Let us read from the word of
God from Genesis chapter 43. Genesis chapter 43 and a number
of other scriptures, but I'll do that one at a time. But Genesis
43 here, we're picking up the reading of the story of Joseph
and Judah is going to stand and be a surety for Benjamin so that
Jacob would be willing to let him go to Egypt. And if they didn't go to Egypt,
they would be without food. And so tonight I want to look
together, as the Lord helps, of this theme of the Lord Jesus
Christ being a surety for his people and what that means to
us and how that is a comfort and a blessing for us. So Genesis chapter 43 and commencing
at verse 8. Genesis 43 verse 8. And Judah
said unto Israel his father, send the lad with me, that is
Benjamin, and we will arise and go that we may live and not die,
both we and thou and also our little ones. I will be surety
for him of my hand, shalt thou require him? If I bring him not
unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame
for ever. For except we had lingered, surely
now we had returned this second time. So before we read on, I
want to just make a few comments on this firstly. Here we see
in this scripture a picture of what a short he was. is going to stand as a surety
for Benjamin. That is, he is going to take
full responsibility for Benjamin, and if there's any trouble or
difficulty comes to Benjamin, the blame and all the problems
associated with that would fall totally upon Judah. Judah obviously was One of the
Twelve Brethren, he was one of the ones that was in the line
of the Lord Jesus, came from the tribe of Judah. And here,
earlier on, Judah showed a very sad behavior, but here we have
a turning, and Judah now acts in a way that foreshadows something
of what the Lord Jesus would do as that surety for his people. So first of all let us look what
surety means and indeed in the Proverbs we have in Proverbs
chapter 22 we have a warning given that we should be very
careful to be a surety for somebody. In Proverbs 22 and verse 26 it
says, be not thou one of them that strike hands or of them
that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay,
why should he take away thy bed from under thee? So the idea
of a surety is, if you're a surety for somebody and that person
gets into trouble, difficulty, or they misbehave you or anything
like that, you are responsible for everything that they do and
to make good everything that they do wrong. Proverbs, the
wise man Solomon in the Proverbs is saying, be careful who you
become shorty for. It could be very costly. And
yet, of course, the Lord Jesus is that one that has been willing
to be shorty for his people. You see, in this narrative that
we've been reading of Benjamin and Judah, Judah wanted to reassure
his father Jacob that he would bring back Benjamin safely. And
I don't think Judah really thought that anything particularly would
happen to Benjamin, but he just wanted to reassure his father
that he would be totally responsible if anything happened to Benjamin. He wanted to reassure and give
that reassurance to his father. Obviously, he gave this reassurance
when Benjamin had yet had nothing, no accusations against him. And
we think of the Lord Jesus Christ, you see. Let me just briefly
turn to Hebrews, because in Hebrews chapter 7, and verse 22 we have
this, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant,
a better testament or better covenant. So here we, that was
Hebrews 7 verse 22, we see here that Jesus is a surety and he
gave that reassurance and guarantee that all would be well. And you
see we We need that guarantee, as it
were. We need that assurance that it will be well. And those
promises are kept that have been made to us. But here, you see,
we have a surety then. And Judah became a surety for
Benjamin before any problem had happened. And I mean, if you
look in Ephesians chapter one, if I just turn there briefly,
you see that that's what happened with our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. He became surety of his people. We read Ephesians 1 verse 4. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame with him in love. So before the foundation
of the world, Jesus became surety of his people. He chose them
and he would take care of them as it were, and he would give
reassurance to the father that the plan of salvation would redound
to God's glory and it would not bring shame to God, but it would
actually be for the glory of God. And he would be that surety. Well, in our narrative that we're
reading in Genesis, Judah wanted to give that reassurance to his
father. And if you read on, we can't
read on in the time that we've got available, what happened,
of course, they went down into Egypt. They got banqueted, really,
with Joseph in his house. And then they got sent away.
