah, and I remember these words seeming to ‘light up’:

“Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there” (3,4).

“…to feed you there.”

It was F.B.Meyer who helped me to see that God will provide wherever He guides. If He says , ‘Go there’, He will provide for you there. God will never send you where His grace cannot keep you, and where His provision cannot reach you.

As in the Joseph story, God’s provision can be surprising, and it is abundant. He does far more than we can ask or imagine. For both Elijah and Joseph’s family, this provision came in the midst of “famine”. However unpromising our current circumstances may appear, we serve the God of super-abundance.

Throughout this chapter we see Joseph’s desire for his family to be close to him (4,9,10). His brothers felt his love for them, and were freed up to respond to him (15). As I intimated yesterday, in the story of each of our lives, the Lord wants us to draw near to Him and He’ll draw near to us (James 4:8a).

I have just finished reading the biography of Eugene Peterson, and I discovered that Eugene repeatedly said he wanted to be a ‘saint’ more than anything else. Of course, I’m sure he knew that, Biblically speaking, all believers are ‘saints’. But I think he was saying something else. He wanted to live prayerfully – to have an unhurried life of communion with God and attentiveness to God.

When we draw near to God, He draws near to us, and we have more than all we need. In proximity to Him there is also provision.

⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵ 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. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸ “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. ⁹ Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay.NIV

“…God sent me ahead of you” (5b).

I note in the first place that Joseph did not try to sweep their wrong-doing under the carpet (4). He was honest with them. Authentic reconciliation can never take place while we make light of the injuries inflicted or the crimes committed.

But, he showed that he did not hold it against them. He demonstrated, quite remarkably, that he possessed a greater vision and a larger perspective. We have noted Joseph’s God-consciousness before. In today’s passage he refers to “God” no less than four times (5,7,8,9). He saw that, in the short term, he was “sent” to Egypt to save human life. This included their’s. But in the longer term, it was to “preserve…a remnant” (7). This refers to a “remnant” of Abraham’s descendants (Jacob’s family) who during their time in Egypt would grow into a great nation (Exodus 1:6-7). We know now, of course, that through one of those descendants, Jesus Christ, what happened to Joseph would turn out to be for the good of the whole world.

‘Here then is the deep significance of the story of Joseph and his brothers: God had a purpose in sending Joseph to Egypt, and He overruled human actions – both good and evil – to accomplish that purpose.’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.195.