And then they got accused of stealing the silver cup. And
Benjamin becomes in deep trouble. because Benjamin's sack is the
one that's got the cup in it. Obviously, Benjamin hadn't done
this, but the blame was on Benjamin. And then we have, if you look
in Genesis 44, a beautiful plea that Judah makes. Judah, who
said he would be a surety for Benjamin, absolutely stands by
his word and stands up for Benjamin. When Benjamin is It is the only
one that the ruler of the land of Egypt wants. He says everybody
else can go back, but Benjamin is the one that needs to stay.
And then we have that beautiful plea of Judah pleading on behalf
of Benjamin. And you see, if we pick up the
reading in Genesis of 44, and verse 27, Genesis 44 verse 27,
And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife
bear me two sons. And one went out from me, and
I said, Surely he is torn in pieces. I saw him not since. And if ye take this also from
me, a mischief before him, ye shall bring down my grey hairs
with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, when I come to
thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing his
life is bound up in the lad's life. You see, there's a bond,
you see. We sing sometimes, between Jesus
and the chosen race subsists a bond of sovereign grace, there's
a bond here that Judah is speaking of and he's really made this
surety agreement really in love to his father and in love to
Benjamin. so different than many years,
22 years before, when Judah didn't love his brother, Joseph, or
his father, and sold Joseph into slavery. But things have changed. The work of grace has happened
in Judah's heart, and he's a different man now. And so he's now pleading,
now therefore, when I come to my father, this is verse 30 of
chapter 44, I come to thy servant, my father, and the lad be not
with us, seeing that his life is bound up in the life's lad.
It shall come to pass when he seeth that the lad is not with
us, that he shall die, and thy servant shall bring down the
gray hairs of thy servant, our father, with sorrow to the grave. And then in verse 32, for thy
servant became shorty. So this is why this is why Judah
is standing up when Benjamin's in trouble. It's Judah that's
speaking for him. And you see here a picture of
you see what voice is that which speaks for me in heaven's high
court above. It is Jesus precious blood. You see, it's all this is this
is he was putting into practice this this this great picture
of what it was to undertake for somebody. And he could have,
you see, Joseph said, you will go back to your father and I
just want Benjamin. And Judah now becomes that, really
stands in his place. For thy servant became shorty
for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee,
then I will bear the blame to my father forever. This was serious. Forever he would have the blame
upon him if he did not bring his son, Benjamin, back. And
then in verse 33 it says, Now therefore I pray thee, let thy
servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord, and
let the lad go up with his brethren. So here we see substitution. Judah was willing to go in that
place of condemnation and to be a slave or a servant in Egypt
for the rest of his life to fulfill that agreement of
being a surety. This is what it was to be a surety.
And this is what it is when we have a surety in the Lord Jesus
Christ, one that would stand in our place. And of course,
as you read on in this story, you know, Judah didn't spend
the rest of his time, as it were, as a slave in Egypt, because
once Joseph saw the reality that they changed and that they were
humble and kind one to another again, and there was that forgiveness
and repentance, then he said, he revealed himself as to who
he was, you see. So often in the Old Testament,
these pictures, they didn't actually have to go through the depths
of it. Abraham and Isaac didn't. When
Abraham was told to offer up Isaac, he didn't actually offer
up Isaac, did he? Because he was stopped at the
last moment. But these are pictures of something that did truly happen. When Christ was to stand in his
people's place, there was no angel that came just when the
time of the crucifixion to say, no, now I know you're genuine,
now we don't need to go through this, no. You see, a way co sword
against my shepherd, against the man is my equal, smite the
shepherd. Yes, the types in the Old Testament,
they didn't have to, as it were, go through the full execution
of it, but they were pointing to one that would. And here,
you see, we see a picture of how Judah's love to his father
and also to Benjamin, he pleads on behalf of him. But you see,
there was a somewhat of a weakness in Judah's plea. You see, the
covenant with Judah was made between Judah and his father,
Jacob, and he's pleading to Joseph. the governor of the land of Egypt,
and he's at Joseph's mercy, whether Joseph will allow him to stand
in the place of Benjamin or not. But not so
with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The covenant was made
between the Father and the Son. And so when our substitute, when
our surety stands and pleads on our behalf, he's pleading
a very covenant that he's made in eternity past between the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And so he doesn't say,
well, I'll try, as it were, and stand in your place. I'll try
and get you free if this governor of the land of Egypt allows me.
No, our Lord Jesus, he has authority. But now with authority, he asks,
you see, that there's an authority in Christ. And therefore we have
a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us in the gospel. And so this idea of a
security and how that Christ has been the security of his
people And though they away were, though, you see, when Joseph,
when Judah took on this surety ship, he didn't really think
that Benjamin would actually need any help. It was to reassure
his father. But when Christ took on his people
to be their surety, he knew that they would defect. He knew that
they would need a tremendous help. He knew that they would
need that substitution. He knew that he would have to
stand in their place, but he did it in love, to his father
and to his people. And so that is a picture, you
see, of what we see there. And so let's have a brief look
at some of those blessings that flow from that. Wherefore he
is able to save them unto the uttermost that come unto God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession with them.
You see, he's that surety, he's that guarantee. And therefore,
you see, as we think, we come to a prayer meeting, it says,
let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we
may obtain mercy. How can we come boldly? because
we have a surety, because we have one that stood in our place,
the one that stands and represents his people and has stood in their
place and has paid their debt. You see in John's gospel, John's
gospel chapter six it says this, all that the father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. You see there's a security there.
And how can he say that? Because he has satisfied all
the requirements. You think of that in Romans 8,
where it says, therefore, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. You think of Benjamin. He was
under this great trouble because the silver cup was found in his
sack. He was destined to stay the rest of his life in Egypt. He couldn't go back to his father.
He was in a great trouble. But you see, because of the surety,
there is therefore now no condemnation to Benjamin. It was all put on
Judah. And you see, that is the great
thing in salvation. The Lord Jesus is a surety for
his people. Another place in the Bible where
we think of this surety is when we think in the epistle of Philemon,
where Paul is writing to Philemon, and Philemon has been wronged
by a runaway slave, Inesimus. And these words he says in Philemon
17 and 18, If thou count me therefore as a partner, receive me him
as myself. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth
thee aught, put that on mine account. I, Paul, have written
it with mine own hand, I will repay it. That's a surety. You
see, if you take out a loan or something, it used to be more
like this than it is, but people would want to say, well, are
you really sure you're going to pay it back? And then you'd have
a surety that would say, look, if that person doesn't pay the
loan back, I will. And you see, all the time, the
person that you're surety for doesn't falter and fail. It may
not cost you anything. But you see, when that person
fails and doesn't do what they are promised to do, then it's
all on the shorty. And that's what Paul was saying,
if he have wronged thee, put that on mine account. I, Paul,
have written it with mine own hand. And of course, there's
something so Christ-like in that, how the Lord Jesus took our place. So another place I want to mention
is in Matthew, Matthew 11. We read, Matthew 11, verse 28,
come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. How do we know that he's going
to give us rest? Because he's a surety, because he's kept his
promise. He's the guarantee, you see.
He's satisfied all the requirements, and therefore, you see, there's
a certainty with what he has said. Take my yoke upon you and
learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. and ye shall
find rest unto your souls. But as we come to a close, how
can we know these things ourselves? You see, we've read already in
Hebrews 7, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost. Because he's assured, he's going
to stand in their place. Whatever problems Benjamin came
into, Judah was going to stand in his place, and he did. He
kept his promise. But you see, we have one much
greater than Judah. Judah was at the mercy. He could
only do what he could do. He was a limited man himself.
But our surety is God himself, with nothing that he's not able
to do. Nothing with him is impossible.
Many things with Judah were impossible, but not with God. But this man,
wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost. But who
is the them that come unto God by him? That's what we need to
do, to come unto the Lord Jesus, this one who is the surety of
his people, who is able to deal with all their enemies, and able
to, in love to his father, in love to his people, able to stand
in their place and able to take all the handwriting that was
written against them, nailing it to his cross. And so he can
declare, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. I've paid it. I'm the surety.
I'm the guarantee. I've guaranteed to the Father
that the plan of salvation will bring glory to God. And he's
guaranteed to his people that there is salvation in Christ
Jesus. There is a way. Come unto me,
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
He has guaranteed it. He is a faithful God. And may we then come to him as
we come in prayer to one that is able to save unto the uttermost
all that come unto God by him.